87361 - Ancient and Medieval Arabic Literary Civilisation (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course students will have acquired a thorough knowledge of Arab civilization in its different historical, cultural and literary expressions. They will be able to approach critically the related literature and its problems, to identify and classify literary works and to develop analytical investigations of the written sources.

Course contents

The course will offer an overview of the history of ancient and medieval Arab literary civilization, providing for each lesson literary criticism tools to contextualize the topics covered, with particular attention to the fruition and reception of the selected texts.

In particular, the following topics will be addressed for each lesson:

Week I (Introduction to the study of Arabic literature):

1. Periodization of Arabic literature: methodological notes.

2. Introduction to the history of Arabic manuscripts.

3. Literary criticism and classical Arabic literature: publishing and literary translation between orientalism, colonialism and post-colonialism

Week II:

4. The Jahiliyya and its literary documentation

5. The Qur'an: historical, linguistic and literary aspects

6. Stories of the Prophets between canon and popular traditions

Week III:

7. The Arab conquests. Historical and literary aspects.

8. Umayyad poetry

9. Historiography (7th-14th century)

Week IV:

10. Abbasid poetry

11. Abbasid prose

12. Popular literature between oral and written productions

Week V:

13. Arabic literature in Sicily and al-Andalus

14. Arabic literature in the Mamluk period

15. Arabic literature in the Ottoman period

Readings/Bibliography

• Textbook: Letteratura araba: Dalla Nahda alle rivoluzioni e oltre. Edited by Francesca Maria Corrao, Monica Ruocco. Mondadori, 2024. Chapters 17, 18, 23, 25, 26, 29, 30.
• Arabic texts (with translation) published on the course website.

Additional Reading for Non-Attending Students:

• Nasser Ismail, "La periodizzazione della letteratura araba", in Quaderni di Palazzo Serra 22 (2013), pp. 124-134.
• I manoscritti in caratteri arabi. A cura di François Déroche, Valentina Sagaria Rossi, Roma, Viella, 2012.
• Competizione e Condivisione. La lingua araba e l'editoria come luogo di incontro dal XVI al XVIII secolo. A cura di Aldo Coletto and Marina Zetti. Scalpendi Publisher, 2021.

Teaching methods

In addition to the frontal teaching, students will be invited to actively participate during the lessons.

The study materials will be provided by the teacher and made available on the University website. Students, both attending and non-attending, will have to refer to them for their study.

Assessment methods

Students who attend at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending. For attending students, an individual work is expected to be presented in seminar form during the course lessons: each student will be assigned an article of literary criticism related to the theme of the lesson to present and discuss with the other students.

The exam will be an oral interview. Students will be required to demonstrate their knowledge of the history of ancient and medieval Arab literary civilization, contextualizing the themes of literary criticism and text analysis covered during the course.

The following will therefore be assessed:

- Knowledge of the contents

- The ability to critically analyze themes and concepts

The achievement by the student of an organic vision of the themes covered in class together with their critical use will be assessed with excellent marks.

A mnemonic knowledge of the subject, together with limited or not always appropriate analytical skills, will lead to discrete assessments.

Minimal knowledge of the exam material will lead to marks that will not exceed sufficiency.

Lack of knowledge of the exam material and lack of orientation within the literary criticism materials offered during the course will be assessed negatively.

Exam sessions are scheduled for the following dates:

6 June 2025

20 June 2025

4 July 2025

18 July 2025

5 September 2025

26 September 2025

Teaching tools

Slides for each lesson; anthological selections of texts in the original language (for students who study the Arabic language) accompanied by translations in Italian or English.

Students who require specific services and adaptations to teaching activities due to a disability or specific learning disorders (SLD), must first contact the appropriate office: https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students

Office hours

See the website of Celeste Gianni