08846 - Comparative Literatures

Learning outcomes

Course contents

Unreliable narrators between Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries

Unreliable narration is one of the most intriguing phenomena in the experience of reading, and at the same time one of the most problematic categories of literary theory. What does it mean, for a reader, to face up to a teller whose narrative arouses a sense of awkwardness or a fear of deception? Through which kind of signals does the text communicate such an uncertainty? Why does an author chooses to present his or her story through such a biased channel? And what could it mean to say that a narrator “lies” or that what he/she recounts is “wrong”, whereas in a fictional text nothing is true or real? The course intends to question and investigate some of these issues, that is the voice of the narrator, the fictional status of the literary text, its very limits and borders.

Readings/Bibliography

Literary texts

Students are required to read four texts among those listed in this section

► R. L. Stevenson, Il Master di Ballantrae, Milano, Garzanti

► L. Tolstoj, La sonata a Kreutzer, Milano, Feltrinelli (da leggere anche la “Postfazione” di Tolstoj posta in appendice)

► H. James, Il giro di vite, Milano, Garzanti

► F. Madox Ford, Il buon soldato, Milano, Bompiani

► I. Svevo, La coscienza di Zeno, in Id., Romanzi e continuazioni, a cura di M. Lavagetto, Milano, Mondadori

► A. Robbe-Grillet, La gelosia, Torino, Einaudi

► A. Christie, Nella mia fine è il mio principio, Milano, Mondadori

Testi critici

► Wayne C. Booth, “Distanza e punto di vista. Una proposta di classificazione”, in D. Meneghelli (a cura di), Teorie del punto di vista, Scandicci, La Nuova Italia, pp. 141-164

► I. Calvino, “I livelli della realtà in letteratura”, in Id., Saggi, vol. I, pp. 380-398, Milano, Mondadori

► M. Lavagetto, i capitoli “Un viaggiatore senza testimoni” (pp. 5-33) e “Confessarsi è mentire” (pp. 181-199), in Id., La cicatrice di Montaigne, Torino, Einaudi

During classes, references will also be made to M. Bakhtin's "Discourse in the novel". Student's will also been shown Hitchcock's film "Stagefright"

Teaching methods

Assessment methods

Oral examination based on the list of recommended readings.

Office hours

See the website of Donata Meneghelli