LATIN LITERATURE

The course of LATIN LITERATURE (alone = 6 CFU or as part of LATIN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE, 12 CFU) falls within the "Core educational activities" of the study plan of the Master's Degree Programmes in Ancient Civilisations: Literature, History and Archaeology and in Italian Philology and Literature. It aims to refine the student's knowledge of language and style, authors, genres and works of Latin literature and of their critical problems, and contributes to enrich the knowledge of western cultural history and literary traditions, of methods and tools of literary history and philology and of their specialized languages.

The outcome of this course would be the detailed knowledge of a work or of a selection of Latin literary texts in the original language, and of their historical and interpretative problems in the framework of the contemporary scientific debate. Students should be able to read, understand, translate into Italian and comment on the historical-literary and stylistic plan the texts treated during the course, to discuss the interpretation proposed by the teacher and the bibliography, to contextualize authors and works studied during the course in the cultural and literary tradition of classical antiquity. Students should then be able to repeat the same type of analysis, applying the methods learned during the course, on a further sample of texts assigned as personal readings.
Already equipped with linguistic skills at least intermediate level, students should also acquire through the course a greater familiarity with the Latin literary language, a broader set of linguistic knowledge and a more confident ability in translation from Latin into Italian; at the same time, the study of the bibliography should refine the students' knowledge of the concepts and critical vocabulary of philology and literary history, and their ability to discuss literary topics and texts.

The exam of LATIN LITERATURE requires a general knowledge of the history of Latin language and literature and a linguistic competence of Latin at least intermediate level.
To access the exam students must also certify their knowledge of Latin language by passing the Test of Latin 2 (http://www.unive.it/data/insegnamento/263176 ).

"Cupid Crucified", and other poetic inventions.
The anthological reading of the poetic work of AUSONIUS (4th century AD), one of the most emblematic authors of late antique poetry, gives us an insight into the evolution of taste, forms and literary practices towards the end of the Western Roman Empire. The assiduous and meditated reference to the literary tradition of the past, the influence of the school, the search for novelty and experimentalism, the identitary function of culture and literature within the imperial high society, are among the peculiar characteristics of Late Latin literature that the reading of Ausonius' work allows us to highlight, together with the formal aspects of a poetry that, behind the apparent lightness of a cultured divertissement, invites the reader to question his own culture and the very nature of literary writing.
The course is based on the annotated reading and stylistic-literary analysis of the poem "Cupid cruciatus" and a selection of other significant works by Ausonius, to which each student will add a personal reading of a further text agreed upon with the teacher.

1) Lesson notes.
2) A. PASTORINO, Introduzione a: Opere di Decimo Magno Ausonio, Torino, UTET, 1971 (= 1978), pp. 11-121.
3) A. LA PENNA, Il "lusus" poetico nella tarda antichità. Il caso di Ausonio, in: A. SCHIAVONE (dir.), Storia di Roma, III L'età tardoantica, 2. I luoghi e le culture, Torino, Einaudi, 1993, pp. 731-751.
4) H. SIVAN, The Dedicatory Presentation in Late Antiquity: The Example of Ausonius, "Illinois Classical Studies" 17 (1992), pp. 83-101 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/23064230 ]
5) B.P. SOWERS, 'Amicitia' and Late Antique 'Nugae': Reading Ausonius’ Reading Community, "American Journal of Philology" 137 (2016), pp. 511-540 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/26360884 ]
6) L. MONDIN, Genesi del 'Cupido cruciatus', "Lexis" 23 (2005), pp. 339-372 [http://www.lexisonline.eu/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Lexis_23_Mondin_Cupidus.pdf ]

Each student will also prepare a personal reading (in the original text) of a work by Ausonius agreed upon with the teacher together with the related bibliography. Non-attending students will add their own reading (in the original text) of Ausonius' "Mosella".
All texts discussed during the lectures will be made available by the teacher in Moodle.

Learning is verified through an oral interview in which the students must demonstrate to be able to read, understand, translate into Italian and comment on the stylistic and historical-literary level some passages of the work or selection of texts which has been read by the teacher or assigned as personal reading; students must also be able to discuss the bibliography and to use it in the interpretation of texts.

Traditional lessons, mainly based on reading, translation, linguistic, stylistic and historical-literary commentary of the texts covered by the course, with illustration of the related critical problems. During the lessons students are involved in the discussion of specific topics or critical problems, of the theses supported in the bibliography and are invited to propose and explain their own opinions.

Italian

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