Unit ITALIAN LITERATURE
- Course
- Humanities
- Study-unit Code
- GP005963
- Curriculum
- In all curricula
- Teacher
- Simone Casini
- Teachers
-
- Simone Casini
- Hours
- 72 ore - Simone Casini
- CFU
- 12
- Course Regulation
- Coorte 2023
- Offered
- 2023/24
- Learning activities
- Base
- Area
- Letteratura italiana
- Academic discipline
- L-FIL-LET/10
- Type of study-unit
- Obbligatorio (Required)
- Type of learning activities
- Attività formativa monodisciplinare
- Language of instruction
- Italian
- Contents
- The course presents Italian literature from its origins to the early nineteenth century, through the analysis of exemplary texts and the reconstruction of historical and biographical contexts. A thematic perspective will also be integrated into the historical itinerary: “Other literatures, other populations. Cultural exchanges, contrasts and influences through the centuries”.
The course is divided into four parts or modules. The first part ("From Origins to Dante") deals with the first documents of literature “volgare”, focusing on some texts and main authors, up to Dante, whose Vita nuova will be read (some chapters).
The second part ("From Petrarch to the early sixteenth century") considers the golden age of Italian literature, focusing on some major texts and dedicating an in-depth study to Boccaccio's "Decameron", of which the Introduction and Second “Giornata” will be read.
The third part concerns the new situation of Italian culture ("from the Counter-Reformation to the Enlightenment"), with more in-depth and extended readings from Tasso's "Jerusalem Liberated".
The fourth module ("The birth of the modern age") presents the new historical and cultural climate of romanticism, with an in-depth analysis of Foscolo's novel “Ultime lettere di Jacopo Ortis”, and with the conclusion on 1827 (the year of Foscolo's death, of the publication of Leopardi's "Operette morali" and the first edition of Manzoni's "Promessi sposi")
During the historical-literary path of the course, some texts and some insights will concern the intercultural theme: "Other literatures, other people. Exchanges, contrasts, influences through the centuries". - Reference texts
- (1) With regard to history of Italian Literature: "Storia della letteratura italiana", a cura da Andrea Battistini, volume I: “Dalle origini al Seicento”, 2014, pp. 632. Volume 2 “Dal Settecento ai nostril giorni” until Romanticism. Foreign students will be given some support texts.
(2) texts for the institutional part will be indicated at the beginning af the course and partially provided by the teacher. We will mainly refer to the texts included in the following anthologies: Attraverso la poesia italiana. Analisi di testi esemplari, ed. by P. V. Mengaldo, Roma, Carocci, 2009, 20214; e Attraverso la prosa italiana. Analisi di testi esemplari, edited by P.V. Mengaldo, Roma, Carocci, 2009, 20214
(3) texts for the in-depth sections of the course (Dante’s “Vita Nuova”, Boccaccio’s “Decameron”, Tasso’s “Gerusalemme liberata”, Foscolo’s “Ortis”) are available in several editions. Foreign students will be able to use or help themselves with editions in their own language. Texts will be made available in the course’s web page on Unistudium.
(4) critical insight will be provided at the beginning of the course. In particular, referring to our course’s topic "Other literatures, other people. Exchanges, contrasts, influences through the centuries".
For working students and non-attending students, a written report on a topic to be agreed will also be required (relating to a text of literary history, with the support of a critical essay).
For students with disabilities, care will be taken to indicate texts and tools that allow for study, and any dispensatory and compensatory measures will be agreed, as well as the forms and timing of exams. - Educational objectives
- The course of Italian literature aims to provide students with the fundamental knowledge and tools for literary and humanistic studies, for the entire three-year period. In fact, the course intends to provide students with the foundations and tools to carry out in-depth studies, research, reflections and connections, even independently, with a critical sense and historical and civil sensibility. Therefore the main knowledge acquired concerns: 1. Knowledge of authors, works and eras of Italian literature; 2. Knowledge of the salient features of the main literary genres; 3. Knowledge of the literary institution, i.e. communication (literary community, author, publishing and public), tradition over time (transmission of the text) and space (circulation of the text); 4. Knowledge of the main elements of technical and formal tools. 5. The main references of critical and historical-literary studies.
The main skills, i.e. the ability to apply the acquired knowledge, at the end of the course are: 1. Knowing how to read, paraphrase, analyze and comment on a literary text, identifying the salient content elements and decoding the message. 2. Use the fundamental critical bibliography. 3. Carry out an argumentative reflection on themes of Italian and European literary history - Prerequisites
- A good knowledge of the Italian language
- Teaching methods
- The main teaching method includes frontal lessons in the classroom, assisted by multimedia tools; exercises in textual analysis, critical elaboration and also partial verification 'in itinere', mostly on digital web platforms (with evaluation not functional to the final grade). In-depth seminars are also planned, and a visit to places and events related to the programme (probably Florence).
- Other information
- For students with disabilities, care will be taken to prepare the most suitable technological and logistical tools, any dispensatory measures will be agreed, as well as the forms and times of verification.
- Learning verification modality
- The exam includes only the final oral test, which consists of a discussion-interview relating to the topics covered during the course and in-depth analysis of the recommended texts.
The test serves to ascertain the level of knowledge and the ability to understand, as well as synthesise, achieved by the student. Furthermore, this interview allows to verify the student's ability to communicate what has been acquired with method, language properties and exposition. The duration of the exam varies according to the progress of the test itself. The exam questions (indicatively three) concern different moments and authors of literary history, and a reading test of one of the texts included in the program.
For students with disabilities, special methods will be agreed for the verification and it will be possible to provide for additional or diversified times. - Extended program
- The following program is only indicative, and variations are possible and will be indicated at the beginning of the course.
From Latin to Romance languages. First vernacular documents. Dante's "De vulgari eloquentia" and the new literatures. The thirteenth century: Francis and religious poetry. The thirteenth century: Federico and profane poetry. Guido, Dante and Stilnovism. Dante's “Vita nuova”. The fourteenth century. Boccaccio's “Decameron” (2nd Giornata). Petrarch and the birth of humanistic culture. The fifteenth century. Petrarchism. Classicism. Renaissance. The chivalric poem. The Wars of Italy (1494-1530). Machiavelli and Guicciardini. The sixteenth century. Tasso, life and works: the "Gerusalemme liberata". The seventeenth century. Galileo. Marine. The eighteenth century. Theater (Goldoni and comedy, Alfieri and tragedy, Metastasio and melodrama). Enlightenment. The birth of the modern age. Foscolo. The novel as a new genre. From “Ortis” to “Promessi Sposi”. Romanticism in Europe and Italy. Leopards. Manzoni. 1827.
For Erasmus students it is possible to agree on specific variations or insights.
For students with disabilities, it is possible to provide for dispensatory measures. - Obiettivi Agenda 2030 per lo sviluppo sostenibile