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

LFIAL1750 (Basic Modern Italian I), LROM 1751 (Basic Modern Italian II) et LROM1753 (Linguistic and literary analysis of Italian texts) or equivalents.

The prerequisite(s) for this Teaching Unit (Unité d’enseignement – UE) for the programmes/courses that offer this Teaching Unit are specified at the end of this sheet.

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.

The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.

The assessment will be in two parts,
-    A written exam during the examination session of January on the reading of the texts and on the subjects covered by the exercise sessions (50%).
-    An oral exam during the examination session of June in which the student defends a written literary analysis assignment on a theme linked to the course and responds to questions on the reading of the texts and on the subjects covered by the formal lectures (50%).
Details:
1) The questions will relate to the work done by students independently:
-   they are expected to know how to summarize 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 the class platform.
2) The written assignment will be done in two steps: an intermediate writing and a final writing. The intermediate writing forms a basis for individual discussion and following of the student by the professor. The final writing, of approximately 15 pages, must consider the professor's commentaries and must be submitted the first day of the examination session of June.

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, and of Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore by Luigi Pirandello.
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, Torino, 1991, 2 vol.
Giulio FERRONI, Storia della letteratura italiana, Mondadori Università, Milano, 2012, 4 vol

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