09435 - Theory of Literature (A-L)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the students have a basic knowledge of some general concepts of literature, of literary institutions, of relationships between text and contest and of the dynamic of literary communication. They know and can apply some basic methodologies to analyse literary texts.

Course contents

Introduction to text analysis: The modernist challenge

The course of Theory of literature for undergraduates aims to: 1) Outline a new approach to literary experience, conceiving theory not as a self-referential system but as a point of view, an optical device to sharpen textual comprehension; 2) Provide methods for text analysis and interpretation, against trivial critical trends where the text is only a pre-text to study something else (the author, the themes, the ideology, the historical context, etc.). On the one hand, the theoretical approach is a way to research, explore and pose questions. On the other hand, the text is a workshop where we can develop and test the tools to really understand what we call literature. In this framework, the main topic will be the historical evolution of the novel in the context of European Modernism. The radical deconstruction of the classical narrative models carried out by the great novelists of the early Twentieth Century could provide a perfect testing ground to understand various theoretical and narratological issues – the plot, the narrator, the point of view, the narrative time, the character, the representation of inner life, and more generally the meaning and purpose of literature with respect to the world, in a period marked by massive historical transformations.

Period: Second semester (February-May 2025)

Timetable of lessons, classrooms etc: See teacher website.

Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities. It is suggested that they get in touch as soon as possible with the relevant University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en) and with the lecturer in order to seek together the most effective strategies for following the lessons and/or preparing for the examination.

Readings/Bibliography

I. Novels

• Marcel Proust, Combray, first section of Dalla parte di Swann (1913), in Alla ricerca del tempo perduto, Mondadori, vol. I, pp. 1-227 (it is recommended to read the text in this edition, translation by Giovanni Raboni)
• James Joyce, Dedalus. Ritratto dell’artista da giovane (1916), Mondadori o Adelphi
• Katherine Mansfield, Preludio (1918), in Katherine Mansfield, Tutti i racconti, vol. I: Felicità. Garden-Party, Adelphi, pp. 1-.

• Italo Svevo, La coscienza di Zeno (1923), recommended edition in Italo Svevo, Romanzi e “continuazioni”, eds. Nunzia Palmieri and Fabio Vittorini, “Meridiani” Mondadori
• Franz Kafka, Il castello (1926), Garzanti
• Virginia Woolf, Al faro (1927), Feltrinelli

II. Critical Texts

Students will study all texts in Group A and choose two texts in Group B. When possible, pdf versions will be uploaded on "Virtuale".

Group A (mandatory)

• Federico Bertoni, Letteratura. Teorie, metodi, strumenti, Carocci
• Erich Auerbach, Il calzerotto marrone, in Erich Auerbach, Mimesis: Il realismo nella letteratura occidentale, Einaudi, volume II, pp. 305-338
• Giacomo Debenedetti, Joyce e Proust, in Giacomo Debenedetti, Il romanzo del Novecento, Garzanti, pp. 285-305

Group B (choose two texts)

• Federico Bertoni, La faccia oscura del modernismo, in Giancarlo Alfano, Claudia Carmina (eds.), Frontiere/fratture. Il senso del tempo nella storia della letteratura italiana, Palumbo, pp. 83-103
• Remo Ceserani, Italy and Modernity: Peculiarities and Contradictions, in Luca Somigli, Mario Moroni (eds.), Italian Modernism. Italian Culture between Decadentism and Avant-Garde, University of Toronto Press, pp. 35-62
• Raffaele Donnarumma, Tracciato del modernismo italiano, in Romano Luperini, Massimiliano Tortora (eds.), Sul modernismo italiano, Liguori, p. 34 ss.
• Mario Lavagetto, Svevo nella terra degli orfani, in Mario Lavagetto, Lavorare con piccoli indizi, Bollati Boringhieri, pp. 277-298
• Vicki Mahaffey, Streams Beyond Consciousness, Stylistic Immediacy in the Modernist Novel, in Jean-Michel Rabaté (ed.), A Handbook of Modernism Studies, Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 35-54
• Donata Meneghelli, Quanto è modernista il “modernismo italiano”? Letteratura mondiale, storia letteraria, periodizzazione, in Silvia Contarini, Margherita Marras, Giuliana Pias, Lucia Quaquarelli (eds.), La letteratura italiana al tempo della globalizzazione, “Narrativa”, nn. 35-36, 2013-14, pp. 77-91
• Luca Somigli, Dagli “uomini del 1914” alla “planetarietà”. Quadri per una storia del concetto di modernismo, «Allegoria», n. 63, 2011, pp. 7-29 (http://www.allegoriaonline.it/PDF/422.pdf )
• Susan Stanford Friedman, Definitional Excursions: The Meanings of Modern/Modernity/Modernism, in Pamela Caughie (ed.), Disciplining Modernism, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 11-33
• David Trotter, The Modernist Novel, in Michael Levenson (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Modernism, Cambridge University Press, pp. 69-98

Teaching methods

Traditional lectures.

Assessment methods

The exam consists of an oral test (20-30 minutes) that will assess the knowledge of the texts and the student’s critical and interpretative skills.

It is mandatory to read and carefully study all the texts listed in the bibliography, including the manual of Literary Theory, Letteratura. Teorie, metodi, strumenti: specific questions may relate to general and theoretical categories (canon, text, intertextuality, fictional world, genre, mode, theme etc.), beyond the monographic topic of the course.

The exam will be divided in two parts:

1) Textual identification and analysis. As a first step, a short textual fragment (10-15 lines) taken from the novels listed in bibliography (section I) will be submitted to the student, who must identify the text, the author, the date of publication, and must contextualize it with regard to the plot, the characters and the narrative situation. The positive outcome of this first step allows the student to access the next one. A partial of defective identification of the text allows to proceed anyway (but with a pass or “fair” mark), while a complete misunderstanding leads to the failure of the exam.

2) Critical questions. In the following step, the student must answer to some questions: a) About the critical texts (see bibliography, section II, groups A and B); b) About the novels (section I), questioned both in a notional and in a critical-interpretative way.

The exam will also assess the student's methodological awareness, the ability to master the bibliography in the course programme and the the field-specific language of the discipline. The ability to establish links between the theoretical framework and the texts will be especially appreciated. A wide and systematic knowledge of the texts, interpretative insight, critical understanding, and rhetorical effectiveness will be evaluated with a mark of excellence (27-30), while 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 evaluated with a “fair” mark (24-26). A superficial knowledge and understanding of the material, a scarce analytical and expressive ability will be evaluated with a pass mark (18-23) or a negative mark.

Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities. It is necessary to contact the relevant University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en) with ample time in advance: the office will propose some adjustments, which must in any case be submitted 15 days in advance to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of these in relation to the teaching objectives.

Teaching tools

Projection of PowerPoint slides. For further teaching material, please visit the Professor's website and "Virtuale".

Office hours

See the website of Federico Bertoni