CATALAN LITERATURE 1

“Catalan Literature 1/Catalan Literature 2 mod. 1” is a core course for students enrolled in any of the three curricula (Literatures and Cultures; Linguistics, Philology and Language Teaching Research; International Politics) of the Bachelor's Degree Programme in Languages, Civilisation and the Science of Language, who have chosen to study Catalan Language and Literature (as language A or language B). The course can also be included in the study plan as a “relative/additional” or “chosen by the student” educational activity. In accordance with the learning outcomes of the Bachelor’s Degree Programme in Languages, Civilisation and the Science of Language, the course will enable students to: deepen their knowledge of contemporary Catalan culture; develop skills in the analysis of films, and understand how they relate to their own context.

Regular and active participation in the teaching activities offered by the course (lectures, discussions and, possibly, thematic research seminars) and in independent research activities will enable students to:

- gain a wider knowledge of Barcelona, Catalonia and their history from the 19th century to the Spanish Civil War;
- become acquainted with relevant periods and authors of the Catalan literary tradition;
- develop the ability to independently analyse and interpret literary texts.

No previous knowledge is required. All lessons will be held in Italian.

The course will focus on the following topics:

1. The birth of a metropolis: Barcelona between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
1.1 The Pla Cerdà: utopia vs reality
1.2 The Universal Expositions
2. From Decadence to Rebirth: Catalonia Wakes Up
2.1 La Renaixença and the Jocs Florals: the resurgence of Catalan culture
3. From Modernism to Noucentisme (1892-1923)
3.1 Modernism and its protagonists
3.2 Not Only Gaudí: Masterpieces of Modernist Architecture
3.3 Picasso in Barcelona: a genius and "four cats"
3.4 The Noucentisme
4. Soccer, identity and politics: Barça, "més que un club"
4.1 1899: FC Barcelona is born
4.2 Barça as a symbol of identity and political-cultural resistance
4.3 1925, 1970, 2009: Whistling at the stadium as a sign of protest
5. The Wounded City: Barcelona during the Civil War (1936-1939)
5.1 The Civil War and the anarchist revolution as told by writers and filmmakers
5.2 Exile and Francoist repression
5.3 Catalan republicans in Nazi concentration camps

During the lesson, we will analyze and discuss particularly significant passages by the following authors: Oller, Aribau, Maragall, Rusiñol, d'Ors, Soldevila, Rodoreda, Sales, Benguerel, Calders, Amat-Piniella. The texts will be presented in Italian translation and will be made available to students in the course Moodle.

For students attending classes, the study material is limited to the notes taken in class and to the slides that will be made available on the course web page on the University Moodle platform. For non-attending students, instead, the study material consists of the slides of the lessons and of the texts listed in point b).


a) Selected texts from:

La febre d’or (Narcís Oller, 1892)
La Ben Plantada (Eugeni d’Ors, 1911)
L’auca del senyor Esteve (Santiago Rusiñol, 1907)
L’art d’ensenyar Barcelona (Carles Soldevila, 1929)
La plaça del Diamant (Mercè Rodoreda, 1962)
Omaggio alla Catalogna (George Orwell, 1938)
Pàgines de l’exili. Prats de Molló (Pere Calders, 1939)
Incerta glòria (Joan Sales, 1956)
K.L. Reich (Joaquim Amat-Piniella, 1963)
Els vençuts (Xavier Benguerel, 1969)

The selected texts will be made available on the course web page on the University Moodle platform.

b) Other texts

Subirana, Jaume. Construir con palabras. Escritores, literatura e identidad en Cataluña (1859-2019). Madrid: Cátedra, 2018.[book]
Claret, Jaume e Jaume Subirana. “1970, 1925, 2009: whistling in the stadium as a form of protest”. Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies, 21:1 (2015). [article]

The book "Construir con palabras" can be purchased at the Cafoscarina bookstore. The article by Claret and Subirana will be made available on the course web page on the University Moodle platform.

Evaluation will take place through an oral exam in Italian. The oral exam will evaluate:

- the candidate's ability to present the course contents clearly and consistently using a scientifically appropriate vocabulary;
- the candidate's ability to make connections

The evaluation will also take into account active participation in the lessons and cultural activities proposed by the teacher (only for attending students).

Conventional lectures during which students will be required to actively participate. The teacher make extensive use of multimedia materials.

Italian

Although not mandatory, class attendance is recommended.

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