The course intends to encourage the student to (a) read, analyze and interpret the literary aesthetic work in relation to its time and tradition; (b) know, with critical mastery of current methodologies, the issues, currents and works - both through the lives of the authors and through the activity of the magazines - which have characterized Italian literature from the second half of the nineteenth century up to our own days; (c) describe and discuss the "canon" through careful methodological reflection on the role of criticism in the system of contemporary culture; (d) investigate the relationship between literature, culture, politics and publishing in contemporary literary production and within individual works

Issues and paths of modern and contemporary literature

a) Lexical clarifications ("modern", "contemporary", "canon", "anthologies", -isms)

b) The problem of periodization and the limits of the canon: some exemplary cases

c) Literature and publishing: from author publishing to "publisherless" publishing to the Age of Amazon to self-publishing

d) From the civilization of magazines and posters to the entertainment society of the media competition

e) How to read a poem (notions of metric, rhetoric, stylistics)

f) How to read a novel (notions of narratology)

Good knowledge of the Italian language

The student must demonstrate that they have achieved the following learning outcomes: a) reading, analysis and interpretation of a literary text, using knowledge and concepts that allow them to reason according to the specific logic of the discipline, but also to exceed the threshold, which risks close the discussion in a self-referential context; b) placing the work in its historical-cultural horizon and in dialectical conflict with tradition, identifying, values and strenghts, but also limits and critical issues; c) discussion on the themes that characterize contemporary artistic works in relazion to reception over the centuries and in different regions; d) reflection on the ambiguity of the new critical mediation functions that the communication and information society entail, ad opposed to the specific objective of an autonmous critical judgement that the reader has the righet to exercise.  

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

Meetings are planned both in person and online with critics and scholars of the authors covered.

Teaching

Frontal lessons; viewing and analysis of films and audiovisual materials; in-depth meetings on the course topics with critics and scholars; seminar relations with students.

Attendance

A good starting point of Italian literature, its periodization, the major issues, and the literary forms and genres is required, as prescribed in the three-year course on modern and contemporary Italian literature.

Course books

The student will choose six novels, two for each group identified below, demonstrating that he has understood their meaning and knows how to insert them into the author's work and his years:

(I)

Collodi, Le avventure di Pinocchio; Ippolito Nievo, Le confessioni di un italiano; Luigi Capuana, Giacinta; Antonio Fogazzaro, Piccolo mondo antico; Edmondo De Amicis, Cuore; Giovanni Verga, I Malavoglia; Matilde Serao, Il ventre di Napoli; Federico De Roberto, I Vicerè; Italo Svevo, Senilità oppure La coscienza di Zeno; Luigi Pirandello, I quaderni di Serafino Gubbio operatore; Grazia Deledda, Canne al vento; Sibilla Aleramo, Una donna; Aldo Palazzeschi, Il codice di Perelà; Federigo Tozzi, Con gli occhi chiusi; Riccardo Bacchelli, Il mulino del Po; Anna Banti, Artemisia; Corrado Alvaro, Gente in Aspromonte; Carlo Emilio Gadda, Quer pasticciaccio brutto de via Merulana; Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Il Gattopardo; Curzio Malaparte, La pelle

(II)

Eduardo De Filippo, Natale in Casa Cupiello; Ignazio Silone, Fontamara; Carlo Levi, Cristo si è fermato a Eboli; Libero Bigiaretti, Uccidi o muori; Lalla Romano, Le parole tra noi leggere; Dino Buzzati, Il deserto dei Tartari; Alberto Moravia, Gli indifferenti oppure Agostino oppure Il disprezzo oppure La noia; Romano Bilenchi, Conservatorio di Santa Teresa; Vitaliano Brancati, Il bell’Antonio; Cesare Pavese, Dialoghi con Leucò oppure La casa in collina oppure La luna e i falò; Elio Vittorini, Conversazione in Sicilia; Tommaso Landolfi, Dialogo dei massimi sistemi oppure La pietra lunare oppure Le zittelle oppure Le labrene; Ennio Flaiano, Tempo di Uccidere; Mario Tobino, Le libere donne di Magliano oppure Il clandestino; Guido Morselli, Dissipatio H.G.; Elsa Morante, L’isola di Arturo oppure La storia; Natalia Ginzburg, Lessico famigliare; Vasco Pratolini, Cronache di poveri amanti oppure Metello; Anna Maria Ortese, Il mare non bagna Napoli; Giorgio Bassani, Cinque storie ferraresi oppure Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini; Carlo Cassola, La ragazza di Bube; Luigi Santucci, Orfeo in paradiso; Primo Levi, Se questo è un uomo oppure Il sistema periodico oppure I sommersi e i salvati

 (III)

Mario Pomilio, Il quinto evangelio; Leonardo Sciascia, Il giorno della civetta oppure Todo modo; Mario Rigoni Stern, Il sergente nella neve oppure Storia di Tönle oppure Boschi uomini e api; Italo Calvino, Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno oppure Le cosmicomiche oppure Le città invisibili; Beppe Fenoglio, I ventitré giorni della città di Alba oppure La malora oppure Una questione privata; Luigi Meneghello, Piccoli maestri; Luciano Bianciardi, La vita agra; Raffaele La Capria, Ferito a morte; Pier Paolo Pasolini, Il sogno di una cosa; Paolo Volponi, Il lanciatore di giavellotto oppure Le mosche del capitale oppure La strada per Roma; Dario Fo, Mistero buffo; Ermanno Rea, La dismissione; Domenico Rea, Ninfa plebea; Luigi Malerba, Itaca per sempre; Goffredo Parise, Il prete bello oppure I sillabari; Rosetta Loy, La parola ebreo; Umberto Eco, Il nome della rosa; Giuseppe Pontiggia, La morte in banca oppure Nati due volte; Dacia Maraini, La lunga vita di Marianna Ucrìa; Gianni Celati, Narratori delle pianure; Antonio Tabucchi, Sostiene Pereira; Walter Siti, Troppi paradisi; Stefano Benni, Bar sport sotto il mare; Pier Vittorio Tondelli, Altri libertini oppure Camere separate

Alla fine del corso sarà fornita una dispensa di testi poetici da analizzare.

Assessment

Examination interview on the authors and the issues, both critical-methodological and historical-literary, touched upon during the lessons and on the partial and complete texts selected by the student.

The students' tests will be evaluated, from excellent to good to fair to sufficient to insufficient, taking into account the following criteria: (1) knowledge of the subject, up to the possession of valuable critical and in-depth skills. – (2) ability to reason appropriately on the topic of the question, with a mastery of the language specifically required for critical analysis. – (3) ability to explain the subject with clarity and ownership of language and to connect issues and argue in an original way.

We therefore recommend a knowledge of the subject that is not mnemonic but reasoned, a vocabulary that is not uncertain and approximate, and a clear exposition, to obtain a grade that is as satisfactory as possible. Students who have registered their disability certification or DSA certification at the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can ask to use the concept maps (by keywords) during the exam.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam session, to the course teacher, who will verify their consistency with the indications of the university guidelines and may request their modification.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Teaching

individual study

Attendance

contact the teacher

Course books

contact the teacher

Assessment

Examination interview on the authors and the issues, both critical-methodological and historical-literary, touched upon during the lessons and on the partial and complete texts selected by the student.

The students' tests will be evaluated, from excellent to good to fair to sufficient to insufficient, taking into account the following criteria: (1) knowledge of the subject, up to the possession of valuable critical and in-depth skills. – (2) ability to reason appropriately on the topic of the question, with a mastery of the language specifically required for critical analysis. – (3) ability to explain the subject with clarity and ownership of language and to connect issues and argue in an original way.

We therefore recommend a knowledge of the subject that is not mnemonic but reasoned, a vocabulary that is not uncertain and approximate, and a clear exposition, to obtain a grade that is as satisfactory as possible. Students who have registered their disability certification or DSA certification at the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can ask to use the concept maps (by keywords) during the exam.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam session, to the course teacher, who will verify their consistency with the indications of the university guidelines and may request their modification.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.