CZECH LITERATURE 2 MOD.2

The course is part of the curriculum and aims at understanding the history of Czech literature and culture, the theory of literary history and the analysis of literary text.

The aim of the course is to deepen the knowledge of cultural and literary production in the Czech language as well as of a literary and cultural investigation. The analysis of the text is inserted in the historical - cultural discourse both in a diachronic sense, that is as a history of literature, and synchronically, as a specific phenomenon within a pulsating cultural system. The achievement of these objectives allows the student to enrich his literary and cultural education both in analytical and synthetic terms.

1. Knowledge and understanding
● Know the basic linguistic terminology and understand the texts that make it
use.
● To know literary production and its interaction with the different spheres of culture.
● To know the theory of analysis of the literary text in its linguistic, literary and cultural components.

2. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding
● (Know the basic linguistic terminology and understand the texts that make it
use.) Knowing how to properly use linguistic terminology in all processes
application and communication of acquired knowledge.
● (Knowing the literary production and its interaction with the different spheres of culture.) Knowing how to relate the analysis of the specific text with contemporary and coherent critical production in addition to the mechanisms for using the text
● (To know the tools of analysis of the literary text in its linguistic, literary, cultural components.) To be able to apply the analysis tools and the literary production as a whole to the single specific text.

4. Communication skills
● Know how to communicate the specificities of literary reflection, using one
appropriate terminology.
● Knowing how to interact with peers and with the tutor, in a critical and respectful manner, in the presence and
on the virtual classroom forum.
5. Learning skills
.
● Knowing how to critically consult the reference texts and the bibliography in them
contained.

Knowledge of the Czech language is not required.

The First of May is the Day of Lovein the Czech Republic. Couples in love gather under a blossoming tree to exchange a kiss. This tradition stems from the first lines ('It is late in the evening - the first of May - / a May evening - time for love') of what is recognised as the Czech romantic poem par excellence: 'Máj' ('May', 1836) by Karel Hynek Mácha (1810-1836). May' is Mácha's most famous text, and through its analysis, the course aims to investigate the peculiarities of Romanticism in Czech culture.
Mácha's poem differs profoundly and radically from the production of his contemporaries. In fact, the Czech literary context is characterised by the politics of national awakening, the search for a poetic language and production 'worthy of the nation', and the view of literature as a tool for educating the people. In addition to the specific analysis of the different levels of the text - compositional, narrative, figurative, philosophical - the reception of the text in the Czech Republic up to the present day will also be investigated: from the rejection that greeted "The May" on its release, considered "too Byronic", to its celebration as a "love poem", up to its identification as the greatest Czech poem and its author as the "Poet of the Nation".

Literature.
The knowledge of all the materials indicated here will be subject to verification during the exam.

- KAREL HYNEK MÁCHA, Maggio, a cura di Annalisa Cosentino, traduzione di Alessandra Mura, Venezia, Marsilio, 2013.
- KAREL HYNEK MÁCHA, Gli zingari, traduzione di Andrea Stefano Valastro, Pisa, ETS,1997.

- Bentivogli, E., "Mácha e Maggio in alcune interpretazioni e letture recenti", Ricerche Slavistiche Nuova serie 11 (LVII) (2013), pp. 207-225.
- Berkes T., “The Ideal of Folk Culture in the Literature of the Czech National Rebirth” in Edited by Marcel Cornis-Pope and John Neubauer, History of the Literary Cultures of East-Central Europe: Junctures and disjunctures in the 19th and 20th centuries. Volume III: The making and remaking of literary institutions;
- Bonora, L., "Karel Hynek Mácha pellegrino a Venezia." eSamizdat. Rivista di culture dei paesi slavi, 11 (2016): 139-149.
-Cosentino A., "Un nuovo 'Maggio", in KAREL HYNEK MÁCHA, Maggio, a cura di Annalisa Cosentino, traduzione di Alessandra Mura, Venezia, Marsilio, 2013, pp. 9-24.
-David, Z., "KAREL H. MÁCHATS PHILOSOPHICAL CHALLENGE TO THE CATHOLIC ENLIGHTENMENT IN BOHEMIA." Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae, Series C-Historia Litterarum 56 (2011).
-Neubauer, J., "Mácha, Petőfi, Mickiewicz: (Un) wanted Statues in East-Central Europe." in Commemorating Writers in Nineteenth-Century Europe: Nation-Building and Centenary Fever. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2014. 250-261

The final exam consists of an oral interview ( 30 minuts) based on the contents of the module and the material in moodle.
Working students unable to attend are required to contact the teacher as soon as possible for the assignment of the specific topic to be presented during the exam.
In general, in case of problems related to attendance, it is highly recommended to contact the teacher as soon as possible to evaluate any possible solutions.

Lectures. The reading of some parts of the main literary text will be required. A discussion will follow in the classroom.

Italian

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