CONTEMPORARY ITALIAN LITERATURE I SP

The course is placed among "attività caratterizzanti" in the modern and contemporary curriculum of the Master's degree course in Italian Philology and Literature, and among "attività affini e integrative"of the medieval and Renaissance curriculum of the same degree course and the master's degree course in History from the Middle Ages to the contemporary age.

The course aims to provide students with in-depth and extensive knowledge and advanced skills in the field of methodology in the area of Italian literature from the early twentieth century to 2000, and to foster a good awareness of the plurality of critical-methodological approaches, which enables them to read the text as an open form, in dialogue with the present.

1. Knowledge and understanding
- to deepen the knowledge of twentieth-century Italian literature, in its relations with the contemporary cultural panorama, considered in its complexity;
- to be able to analyse and comment literary texts, with full awareness of the plurality of possible critical-methodological approaches;
2. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding:
- to apply the knowledge acquired in an autonomous and critical manner;
- to make the literary text dialogue with the present, in a multidisciplinary perspective;
3. Judging skills:
- to be able to deal with literary texts from a personal perspective, rethinking critically their interpretations and being able to discuss their validity;
4. Communication skills:
- to know how to use with awareness an adequate and appropriately updated critical vocabulary;
5. Learning skills:
- to be able to critically elaborate the bibliography relating to specific topics and discussions;

A very good knowledge of the Italian language.

The course aims to analyze an important narrative genre since the Eighteenth Century, the "Bildungroman": it is a form with some clearly identifiable and recurring characters, in particular the condition of the protagonist, an adolescent, followed in his growth process, until maturity and inclusion in a well-defined social and working dimension. In the Twentieth Century this model undergoes some fundamental changes, first of all the impossibility to reach a complete formation: the young characters of twentieth century novels, in fact, are caught in the phase in which they abandon the childish condition, but no longer seem to be allowed to achieve a solid personality or even the maturity.
Some of the great Italian writers of the century, from Moravia to Calvino, from Vittorini to Morante, from Saba to Bassani, from Palandri to Busi have adopted the form of the "Bildungroman: their texts will be analyzed in order to identify the supporting structures and also to evaluate the evolution of the genre during the Twentieth Century.

Five texts, to choose from the following list:
- A. Moravia, "Agostino" (1943)
- I. Calvino, "Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno" (1947)
- E. Vittorini, "Il garofano rosso" (1948)
- U. Saba, "Ernesto" (1953-1975)
- E. Morante, "L'isola di Arturo" (1957)
- G. Bassani, "Dietro la porta" (1964)
- E. Palandri, "Boccalone" (1977)
- A. Busi, "Seminario sulla gioventù" (1984)

Critical Bibliography
- F. Moretti, "Il romanzo di formazione", Einaudi 1999
- "Il romanzo di formazione nell'Ottocento e nel Novecento", a cura di M.C. Papini, D. Fioretti, T. Spignoli, ETS 2007
- G. Barracco, "Vocazioni irresistibili, vuoti vertiginosi. Il romanzo di formazione italiano negli anni Ottanta del Novecento", Studium 2019

The exam can be taken in two ways:

- a conversation centered on the chosen texts and the critical bibliography; the texts must be studied in depth, in order to be able to analyze, comment and contextualize them;

or

- a paper on a specific theoretical question or a deepening on texts, to be agreed with the professor.

Frontal lessons and seminars

Italian

oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development