Italian Literature within Narrative, Poetry and the Stage

Teacher(s)

Maeder Costantino;

Language

Italian

Main themes

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.

Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	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.

Content

Italian opera has had an exceptional social, cultural and political impact in Europe and throughout the world. Although in the eighteenth century Italian opera was an essentially a European phenomenon, in the nineteenth century it conquered the Americas and other continents.
We will study the narratological and cognitive structures that allowed such a success. We will examine the modes of reception (the dissemination of libretti  as a literary genre, staging, etc.), political and social implications, as well as adaptation strategies, fundamental to understanding Italian opera.
The student will be able to read a booklet, to understand its structure and to foresee the musical realization.

Teaching methods

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the information in this section is particularly likely to change.

Lectures

 

Evaluation methods

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the information in this section is particularly likely to change.

First and second session:

• Written exam
• Written paper handed in at the beginning of the session.

Bibliography

Livrets:

• Pietro Metastasio: L'olimpiade
• Pietro Metastasio: Il sogno di Scipione
• Salvadore Cammarano: Lucia di Lammermoor
• Felice Romani: Colombo
• Luigi Illica: Cristoforo Colombo
• Arrigo Boito: Amleto
• Arrigo Boito: Otello

Articles et essais sur moodle:
Articles à chercher activement en bibliothèque et dans des répositoires d'articles académiques comme JSTOR ou SAGE.

 
 

Faculty or entity

ELAL