TOOLS AND METHODOLOGIES SEMINARS

The seminar is meant to facilitate acquiring and reinforcing general methodologies and cross-cutting analytical tools that doctoral students can apply within their respective fields. The seminar in question caters to first- and second-year students in the doctoral programme, especially within the sub-programme for doctoral students of modern literatures (Licuso). In order to ensure a comprehensive and varied coverage of categories, methodologies, and tools, the module will be provided by a panel of lecturers from diverse literary fields.

The objectives of the PhD program are as follows:
- to acquire expertise in research methods across linguistic, literary, cultural-historical, artistic and anthropological fields of study and expand and enhance knowledge in one's specific area of research;
- to develop the ability to conceive, design, execute and adjust the research process with the integrity expected of a scholar, using appropriate methods;
- to provide tools and models for conducting original research, which is presented in the thesis and potentially in other publications at national or international levels;
- to hone the skills for critical analysis, language, literature, history, and culture, while evaluating and synthesizing new and complex ideas.
- to improve communication with peers, the broader community of scholars, and society in general in the fields of literature, cultural history, art, and anthropology.

This module is designed for first- and second-year doctoral students in the Licuso (Modern Languages, Cultures and Societies) PhD programme. As the module's programme is designed for doctoral students of various literary areas, the instructors will use Italian as the module's lingua franca. Proficiency in Italian is a requirement for participating in the doctoral program.

The module, co-taught by professors specialising in Anglo-American, comparative, French, English, Hispanic-American, and German literature, is devoted to analysing a part of the Western canon, an open collection of texts and authors from the literary traditions of the European and the Anglo-American continents. The module seeks to provide insight into the intricate and, at times, contentious process of the Western canon's formation, as seen, for instance, in the paradoxical birth of a European classic such as Rabelais. It will also deal with its consolidation and redefinition in various forms and genres, as illustrated, for instance, in the cases of Henry James's and Arthur Schnitzler's short stories. Such a redefinition also involves adapting and reinterpreting traditional narratives, myths, topoi, and iconographies, as is evident in works such as Oscar Wilde's and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's fin-de-siècle rewritings. It also includes implicit or explicit challenges that have given rise to alternative, integrative, or parodistic canons, as Sterne's humorous fiction exemplifies. Additionally, it encompasses its reimagining in the context of the American continent, as demonstrated by the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Julio Cortázar, and Gabriela Mistral.

The module is taught in Italian.

Lecturer: Prof. Cristina Fossaluzza
Title: A sort of place suspended between the conscious and the unconscious. The novella "Traumnovelle" by Arthur Schnitzler as a psychological experiment
Hours and date: 3+3 h 10 September and 12 September, 10:15-12:45
A. Schnitzler, "Doppio sogno", a c. di G. Farese, Adelphi

Lecturer: Dr. Maria Rita Consolaro
Title: Gabriela Mistral's Poetry
Time and date: 3h, TBC
Required reading: Gabriela Mistral, ‘Sillabe di fuoco’, translated by Matteo Lefèvre, Rizzoli

Lecturer: Flavio Gregori
Title: The intertextual parody: "Tristram Shandy" by Laurence Sterne
Hours and date: 3h, 15 October, 16:00-18:30
Required reading: L. Sterne, "La vita e le opinioni di Tristram Shandy, gentiluomo", ed. by F. Gregori, Mondadori

Lecturer Prof. Pia Masiero
Title: "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Time and date: 3 h, 7 November, 10:00-12:30
Required reading: N. Hawthorne, "La lettera scarlatta", ed. by E. Terrinoni, Feltrinelli


Lecturer: Prof. Magda Campanini
Title: Is Rabelais a canonical writer? Contradictions and paradoxes in the construction of a European ‘classic'
Hours and date: 3h+3h, 11 November and 15 November, 9:00-11:30am
Required reading: R. Rabelais, "Gargantua e Pantagruele", ed. by L. Sozzi, Bompiani

Lecturer: Prof. Simone Francescato
Title: "The Aspern Papers" by Henry James
Hours and date: 3h, 2 December, 15:00-17:30
Required reading: H. James, "Il carteggio Aspern", translated by G. Sacerdoti, Marsilio

Lecturer: Prof. Elisa Bizzotto (IUAV)
Title: Oscar Wilde's "Salome". The rewriting of the canon and its afterlives between myth, Bible and iconographic tradition
Hours and date: 3h, 11 December 15:00-17:30
Required reading: O. Wilde, ‘Salomé’, edited by D. Porzio, Rizzoli

Lecturer: Prof. Massimo Stella
Title: The Parodied Canon: "Venus in Furs" by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch
Hours and date: 3h, 12 December 10:00-12:30
Required reading: L. von Sacher-Masoch, "Venere in pelliccia", translated by G. De Angelis and M.T. Ferrari, SE

Lecturer: Prof. Margherita Cannavacciuolo
Title: The Knowing Body: Rereading Julio Cortázar's short stories
Hours and date: 3h, 19 December, 11:00-13:30
Required reading: J. Cortázar's short stories, “Lontana” e “Omnibus”, in "I racconti-Bestiario", Einaudi, pp. 20-28 e 29-38, “L’idolo delle Cicladi”, in "I racconti-Fine del gioco", Einaudi, pp. 143-50, “Le armi segrete”, in "I racconti-Le armi segrete", Einaudi, pp. 341-64, e “Collo di gattino negro”, in "I racconti-Ottaedro", Einaudi, pp. 721-33.

Assessment of PhD students will be evaluated bi-annually as planned by the Doctoral program. Attendance is compulsory for Licuso PhD students.

The course is co-taught through front lectures and seminars

The above lecture schedules are tentative and subject to change based on the academic calendar for undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Please refer to the Doctorate webpage for the final timetable and check it regularly.

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