Italian Literature within Narrative, Poetry and the Stage [ LROM2851 ]

Depending on the annual program, in this course we study some of the main authors of Italian literature (from the Middle Ages to the XX century). Students are taught to reflect on the genesis of three literary works (one in verse, one in prose, and a play for the theatre) through study of a body of texts and drafts. This allows students to understand the mechanisms and the challenges of writing (on the part of the author), of reading, of interpreting and of editing (in terms of scholarly critique) which all intervene in the production and the reception of literary work.

By the end of the course, students are expected to be able to: a) read, analyze and interpret a literary text using the methodologies described and adopted in the course, b) place a literary text within its cultural, linguistic, aesthetic, literary, and scriptural context, c) identify and interpret different textual levels and their interactions.

Evaluation of this course is an individual oral examination which will include:

1. the content of the lecture (Dante and the exegesis of various cantos of Inferno);
2. the content of the methodological work by Jacqueline Risset (see bibliography above);
3. the reading of a canto from Inferno preselected together with the teacher, that the student will prepare independently and individually outside the sessions of the course.
    

Lecture on Dante, his work and poetry + Lectura Dantis of a selection of cantos from Inferno.
Audio-visual supports containing recent readings and adaptations of Dantes Inferno, including those of Roberto Benigni, will also be presented to students during classroom activities.
 

This course will focus on Dante (1265-1321), his work and his poetry. It will introduce students to the linguistic and literary creation realized by Dante through the writing of his poem The Divine Comedy. Within this major text, both of Italian literature and world literature, Inferno will be chosen to conduct a thorough study of Dante's poetry, through a selection of iconic cantos of this first part of the poem. In Dante exegesis itself, special attention will be paid to the narrative tone of the poem and to recent theatrical adaptations of Inferno.

Readings
Primary corpus
ALIGHIERI, Dante, La Divina Commedia. Inferno, con il commento di Anna Maria Chiavacci Leonardi, Milano, Mondadori, 2005 (coll. Nuovi Oscar Classici), ISBN : 8804546549 (a selection of cantos on which the exegesis will focus will be indicated by the teacher during the introductory session of the course).
Secondary corpus
RISSET, Jacqueline, Dante écrivain ou l'Intelletto d'amore, Paris, Editions du Seuil, 1982 (coll. Fiction & Cie), ISBN : 2-02-006175-9.
 

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