HINDI LITERATURE 2

The course dwells on specific aspects concerning Hindi literary currents and productions during the so-called mediaeval period (ca.1300-1500) and to analyze and discuss its further developments during the late mediaeval period (ca. 1500-1800). More specifically, we will look into the main characteristics of literary productions at the imperial court of the Mughals as well as those composed in the provincial courts of the Hindu Rajput rulers.

The course wants to provide students with a general knowledge of the literary panorama of the North Indian cultural environment during the pre-modern period and an understanding of the inherent values of this culture prior to the advent of modernity as represented by the European colonizers. Students are expected to formulate an autonomous reasoning on the specific cultural perimeters of the Indian cultural and literary environment during the period under investigation and the capacity to formulate a critical opinion concerning the different topics treated during classes,combining notion pertinent to this course and other previous (Hindi literature 1) and parallel courses (Urdu literature, Indo-Persian Culture, Sanskrit literature).

A basic knowledge of standard hindi khari boli and a good working knowledge of english for further reading of relevant secondary sources

- devotional literature in the cult of the hindu gods Rama and Krishna;
- notions of literary theory and the importance of sound and word in the art of poetry;
- the principal literary genres and their characteristics;
- the literary environments determined by religion and spiritual culture;
- the literary conventions and their applications during the pre-modern period;
- prosody and esthetics in Indian literary tradition;
- intellectual elaborations at the courts of hindu and muslim rulers during the Mughal period;
- the impact of western thought and mentality and the beginnings of the penetration of modernity.

Selected bibliography:

-Bangha, Imre (2005): "Romantic Poetry in the Era of Convention? The Emergence of the Idea of a Ritimukt Trend within Hindi Mannerist Literature", in South Asia Research 25, pp.13-30.

-Bush, Allison: Poetry of Kings (2011): The Classical Hindi Literature of Mughal India, Oxford University Press.

-Mc Gregor, R.S. (1984): Hindi literature from its beginnings to the Nineteenth century, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, pp.118-214.

-Jindal, K.B. (1993): A History of Hindi Literature, Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, New Delhi, 1993 (cap. 7: The Elaborative Period, pp.134-72).

Additional text samples and complementary reading material will be distributed by the course convenor during classes.

Oral exam lasting approx. 20-25 min. during which students are expected to give evidence of knowledge and comprehension of the notions and intellectual contents touched upon during classes and in the additional bibliographical material provided.

Frontal classes complemented by individual study at home.

Italian

Students are advised to attend classes regularly.

oral