28923 - Theory of Literature (1) (LM) (A-L)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student possesses a heightened awareness of the specificity of literary language as a modality of the expression of the imagination and an instrument of interpretation of reality. The student possesses deep knowledge on the general concepts of literature; on the functioning of literary institutions; on the relationships between text and context; on the dynamics of literary communication; and on stylistic traditions, genres, modes, and forms of representation. The student knows how to interpret a literary text rhetorically, formalistically, stylistically, thematically, and ideologically. The student can elaborate autonomous reflections and formulate judgments on theoretical and methodological questions.

Course contents

Time and narrative: Experiments against death

All plots tend to move deathward, says a character in a novel by Don DeLillo, playing with the dual meaning of the word plot. Yet, he adds, to plot is also to affirm life, to seek shape and control: «A plot in fiction is the way we localize the force of the death outside the book, play it off, contain it». Human beings have always told stories like Sherazade, the artful narrator of The Thousand and One Nights, who postpones death through storytelling. Narrative is a tool to redeem the relentless sentence of time and to convert the irreversible chaos of life (chronos) into an organised, meaningful structure, ruled by an idea of destiny (kairos). In this regard, as Paul Ricoeur pointed out, «time becomes human time to the extent that it is organized after the manner of a narrative», while «narrative is meaningful to the extent that it portrays the features of temporal experience». However, these narrative models do not always display order and consistency, according to the «concord-fictions» theorised by Frank Kermode, through which «we look for a fullness of time, for beginning, middle and end in concord». The great Twentieth Century art, for example, has often shaped fictional worlds ruled by a «mixed», reversible, and broken time. Typically, plots lose the traditional «thread of the tale» and proceed by digressions, comings and goings, interferences and space-time short-circuits, similar to those of dreams or rêverie. But only this obscure and twisting way allows us to process the traumas of mourning and loss, toward the unspeakable that is the root and meaning of every great work of art. The course will deal with very different examples, taken from theatre, the novel and cinema, to explore this troubled landscape, where the modelling powers of storytelling face «myth», as Italo Calvino defined it, i.e. «the hidden part of every story, the buried part, the region that is still unexplored because there are as yet no words to enable us to get there».

Period: Second semester (February-March 2025)

Timetable of lessons, classrooms etc: Please visit the professor's 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. Texts

A. Drama

• Italo Svevo, La rigenerazione (1927-28), in Italo Svevo, Teatro e saggi, ed. Federico Bertoni, “Meridiani” Mondadori, pp. 617-767
  

B. Novels

• Virginia Woolf, Al faro (1927), Feltrinelli
• John Barth, L’opera galleggiante (1956 e 1967), minimum fax
• Georges Perec, W o il ricordo d’infanzia (1975), Einaudi

C. Film

• Agnès Varda, Les Plages d’Agnès (2008), Ciné-Tamaris
  (N.B. The Dvd copy, subtitled, is available in various libraries, like Sala Borsa and Department of Arts. The film will be analysed in detail during the lessons).

II. Critical texts

Students must read all the texts in section A and chose one text in section B. When possible, the texts will be uploaded on the platform Virtuale.

A. Mandatory texts

• Walter Benjamin, Il narratore. Considerazioni sull’opera di Nikolai Leskov, Einaudi (also in Walter Benjamin, Angelus Novus. Saggi e frammenti, ed. Renato Solmi, Einaudi, pp. 247-74)
  
• Gérard Genette, Discorso del racconto, only the section about narrative time, in Gérard Genette, Figure III, Einaudi, pp. 67-207
• To analyse Agnès Varda’s film, it is mandatory to read Anna Masecchia, Les plages d’Agnès, Carocci

B. One text to choose

• Peter Brooks, Alla ricerca della trama, first chapter of Peter Brooks, Trame. Intenzionalità e progetto nel discorso narrativo, Einaudi, pp. 3-39
• Italo Calvino, Cibernetica e fantasmi (Appunti sulla narrativa come processo combinatorio), in Italo Calvino, Una pietra sopra. Discorsi di letteratura e società, Mondadori, pp. 199-219 (or in Saggi, “Meridiani” Mondadori, vol. I, pp. 205-225)
• Adriana Cavarero, Il paradosso di Ulisse, and Sheherazade intrappolata nel testo, in Adriana Cavarero, Tu che mi guardi, tu che mi racconti. Filosofia della narrazione, Feltrinelli, pp. 27-45, 153-165
• Frank Kermode, Romanzi, second chapter of Frank Kermode, Il senso della fine. Studi sulla teoria del romanzo, Sansoni, pp. 33-58
• Paul Ricoeur, Tempo e racconto, third chapter of Paul Ricoeur, Tempo e racconto, volume 1, Jaca Book, p. 91-139

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 Teoria della letteratura: specific questions may relate to general and theoretical categories, 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 narrative texts 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 literary or filmic texts (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".

Links to further information

http://www.unibo.it/SitoWebDocente/default.htm?UPN=federico.bertoni@unibo.it

Office hours

See the website of Federico Bertoni