ITALIAN LITERATURE

The course will offer a detailed overview of Italian Literature from 1300s up to nowadays. Class teaching will include both lecturing and seminars: lectures will guide students through major literary works (poetry, novel, essay, theatre), following the general timeline of cultural history in Italy – the Florentine “Trecento”, Humanism, Renaissance, Classicism, Baroque, Romanticism, Risorgimento, Verismo, Fascism and Futurism, Neorealism. Seminar classes will focus on reading and analyzing specific literary texts throughout the course in small groups or as a discussion based on homework assignments.

The major class goal is to provide students with a general but solid knowledge of Italian literary tradition, focusing on those milestone works along the evolution of literary genres and forms (sonetto, novella, commedia dell’arte, libretto d’opera) that have made Italian culture and language famous and appreciated internationally.

Class contents are designed for foreign students without any background in Italian Language, Culture and Literature.

Week 1: Introduction and class overview. Definition of volgare italiano and first documents in Italian language. The “Duecento”: Scuola Siciliana – Jacopo da Lentini).
Week 2: Poetry: The Stilnovo literary movement (Guinizzelli, Cavalcanti). Introduction to the political Landscape of Italy in the Late Middle Ages: età comunale.
Week 3: Prose: Marco Polo and the his travel Chronicles + Novellino. Introduction to the “Trecento” fiorentino: Dante, Petrarca, Boccacio. Focus on Dante's life and major works.
Week 4: Dante – Vita Nova, Convivio, De Vulgari Eloquentia, De Monarchia; La commedia: structure + focus on specific cantos
Week 5: Petrarca – the sonnet; Boccaccio – the novel
Week 6: The “Quattrocento” and “Cinquecento” overview: Humanism and Renaissance, the “questione della lingua” part 1 – Pietro Bembo
Week 7: Narrative and Epic Chivalries tradition: Macchiavelli, Pulci, Boiardo, Ariosto, and Tasso
----------------------------------------- Midterm: take home exam ---------------------------------------
Week 8: The “Seicento” and the Scientific prose: Galileo Galilei; The “Settecento” and the Enlightment: Parini; Theater Tradition: Commedia dell’arte and Melodramma: Carlo Goldoni, Pietro Metastasio
Week 9: The “Ottocento”: Romanticismo vs. Classicismo – Monti, Foscolo, Leopardi, and Manzoni
Week 10: Risorgimento and Early 1900s: Manzoni: The Betrothed. The “questione della lingua” part 2
Week 11: The “Novecento” and the Novel: Verga, D’Annunzio, Pirandello, Svevo
Week 12: The “Novecento” and the Poetry: Futurists and Crepusculars: Marinetti, Ungaretti, Saba, Quasimodo, Montale
Week 13: Post-War Literature: Italian Neorealism: Pavese, Vittorini, Pasolini, Fenoglio.
Week 14: Post-War Literature: Morante, Moravia, Primo Levi, Calvino, Sciascia.

All class materials will be uploaded on Moodle. Students are always encouraged to read additional critical essays/ literary texts on those contents they find more interesting during class.
Suggestions for further learning skills can be the following volumes:
- "The Cambridge History of Italian Literature", edited by P. Brand and L. Pertile (Revised Edition, Cambridge University Press: 2004) [The book is available for copies and consultation (no check-out) at the BAUM library (see catalogue reference at: https://polovea.sebina.it/SebinaOpac/resource/the-cambridge-history-of-italian-literature/VEA0052734?locale=eng&tabDoc=tabloca )];
- "The Penguin Book of Italian Short Stories", introduced, edited and with selected translations by Jhumpa Lahiri (Penguin Classics: 2019-2020)

50% of student’s grade will take place throughout class weeks: participants will be assigned one take-home written exam as a midterm test (30%) to be submitted after Christmas break. Also, class participation based on questions, homework, discussion, Kahoot quizzes and teamwork will cover 20% of the final evaluation. The remaining 50% of the grade will be covered at the end of classes, during a final oral/written exam (TBD based on students’ attendance – virtual or in class – according to the evolution of the pandemic).

Class teaching will include both lecturing and seminars (see "class overview" section above)

English

written and oral