30931 - Italian Literature 1 (GR. C)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student is expected to have a deep knowledge on diachronical aspects of the Italian literary tradition, knows the critical discussion on the keys issues about texts and authors and is able to use the main tools of the methodological analysis of texts and contexts. Students must demonstrate competence in written form

Course contents

The course, divided into two parts, is dedicated to surveys in literature from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. The first module has a general character (evolution and development of Italian literature from the 13th to the 16th century) with in-depth studies of Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron (10 novels) and Dante's Inferno (10 cantos). The second module is dedicated to the reading of Machiavelli, Boito, Capuana, Verga and Vassalli.

Readings/Bibliography

Module 1

Students will read: Italian Literature.1 Dalle origini al Seicento, edited by Andrea Battistini, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2014( vol 1: the parts on Dante, pp. 79-123; Boccaccio, pp. 165-189; Machiavelli, pp. 317-331).
It is required to read the following sections and novellas of the Decameron, in a recent annotated edition: Proemio; Introduction; I, 1; II 7; III 1; V, 4; VI 1, 3 e 7; VII 5; IX 2; X 10.
The text, without notes and commentary, is available on the following websites:
www.letteraturaitaliana.net/gli authors/Boccaccio Giovanni/Decameron
www.liberliber.it/Autori/Boccaccio, Giovanni/Decameron www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/dweb/

The study of the following critical texts is also required:

F. Bausi, Leggere il "Decameron", Bologna, il Mulino, 2017;For the Dante section, the study of ten cantos of Dante Alighieri's Inferno is required (cantos I, III, V, X, XIII, XV, XIX, XXVI, XXVII, XXXIII). A recent annotated edition is recommended. Among the editions on the market, we recommend one of the following (also in reprint): E. Pasquini-A. Quaglio, Milan, Garzanti, 1988; B. Garavelli, M. Corti, Milan, Bompiani, 1994; A.M. Chiavacci Leonardi, Milan, Mondadori, 2007; G. Inglese, Rome, Carocci, 2007; C. Ossola, Venice, Marsilio, 2021; R. Mercuri, Turin, Einaudi, 2021.
The text, without notes, is also available at: https://www.danteonline.it/index.html; https://dante.dartmouth.edu/; http://www.bibliotecaitaliana.it/

Module 2

N. Machiavelli, Mandragola, edited byG. Davico Bonino, Milan, BUR Rizzoli, 2013; A. Boito, Alfiere nero and Corpo in Narratori settentrionali dell'Ottocento, edit by Folco Portinari, Turin, Utet, 1970, pp. 640-655;pp. 662-696; Camillo Boito, Senso, edited by Clotilde Bertoni, Lecce, Manni, 2002; G. Verga, La lupa, ed. by F. Portinari, Turin, Einaudi, 1982; L. Capuana, Un caso di sonnambulismo in Novelle del mondo occulto, edited by A. Cedola, Bologna, Pendragon, 2007, pp. 79-98; S. Vassalli, La chimera, Turin, Einaudi, 1990.

The students will also read the novel by Alessandra Sarchi, Il ritorno è lontano, Milan, Bompiani 2024. A meeting with the author is planned with date to be confirmed.

 

Non attending students are required to do the same readings and to study the same bibliography of attending students.

Teaching methods

The course will be divided in frontal lessons and laboratories on the texts.

 

Assessment methods

The evaluation of the students' competencies and abilities acquired during the course consists of two phases:
a written test leading up to and preparatory to the specific subjects contained in the course programme, and an oral test aimed at ascertaining a general knowledge of all the subjects covered during the course.
The written test responds to criteria relating to orthography, morphology, syntax and semantics, clarity of expression, the ability to summarize.
The oral test consists in an oral interview which has the aim of evaluating the critical and methodological ability of the students. The students will be invited to discuss the tests on the course programme. The student must demonstrate an appropriate knowledge of the bibliography in the course programme. Access to the oral test depends on having passed the written test. The final mark is not a mathematical average of the two tests.

Those students who are able to demonstrate a wide and systematic understanding of the issues covered during the lessons, are able to use these critically and who master the field-specific language of the discipline will be given a mark of excellence.

Those students who demonstrate a mnemonic knowledge of the subject with a more superficial analytical ability and ability to synthesize, a correct command of the language but not always appropriate, will be given a ‘fair' mark.

A superficial knowledge and understanding of the material, a scarce analytical and expressive ability that is not always appropriate will be rewarded with a pass mark or just above a pass mark.

Students who demonstrate gaps in their knowledge of the subject matter, inappropriate language use, lack of familiarity with the literature in the programme bibliography will not be given a pass mark.

Teaching tools

Audio and video aids may be used in support of lectures.

Office hours

See the website of Lara Michelacci