UCL - The Writer and the Cinema

[ROM2856]

[15h] 5 credits

This course is taught in the 2d semester.

This two-yearly course is taught in 2009-2010, 2011-2012,...

Teacher(s): Costantino Maeder, Franco Musarra(supplée Costantino Maeder), Ulla Schroder(supplée Costantino Maeder)

Language: I

Level: Second

Aims
Main themes
Content and teaching methods
Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Aims

To be able to analyse an Italian libretto. To know how a libretto functions. To know the characteristics of a libretto and of Italian operas. To know how to write-up an analysis. To have read the fundamental libretti. To know how to interpret a libretto according to semiotic and post-semiotic methods. To know how to recognize the distinctive traits of a libretto and to replace them in their cultural context.

Main themes

In this seminar we will approach the themes concerning the perception an author has of himself, of his works and of his public. We will analyse the strategies of manipulation, of argumentation, and the practical execution (or non-execution) in a selection of works of the author in question.
The student will demonstrate his or her ability to use, in a critical and personal fashion, the strategies of interpretation and of analysis presented in other master courses of the program.

Content and teaching methods

Goldoni, Da Ponte and Alfieri's memoirs construct a particular image of an author and its relationship with his work. During the course of the seminar, we will analyse the manipulative strategies of the reader and confront in a controversial and critical manner the reflexions about the works to their concrete production.
The seminar will base itself on the concepts and methods presented in the italian literature and linguistic courses of the master.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Prerequisite (ideally in terms of competences). To know the general framework of italian literature. To know how to express oneself in italian. To know ho to write-up a text in italian. To know the basics pertaining to narratology and textual analysis.

Evaluation : The student, after having taken a series of classes together, will proceed to writing a term paper, according to scientific norms. He or she will then distribute the paper to the classmates and the instructor in order to discuss it with them, thereafter rewriting the final draft of the paper, on which the evaluation will be based.

Support : I-campus.

Compulsori reading :

Da Ponte : Memorie
Alfieri : Vita
Carlo Goldoni : Memorie per l'istoria della sua vita e del suo teatro : rivedute e corrette
Luigi Pirandello : Frammento di autobiografia
Umberto Saba : Autobiografia - quindici sonetti

Libretti by Da Ponte
Tragedies by Alfieri
Comedies by Goldoni
Canzoniere by Saba
Shortstories by Pirandello

Students will have studied the pages pertaining to theatre and opera in Giulio Ferroni's Storia della letteratura italiana.