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.

Giving form to thought. the culture of the late German Enlightenment

Awareness of the value and significance of literature is no longer a foregone conclusion in the critical study of literary texts both at university 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. The course, while retaining its introductory character, will deal with some of the main texts of the German late Enlightenment, i.e. the era in which the first great masterpieces of German literature were born. texts by Lessing, Kant, Goethe and Schiller will be analysed in the course and will be framed in the context of the self-criticism of reason that marks the important transformation crisis of the German Enlightenment at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Manuali:

Ladislao Mittner, Storia della letteratura tedesca, 3 voll., Einaudi, Torino 1974. Sono da leggere esclusivamente le seguenti parti:
vol. II: Dal Pietismo al Romanticismo, pp. 18 – 79; pp. 321 – 417; pp. 695 – 707
Queste parti saranno fornite anche in forma di dispensa digitale sulla piattaforma Moodle

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

Testi:

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Nathan il saggio, testo tedesco a fronte, introduzione di E. Bonfatti, traduzione di A. Casalegno, Garzanti, Milano 2003.

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);

Friedrich Schiller, I masnadieri, a cura di Luca Crescenzi, Mondadori, Milano 1995 e edizioni seguenti

Immanuel Kant, Che cos'è l'illuminismo, a cura di Nicolao Merker, Editori Riuniti, Roma 2024

In the test the student must demonstrate, by answering specific questions, that he/she 1) has an overall idea of the historical development of late Enlightenment literature 2) knows how to historico-critically frame the texts he/she will have to prepare; 3) shows the ability to analyse a text, highlighting its content and formal aspects; 4) knows how to use the critical tools acquired.

oral

The marks will correspond to the following scale:
Excellent: 30 cum laude
Excellent: 28-30
Good: 24-27
Sufficient: 18-23

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.

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development