Module: Literature of the romantic and risorgimento age

Unit LITERATURE OF THE ROMANTIC AND RISORGIMENTO AGE

Versione italiana

Course

Italian, classical studies and european history

Study-unit Code

A003062

Curriculum

Storia europea

Teacher

Simone Casini

Teachers

Simone Casini

Hours

36 ore - Simone Casini

CFU

Course Regulation

Coorte 2025

Offered

2025/26

Learning activities

Caratterizzante

Area

Lingua e letteratura italiana

Sector

L-FIL-LET/11

Type of study-unit

Type of learning activities

Attività formativa monodisciplinare

Language of instruction

Italian

Contents

1. History of the debate on Romanticism, in Europe and Italy. 2. Main interpretations of Romanticism. 3. The debate on the new romantic literature in Italy during the years of Italian Unification (Tenca, De Sanctis, Carducci). Tenca and his articles in «Crepuscolo» (1850-1859). 4. New literary genres. From romantic drama to the new European novel (Balzac, Stendhal, Sand). The Italian opera (from Rossini to Verdi). 4. Ippolito Nievo, “Confessions of an Italian”. Autobiography and invention, sources and models. Additional readings are planned for non-attending students.

Reference texts

1. Required reading: - Hugh Honour, Romanticism, 1979, in It. Romanticism, tr. by Clara Zanon, Milan, Edizioni di Comunità, 1984, new ed. with Introductory Note by Fernando Mazzocca, Turin, Einaudi, 2007, chapter I, pp. 15-51. - Paul Ginsborg, Romanticism and the Risorgimento: The Self, Love and the Nation, in History of Italy, Annals 22: The Risorgimento, edited by P. Ginsborg and Alberto M. Banti, Turin, Einaudi, 2007, pp. 5-67. - Alberto Maria Banti, The Nation of the Risorgimento: Kinship, Holiness and Honor at the Origins of United Italy, Turin, Einaudi, 2000, chapter I, pp. 3-53 2. Full reading of Confessioni d’un Italiano by Ippolito Nievo (recommended edition, Milano-Guanda, Classici della Fondazione Bembo, 1999; but other editions are also fine). Some other texts of nineteenth-century criticism (Tenca, De Sanctis) and reflection (on Manzoni, on Nievo, on Verdi) will be indicated and provided by the teacher on the Unistudium page of the course. For Erasmus and foreign students, some program alternatives are provided, especially in relation to readings on European Romanticism. Students with disabilities and/or with DSA who, having completed regular accreditation through SOL, have obtained access to University services, can request the compensatory tools provided for by the legislation (e.g. textbooks in digital format; teaching materials in accessible formats: presentations, handouts, exercise books, provided if necessary in advance of the lessons), for which see the page https://www.unipg.it/disabilita-e-dsa. To make the request, the student is invited to contact the teacher, who will put him/her in contact with the Department's Disability and/or DSA Representative (Prof. Alessandra Di Pilla: alessandra.dipilla@unipg.it).

Educational objectives

The student learns texts, authors, genres and themes of a decisive period for modern literature, putting them in relationship with other arts (figurative and musical), with other European literatures, and with current history. Knowledge of the historical period is explored in depth and is therefore required. For cultural history, the most up-to-date critical and bibliographical tools are provided, to reflect on the cultural, philosophical and literary movements that are at the origin of modern culture: relationships between Enlightenment and Romanticism; between European Romanticism and Italian culture; between classicism and Romanticism; between the first and second Romanticism; between Romanticism and the Risorgimento. For literary history, in particular, the birth of the modern novel is explored in depth, in Europe and therefore in Italy; and at the same time the birth of literary criticism in the modern sense. Knowledge of the work of Ippolito Nievo in required, in particular of his novel Le confessioni d’un italiano. Finally, the relationships between literary culture and musical culture are explored in depth, with particular attention to Italian opera, from Rossini to Verdi. Skills. The course aims to develop the skills of exposition and communication, and of independent research, through oral reports. Furthermore, it intends to develop critical and historical sensitivity, investigating the nineteenth-century origins of the new criticism and of a new sensitivity for civil and political historical events, reflecting on the complexity of phenomena, and distinguishing the historical level from that of literary and aesthetic elaboration. A specific skill that is intended to be developed is that relating to the fundamental tools for music, especially opera.

Prerequisites

Students are required to have principal notions of history and literary culture and an high level in knowledge and mastery of italian language. These preconditions are valid both for attending and not attending students.

Teaching methods

(1) Frontal lessons with final discussion; (2) Reading and commentary of texts (3) use of video presentation programs, images and films with video projector. (4) A short written report by each student on texts relevant to the program is expected; (4) materials provided by the teacher on Unistudium; (5) an educational trip in Milan is planned in relation to the themes of the course.

Other information

Attendance is required. Students (except working students) who attend less than 60% of the lessons are declared non-attending and are required to do additional readings. Alternative or non-attending programs must be agreed with the teacher.

Learning verification modality

The examination consists in oral questions after the conclusion of the course. It concerns understanding, analysis and comment of literary text discussed in the course, and the knowledge of themes, issues and authors both discussed in the course or presented in the bibliography provided in the program. The exam aims to ascertain the knowledge level and the ability of the student in comment and contextualization, critical intelligence, cultural, historical and literary sensibility. It consists on three or four or five questions, according to the situation of the student.

Extended program

1. Early European Romanticism. 2. Main interpretations in the twentieth-century and current critical debate. 3. The debate between classicists and romantics in Italy. Madame de Stael. Schlegel. The Italian romantics (Di Breme, Berchet, Borsieri). Leopardi and the Discourse on Romantic poetry. 4. Manzoni from drama to novel. 5. Carlo Tenca and the judgment on the “second romanticism” 6. Ippolito Nievo, life and works. 7. The Confessions of an Italian. The narrator. The prologue. The problem of literary genre 8. The Confessions of an Italian. History. Relationship with historical and literary sources. 9. The Confessions of an Italian. Characters and episodes.