28883 - Literature and Rhetoric (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student knows the nomenclature, definitions, and persuasive implications of the main argumentative techniques of the rhetoric code, with particular attention to rhetorical devices and their classification. The student knows how to apply all of the above to analyses of literary texts.

Course contents

 

Rhetoric in literature

The course has a dual purpose: on the one hand it is concerned with making rhetoric known step by step, that is, by genres of speech, parts of speech, places, topics, and rhetorical figures, the latter divided into figures per adiectio, detractio, immutatio and permutatio, on the other hand we want to propose the key rhetorical-argumentative reading of 20 short stories of the Decameron developed on the basis of the contents of the ancient and new rhetoric, without neglecting the rules of the ars dictandi.

Today's rhetoric

This section of the course will be dedicated primarily to the analysis of current political communication. The following topics will be examined: apodictic techniques and argumenta ad; the Berlusconi case: from taking to the field to taking to the skies; the argument of the ridiculous in public confrontation, the argument of the ridiculous as a substitute for the political one, the political language in search of the resources of the comic one. On a literary level these themes will be anticipated by the analysis of the figure and speeches of Consalvo Uzeda in the Viceré and in the Imperio of Federico De Roberto. The course will conclude with the rhetorical-argumentative investigation of Barilla commercials from 1958 to today.

Readings/Bibliography

The following books are recommended and required to be read:

F. Piazza, La retorica di Aristotele. Introduzione alla lettura, Roma, Carocci, 2015.

E. Danblon, L'uomo retorico. Cultura Ragione Azione. Milano-Udine, Mimesis, 2014.

B. Capaci, C. Festa, P. Licheri, E. Passaro, Trappole per Topoi. La retorica che non ti aspetti nella letteratura e nella vita. Città di Castello, I libri di Emil, 2023.

Teaching methods

Frontal lesson and flipped classroom

Assessment methods

Check during the exam interview both the topics covered in the course and the contents of the bibliography. Non-attending students are required to contact the teacher to agree on supplementary readings.

Office hours

See the website of Bruno Capaci