Modern and Contemporary Italian Literature
Code: 103397 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2501801 Catalan and Spanish Studies | OT | 3 | 1 |
| 2501801 Catalan and Spanish Studies | OT | 4 | 1 |
| 2501902 English and Catalan Studies | OT | 3 | 1 |
| 2501902 English and Catalan Studies | OT | 4 | 1 |
| 2501907 English and Classics Studies | OT | 3 | 1 |
| 2501907 English and Classics Studies | OT | 4 | 1 |
| 2501910 English and Spanish Studies | OT | 3 | 1 |
| 2501910 English and Spanish Studies | OT | 4 | 1 |
| 2501913 English and French Studies | OT | 3 | 1 |
| 2501913 English and French Studies | OT | 4 | 1 |
Contact
- Name:
- Nicola Di Nino
- Email:
- nicola.dinino@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- spanish (spa)
- Some groups entirely in English:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Catalan:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Spanish:
- No
Other comments on languages
Although the language of class will be preferably Italian, Catalan and Spanish also have a place.Prerequisites
Not applicable
Objectives and Contextualisation
During the course, students will learn about the historical, cultural, and social context of Italy from the 19th century to the present day. They will be able to place a literary work in its precise historical context and analyze it in its complexity, being able to compare great literary themes with those of contemporary society.
At the end of the course, students will be able to
- Acquire literary and social-historical-economical knowledge about Italy from the 19th century to the present.
- Analyze and comment on a written text in both prose and verse.
- Discuss sociological-literary topics
- Connect authors and texts in an interdisciplinary way.
- Compare Italian culture with their own.
- Write an analysis/commentary as a response to a precise assignment.
- Carry out precise and circumscribed research in the literary field.
- Verbally express their point of view while respecting and sharing others ideas.
Competences
- Catalan and Spanish Studies
- Analyze a wide variety of written texts in Italian in order to recognize the fundamental characteristics of culture and the Italian literature.
- Identify the main literary, cultural and historical currents in Italian.
- Respect the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
- Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
- English and Catalan Studies
- Develop critical thinking and reasoning and knowing how to communicate effectively both in your mother tongue and in other languages.
- Explore a variety of texts in Italian in order to recognize the fundamental characteristics of the Italian culture and literature.
- Respect the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
- Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
- English and Classics Studies
- Develop critical thinking and reasoning and knowing how to communicate effectively both in your mother tongue and in other languages.
- Explore a variety of texts in Italian in order to recognize the fundamental characteristics of the Italian culture and literature.
- Respect the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
- Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
- English and Spanish Studies
- Develop critical thinking and reasoning and knowing how to communicate effectively both in your mother tongue and in other languages.
- Explore a variety of texts in Italian in order to recognize the fundamental characteristics of the Italian culture and literature.
- Respect the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
- Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
- English and French Studies
- Develop critical thinking and reasoning and knowing how to communicate effectively both in your mother tongue and in other languages.
- Explore a variety of texts in Italian in order to recognize the fundamental characteristics of the Italian culture and literature.
- Respect the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
- Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
Learning Outcomes
- Apply appropriate methodologies for reading and interpretation of these texts.
- Apply the acquired knowledge in order to improve the general knowledge of linguistic and cultural diversity.
- Describe the historical and thematic evolution of Italian literature throughout history.
- Describe the nature and main characteristics of the different genres and Italian literature in shaping the course of history.
- Distinguish main ideas from secondary and perform synthesis of its contents in literary texts in Italian.
- Effectively communicate and apply the argumentative and textual processes to formal and scientific texts.
- Effectively communicating and applying the argumentative and textual processes to formal and scientific texts.
- Generate strategies to facilitate the increase and improvement of mutual respect in multicultural environments.
- Identify key literary trends, authors and works of Italian literature from its origins to today.
- Locate and organize relevant information available on the Internet, databases, etc.
- Read and understand literary texts in Italian.
- Students must be capable of comprehending advanced academic or professional texts in their own language or the another acquired in the degree.
- Students must be capable of precisely arguing ideas and opinions in their own language or another acquired in the degree.
- Work independently and responsibly in a professional environment or researcher to achieve the previously planned objectives.
Content
Students will study, analyze and comment on the eras, works and themes of the main authors of Italian literature from the second half of the 19th century to the present day (they will read texts by Manzoni, Leopardi, Verga, Pascoli, D'Annunzio, Aleramo, Svevo, Montale, Tondelli, Morante, Scego, etc.) In particular, in class we will analyze how Italian authors have dealt with situations, themes, and motifs similar to those faced by our society during the recent pandemic.
Index of themes and authors:
- Illness and Pain: Manzoni, Promessi Sposi
- Loneliness and Silence. Indefinite and Imagination: Leopardi, Poesie
- Science vs. Art. Surviving: Verga, Malavoglia
- Art vs. Science. Re-emerge/Rebirth: Pascoli, Poesie and D'Annunzio, Trionfo
- Who am I?: Svevo, La coscienza di Zeno and Pirandello, Il fu Mattia Pascal
- Return to Society. Futurist entertainment: Marinetti, Manifesto della cucina futurista
- Reappropriation of space and memory: Saba, Poesie and Ungaretti, Vita di un uomo
- New language: Montale, Poesie
- An equal society? Women: Aleramo, Una donna
- An equal society? LGTBIQ+: Morante, Aracoeli
- An equal society? Migrants and Immigrants: Scego, La mia casa è dove sono
Italian Erasmus students please read the instructions in the 'Assessment' section.
Methodology
The subject of Modern and Contemporary Italian Literature is theoretical-practical. In general terms, learning activities are organised as follows:
-Directed activities: master class; collective discussion; reading, interpreting and commenting on texts.
- Supervised activities: individual and group exercises, both written and oral; reading, interpreting and commenting on texts.
- Autonomous activities: exercises on the course’s Moodle; preparation for the tests; readings, writing, search of documentation...
- Class exchanges (teacher-student, student-student)
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Texts reading and commentary | 25 | 1 | 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 6, 9, 11 |
| Theoretical and practical lessons | 25 | 1 | 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 6, 9, 11, 14 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Study: texts, materials, bibliography | 30 | 1.2 | 1, 3, 4, 5, 9, 11, 10, 14 |
| Texts reading and commentary | 15 | 0.6 | 1, 3, 4, 5, 9, 11 |
Assessment
The evaluation is continuous (100%) based on the following sections:
- Class participation 20%
- Class Discussion and works in couple/groups 15%
- Homework 20%
- Midterm exam 15%
- Final Exam 30%
- Students are allowed to retake activities they have not passed only if they have already taken at least 2/3 of the overall activities, and they have an average grade of at least 3.5.
- To receive the final grade, it is required to pass all the components subject to re-assessment.
- Students will receive a grade of “Not Evaluable” if s/he has not submitted more than 30% of the graded activities.
- Participation assesment may also include the parrticipation to cultural activities proposed by the professor.
- Italian Erasmus students have to consult the professor about the criteria for their evaluation in the first week of class. Students will receive a list of complementary readings (critical essays and texts), and the professor will specify the work to be done.
- In-class activities are excluded from re-evaluation.
- Re-assessment will consist of a written exam.
- Before posting the final grades, and prior to record them on the transcripts, the professor will provide date and time for the written re-take exam.
- Students are fully responsible for checking all their graded activities/exams.
- If a student commits any irregularity that lead to a significant variation of the grade in any activity, s/he will be given zero for this activity regardless of any disciplinary process that may follow up. In the event of several irregularities, the student will be given zero as final grade for the subject.
- In the event that tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be taken online through the UAB online tools (original grade weighting will be maintained). Homework, activities, and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion on Teams, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these remote tools, and/or will offer feasible alternatives.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class participation (attendance, and personal contribution) | 20 | 20 | 0.8 | 2, 12, 14 |
| Final Exam | 30 | 5 | 0.2 | 2, 1, 13, 3, 4, 5, 7, 6, 9, 11, 10, 14 |
| Homework | 20 | 10 | 0.4 | 1, 13, 12, 3, 4, 5, 7, 6, 9, 11, 10, 14 |
| In class discussion and works (groups and/or couples) | 15 | 15 | 0.6 | 1, 13, 3, 4, 5, 7, 6, 8, 9, 11 |
| Midterm Exam | 15 | 5 | 0.2 | 2, 1, 13, 3, 4, 5, 7, 6, 9, 11, 14 |
Bibliography
Bibliography
The following texts are indicative of some of major authors and works covered during the course. The professor will create specific materials and make them available on Moodle.
Mandatory works:
A. Manzoni, Promessi Sposi.
G. Leopardi, Canti.
G. Verga, Malavoglia.
G. Pascoli, Poesie
G. d’Annunzio, Trionfo della morte
I. Svevo, La coscienza di Zeno.
L. Pirandello, Il fu Mattia Pascal.
F. T. Marinetti, Manifesto della cucina futurista
U. Saba, Poesie
G. Ungaretti, Vita di un uomo.
E. Montale, Poesie
S. Aleramo, Una donna.
E. Morante, Aracoeli.
I. Scego, La mia casa è dove sono.
Other references:
R. Luperini, La Scrittura e l’interpretazione: storia e antologia della letteratura italiana nel quadro della civiltà europea, Roma, Palumbo, 2000.
Baldi, Giusso, Razzetti, Zaccaria, Dal testo alla storia dalla storia al testo, Torino,Paravia, 2003
G. Ferroni, Storia della letteratura italiana. Dall'Ottocento al Novecento, Milano, Mondadori, 2012.
E. Auerbach, Mimesis. Il realismo nella letteratura occidentale, Torino, Einaudi, 1956.
A. De Paz, La rivoluzione romantica. Poetiche, estetiche, ideologie, Napoli, Liguori, 1984
A. De Paz, Il romanticismo europeo, Napoli, Liguori, 1987
G. Manacorda, Letteratura italiana d’oggi (1965-1985), Roma, Editori riuniti, 1987
E. Gioanola, Psicanalisi, ermeneutica e letteratura, Milano, Mursia, 1991
AA. VV, Il romanzo tra i due secoli (1880-1918), Roma, Bulzoni, 1993
G. Zanetti, Il Novecento come visione. Dal simbolismo a Campana, Roma, Carocci, 1999
L'anima e le cose. Naturalismo e antinaturalismo tra Otto e Novecento, cur R. Cavalluzzi, Bari, Laterza, 2003
G. Baldi, Le ambiguità della "decadenza". D'Annunzio romanziere, Napoli, Liguori, 2008
A. Putignano, La più gran gioia è sempre all’altra riva. Estetismo e simbolismo in Gabriele D’Annunzio, Roma, Sciascia, 2010
A. Fariello, Paesaggio e sentimento nella letteratura italiana. Dal preromanticismo al decadentismo, Roma, Bulzoni, 2010
A. Afribo, A. Soldani, La poesia moderna. Dal secondo Ottocento a oggi, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2012
Verso una storia di genere della letteratura italiana, cur. di V. Cox, C. Ferrari, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2012
A. Casadei, Il Novecento, Bologna. Il Mulino, 2014
AA. VV., Letteratura italiana contemporanea. Antologia del nuovo millennio, Roma, Helicon, 2015
G. Ferroni, Letteratura italiana contemporanea 1945-2014, Milano, Mondadori, 2015
E. Biagini, Saggi di teoria della letteratura. Percorsi tematici, Firenze University Press, 2016
G. Simonetti, La letteratura circostante. Narrativa e poesia nell’Italia contemporanea, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2018
Renato Barilli, Il simbolismo nella letteratura europea dell’Ottocento tra prosa e poesia, Milano, Mursia, 2018
G. Simonetti, La letteratura circostante. Narrativa e poesia nell'Italia contemporanea, Bologna. Il Mulino, 2018
E. Zinato, L’estremo contemporaneo letteratura italiana 2000-2020, Roma, Treccani, 2020
M. Guidacci, Le poesie, a cura di Maura del Serra, Firenze, Le lettere, 2020
A. Pozzi, Poesie, lettere e altri scritti, cur. A. Cenni, Mondadori, Milano 2021.
A. Pozzi, Poesie, Garzanti, Milano 2021.
Software
No particular software is required, except for the most common Office tools (i. e. word processor, etc.,) email account, an updated browser, MS Teams for online sessions if needed.