The aim of the course is to give the students the historical, cultural and critical instruments that are necessary to analyze the literary styles that have characterized Italian Contemporary Literature.

The relationships between literature, culture and society will be put in evidence and discussed together with the students in order to provide them with a wider idea of what Italian literature is today.

By the end of the semester the students will be able to understand what are the elements that can be considered original to contemporary Italian literature and to identify their origin in relation to the socio-historical-economical evolution of the country during the period between the unification and nowadays.

By the end of this course students should be able to demonstrate:

a) an understanding of the style and of the cultural background of the writers studied in the course;

b) an ability to synthesize information from a range of primary sources in both oral and written form;

c) a capacity to construct a relevant and analytical response to a literary question;

d) self-management skills.

The first part of the course concentrates on the analysis of the nature of Twentieth-Century Italian Literature. It focuses on such themes as Modernity, Avant-Garde and Tradition, Identity literature, Gender, Doubles and Memory, War and Literary languages. The second part of the course will be consecrated to the works of Italo Calvino, Leonardo Sciascia and other prominent authors exploring their deep relationship with the 18th Century European Literature and Philosophy.

The course aims at providing students with a firm understanding of the literary, cultural and historical scene of Twentieth-Century Italy. It also wants to show students how the legacy of Enlightment continues to frame issues today. During the course students will acquire the necessary linguistic and critical tools to analyse works of literature, discuss literary works using the correct terminology, and be encouraged to make autonomous judgments. Moreover, the course wishes to stimulate an open-minded approach to recent Italian cultural history.

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Teaching

The course will consists in in-class sessions alternating lectures and discussions on required readings

Course books

Textbooks:

* Paolo Giovannetti, La letteratura italiana moderna e contemporanea. Guida allo studio, Roma, Carocci, 2016, ad eccezione delle pp. 27-37 (par. da 1.3.1 a 1.4.2 compreso); 93-134 (par. da 4.3.2 a 6.4 compreso); 159-183 (par. da 8.2 a 8.4.2).

* Alberto Casadei, Il Novecento. Seconda edizione, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2013.

Novels (any edition):

* Italo Calvino, Il barone rampante, 1957 (+ Francesca Serra, Calvino, Roma, Salerno Editrice, 2006, pp. 156-195)

* Leonardo Sciascia, Candido ovvero un sogno fatto in Sicilia, 1977 (+ Paolo Orvieto, Candido da Voltaire a Sciascia in Anna Dolfi (a cura di), Il racconto e il romanzo filosofico nella modernità, Firenze, Florence University Press, 2013, pp. 73-106; the text in online: https://books.google.it/books?id=00Ij2ah9RiUC&pg=PA73&lpg=PA73&dq=claude+ambroise+%22candido%22+sciascia&source=bl&ots=y813G7xE7w&sig=snNrxsYspUaqX7IxcPbY0TY66II&hl=it&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj8xe7Bwa_PAhXCvhQKHer5BuYQ6AEINjAE#v=onepage&q=claude%20ambroise%20%22candido%22%20sciascia&f=false)

Course books

Non-Attending Students should contact the Instructor for further information.