Genres and Literary System in Contemporary Italy
A.Y. 2025/2026
Learning objectives
The course aims to offer students an articulated portrait of the contemporary literary system and its founding elements: authors and texts, genres and literary institutions, criticism and publishing mediation. The workshop has a strong interdisciplinary nature, by integrating some fundamental sociological, critical-literary and philosophical reflections of the 19th and 20th centuries (which will be studied in the institutional part). The objectives will be reached thanks to by two monographic modules, in which some important works of Italian literature from the Unification of the Country to the present days will be read and interpreted in depth. The workshop also aims to provide the necessary tools for an in-depth formal and thematic investigation of literary works, their overall interpretation, capacity of identifying the texts' relationships with the literary genres to which they belong, with the cultural and socio-historical context, and with the worldviews below them.
Expected learning outcomes
At the end of the course, the student will assimilate some of the main critical reflections on modern and contemporary literary institutions and will learn specific tools for analysing narrative and poetic works.
The student should be able to read, with critical and methodological awareness, the texts proposed during the course, mastering the tools of literary interpretation and applying them appropriately and autonomously. Also, the student should be able to distinguish the roles and relationships that characterize the literary system, understanding their contribution in shaping the physiognomy of texts.
The student should be able to read, with critical and methodological awareness, the texts proposed during the course, mastering the tools of literary interpretation and applying them appropriately and autonomously. Also, the student should be able to distinguish the roles and relationships that characterize the literary system, understanding their contribution in shaping the physiognomy of texts.
Lesson period: First 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
First semester
Course syllabus
Teaching Unit 1: "Literary system and historical-social context". Devoted to the Theory of Literature, will show some fundamental issues of the relationships between Literature and historical context, from a multidisciplinary point of view, studying some crucial texts of Sociology, Literary Criticism and Philosophy between 19th and 20th Centuries.
Teaching Unit 2: "Genesis and Structure of the Literary Field." This section of the course focuses on the analyses of the cultural and literary system developed by one of the foremost sociologists of the twentieth century, Pierre Bourdieu. Building on these analyses, the course will outline a nuanced and multifaceted image of literary institutions and their modes of functioning.
Teaching Unit 3: "The Italian Poetic Field between the 1950s and 1960s: The Innovations of Elio Pagliarani and Pier Paolo Pasolini." The third part of the course presents a dual case study concerning the Italian literary field: the narrative poems composed between the 1950s and 1960s by Elio Pagliarani (La ragazza Carla) and Pier Paolo Pasolini (Le ceneri di Gramsci, Il pianto della scavatrice). A close analysis of these texts will make it possible to understand the literary and extra-literary assumptions on which the two authors based their innovative poetic proposals.
Teaching Unit 2: "Genesis and Structure of the Literary Field." This section of the course focuses on the analyses of the cultural and literary system developed by one of the foremost sociologists of the twentieth century, Pierre Bourdieu. Building on these analyses, the course will outline a nuanced and multifaceted image of literary institutions and their modes of functioning.
Teaching Unit 3: "The Italian Poetic Field between the 1950s and 1960s: The Innovations of Elio Pagliarani and Pier Paolo Pasolini." The third part of the course presents a dual case study concerning the Italian literary field: the narrative poems composed between the 1950s and 1960s by Elio Pagliarani (La ragazza Carla) and Pier Paolo Pasolini (Le ceneri di Gramsci, Il pianto della scavatrice). A close analysis of these texts will make it possible to understand the literary and extra-literary assumptions on which the two authors based their innovative poetic proposals.
Prerequisites for admission
Basic knowledge of Italian literary history from the Unification of Italy to the end of the twentieth century. Basic knowledge of narratology and rhetoric.
Teaching methods
Lectures will be both frontal and dialogic. The Friday lectures will be held remotely on Teams, allowing professors from other universities to participate and discuss the topics covered in the course.
Teaching Resources
Teaching Unit 1: "Sistema letterario e contesto storico-sociale" (3 CFU)
The reference volume for this unit is:
- Gianni Turchetta, Critica, letteratura e società, Carocci, Rome, 2003.
Attending students are required to prepare six of the twelve essays contained in the volume for the exam. Non-attending students are required to prepare eight of the twelve essays contained in the volume.
Teaching Unit 2: "Genesi e struttura del campo letterario" (3 CFU)
The reference volumes for this unit are:
- Pierre Bourdieu, La distinzione. Critica sociale del gusto, il Mulino, Bologna, 2001 (original French edition, 1979);
- Pierre Bourdieu, Le regole dell'arte. Genesi e struttura del campo letterario, il Saggiatore, Milan, 2005 (original French edition, 1992).
The specific chapters that students are required to study will be indicated during lectures and on the ARIEL platform.
Teaching Unit 3: "Il campo poetico italiano fra anni '50 e '60: le innovazioni di Elio Pagliarani e Pier Paolo Pasolini" (3 CFU)
The reference texts for this unit are:
- Elio Pagliarani, La ragazza Carla, il Saggiatore, Milan, 2021 (original edition 1960);
- Pier Paolo Pasolini, Le ceneri di Gramsci (including the eponymous poem and Il pianto della scavatrice), Garzanti, Milan, 2015 (original edition 1957).
Non-attending students will also be required to consult two critical essays (one concerning "La ragazza Carla", the other "Le ceneri di Gramsci"), which will be made available on the ARIEL platform from the beginning of the course.
The reference volume for this unit is:
- Gianni Turchetta, Critica, letteratura e società, Carocci, Rome, 2003.
Attending students are required to prepare six of the twelve essays contained in the volume for the exam. Non-attending students are required to prepare eight of the twelve essays contained in the volume.
Teaching Unit 2: "Genesi e struttura del campo letterario" (3 CFU)
The reference volumes for this unit are:
- Pierre Bourdieu, La distinzione. Critica sociale del gusto, il Mulino, Bologna, 2001 (original French edition, 1979);
- Pierre Bourdieu, Le regole dell'arte. Genesi e struttura del campo letterario, il Saggiatore, Milan, 2005 (original French edition, 1992).
The specific chapters that students are required to study will be indicated during lectures and on the ARIEL platform.
Teaching Unit 3: "Il campo poetico italiano fra anni '50 e '60: le innovazioni di Elio Pagliarani e Pier Paolo Pasolini" (3 CFU)
The reference texts for this unit are:
- Elio Pagliarani, La ragazza Carla, il Saggiatore, Milan, 2021 (original edition 1960);
- Pier Paolo Pasolini, Le ceneri di Gramsci (including the eponymous poem and Il pianto della scavatrice), Garzanti, Milan, 2015 (original edition 1957).
Non-attending students will also be required to consult two critical essays (one concerning "La ragazza Carla", the other "Le ceneri di Gramsci"), which will be made available on the ARIEL platform from the beginning of the course.
Assessment methods and Criteria
The exam consists of an oral interview on the topics of the program, aimed at ascertaining the knowledge of the main topics covered, the acquisition of the basic methodological tools for the interpretation of literary texts and the ability to apply them appropriately and autonomously to the scheduled texts. Attendance at the lessons is strongly recommended for better preparation for the exam. However, the program already includes integrations for students who are unable to attend. There are no intermediate tests, nor exams with partial programmes: students will have to present all the teaching units for the exam, without exceptions. Students must register through the appropriate links on the University website: only in this case can the exams be regularly registered.
Modules or teaching units
Part A and B
L-FIL-LET/11 - CONTEMPORARY ITALIAN LITERATURE - University credits: 6
Lessons: 40 hours
Part C
L-FIL-LET/11 - CONTEMPORARY ITALIAN LITERATURE - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Educational website(s)
Professor(s)