B2735 - COMPARATIVE LITERATURE I

Learning outcomes

The study of comparative literature places literature in a global context, explores the connections between different cultures through literary history, literary criticism, critical theory, aesthetics, and poetics, and strives to develop a nuanced understanding of the socio-cultural roles that literature plays. The course enables students to pursue critical inquiry in a wide range of topics. By the end of the course, students will be capable to explore and investigate literary forms and themes in a comparative perspective, with a special focus on the relationships between different national tradition and different cultural/historical contexts, as well as the relationships between literary texts and other semiotic systems of expression (music, cinema, arts, theatre, etc.).

Course contents

BAES students are reminded that the course of Comparative Literature 1 is offered only at the Forlì Campus.

The BAES study plan awards 6 ETCS for the course of Comparative Literature 1.

In order to reach 6 ECTS, BAES students should attend all lectures and carry out the final exam, as every other student enrolled in the course.

Further information will be provided in class at the beginning of the course.

The course will focus on the relationships between literature and cinema.

During the lessons the following literary texts will be presented and subsequently some cinematographic works taken from them.

LIST OF LITERARY TEXTS

For the exam each student is required to read in full at least two of the works listed below (also in translation):

- William Shakespeare, Hamlet;

- Mary Shelley, Frankenstein;

- Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights;

- Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter;

- James Joyce, Dubliners;

- Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway;

- Francis Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby.

LIST OF FILMS that must be seen for the exam:

- Franco Zeffirelli, Hamlet;

- Mel Brooks, Frankenstein Junior;

- William Wyler, Wuthering Heights;

- Roland Joffe, The Scarlet Letter;

- John Huston, The Dead;

- Stephen Daldry, The Hours;

- Baz Luhrmann, The Great Gatsby.

Readings/Bibliography

1) Giacomo Manzoli, Cinema e letteratura, Carocci. 

[Students who are not native Italian speakers can propose an alternative reading in their language. This replacement must be agreed with the lecturer at the beginning of the course]

2) At least two of the literary works listed in the "Course Contents" (even in translation).

FURTHER REQUESTS FOR NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS:

Non-attending students will have to privately secure the full viewing of the films that will be screened (in whole or in part) and analyzed in class.

No further readings are requested.

Teaching methods

Lectures, text analysis and commentary, use of multimedia products.

Assessment methods

The final exam will consist of a written test. The objectives of the test will be related to the measurement of the learning outcomes expected from the students; the contents of the test will concern the topics covered in the course; the assessment method will consist of an essay about a particular topic covered by the course, to be processed in 90 minutes; evaluation method: overall grade out of thirty. There are no intermediate or partial tests.

Evaluation grid

30-28: in-depth knowledge of the course contents; language that is always exact and precise and of excellent argumentative clarity (the attribution of distinction presupposes, in addition to the previous requirements, a strong and original personal reworking);

27-26: in-depth knowledge of the contents; language mostly exact and congruous and of good argumentative clarity;

25-24: discrete knowledge of the contents; overall correct language, even if characterized by some inaccuracies;

23-21: sufficient knowledge of the course topics; language not always correct; presence of excessive simplifications of concepts;

20-18: overall sufficient knowledge, even if sometimes incomplete, of the contents; incorrect language, characterized by generalizations, inconsistencies and trivializations of concepts;

test not passed: serious gaps in the preparation that testify an overall insufficient knowledge of the course contents and/or incorrect and inadequate critical language with frequent misunderstandings.

Office hours

See the website of Roberto Carnero