Italian Modern and Contemporary Literature
A.Y. 2022/2023
Learning objectives
The course aims to provide an advanced overview of the modern literary system in Italy, in its historical development to the present day, according to different perspectives. One perspective is critical and methodological: it aims to strengthen the comprehension of the functional relationships among the main actors of literary communication (authors, readers, publishers, critics). The other perspectives focus on specific literary periods, training students to the critical analysis of the authors' choices of genre and style.
Expected learning outcomes
Knowledge: 1) Essential account of the raise and development of the modern bourgeois literary system: cultural trends, movements and conceptions of literature; genres and styles; analytical knowledge of significant works of Italian literary tradition from Unity to the present day. 2) Main issues related to the modern dynamics of literary experience: modes and forms of literary reading; the narrative pact; functions of publishing mediation.
Skills: 1) Ability to examine the reading list recognizing the authorship and audience features: reading pacts, role of paratexts, discursive regime, space-time narrative coordinates. 2) Ability to delineate the genre system and its main transformations; ability to place the individual works correctly; ability to describe and interpret the paratextual sections. 3) Ability to analyse the works comparing different critical interpretations, and to build up a streamlined bibliography.
Skills: 1) Ability to examine the reading list recognizing the authorship and audience features: reading pacts, role of paratexts, discursive regime, space-time narrative coordinates. 2) Ability to delineate the genre system and its main transformations; ability to place the individual works correctly; ability to describe and interpret the paratextual sections. 3) Ability to analyse the works comparing different critical interpretations, and to build up a streamlined bibliography.
Lesson period: First 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
A-H
Responsible
Lesson period
First semester
Course syllabus
Students taking the exam for 6 ECTS must study parts A and B
- Teaching part A (3 ECTS) is meant to highlight dynamics and phases of the modern literary system, focusing on authors, intellectuals, horizon of expectation-related changes and the functional relationships between the main actors of literary communication (authors, readers, publishers, critics).
Teaching part B: The tradition of the novel in Italy (3 ECTS)
- Development of the novel in Italy from the beginning of the 18th century to the end of the 20th century.
Teaching part C: Anna Maria Ortese: "Una zingara assorta in un sogno"? (3 ECTS)
Close reading of Il mare non bagna Napoli by Anna Maria Ortese e L'oro di Napoli by Giuseppe Marotta
In addition to the lessons, the didactic part B offers the opportunity of an optional Critical Writing Workshop, consisting in further seven lessons held by a teacher assistant. For students who decide to take the workshop, attendance is mandatory. The maximum number of participants is 35: enrolment will be possible within the first three lessons of the course.
During the workshop, students will be guided to the composition and discussion of a critical essay of 4/5 pages, about a twentieth-century Italian narrative text agreed with the teacher assistant. The evaluation of the paper will contribute to the final assessment of the exam. For students who will attend the Critical Writing workshop, the exam interview will focus on only Il mare non bagna Napoli by Anna Maria Ortese (Part B) with critical essays.
The positive evaluation of the workshop short essay favours the possibility of writing the Bachelor final paper in the discipline.
- Teaching part A (3 ECTS) is meant to highlight dynamics and phases of the modern literary system, focusing on authors, intellectuals, horizon of expectation-related changes and the functional relationships between the main actors of literary communication (authors, readers, publishers, critics).
Teaching part B: The tradition of the novel in Italy (3 ECTS)
- Development of the novel in Italy from the beginning of the 18th century to the end of the 20th century.
Teaching part C: Anna Maria Ortese: "Una zingara assorta in un sogno"? (3 ECTS)
Close reading of Il mare non bagna Napoli by Anna Maria Ortese e L'oro di Napoli by Giuseppe Marotta
In addition to the lessons, the didactic part B offers the opportunity of an optional Critical Writing Workshop, consisting in further seven lessons held by a teacher assistant. For students who decide to take the workshop, attendance is mandatory. The maximum number of participants is 35: enrolment will be possible within the first three lessons of the course.
During the workshop, students will be guided to the composition and discussion of a critical essay of 4/5 pages, about a twentieth-century Italian narrative text agreed with the teacher assistant. The evaluation of the paper will contribute to the final assessment of the exam. For students who will attend the Critical Writing workshop, the exam interview will focus on only Il mare non bagna Napoli by Anna Maria Ortese (Part B) with critical essays.
The positive evaluation of the workshop short essay favours the possibility of writing the Bachelor final paper in the discipline.
Prerequisites for admission
The students must have passed the exam in Italian contemporary literature.
Teaching methods
Frontal lessons with use of telematic tools, slides, audio-visual contents.
Dialogic teaching moments; explanation of the learning assessment methods and evaluation criteria.
If are difficult to find, the teaching materials will be available on ARIEL.
Attendance is optional, but strongly recommended.
Dialogic teaching moments; explanation of the learning assessment methods and evaluation criteria.
If are difficult to find, the teaching materials will be available on ARIEL.
Attendance is optional, but strongly recommended.
Teaching Resources
Course syllabus for attending students
Teaching part A
F. Brioschi, La letteratura e il suo doppio, in Critica della ragion poetica, Torino, Bollati Boringhieri, 2002, pp. 21-78
M. Bachtin, Epos e romanzo, in Estetica e romanzo, a c. di C. Strada Janovic, Torino, Einaudi, 1979, pp. 445-482
G. Rosa, Il patto narrativo e Ai margini del sistema, in Il patto narrativo. La fondazione della civiltà romanzesca in Italia, Milano, il Saggiatore, FAAM, 2008, pp. 9-92
Teaching part B
Students must read one work among the following with critical essays:
C. Malaparte, La pelle, a c. di C. Guagni e G. Pinotti, Milano, Adelphi, 2010 - L. Baldacci, Introduzione, in C. Malaparte, La pelle, Milano, Mondadori ("Oscar narrativa"), 1978, pp. V-XIII (on Ariel)
R. La Capria, Ferito a morte, Milano, Mondadori ("Oscar Moderni Cult"), 2021 - S. Veronesi, Prefazione, in R. La Capria, Ferito a morte, Milano, Mondadori ("Oscar Moderni Cult"), 2021, pp. V-XII
Teaching part C:
Students must read the following works with critical essays:
A.M. Ortese, Il mare non bagna Napoli, Milano, Adelphi, 2014 - S. Contarini, Tra cecità e visione. Come leggere «Il mare non bagna Napoli» di Anna Maria Ortese, in «Chroniques italiennes» (edition web), n. 5 (gennaio 2004) - PDF online: http://chroniquesitaliennes.univ-paris3.fr/PDF/Web5/Contarini.pdf; Recensioni pro e contro, in Per Anna Maria Ortese, a cura di L. Clerici, "Il Giannone", a. IV., nn. 7-8, gennaio-dicembre 2006, pp. 117-127 (articoli di N. Sansone, S. De Feo, G. Luti, E. De Luca e L. Clerici)
G. Marotta, L'oro di Napoli, Milano, Rizzoli ("BUR"), 2013 - R. Nigro, Introduzione, ivi, pp. 5-12; Carlo Bo, Prefazione, in G. Marotta, L'oro di Napoli, Milano, Bompiani, 1967, pp. 5-7 e V. Gadddi, Introduzione, ivi, pp. 9-18 (on Ariel ); Marotta, Giuseppe, in Dizionario biografico degli italiani, Volume 70 (2008) - online
Course syllabus for non attending srtudents
Teaching part A
V. Spinazzola, L'egemonia del romanzo, in L'egemonia del romanzo, Milano, il Saggiatore, 2007, pp. 7-69
Teaching part B
For students who have chosen Malaparte:
M. Biondi, Suckert, Kurt Erich, in Dizionario biografico degli italiani, Volume 94 (2019) (reperibile online) - G.B. Guerri, L'arcitaliano. Vita di Curzio Malaparte, Milano, Bompiani, 1980, pp. 236-249 (on Ariel); Nota al testo, in C. Malaparte, La pelle, a c. di C. Guagni e G. Pinotti, Milano, Adelphi, 2010, pp. 343-363
For students who have chosen La Capria:
S. Perrella, Il mondo come acqua, in R. La Capria, Opere, a c. e con un saggio introduttivo di S. Perrella, Milano, Mondadori, 2003 ("I Meridiani"), XI-XLV
Teaching part C:
L. Clerici, "Il mare non bagna Napoli" di Anna Maria Ortese, in Letteratura italiana, Diretta da Alberto Asor Rosa, 16 Il secondo Novecento, Torino, Giulio Einaudi editore - La Biblioteca di Repubblica-L'Espresso, 2007, pp. 381-400 (son Ariel); C. D'Urso, Napoli volontaria e involontaria: suggestioni letterarie per Anna Maria Ortese, in "Italian Studies in Southern Africa/Studi d'Italianistica nell'Africa Australe", Vol. 30, No. 2 (2017) - https://www.ajol.info/index.php/issa/article/view/163296
Marotta, Giuseppe, in Dizionario biografico degli italiani, Volume 70 (2008) online)
Teaching part A
F. Brioschi, La letteratura e il suo doppio, in Critica della ragion poetica, Torino, Bollati Boringhieri, 2002, pp. 21-78
M. Bachtin, Epos e romanzo, in Estetica e romanzo, a c. di C. Strada Janovic, Torino, Einaudi, 1979, pp. 445-482
G. Rosa, Il patto narrativo e Ai margini del sistema, in Il patto narrativo. La fondazione della civiltà romanzesca in Italia, Milano, il Saggiatore, FAAM, 2008, pp. 9-92
Teaching part B
Students must read one work among the following with critical essays:
C. Malaparte, La pelle, a c. di C. Guagni e G. Pinotti, Milano, Adelphi, 2010 - L. Baldacci, Introduzione, in C. Malaparte, La pelle, Milano, Mondadori ("Oscar narrativa"), 1978, pp. V-XIII (on Ariel)
R. La Capria, Ferito a morte, Milano, Mondadori ("Oscar Moderni Cult"), 2021 - S. Veronesi, Prefazione, in R. La Capria, Ferito a morte, Milano, Mondadori ("Oscar Moderni Cult"), 2021, pp. V-XII
Teaching part C:
Students must read the following works with critical essays:
A.M. Ortese, Il mare non bagna Napoli, Milano, Adelphi, 2014 - S. Contarini, Tra cecità e visione. Come leggere «Il mare non bagna Napoli» di Anna Maria Ortese, in «Chroniques italiennes» (edition web), n. 5 (gennaio 2004) - PDF online: http://chroniquesitaliennes.univ-paris3.fr/PDF/Web5/Contarini.pdf; Recensioni pro e contro, in Per Anna Maria Ortese, a cura di L. Clerici, "Il Giannone", a. IV., nn. 7-8, gennaio-dicembre 2006, pp. 117-127 (articoli di N. Sansone, S. De Feo, G. Luti, E. De Luca e L. Clerici)
G. Marotta, L'oro di Napoli, Milano, Rizzoli ("BUR"), 2013 - R. Nigro, Introduzione, ivi, pp. 5-12; Carlo Bo, Prefazione, in G. Marotta, L'oro di Napoli, Milano, Bompiani, 1967, pp. 5-7 e V. Gadddi, Introduzione, ivi, pp. 9-18 (on Ariel ); Marotta, Giuseppe, in Dizionario biografico degli italiani, Volume 70 (2008) - online
Course syllabus for non attending srtudents
Teaching part A
V. Spinazzola, L'egemonia del romanzo, in L'egemonia del romanzo, Milano, il Saggiatore, 2007, pp. 7-69
Teaching part B
For students who have chosen Malaparte:
M. Biondi, Suckert, Kurt Erich, in Dizionario biografico degli italiani, Volume 94 (2019) (reperibile online) - G.B. Guerri, L'arcitaliano. Vita di Curzio Malaparte, Milano, Bompiani, 1980, pp. 236-249 (on Ariel); Nota al testo, in C. Malaparte, La pelle, a c. di C. Guagni e G. Pinotti, Milano, Adelphi, 2010, pp. 343-363
For students who have chosen La Capria:
S. Perrella, Il mondo come acqua, in R. La Capria, Opere, a c. e con un saggio introduttivo di S. Perrella, Milano, Mondadori, 2003 ("I Meridiani"), XI-XLV
Teaching part C:
L. Clerici, "Il mare non bagna Napoli" di Anna Maria Ortese, in Letteratura italiana, Diretta da Alberto Asor Rosa, 16 Il secondo Novecento, Torino, Giulio Einaudi editore - La Biblioteca di Repubblica-L'Espresso, 2007, pp. 381-400 (son Ariel); C. D'Urso, Napoli volontaria e involontaria: suggestioni letterarie per Anna Maria Ortese, in "Italian Studies in Southern Africa/Studi d'Italianistica nell'Africa Australe", Vol. 30, No. 2 (2017) - https://www.ajol.info/index.php/issa/article/view/163296
Marotta, Giuseppe, in Dizionario biografico degli italiani, Volume 70 (2008) online)
Assessment methods and Criteria
The overall evaluation consists of an oral exam on the issues and the texts included in the syllabus.
Students are expected to understand and explain correctly the issues addressed, and to properly analyse the relevant literary texts.
International or Erasmus incoming students are kindly requested to contact the teacher of the course. Also students with disabilities (SLD) should contact the teacher of the course, in order to discuss alternative examination methods, in agreement with the competent Office.
The evaluation is expressed in 30 out of 30.
Students are expected to understand and explain correctly the issues addressed, and to properly analyse the relevant literary texts.
International or Erasmus incoming students are kindly requested to contact the teacher of the course. Also students with disabilities (SLD) should contact the teacher of the course, in order to discuss alternative examination methods, in agreement with the competent Office.
The evaluation is expressed in 30 out of 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
I-Z
Responsible
Lesson period
First semester
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)