00562 - Italian Literature (A-L)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, students should know italian literature from XIVth to XXth century. They will be able to discuss the most important texts and authors, to put them in historical perspective, and to improve their linguistic proficiency.

Course contents

Part 1. History of the italian literature: an introduction. From XIVth to XXth century.

Part 2. A literature's theme: an itinerary across the italian literature.

Readings/Bibliography

A. Part 1 – History of the italian literature

1. Dante Alighieri, Inferno, a cura di Emilio Pasquini e Antonio Enzo Quaglio, Milano, Garzanti, 1982.

2. Giancarlo Alfano, Paola Italia, Emilio Russo, Franco Tomasi, Profilo di Letteratura italiana, Milano, Mondadori, 2021.

3. Two of the next books:

Middle Age and Renaissance:

Guido Guinizzelli, Rime

Guido Cavalcanti, Rime

Francesco Petrarca, Canzoniere

Giovanni Boccaccio, Decameron

Matteo Maria Boiardo, L’innamoramento de Orlando o Amorum libri tres

Angelo Poliziano, Stanze per la giostra

Jacopo Sannazzaro, Arcadia

Baldassarre Castiglione, Il libro del Cortegiano

Niccolò Machiavelli, Il principe o Mandragola

Francesco Guicciardini, Ricordi

Pietro Bembo, Asolani

Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando furioso o Satire

Giovanni della Casa, Rime

Torquato Tasso, Gerusalemme liberata o Aminta

Giovan Battista Marino, Adone

Galileo Galilei, Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo

Modern and contemporary literature:

Giovanbattista Vico, La scienza nuova

Carlo Goldoni, La locandiera, oppure La bottega del caffè

Giuseppe Parini, Il giorno, oppure Le odi

Vittorio Alfieri, Vita, oppure Saul e Mirra

Ugo Foscolo, Ultime lettere di Jacopo Ortis

Giacomo Leopardi, Canti, oppure Operette morali

Alessandro Manzoni, I promessi sposi, oppure Adelchi

Giovanni Pascoli, Myricae, oppure Canti di Castelvecchio

Gabriele d’Annunzio, Il piacere, oppure Alcyone

Giovanni Verga, I malavoglia, oppure Mastro Don-Gesualdo

Luigi Pirandello, Il fu Mattia Pascal, oppure Sei personaggi in cerca d’autore

Italo Svevo, La coscienza di Zeno

Giuseppe Ungaretti, L’allegria

Eugenio Montale, Ossi di seppia

Carlo Emilio Gadda, Quer pasticciaccio brutto de via Merulana, oppure La cognizione del dolore

Italo Calvino, Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno o I nostri antenati

N.B. Students that don't attend the lectures must also read Giulio Ferroni, Prima lezione di letteratura italiana, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2009.

B. Part 2

For the students that attend the lectures, slides and notes from the lessons will be procured online, at the end of the course, on the website virtuale.unibo.it.

Students that don't attend the lectures must study Alberto Casadei Dante, Storia avventurosa della Divina commedia dalla selva oscura alla realtà aumentata, Milano, Il Saggiatore, 2020.

Teaching methods

The lectures will focus on general problems concerning the major authors and texts of the italian tradition, and the discussion of chritical theories.

Assessment methods

Italian students must sit a written and then an oral exam. Foreign students (Erasmus and Overseas) don't have to sit a written exam. The oral exam, for all students, will concern the authors and the texts of the italian literature presented in the teacher's lectures, and analysed in the recommended readings.

The result of the exam will be: insufficient in case of linguistic and expressive deficiencies, as well as of missed or erroneous comment to the texts; sufficient in case of correct linguistic expression, possession of basic literary knowledge and understanding of Italian literature in its chronological development; good in case of correct linguistic expression and knowledge of the texts and authors; excellent in case of excellent expressive ability, and in-depth knowledge of the texts and authors.

Teaching tools

Lectures ("Letture classensi")

Slides, CD and DVD

Online documents (virtuale.unibo.it)

Office hours

See the website of Claudia Sebastiana Nobili