MODERN EUROPEAN LITERATURE

The general AIMS of the module, with regard to the course of studies to which it belongs are:
1) to increase the knowledge and comprehension of European literature at higher level, through the study of its development in the nineteenth and twentieth century;
2) to acquire a better command of theoretical approaches, hermeneutical tools for textual analysis and close reading; along with acquiring the competence to contextualise them in the historical and literary background;
3) to be able to comprehend modern European culture through a better understanding of its relevant texts and documents. Students will learn the history of European literature both from a cultural and an aesthetic viewpoint, as well as in its relation with the political and social history of modern Europe. They will apply their hermeneutic abilities to the comprehension of complex literary texts, their relation with the cultural and socio-political background, their rhetorical strategies and aesthetic qualities. They will be able to produce a discussion of complex texts and connect them to the historical framework to which they belong.

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The module will provide the critical tools to be able
1) to conduct an autonomous bibliographic search;
2) to provide critical commentaries and short essays, using the critical-hermeneutical knowledge acquired in the module, also through a personal reading of texts;
3) to enter a dialogue with the critical state of art on texts and themes, and debate one's positions in public;
4) to translate literary text and critical analyses into Italian with a good knowledge of the theories and varieties of translation;
5) to operate in various intercultural contexts.
In the Joint Degree / Double Degree course the acquired competence with be implemented in an interaction with the students, and in the contexts, of the universities participating in the consortium.

None

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The module will focus on the main issues discussed in modern european literature, with special regard to the themes of the development of a rational thought based on the empirical-critical study of the world and self by the intellect; the rise of a philosophy and culture of the passions felt through the senses (sentiments); the development of theories of sympathy and fellow-feeling; and the urge to, and wish for, happiness understood as central in man's psychological and social nature; the role of fear in political and aesthetic thoeries of the human mind.
Those themes and issues will be analysed, discussed and commented on, by reading and interpreting as well as some chosen literary texts (as in the list below).

Texts:
- James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (first book publication 1916);
- Franz Kafka, Der Process. In der Fassung der Originalschrift, Fischer Tb, Frankfurt am Main xxx (written in 1914-1915, first publication 1925, posthumous);
- Marcel Proust, Du côté de chez Swann (first publication 1913);
- Jaroslav Hašek, Le vicende del bravo soldato Švejk durante la guerra mondiale, a cura di Giuseppe Dierna, Einaudi, Torino 2013 (parti)
(ed. originale Dobrý voják Švejk a jiné podivné historky, first publication 1912);
- Michail Bulgakov, Master i Margarita (written 1929-1939, first publication 1966).

Criticism: see texts in "Moodle"-Repository

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Oral test based on the programme: themes and topics.

Front lectures that will introduce the students to the topics and the texts in the programme; seminars with joint discussions of the texts in the programme.

Italian

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The students who are unable to attend classes (“non frequentanti”) are advised to see the teacher during his office hours or by appointment.

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