Thematic Surveys of Italian Literature : from the 19th century to the Present [ LROM1542 ]

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LFLTR 1750 (Basic Modern Italian I), LROM 1751 (Basic Modern Italian II) et LROM1753 (Linguistic and literary analysis of Italian texts) or equivalents.

Lectures, using audio-visual material. Subjects dealt with: Manzoni, Leopardi, Verga, Pirandello, Ungaretti, Montale, Pavese, Tabucchi, and more recent writers

- Basic course;
- This course aims to introduce students to the great authors from Romanticism to the present and to develop their literary sensibility.

Continuous assessment : two written assignments, oral defence of a written thesis and one written test on class work.

The test will relate to the work done by students independently :
-   they are expected to know how to summarise texts from the syllabus
-   they are expected to know the most important bio-bibliographical details about the authors covered in the course.

A detailed programme together with the methods of assessment are available on iCampus (http://www.icampus.ucl.ac.be).

The course is in the form of lectures: this is a deliberate choice to give students experience of a form of teaching they will encounter in Italy on an Erasmus exchange.

The practical sessions deal with the preparation of a choice of texts from a linguistic point of view. These texts will be covered in class and will require students to make active use of analytical procedures introduced in LROM1753.

The course covers the topic of the limits of knowledge in Italian literary works from the 19^th century to the present day. The course is not chronological but adopts an argumentative and thematic approach.

A negative vision of knowledge is a common thread in Italian literature. Scepticism is focused on the ability to transmit real values, on the very concepts of value and knowledge and also on the usefulness of knowledge for the human condition. There is criticism of the progressive vision which is often linked to the concept of knowledge.

Even authors linked with Marxism and Catholicism cannot escape from this impasse.

Prescribed authors : Pietro Metastasio, Alessandro Manzoni, Giacomo Leopardi, Luigi Pirandello, Alberto Moravia, Edoardo Sanguineti, Antonio Tabucchi

In addition to the collection of texts, students should buy a good edition of Agostino by Alberto Moravia.
Students are encouraged to use the histories of Italian literature and other reference works which are in the library and online (Jstor, etc.).
Recommended history of Italian literature :
Giulio Ferroni, Profilo storico della letteratura italiana, Einaudi Scuola.

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