Dante Studies
A.Y. 2023/2024
Learning objectives
The aim of the teaching is to provide students with a thorough understanding of themes and problems central to Dante's poetics and thought, as well as of later interpretations of the writer, through a direct reading of his works and in the light of the most up-to-date acquisitions in criticism.
Expected learning outcomes
Ability to independently read and understand Dante's works, placing them correctly in the context of the period, the author's biography and his thought; knowledge of the current lines and methodologies for the exegesis of Dante's works and for the analysis of their fortune; ability to read the works according to a multiplicity of approaches (philological, literary, linguistic, historical); knowledge of the main bibliographical tools for the study of Dante's works.
Lesson period: Second semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course can be attended as a single course.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
Second semester
Course syllabus
Part A (20 hrs, 3 ECTS): Dante and Justice (Paolo Chiesa)
Part B (20 hrs, 3 ECTS): Similes in Dante's Comedy (Guglielmo Barucci)
Part C (20 hrs, 3 ECTS): Vita nova (or Vita nuova?): philological issues (Gabriele Baldassari)
The course is divided into three parts of 20 hours, each assigned to a different lecturer. The three parts of the course run in parallel, each on a different day of the week for the whole semester. Each part of the course confers 3 ECTS.
Part A will develop an in-depth reading through Dante's various works, focusing on the theme of "justice", understood both in a theological and in a political sense. The Dante texts under study will be provided in anthology at the beginning of the lessons.
Part B will deal with forms, typologies, technique and function of the similes in the poem, within the frame of classic and medieval theory, models and practices. In addition to a systemic analysis, we will proceed with the reading of some case studies in the context of cantos and 'cantiche'.
Part C will deal with the various philological issues that have been aroused by the Vita nova over time (starting with the title itself): the most relevant elements of the ancient tradition; the distinction between the organic tradition, the tradition by excerpt and the extravagant tradition of rhymes; the problem of paragrafication; the debate on the peculiar lessons of the ms. Chigiano L VIII 305; and the definition of the graphic and linguistic facies.
Students taking 9 ECTS examination must prepare all three parts of the course. Students taking 6 ECTS examination may freely choose two of the three parts.
Part B (20 hrs, 3 ECTS): Similes in Dante's Comedy (Guglielmo Barucci)
Part C (20 hrs, 3 ECTS): Vita nova (or Vita nuova?): philological issues (Gabriele Baldassari)
The course is divided into three parts of 20 hours, each assigned to a different lecturer. The three parts of the course run in parallel, each on a different day of the week for the whole semester. Each part of the course confers 3 ECTS.
Part A will develop an in-depth reading through Dante's various works, focusing on the theme of "justice", understood both in a theological and in a political sense. The Dante texts under study will be provided in anthology at the beginning of the lessons.
Part B will deal with forms, typologies, technique and function of the similes in the poem, within the frame of classic and medieval theory, models and practices. In addition to a systemic analysis, we will proceed with the reading of some case studies in the context of cantos and 'cantiche'.
Part C will deal with the various philological issues that have been aroused by the Vita nova over time (starting with the title itself): the most relevant elements of the ancient tradition; the distinction between the organic tradition, the tradition by excerpt and the extravagant tradition of rhymes; the problem of paragrafication; the debate on the peculiar lessons of the ms. Chigiano L VIII 305; and the definition of the graphic and linguistic facies.
Students taking 9 ECTS examination must prepare all three parts of the course. Students taking 6 ECTS examination may freely choose two of the three parts.
Prerequisites for admission
A basic knowledge of the literary figure of Dante is required, as is generally obtained in the courses of Italian Literature in undergraduate programmes.
Teaching methods
Lectures with reading and commentary of passages from Dante's works.
Frontal teaching is flanked by moments of discussion aimed at increasing the students' critical abilities; within the course (and according to the limits allowed by the size of the class), moments of personal critical elaboration are foreseen, through the production of papers or reports.
Class attendance is strongly recommended.
Teaching material will be uploaded before the start of the course on the myAriel platform.
Frontal teaching is flanked by moments of discussion aimed at increasing the students' critical abilities; within the course (and according to the limits allowed by the size of the class), moments of personal critical elaboration are foreseen, through the production of papers or reports.
Class attendance is strongly recommended.
Teaching material will be uploaded before the start of the course on the myAriel platform.
Teaching Resources
In addition to the bibliography listed below, please note that materials that will be uploaded to the myAriel platform are an integral part of the program.
ATTENDING STUDENTS
Part A (20 hours, 3 ECTS): Dante and Justice (Paolo Chiesa)
Reference texts:
- Anthology of Dante's texts that will be made available at the beginning of class. Commentary on the texts will be the subject of the professor's lecture.
Critical bibliography:
- P. Chiesa, "La Monarchia, o il libro di tutti gli uomini", in "Dante e il mondo, tra realtà e poesia, tra storia e letteratura". Atti del LVIII Convegno storico internazionale, Todi, 10-12 ottobre 2021, Spoleto, CISAM, 2022, pp. 1-19.
- P. Chiesa, La Monarchia di Dante: un pensiero politico ancora attuale?, in Primus in gloria. Studi per il VII centenario della morte di Dante 1321-2021, a cura di D. Personeni, Bergamo, Ateneo di Scienze Lettere e Arti di Bergamo, 2023, pp. 93-105.
- Lectura Dantis Romana. Cento canti per cento anni. III. Paradiso. 2. Canti XVIII-XXXIII, Roma, Salerno, 2015 [limited to pp. 568-615, relating to Par. XIX-XX]
Part B (20 hours, 3 ECTS): Similes in Dante's Comedy (Guglielmo Barucci)
Reference texts:
- Whatever edition of Commedia; advised the edition by Roberto Mercuri (Torino, Einaudi, 2021). An anthology of Dante's similes will be made available at the beginning of the class.
Critical bibliography:
- Antonino Pagliaro, headword Similitudine, in Enciclopedia dantesca, Roma, Treccani, 1976, vol. V, 253-259 [available online on the Treccani website].
- Nicolò Maldina, Osservazioni sulla struttura delle similitudini e sulle modalità di descrizione nella "Commedia", in "L'Alighieri", XXXIV, 2009, pp. 65-92
- Luca Serianni, Sulle similitudini della Commedia, in "L'Alighieri", XXXV, 2010, pp. 25-43 [available on the Athenaeum digital library].
Part C (20 hours, 3 ECTS): Vita nova (or Vita nuova?): philological issues (Gabriele Baldassari)
Reference texts:
- Dante Alighieri, Vita nova, edited by Stefano Carrai, Milan, Rizzoli, 2009 (and later), with all apparatus.
- Other texts (particularly texts of the Vita nova in extravagant tradition) will be made available during the lectures.
- For the text of other editions of the Vita nova that will be compared with Carrai's, use will be made of http://vitanova.unipv.it/ or of materials that will be made available online.
- Critical bibliography:
- Guglielmo Gorni, «Paragrafi» e titolo della "Vita nova", in G. Gorni, Dante prima della "Commedia", Firenze, Cadmo, 2001, pp. 111-132.
- Roberto Rea, La "Vita nova": questioni di ecdotica, in "Critica del testo", XIV (2011), 1, pp. 233-277 [available on the Athenaeum digital library].
- Stefano Carrai, Quale lingua per la "Vita nova"?, in "Filologia italiana", 4 (2007), pp. 39-47 [available on the Athenaeum digital library].
NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS
Part A (20 hours, 3 ECTS): Dante and Justice (Paolo Chiesa)
Reference texts:
- Anthology of Dante's texts that will be made available at the beginning of class. Students should know how to comment on each of the texts included in the anthology, in the original language. To this end, take advantage of the most accredited commentaries available on Dante's works (for the Monarchia: Chiesa-Tabarroni 2013; for the Commedia: Bellomo 2013, Bosco-Reggio, various years, Chiavacci Leonardi 2015, Hollander 2011, Mercuri 2021; for the Convivio: Fioravanti 2014).
Critical bibliography:
- the texts indicated in the section for attending students, and in addition:
- Dante: filosofia e poesia della giustizia. Dalla Monarchia alla Commedia, Milano-Udine, Mimesis, 2021, pp. 63-106.
- T. Barolini, Il Limbo di Dante e l'equità di accesso: non-cristiani, bambini, e i criteri di inclusione ed esclusione, da "If" 4 a "Pd" 32, in «Italianistica. Rivista di letteratura italiana», 50 (2021), 1, pp. 49-64.
- R. Cella, Centralità della politica e giustizia in Dante, in Studi per Umberto Carpi, Pisa, 2000, pp. 271-90.
Part B (20 hours, 3 ECTS): Similes in Dante's Comedy (Guglielmo Barucci)
Reference texts:
- An anthology of Dante's similes will be made available at the beginning of the class. The student will be required to analyze the similes included in the anthology through credited commentaries (e.g. Bellomo 2013, Bosco Reggio, multiple years, Chiavacci Leonardi 2015, Hollander 2011, Mercuri 2021) in the frame of the critical context defined by the critical bibliography.
Critical bibliography:
- Bibliography indicated for attending students.
- Giorgio Barberi Squarotti, Premessa allo studio sulla similitudine dantesca, in Vari, Filologia e critica dantesca. Studi offerti a Aldo Vallone, Firenze, Olschki, 1989, pp. 403-418
- Richard H. Lansing, Patterns of Meaning: Similes in series in From Image to Idea. A Study of the Simile in Dante's Commedia, Ravenna, Longo, 1977, pp. 124-166
- Michelangelo Picone, Miti, metafore e similitudini del "Paradiso". Un esempio di lettura, in «Studi Danteschi », LXI, (1989), pp. 193-217
Part C (20 hours, 3 ECTS): Vita nova (or Vita nuova?): philological issues (Gabriele Baldassari)
Reference texts:
- Dante Alighieri, Vita nova, edited by Stefano Carrai, Milan, Rizzoli, 2009 (and following), with all apparatus: the work must be known in its whole.
Critical bibliography:
- Bibliography indicated for attending students.
- Saverio Bellomo, Filologia e critica dantesca, Nuova edizione riveduta e ampliata, Brescia, Scholé: cap. III, Vita nova (pp. 55-89) e nell'Antologia: II, Michele Barbi: una pagina dell'edizione della "Vita nova" (pp. 325-329) e III, Le edizioni della "Vita Nova" di Michele Barbi e di Guglielmo Gorni a confronto (pp. 331-333).
- Stefano Carrai, Il primo libro di Dante. Un'idea della "Vita nova", Pisa, Edizioni della Normale, 2020, pp. 21-54 (the chapters La cronologia del prosimetro e Pentimenti d'autore?).
- Daniela Shalom Vagata, Appunti su alcune varianti dantesche nella tradizione estravagante della "Vita Nova", in Le Rime di Dante. Gargnano del Garda (25-27 settembre 2008), a cura di Claudia Berra e Paolo Borsa, Milano, Cisalpino, 2010, pp. 377-409.
- Daniele Piccini, A proposito di "Vita nuova" XXXVIII, 1, in "L'Alighieri", 46 (2015), pp. 87-102 [available on the Athenaeum digital library].
ATTENDING STUDENTS
Part A (20 hours, 3 ECTS): Dante and Justice (Paolo Chiesa)
Reference texts:
- Anthology of Dante's texts that will be made available at the beginning of class. Commentary on the texts will be the subject of the professor's lecture.
Critical bibliography:
- P. Chiesa, "La Monarchia, o il libro di tutti gli uomini", in "Dante e il mondo, tra realtà e poesia, tra storia e letteratura". Atti del LVIII Convegno storico internazionale, Todi, 10-12 ottobre 2021, Spoleto, CISAM, 2022, pp. 1-19.
- P. Chiesa, La Monarchia di Dante: un pensiero politico ancora attuale?, in Primus in gloria. Studi per il VII centenario della morte di Dante 1321-2021, a cura di D. Personeni, Bergamo, Ateneo di Scienze Lettere e Arti di Bergamo, 2023, pp. 93-105.
- Lectura Dantis Romana. Cento canti per cento anni. III. Paradiso. 2. Canti XVIII-XXXIII, Roma, Salerno, 2015 [limited to pp. 568-615, relating to Par. XIX-XX]
Part B (20 hours, 3 ECTS): Similes in Dante's Comedy (Guglielmo Barucci)
Reference texts:
- Whatever edition of Commedia; advised the edition by Roberto Mercuri (Torino, Einaudi, 2021). An anthology of Dante's similes will be made available at the beginning of the class.
Critical bibliography:
- Antonino Pagliaro, headword Similitudine, in Enciclopedia dantesca, Roma, Treccani, 1976, vol. V, 253-259 [available online on the Treccani website].
- Nicolò Maldina, Osservazioni sulla struttura delle similitudini e sulle modalità di descrizione nella "Commedia", in "L'Alighieri", XXXIV, 2009, pp. 65-92
- Luca Serianni, Sulle similitudini della Commedia, in "L'Alighieri", XXXV, 2010, pp. 25-43 [available on the Athenaeum digital library].
Part C (20 hours, 3 ECTS): Vita nova (or Vita nuova?): philological issues (Gabriele Baldassari)
Reference texts:
- Dante Alighieri, Vita nova, edited by Stefano Carrai, Milan, Rizzoli, 2009 (and later), with all apparatus.
- Other texts (particularly texts of the Vita nova in extravagant tradition) will be made available during the lectures.
- For the text of other editions of the Vita nova that will be compared with Carrai's, use will be made of http://vitanova.unipv.it/ or of materials that will be made available online.
- Critical bibliography:
- Guglielmo Gorni, «Paragrafi» e titolo della "Vita nova", in G. Gorni, Dante prima della "Commedia", Firenze, Cadmo, 2001, pp. 111-132.
- Roberto Rea, La "Vita nova": questioni di ecdotica, in "Critica del testo", XIV (2011), 1, pp. 233-277 [available on the Athenaeum digital library].
- Stefano Carrai, Quale lingua per la "Vita nova"?, in "Filologia italiana", 4 (2007), pp. 39-47 [available on the Athenaeum digital library].
NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS
Part A (20 hours, 3 ECTS): Dante and Justice (Paolo Chiesa)
Reference texts:
- Anthology of Dante's texts that will be made available at the beginning of class. Students should know how to comment on each of the texts included in the anthology, in the original language. To this end, take advantage of the most accredited commentaries available on Dante's works (for the Monarchia: Chiesa-Tabarroni 2013; for the Commedia: Bellomo 2013, Bosco-Reggio, various years, Chiavacci Leonardi 2015, Hollander 2011, Mercuri 2021; for the Convivio: Fioravanti 2014).
Critical bibliography:
- the texts indicated in the section for attending students, and in addition:
- Dante: filosofia e poesia della giustizia. Dalla Monarchia alla Commedia, Milano-Udine, Mimesis, 2021, pp. 63-106.
- T. Barolini, Il Limbo di Dante e l'equità di accesso: non-cristiani, bambini, e i criteri di inclusione ed esclusione, da "If" 4 a "Pd" 32, in «Italianistica. Rivista di letteratura italiana», 50 (2021), 1, pp. 49-64.
- R. Cella, Centralità della politica e giustizia in Dante, in Studi per Umberto Carpi, Pisa, 2000, pp. 271-90.
Part B (20 hours, 3 ECTS): Similes in Dante's Comedy (Guglielmo Barucci)
Reference texts:
- An anthology of Dante's similes will be made available at the beginning of the class. The student will be required to analyze the similes included in the anthology through credited commentaries (e.g. Bellomo 2013, Bosco Reggio, multiple years, Chiavacci Leonardi 2015, Hollander 2011, Mercuri 2021) in the frame of the critical context defined by the critical bibliography.
Critical bibliography:
- Bibliography indicated for attending students.
- Giorgio Barberi Squarotti, Premessa allo studio sulla similitudine dantesca, in Vari, Filologia e critica dantesca. Studi offerti a Aldo Vallone, Firenze, Olschki, 1989, pp. 403-418
- Richard H. Lansing, Patterns of Meaning: Similes in series in From Image to Idea. A Study of the Simile in Dante's Commedia, Ravenna, Longo, 1977, pp. 124-166
- Michelangelo Picone, Miti, metafore e similitudini del "Paradiso". Un esempio di lettura, in «Studi Danteschi », LXI, (1989), pp. 193-217
Part C (20 hours, 3 ECTS): Vita nova (or Vita nuova?): philological issues (Gabriele Baldassari)
Reference texts:
- Dante Alighieri, Vita nova, edited by Stefano Carrai, Milan, Rizzoli, 2009 (and following), with all apparatus: the work must be known in its whole.
Critical bibliography:
- Bibliography indicated for attending students.
- Saverio Bellomo, Filologia e critica dantesca, Nuova edizione riveduta e ampliata, Brescia, Scholé: cap. III, Vita nova (pp. 55-89) e nell'Antologia: II, Michele Barbi: una pagina dell'edizione della "Vita nova" (pp. 325-329) e III, Le edizioni della "Vita Nova" di Michele Barbi e di Guglielmo Gorni a confronto (pp. 331-333).
- Stefano Carrai, Il primo libro di Dante. Un'idea della "Vita nova", Pisa, Edizioni della Normale, 2020, pp. 21-54 (the chapters La cronologia del prosimetro e Pentimenti d'autore?).
- Daniela Shalom Vagata, Appunti su alcune varianti dantesche nella tradizione estravagante della "Vita Nova", in Le Rime di Dante. Gargnano del Garda (25-27 settembre 2008), a cura di Claudia Berra e Paolo Borsa, Milano, Cisalpino, 2010, pp. 377-409.
- Daniele Piccini, A proposito di "Vita nuova" XXXVIII, 1, in "L'Alighieri", 46 (2015), pp. 87-102 [available on the Athenaeum digital library].
Assessment methods and Criteria
Expected learning outcomes are verified by an individual oral examination. Students will be expected to demonstrate acquired knowledge, ability to organize discourse, and ownership of expression; a commentary on texts that have been the subject of in-depth study during the course will be require. The possible production of personal critical elaborations (reports or presentations), prepared at the indication of the teachers during the course, enters into the overall grade.
Grade is expressed in thirtieths; the minimum grade of sufficiency is 18/30.
Grade is expressed in thirtieths; the minimum grade of sufficiency is 18/30.
L-FIL-LET/10 - ITALIAN LITERATURE - University credits: 9
Lessons: 60 hours
Educational website(s)
Professor(s)
Reception:
Wednesday 9.30 a.m.-1.00 p.m.
Department of Literary Studies, Philology and Linguistics, Unit of Modern Studies, first floor
Reception:
Office hours: wednesday 15.00-18.00, by appointment only. Nevertheless, due to multiple administrative tasks, appointments could be given in other days.
Department of Literary Studies, Philology and Linguistics; sector Modern Philology, 1st floor, via Francesco Sforza