Italian Language Literature and Culture II

Recommended Prerequisites

Students are recommended to have a panoramic overview of the Italian Culture and Literature, got during the 1.st Cycle, in the disciplines of Italian Culture and Literature, as well in the seminars of the 2.nd Cycle, assuming thus the perfect domain of the Italian Language, so that students can easily read and understand the texts considered of compulsory reading, and undertake its close analysis and commentary.

Teaching Methods

Classes follow a theoretical-practical standard, recurring whenever necessary to the analysis and comment of historical novels or of other titles considered relevant to the teaching of the items belonging to the program. Some sessions are also foreseen to direct students when they are involved in the composition of written essays, to discuss the theme, structure and, of course, their improvement. Besides, a weekly timetable is also foreseen to attend students, so that they can present and clarify their doubts.

Learning Outcomes

Considering it a seminar of the academic part of the Course, the main goal of this discipline is to provide to the students the necessary information concerning a panoramic view regarding the production of Italian historical novels, in a diachronic perspective, along the 19.th and 20.th centuries, as well composition techniques, so that they can better organize the data regarding the preparation of the potential future thesis, selecting a period, a corpus of authors, or intersecting data from different works.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

The Italian Historical Novel and the Question of National Identity

The resurgence of interest for the historical novel has awaken the reflection on the sympathy of this gender among the reading public and on the codes that shape it. A reflection is carried on too about the process of the Italian political unification in the 19.th century. After the historical and sociological contextualization from the Risorgimento up to contemporary days, not only the origins of the gender will be outlined, but also its specific traits, in order to study its respective production along the last two centuries, privileging the period of Postmodernism. It is intended to draw a reflection on the evolution of the genre, justifying its vitality, and systematizing the aspects of the studied works. As the Italian historical novel is a privileged space of reflection on the construction of modern Italy, it will be undertaken at the same time an approach on the question of the building of national identity.

Assessment Methods

Continuous Assessment
Project: 20.0%
Active participation in theoretical and practical classes including the presentation of short extension oral works: 30.0%
Research work: 50.0%

Bibliography

Bellini, D., Burgio, G., Conoscenti, D., Jossa, S., Pecora, M., Sanguinetti, F., et al. (2009). Letteratura, Identità, Nazione. Palermo: Duepunti Edizioni.

Bufalino, G. (2001). Le menzogne della note. Milano: Bompiani.

De Roberto, F. (2007). I viceré. Milano: Garzanti.

Eco, U. (2004). Il nome della rosa. Milano: Bompiani.

Ferro. M. (2013). Os 150 anos da unificação política da Itália e a questão da unidade nacional italiana. Brotéria, 176 (1), 41-48.

Fogazzaro, A. (2001). Piccolo mondo antico. Milano: Mondadori.

Geary, P. (2008). O Mito das Nações. A Invenção do Nacionalismo. Lisboa: Gradiva.

Jossa, S. (2006). L’Italia letteraria. Bologna: Il Mulino.

Jovine, F. (1990). La signora Ava. Torino: Einaudi.

Lampedusa, G. T. di (2003). Il gattopardo. Milano: Feltrinelli.

Manzoni, A. (2006). I promessi sposi. Milano: Mondadori.

Raimondi, E. (1998). Letteratura e identità nazionale. Milano: Bruno Mondadori.

Smith, A. (1997). A Identidade Nacional. Lisboa: Gradiva.