THEORY OF LITERATURE

The course is part of the “basic [di base]” educational activities of the BA program in Language, Civilization and Science of Language. Its objectives are 1) the study of the methodologies for the analysis of the literary text, and 2) to help students to develop the ability to read a literary work within a historical and theoretical context.

Knowledge and Understanding
1) Knowledge and understanding of the methodologies for the analysis of the literary text
2) Knowledge and understanding of the main literary, artistic, and cultural phenomena of the countries in which the studied languages are spoken
3) Knowledge and understanding of the historical and cultural evolutionary processes of the countries in which the studied languages are spoken

Applying Knowledge and Understanding
1) Ability to situate a literary work in its context
2) Ability to apply the methodologies for the analysis of the understanding of the society and culture that produced the literary work under examination
3) Ability to read a literary text and comment on it with the correct terminology and scientific methodology
4) Ability to treat historical sources in a framework of correct critical contextualization, and in relation to the different cultures in their specific historical developments
5) Ability to start autonomously in-depth analyses of specific cases connected to the object of the thesis

Making Judgments
1) Ability to develop intellectual independence with regard to the topics covered in the lectures

Communication Skills
1) Ability to communicate orally and effectively the knowledge acquired by using the correct terminology
2) Ability to interact with peers and the teacher in a critical and respectful way both in person and on the forum of the virtual classroom

Learning Skills
1) Ability to navigate critically the required readings and the bibliography they provide

The course has no specific prerequisites.

Realism and Literary Forms. The relationship between aesthetics and forms is a crucial issue in order to understand the unfolding of literary history. We will examine the case of the connection between realism (an aesthetic) and one of the genres of the novel in which, between the 18th and the 19th century, the latter found one of its most successful expressions, the bildungsroman (a form). We will do that by focusing on three classic European bildungsromane—Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship, Balzac’s Père Goriot, and Flaubert’s Sentimental Education—, and by retracing some of the turning points in the history of European realist narrative and the theoretical debate on realism.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship. 1795-1796. Ed. and trans. Eric A. Blackall, in cooperation with Victor Lange. New York: Suhrkamp, 1989.
Balzac, Honoré de. Père Goriot. 1834-1835. Trans. A. J. Krailsheimer. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Flaubert, Gustave. Sentimental Education. 1869. Trans. Robert Baldick. Rev., intro., and nn. Geoffrey Wall. London: Penguin, 2004.

Brioschi, Franco, Costanzo Di Girolamo, and Massimo Fusillo. Introduzione alla letteratura. 2nd ed. Rome: Carocci, 2013.
Bertoni, Federico. Realismo e letteratura: Una storia possibile. Turin: Einaudi, 2007.

Non-attending students [non frequentanti] will also read one essay of their choice taken from the following list:
Moretti, Franco. The Way of the World: The “Bildungsroman” in European Culture. Trans. Albert J. Sbragia. London: Verso, 2000.
Brooks, Peter. Realist Vision. New Haven (CT): Yale University Press, 2005.
Bertoni, Federico. Letteratura: Teoria, metodi, strumenti. Rome: Carocci, 2018.

Learning will be verified by means of an oral examination.

1) Frontal lectures
2) In-class and online discussion

Italian

oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Poverty and inequalities" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development