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 (M.A.) 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 European culture in the XIX and XX centuries through a better understanding of its relevant texts and documents. Students 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.

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 operate in various intercultural contexts.

No precondition is required.

COURSE TITLE: The canon of the European realist novel: 19th century and beginning 20th century

A. Literary texts:
- French novels:
— Stendhal, Il rosso e il nero, traduzione di Maurizio Cucchi, introduzione di Erich Auerbach, con uno scritto di Leonardo Sciascia, Mondadori, Milano 2019 (ed. originale Le Rouge et le Noir. Chronique du XIXe siècle / Chronique de 1830, 1831)
— Honoré de Balzac, Papà Goriot, a cura di Cesare De Marchi, Feltrinelli, Milano 2013 e seguenti (ed. orginale Le Père Goriot, 1834)
— Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary. Costumi di provincia, traduzione di Maria Luisa Spaziani, introduzione di Antonia S. Byatt, con una nota di Charles Baudelaire, Mondadori, Milano 2020 (ed. originale Madame Bovary. Mœurs de province, 1856)

- English novels:
— William M. Thackeray, La fiera delle vanità. Romanzo senza eroe, traduzione di Maura Ricci Miglietta, con un saggio di Anthony Trollope, Mondadori, Milano 2018 (ed. originale Vanity Fair, 1847-1848)
— Charles Dickens, Tempi difficili, a cura di Maria Rita Cifarelli, Einaudi, Torino 2014 (ed. originale Hard Times, 1854)
— George Eliot, Il mulino sulla Floss, traduzione di Giacomo Debenedetti, introduzione di Anna Luisa Zazo, Milano, Mondadori 2020 (ed. originale The Mill on the Floss, 1860)
(l'introduzione di Giacomo Debenedetti è parte del programma d'esame)

- Russian novels:
— Ivan S. Turgenev, Padri e figli, traduzione di Mirco Gallenzi, con un saggio di Vladimir Nabokov, Mondadori, Milano 2018 (ed. originale Otcy i deti, 1861)
— Fëdor M. Dostoevskij, Delitto e castigo, traduzione di Emanuela Guercetti, prefazione di Natalia Ginzburg, saggio introduttivo di Leonid Grossmann, Einaudi, Torino 2014 e seguenti (ed. originale Преступление и наказание [Prestuplenie i nakazanie], 1866)
— Lev N. Tolstoj, Anna Karenina, traduzione di Claudia Zonghetti, prefazione di Natalia Ginzburg, Einaudi, Torino 2017 (ed. originale Aнна Каренина [Anna Karenina], 1877)

- German novels:
— Thomas Mann, I Buddenbrooks. Decadenza di una famiglia, traduzione di Silvia Bortoli, Mondadori, Milano 2016
— Theodor Fontane, Effi Briest, traduzione di Silvia Bortoli, con uno scritto di Amos Oz, Mondadori, Milano 2021

- North-European novels:
— Jens Peter Jacobsen, Maria Grubbe. interni del diciassettesimo secolo, introduzione e traduzione di Bruno Berni, Carbonio, Milano 2019 (ed. originale Fru Marie Grubbe, 1876)
— August Strindberg, La stanza rossa, traduzione di Carlo Picchio, introduzione di Roberto Olmi, Mondadori, Milano 1991 (ed. originale Röda rummet, 1879)

B. Historical-cultural context:
- texts available on the course moodle

C. Literary criticism:
- texts available on the course moodle

Oral exam (about 45 minutes) aiming to verify the abilities acquired by students, to check their knowledge of the whole programme and their ability to reflect critically on its topics.

Assessment outline:
- knowledge of the course topics and of the literary texts (see item A of the bibliography) = 0/30 to 12/30
- knowledge of the historical and cultural context (see item B of the bibliography) = 0/30 to 8/30
- knowledge of literary criticism (see item C of the bibliography) = 0/30 to 10/30

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

Students are kindly requested to check frequently the notices on the lecturer's CF- home page.

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