GERMAN LITERATURE 1

The course is part of the characterising and related/integrative training activities of the "Languages, Civilisations and Language Sciences" course and is aimed at first-year students of all curricula. The course introduces knowledge of literature through the analysis of texts that best represent the development of reflection on the value and meaning of the various historical forms of literary expression in Germany and Austria. It thus aims to provide the basis for a conscious critical approach to literature and its history in German-speaking countries through knowledge of some fundamental poetic, narrative and critical texts. The aim of the course is also to introduce the analysis and interpretation of literary texts with appropriate critical methods and tools.

The aim of the course is to attain a sound basic knowledge:
1) of the nature and value of literature in general;
2) of the main moments of literary history in German-speaking countries;
3) of the tools and methods of literary text analysis;
4) some fundamental texts of German literature.

There are no prerequisites.

Shaping Thought. Novel in poetic and cultural reflection in Germany.

Awareness of the value and significance of literature is no longer a foregone conclusion in the critical study of literary texts both in the university setting and in the broader context of contemporary cultural life. It is therefore necessary, in laying the foundations of a literature course, to start with attempts to define what literature is and what it represents for the culture of a country, a continent or even the world. Such a definition can be arrived at in many ways, and one of these is to retrace the attempts at description and the reflections that have marked the different epochs in the cultural history of German-speaking countries. Maintaining its introductory character, the course will deal with some of the main texts that, since the age of the Reformation, have attempted to address the question: what is literature and why is it useless to know and study it? In examining the answers that, over time, have been given to this question, the course will occasionally go beyond the geographical limits of the German area in order to suggest that the specialised study of literature is the necessary prerequisite for understanding that literature, wherever it develops, is a single thing in relation to which multiple attitudes and multiple reflections are possible. At the end of the course, the student should possess the tools to develop his or her own critical attitude towards literary texts and should possess a solid basic knowledge of the main stages of development of German-language literature.

Handbooks:

Ladislao Mittner, Storia della letteratura tedesca, 3 voll., Einaudi, Torino 1974. Only the following parts are to be read:
vol. I: Dai primordi pagani all’età barocca, pp. 606 – 635.
vol. II: Dal Pietismo al Romanticismo, pp. 18 – 79; pp. 321 – 417; pp. 695 – 707
vol. III, 1: Dal Biedermeier al Fine secolo, pp. 3 – 12; pp. 853 – 884; pp. 1149 – 1219
These parts will also be provided in the form of a digital handout on the Moodle platform.

Luca Crescenzi, La letteratura tedesca: secoli ed epoche, Carocci, Roma 2005


3 books of your choice from the following (strictly in the editions indicated):

Johann Wolfgang Goethe, I dolori del giovane Werther, tr. di A. Spaini, a cura di Giuliano Baioni con note di Stefania Sbarra, Einaudi, Torino 2014 (in caso di irreperibilità del volume si prega di informare il docente);
Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Le affinità elettive, tr. di Paola Capriolo, a cura di Giuliano Baioni, Marsilio, Venezia 2020;
Friedrich Hölderlin, Iperione o L’eremita in Grecia, a cura di Laura Balbiani, Bompiani, Milano 2015
Heinrich Heine, La scuola romantica, tr. di Paolo Chiarini (a disposizione sulla piattaforma Moodle)
Friedrich Nietzsche, La nascita della tragedia, tr. di Sossio Giametta, Adelphi, Milano 1977
Franz Kafka, Il processo, a cura di Andreina Lavagetto, Einaudi, Torino (in corso di stampa) oppure tr. di Giorgio Zampa, Adelphi, Milano 2020;
Arthur Schnitzler, La signorina Else, Adelphi, Milano 2012 e Arthur Schnitzler, Il sottotenente Gustl, Milano Rizzoli 2024;
Thomas Mann, I Buddenbrook, Milano, Mondadori 2016;
Rainer Maria Rilke, I quaderni di Malte Laurids Brigge, a cura di Furio Jesi, Garzanti, Milano 2014.


Useful texts to supplement the content of individual lectures will be indicated by the lecturer during the course.

In the examination, the student must demonstrate, by answering specific questions, that he/she 1) has an overall idea of the historical development of modern German literature 2) is able to place the texts he/she has chosen to prepare for in a historical-critical context 3) is able to analyse a text, highlighting its content and formal aspects 4) is able to use the critical tools acquired.

Lectures in Italian and invitation to discussion.
Course lectures will be accompanied by tutor-led exercises specifically aimed at teaching how to read and understand a German text.

Italian

oral