Literature, Fashion and Costume in Contemporary Italy
A.Y. 2020/2021
Learning objectives
The course aims to study the relationship between Italian literature, cultural context and collective imagination through the analysis of works belonging to different genres and levels of literary production. These include traditional genres such as the novel, but also mixed types and forms of written production which transcend the boundaries of institutional literature: memorialist, honorific, or journalistic literature. These are formulas practiced by writers of various backgrounds - writers, journalists, protagonists of cultural communication - who interpret new professional roles and dialogue for specific audiences through works capable of intercepting their tastes and interests, orienting them in different ways. These are fashionable works, therefore, both in the role of a best-seller, and because they record the new trends of cultural and material consumption, reworking them.
Expected learning outcomes
The course aims to lead the participants to the acquisition of an in-depth understanding of the relationship between literary, semi-literary and extra-literary dimensions within the context of nineteenth and twentieth century production. It is a capacity to orient the main genres (novel, memorial, travel and journalistic writings) by linking literary and paraliterary phenomena, cultural context and collective imagination, through the decisive role of the target audience. Thus, through the assimilation of different perspectives of investigation into not only literary texts, the student matures their respective capacity to identify the authorial intentionality within the full awareness of the relationships between work and context, focusing stereotypes and new proposals capable of shaping the imagination of the recipients.
Lesson period: Second semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
Second semester
The lessons will take place remotely, in both synchronous form, on Microsoft Teams, and with asynchronous resources and contents that will be made available on the Ariel website of the course.
On the Ariel website of the course students will find all the information to access the lessons (link etc.) and any eventual changes in the syllabus or in reference texts (bibliography etc.).
On the Ariel website of the course students will find all the information to access the lessons (link etc.) and any eventual changes in the syllabus or in reference texts (bibliography etc.).
Course syllabus
The discovery of the sea (60 hours, 9 CFU)
Unit A will be focussed on two very different novels I Malavoglia by Giovanni Verga and Il Corsaro Nero by Emilio Salgari: the former dealing with the hard life of fishermen in the small Aci Trezza gulf in Sicily, the latter based on pirates' fictional adventures in the ocean. Even Units B and C will centre around two different works: on the one hand Lettere di crociera in Liguria by the unconventional poet Roccatagliata Ceccardi, on the other hand Sull'Oceano by Edmondo De Amicis, which is a report of an ocean crossing on a ship carrying migrants from Genua to Buenos Ayres. Therefore, the writers' relationship with the sea results a complex and contractory one, characterized by the need to survive, spirit of adventure and tourist interest.
Unit A will be focussed on two very different novels I Malavoglia by Giovanni Verga and Il Corsaro Nero by Emilio Salgari: the former dealing with the hard life of fishermen in the small Aci Trezza gulf in Sicily, the latter based on pirates' fictional adventures in the ocean. Even Units B and C will centre around two different works: on the one hand Lettere di crociera in Liguria by the unconventional poet Roccatagliata Ceccardi, on the other hand Sull'Oceano by Edmondo De Amicis, which is a report of an ocean crossing on a ship carrying migrants from Genua to Buenos Ayres. Therefore, the writers' relationship with the sea results a complex and contractory one, characterized by the need to survive, spirit of adventure and tourist interest.
Prerequisites for admission
Basic knowledge of 19th and 20th italian literature: outstanding authors and literary movements.
Ability to read critical and methological studies.
Ability to read critical and methological studies.
Teaching methods
Front lessons with the aid of slides, audiovisual materials, learners and teacher interaction. Attendance is not compulsory but it is highly suggested. The criteria to evaluate the learning process will be explained to students.
Attendance is not compulsory but haihighly recomanded.
Attendance is not compulsory but haihighly recomanded.
Teaching Resources
Unit A: Novels
Course syllabus for attending students
Choose between:
- G. Verga, I Malavoglia, Milano, Mondadori ("Oscar"), 2015 - or another edition available on-line
- E. Salgari, Il corsaro nero, Milano, BUR Grandi classici, 2002 - or another edition available on-line
For those students who choose Verga: G. Rosa, La letteratura del positivismo nella "capitale morale", in Identità di una metropoli. La letteratura della Milano moderna, Torino, Aragno, 2004, pp. 211-254 - the PDF will be available on ARIEL
For those students who choose Salgari: G. Piccinini, Gli ultimi gentiluomini di ventura, in La valle della luna. Avventura, esotismo, orientalismo nell'opera di Emilio Salgari, a c. di E. Beseghi, Scandicci, La nuova Italia, 1992, pp. 105-122 - the PDF will be available on ARIEL
Unit B: Travel literature
Course syllabus for attending students
- C. Roccatagliata Ceccardi, Lettere di crociera, a c. di P. Zoboli, Genova, San Marco dei Giustiniani, 1996 - available on-line
- P. Zoboli, Ceccardo, il viaggio e la morte, in C. Roccatagliata Ceccardi, Lettere di crociera, a c. di P. Zoboli, Genova, San Marco dei Giustiniani, 1996, pp. 7-19 - available on-line
Unità didattica C: Not only journalism
Course syllabus for attending students
- E. De Amicis, Sull'Oceano, a c. di F. De Nicola, Milano, Oscar Mondadori, 2004 - available on-line
- G. Polimeni, Le parole sospese: gli italiani 'Sull'Oceano' di Edmondo De Amicis, in "Carte di viaggio", 2014, n. 7, pp. 119-141 - the PDF will be available on ARIEL
Unit A: Novels
Course syllabus for non attending students
For those students who choose Verga: V. Spinazzola, Giovanni Verga, in V. Spinazzola, Letteratura e popolo borghese, Milano, Unicopli, 2000, pp. 92-97 - the PDF will be available on ARIEL; C. Riccardi, Da Nedda ai Malavoglia: storia del romanzo e Cronologia, in G. Verga, I Malavoglia, Milano, Mondadori ("Oscar"), 2015, pp. VII-XXIX e pp. XXXI-XLI
For those students who choose Salgari: V. Spinazzola, Emilio Salgari, in V. Spinazzola, Letteratura e popolo borghese, Milano, Unicopli, 2000, pp. 68-72 - the PDF will be available on ARIEL; L. Clerici, Nota bibliografica e biografica, in E. Salgari, I misteri della jungla nera. Edizione annotata, a cura di Mario Spagnol, Firenze, Salani, 1991, pp. XII-XVI - the PDF will be available on ARIEL
Unit B: Travel literature
Course syllabus for non attending students
- L. Clerici, 1898 Ceccardo Roccatagliata Ceccardi. Lettere di crociera, in Il viaggiatore meravigliato, a c. di L. Clerici, Milano, il Saggiatore, 1999, pp. 181-186 - the PDF will be available on ARIEL
Unità didattica C: Not only journalism
Course syllabus for non attending students
- V. Spinazzola, Edmondo De Amicis, in V. Spinazzola, Letteratura e popolo borghese, Milano, Unicopli, 2000, pp. 59-67 - the PDF will be available on ARIEL; F. De Nicola, Introduzione, in E. De Amicis, Sull'Oceano, a c. di F. De Nicola, Milano, Oscar Mondadori, 2004, pp. V-XXVIII; L. Clerici, Premessa [E. De Amicis, Sull'Oceano], in Scrittori italiani di viaggio 1861-2000, a cura di L. Clerici, Milano, Mondadori ("I Meridiani"), 2013, pp. 1494-1504 - the PDF will be available on ARIEL
Course syllabus for attending students
Choose between:
- G. Verga, I Malavoglia, Milano, Mondadori ("Oscar"), 2015 - or another edition available on-line
- E. Salgari, Il corsaro nero, Milano, BUR Grandi classici, 2002 - or another edition available on-line
For those students who choose Verga: G. Rosa, La letteratura del positivismo nella "capitale morale", in Identità di una metropoli. La letteratura della Milano moderna, Torino, Aragno, 2004, pp. 211-254 - the PDF will be available on ARIEL
For those students who choose Salgari: G. Piccinini, Gli ultimi gentiluomini di ventura, in La valle della luna. Avventura, esotismo, orientalismo nell'opera di Emilio Salgari, a c. di E. Beseghi, Scandicci, La nuova Italia, 1992, pp. 105-122 - the PDF will be available on ARIEL
Unit B: Travel literature
Course syllabus for attending students
- C. Roccatagliata Ceccardi, Lettere di crociera, a c. di P. Zoboli, Genova, San Marco dei Giustiniani, 1996 - available on-line
- P. Zoboli, Ceccardo, il viaggio e la morte, in C. Roccatagliata Ceccardi, Lettere di crociera, a c. di P. Zoboli, Genova, San Marco dei Giustiniani, 1996, pp. 7-19 - available on-line
Unità didattica C: Not only journalism
Course syllabus for attending students
- E. De Amicis, Sull'Oceano, a c. di F. De Nicola, Milano, Oscar Mondadori, 2004 - available on-line
- G. Polimeni, Le parole sospese: gli italiani 'Sull'Oceano' di Edmondo De Amicis, in "Carte di viaggio", 2014, n. 7, pp. 119-141 - the PDF will be available on ARIEL
Unit A: Novels
Course syllabus for non attending students
For those students who choose Verga: V. Spinazzola, Giovanni Verga, in V. Spinazzola, Letteratura e popolo borghese, Milano, Unicopli, 2000, pp. 92-97 - the PDF will be available on ARIEL; C. Riccardi, Da Nedda ai Malavoglia: storia del romanzo e Cronologia, in G. Verga, I Malavoglia, Milano, Mondadori ("Oscar"), 2015, pp. VII-XXIX e pp. XXXI-XLI
For those students who choose Salgari: V. Spinazzola, Emilio Salgari, in V. Spinazzola, Letteratura e popolo borghese, Milano, Unicopli, 2000, pp. 68-72 - the PDF will be available on ARIEL; L. Clerici, Nota bibliografica e biografica, in E. Salgari, I misteri della jungla nera. Edizione annotata, a cura di Mario Spagnol, Firenze, Salani, 1991, pp. XII-XVI - the PDF will be available on ARIEL
Unit B: Travel literature
Course syllabus for non attending students
- L. Clerici, 1898 Ceccardo Roccatagliata Ceccardi. Lettere di crociera, in Il viaggiatore meravigliato, a c. di L. Clerici, Milano, il Saggiatore, 1999, pp. 181-186 - the PDF will be available on ARIEL
Unità didattica C: Not only journalism
Course syllabus for non attending students
- V. Spinazzola, Edmondo De Amicis, in V. Spinazzola, Letteratura e popolo borghese, Milano, Unicopli, 2000, pp. 59-67 - the PDF will be available on ARIEL; F. De Nicola, Introduzione, in E. De Amicis, Sull'Oceano, a c. di F. De Nicola, Milano, Oscar Mondadori, 2004, pp. V-XXVIII; L. Clerici, Premessa [E. De Amicis, Sull'Oceano], in Scrittori italiani di viaggio 1861-2000, a cura di L. Clerici, Milano, Mondadori ("I Meridiani"), 2013, pp. 1494-1504 - the PDF will be available on ARIEL
Assessment methods and Criteria
Oral test/Interview. The oral test is based on the discussion of the topics included in the syllabus. Students are required to have good knowlwdge of the works and the skill to analyse them critically showing methodological awareness with reference to the 20th century literary output.
Assessement criteria: clear answers using appropriate language; ability to use critical thinking.
Evaluation will be based on marks; maximum score 30. The exame is passed with 18/30.
Assessement criteria: clear answers using appropriate language; ability to use critical thinking.
Evaluation will be based on marks; maximum score 30. The exame is passed with 18/30.
Unita' didattica A
L-FIL-LET/11 - CONTEMPORARY ITALIAN LITERATURE - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Unita' didattica B
L-FIL-LET/11 - CONTEMPORARY ITALIAN LITERATURE - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Unita' didattica C
L-FIL-LET/11 - CONTEMPORARY ITALIAN LITERATURE - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Professor(s)