The course aims to enhance the student’s awareness of the underlying mechanisms of storytelling. The aim of the laboratory is the development of the ability to analyze and recognize the essential structural elements of the works of fiction of all ages, from Greek-Latin literature to the European novel of the nineteenth century, up to contemporary narratives. It will sharpen the act of reading as a tool to acquire the skills necessary for writing any type of story.

The course is of a laboratory nature, with compulsory attendance (see below). There will be 12 lessons, of 3 hours each, to have the opportunity to read and discuss a series of narrative texts that will be proposed from time to time by the teacher (see below). The texts will be analyzed in a mainly narratological perspective, with insights on the essential elements of the story (point of view, characters, setting, etc.). To reason on the text also as an editable abstract form, we will analyze different versions and remakes of the same story, also examining some examples of film transposition from a text. Always in this perspective we will consider the editing of a narrative text, that is, how it is possible to intervene on an authorial text to develop its potential. During the course we will propose some writing exercises whose only purpose will be to strengthen the awareness of the tools available to those who intend to write.

NB Students will sometimes be required during the course to carry out individual study work, that is, reading, for those cases in which a novel or other substantial text will be discussed in class.

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

- Seminars on Latin:

Prof.ssa Chiara Celata, Latin in an Indo-European perspective

Prof. Roberto M. Danese, Phonetics and phonology of Latin

Prof.ssa Giorgia Bandini, The Latin of the Archaic Age.

- Metric exercises on the dactylic hexameter:

Prof. Andrea Bacianini.

- Seminar activities to deepen the fortune of the theme of descent into the Underworld in modern and contemporary culture.

During the course there will be optional evaluation activities that will allow students to evaluate the degree of their preparation and the effectiveness of the method of study of the subject, in relation to the program carried out up to that time. These tests are therefore only self-evaluation tests to make students more aware of their preparation.

Attendance

Attendance is obligatory for a minimum of 3/4s of the lessons. It is not possible to take the exam as a non-attending student.

Course books

Students will have to read the following texts (recent editions are indicated and more easily available):

Omero, Odissea, (a cura di M. G. Ciani) Milano (Feltrinelli) 2018.

J. London, Preparare un fuoco, Fidenza (Mattioli 1885)  2021.

E. Hemingway, Campo indiano, in I quarantanove racconti, Milano (Mondadori) 2016.

I. Turgenev, Primo amore, Milano (Rizzoli) 2004.

Ch. Simmons, Acqua di mare, SUR 2019.

During the course we will often refer to the following essays:

Aristotele, Poetica, (a cura di D. Lanza) Milano (Rizzoli) 1993.

Vladimir Propp, Morfologia della fiaba, (a cura di G. L. Bravo) Torino (Einaudi) 2000.