Literary Communication in Twentieth-Century Italy

A.Y. 2022/2023
9
Max ECTS
60
Overall hours
SSD
L-FIL-LET/11
Language
Italian
Learning objectives
In line with the objectives of the three-year degree course in Humanities for Communication, this course contributes to the acquisition of basic historical and theoretical competences aimed at training professionals capable of entering the world of communication, particularly in the field of publishing (especially book publishing) or cultural journalism.
The course aims to:
- provide students with the basic notions of the history of Italian literature and the history of publishing, from the early twentieth century to the early 2000s
- provide students with the basic theoretical and methodological tools to be able to interpret a literary text and a publishing product, that is the "book object" in its complexity and totality

The aim of the course therefore is to acquire historical knowledge of the development of the contemporary publishing and literary system, and to understand the methods of analysis of publishing mediation in relation to literary production, as a fundamental element in the formation of the cultural identity of contemporary Italy.
Expected learning outcomes
Students will be asked to:
- memorise the basic notions of the history of publishing and the history of Twentieth-century Italian literature
- understand the link between literary production and publishing production, both historically, on the basis of concrete examples of authors and texts (case studies), and theoretically, by understanding the methodological aspects underlying this link
- apply these historical and methodological acquisitions to the reading and interpretation of literary texts taken as case studies during the lesson; students will independently confront other texts chosen from the list proposed in the program
- analyse literary texts, demonstrating the ability to place them in their historical context, both from a literary and editorial point of view
- analyse literary texts, demonstrating the ability to read and interpret them from the point of view of their stylistic identity

Comparison with literary texts will therefore enable students to learn to move competently within one of the most complex textual constructions produced historically by man (literature), acquiring methods and critical skills that can then be used in professional contexts in which the written word is at the centre of communication dynamics.
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
First semester
Course syllabus
First lesson of the a.y. 2022/23 course:
THURSDAY 22 SEPTEMBER, 12.30 p.m., in classroom K02, via Noto


The first 20 lessons of the course (Editorial history of Twentieth-century Italian novel) will propose the following contents:
- history of twentieth-century Italian literature, with specific focus on the novel genre;
- coordinates of the new literary system of mature modernity, thus showing the different levels that characterize it, from the peaks of the avant-garde to the communicative compromises of entertainment literature, passing through institutional literature.

In this framework of historical and theoretical references, particular attention is paid to the novel form, the hegemonic genre of modernity and the textual structure on which are poured both the ambitions of the most sophisticated experimentalism and the aspirations of the widest readability.

Further contents:
- history of the twentieth-century publishing system, giving space to the historical developments of the profession of the publisher, of the activity and the physiognomy of those publishing houses that have represented the identity of Italian book culture (in particular literary) throughout the century,
- theoretical-methodological issues related to publishing mediation and communication and to the interpretation of the "book object".

All the historical passages, both literary and editorial, and the related theoretical-methodological issues will be exemplified in concrete terms through direct comparison with an author and with the anthological choice of a text taken from one of his works (case study).


The last 10 lessons of the course (Neorealism and not: two novels compared) will propose the following contents

- historical-critical reflection on Elio Vittorini's Uomini e no (Bompiani 1945) and Italo Calvino's Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno (Einaudi 1947),
- critical-interpretive reading of anthological excerpts from the two main works, considered first and foremost through the characteristics of their first edition and their genetic and publishing history
- placement of the two novels within the phenomenon of neo-realism and analysis of their value in the overall framework of the history of 20th century literature
- reflection on their still topical meanings

The choice of the two works to be historically framed and critically commented on derives from the fact that both represented, with innovative literary force, a decisive historical, political, social and cultural moment for the constitution of Italian identity in the following decades, right up to our present day. Moreover, their specific characteristics make it possible to carry out a stylistic as well as a content-related comparison, highlighting two narrative modes - Vittorini's and Calvino's - at once close and distant, strongly communicating with each other (as the two authors were) but also profoundly different in their constitutive stylistic identity. Observing the two novels, therefore, in the historical literary context in which they are set (first and foremost, therefore, within the framework of neo-realism) and, in a more extensive diachronic perspective, in relation to the activity of the respective authors, it is also possible to reconstruct the fundamental coordinates of the evolution of prose fiction between the 1930s (Vittorini's debut) and the 1980s (Calvino's literary journey's end) of the 20th century.
Prerequisites for admission
Ability to read essay contributions: critical, theoretical and methological studies or historical studies.
Ability to orientate on a bibliographic level: identification and retrieval of critical texts and literary works starting from the online OPAC and within the holdings of the University libraries or others in the area.
Teaching methods
Frontal lessons with PowerPoint projections, links to web pages and prior distribution of reading materials to be used in class, these ones uploaded on the Ariel page of the course (further clarifications will be given in the classroom).
During the lessons, the historical and theoretical contents will be explained with the same structure and articulation with which they will be requested during the exam; the reading and analysis of the textual materials is a concrete and empirical example guided by the teacher of what the student will be asked to do autonomously during the exam.
Practical indications are given on how to check learning and evaluation criteria and suggestions are given on how to use the bibliography in the program for an effective preparation of the subject.

Attendance is optional but strongly recommended.
Teaching Resources
Who takes an exam for 6 CFU have to study only the first part of the program (first 20 lessons)


ALL STUDENTS ARE ASKED TO READ THE INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO CONDUCT THE EXAMINATION AND THE INFORMATION ON THE BOOKS IN THE SYLLABUS, PUBLISHED ON 'ARIEL' HOME PAGE



COURSE SYLLABUS FOR ATTENDING STUDENTS (THEY ARE REQUIRED TO TAKE THE EXAMINATION IN ITALIAN)

First 20 lessons: Editorial history of 20th century Italian novel

· the contents of the lessons

· anthological excerpts provided from lesson to lesson for commentary purposes

· Alberto Cadioli - Giuliano Vigini, Storia dell'editoria in Italia. Dall'unità a oggi, Milano, Editrice Bibliografica, 2018

· Alberto Casadei, Il Novecento. Storia della letteratura italiana /6, a cura di Andrea Battistini, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2013 (ad esclusione delle parti dedicate alla poesia)

· Vittorio Spinazzola, Le articolazioni del pubblico novecentesco, essay contained in the volume La modernità letteraria, Milano, il Saggiatore-Fondazione Mondadori, 2001 (pp. 49-66) OR Vittorio Spinazzola, Le coordinate del sistema letterario essay contained in the volume L'esperienza della lettura, Milano, Unicopli, 2009 (pp. 85-98)

· Alberto Cadioli, Dall'editoria alla filologia. Saggi critici, Milano, Ledizioni, 2022 (being printed), only the following chapters (pp. 20-95 e pp. 109-126):

- Nota introduttiva a 'L'industria del romanzo' (1981)
- Il critico lettore e il critico storico (1983)
- La crisi dei codici (1987)
- Il labirinto dei tascabili (1992)
- Il costituirsi del libro letterario (1993)
- Introduzione alla prima edizione di 'Letterati editori' (1995)
- Pubblico e lettore nello studio dell'editoria italiana (1999)


· One title of your choice from this first group of volumes (each to be read with the introductory essay, when present):
- Luigi Pirandello, Quaderni di Serafino Gubbio operatore, Oscar Mondadori o Feltrinelli
- Aldo Palazzeschi, Il codice di Perelà. Romanzo futurista (edizione 1911), Oscar Mondadori
- Piero Jahier, Con me e con gli alpini (edizione 1918), Torino, Claudiana
- Giuseppe Antonio Borgese, Rubè, Oscar Mondadori
- Svevo, La coscienza di Zeno, Oscar Mondadori
- Alberto Moravia, Gli indifferenti, Tascabili Bompiani
- Cesare Pavese, Paesi tuoi, Tascabili Einaudi
- Cesare Pvese, La luna e i falò, Tascabili Einaudi
- Elio Vittorini, Conversazione in Sicilia, BUR / Tascabili Bompiani
- Beppe Fenoglio, I ventitre giorni della città di Alba, Tascabili Einaudi
- Beppe Fenoglio, Una questione privata, Tascabili Einaudi
- Vasco Pratolini, Metello, BUR
- Pier Paolo Pasolini, Ragazzi di vita, Tascabili Garzanti

· One title of your choice from this second group of volumes (each to be read with the introductory essay, when present):
- Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Il Gattopardo, Tascabili Feltrinelli
- Giorgio Bassani, Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini, Tascabili Feltrinelli
- Natalia Ginzburg, Lessico famigliare, Tascabili Einaudi
- Carlo Emlio Gadda, Quer pasticciaccio brutto de via Merulana, Adelphi
- Carlo Emilio Gadda, La cognizione del dolore, Adelphi
- Lucio Mastronardi, Il calzolaio di Vigevano, Tascabili Einaudi (edizione con altri testi)
- Paolo Volponi, Memoriale, Tascabili Einaudi
- Edoardo Sanguineti, Capriccio italiano, Feltrinelli (da cercare in biblioteca)
- Nanni Balestrini, Vogliamo tutto, Oscar Mondadori
- Elsa Morante, La Storia, Tascabili Einaudi
- Italo Calvino, Le cosmicomiche, Oscar Mondadori
- Italo Calvino, Se una notte d'inverno un viaggiatore, Oscar Mondadori
- Umberto Eco, Il nome della rosa, Bompiani o La Nave di Teseo
- Pier Vittorio Tondelli, Altri libertini, Tascabili Feltrinelli
- Ammanniti, Brancaccio e altri, Gioventù cannibale, Einaudi Stile Libero



Lessons 21-30: Neorealism and not: two novels compared

· the contents of the lessons

· Elio Vittorini, Uomini e no, a cura di Virna Brigatti, Oscar Mondadori Cult, 2022 (esattamente questa edizione: https://www.oscarmondadori.it/libri/uomini-e-no-elio-vittorini/ ): leggere il romanzo e i capitoli in appendice e studiare l'Introduzione e la Nota al testo

· Virna Brigatti, Diacronia di un romanzo. 'Uomini e no' di Elio Vittorini (1944-1966), Milano, Ledizioni, 2016, solo la seconda parte (1945-1966. Le tre edizioni successive, pp. 311-474)

· Virna Brigatti, Elio Vittorini, voce del «Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani» on line: https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/elio-vittorini_%28Dizionario-Biografico%29/


· Italo Calvino, Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno, con un racconto inedito, a cura di Mario Barenghi, Oscar Mondadori Cult, 2020 (esattamente questa edizione: https://www.oscarmondadori.it/libri/il-sentiero-dei-nidi-di-ragno-italo-calvino-2/ ): leggere il romanzo e il racconto inedito e studiare la Prefazione, la Postfazione e la nota al testo finale

· Annalisa Ponti, Come leggere "Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno" di Italo Calvino, Milano, Mursia, 1991 (capitoli I e II), the book is currently no longer available for purchase but a reprint for November 2022 has been requested and approved by the publisher (further information will be provided later)






COURSE SYLLABUS FOR NOT-ATTENDING STUDENTS
(FOREIGN STUDENTS ATTENDING LESSONS HAVE TO STUDY THE ITALIAN BIBLIOGRAPHY)

Below is the complete program with ALL the texts to be prepared.


Part one: Editorial history of 20th century Italian literature

· Donald McKenzie, Bibliography and the sociology of texts, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1999

· Ian Watt, The rise of the novel, Berkeley - Los Angeles, University of California, 2001 (chapters 1, 2, 6)

· Robert S. C., Gordon, An introduction to Twentieth-century Italian literature: a difficult modernity, London, Duckworth, 2005


Part Two: Two novels of the Neorealism

· Italo Calvino, The Path to the Nest of Spiders (any edition)

· Martin McLaughlin, Italo Calvino, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 1998

· Elio Vittorini, Men and not men (any edition)

· Guido Bonsaver, Elio Vittorini: the writer and the written, Leeds, Northern Universities press, 2000
Assessment methods and Criteria
Assessment method: oral test

Type: oral questioning structured as an interview with the teacher on the topics envisaged in the program; in particular, starting with questions that cover the main contents and topics dealt with in the lesson, the interview will be structured in more or less in-depth directions depending on the student's ability to argue and analyse

Assessment parameters: the student must demonstrate:
- knowledge of the history of literature and publishing in Twentieth-century Italy
- have understood the dynamics of literary and publishing system in Twentieth-century Italy
- have acquired an adequate and effective ability to analyse the literary texts and the "book object" that conveys it
- to know and be able to critically analyse the case studies presented in class, both the anthological ones in the first part of the course and the complete ones in the second part
- have read and be able to critically analyse the theses read independently
- be able to express themselves correctly and appropriately in relation to the topics dealt with, using the specific critical terminology
- be able to link and rework the content presented in class and/or in the volumes and essays on the program.

Type of evaluation used: grade in thirtieths. The exam 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)