Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE LAS2015

 
TITLE La letteratura italiana moderna e contemporanea (Italian Modern and Contemporary Literature)

 
UM LEVEL H - Higher Level

 
MQF LEVEL 6

 
ECTS CREDITS 4

 
DEPARTMENT Centre for the Liberal Arts and Sciences

 
DESCRIPTION This Unit will serve as an introduction to some of the genres in Italian Modern and Contemporary literature. It will concentrate on such concepts as Verism, Modernism and Post-Modernism with a particular focus on the works of some of the protagonists of the Italian literary scene. After having provided an overview of late 19th and 20th Century literature, the Unit will then focus on a number of specific authors who will include, amongst others, Giovanni Verga (La Lupa and Rosso Malpelo), Luigi Pirandello (Il Fu Mattia Pascal and the Meta theatre trilogy), Italo Svevo (La Coscienza di Zeno), and Eugenio Montale (a selection of poems from Ossi di Seppia).

Attention will also be given to the female voice within a predominantly male literary tradition; such authors may include Elsa Morante (L’isola di Arturo) and Dacia Maraini (La lunga vita di Marianna Ucria).

Some of the genres that will be alluded to are the thriller and the detective novel with an eye to some of the novels of Leonardo Sciascia (A Ciascuno il Suo and Il Giorno della Civetta) and Andrea Camilleri (La scomparsa di Patò and La Concessione del Telefono).

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding:

By the end of the Unit the student will be able to:
- Identify the main aesthetic and thematic confrontations with which these writers have profoundly marked Italian literature;
- Approach the texts and understand the literary process involved in the various transition phases within the Italian literary tradition;
- Appraise the influence which the authors chosen have exercised on the Italian literary canon;
- Recognise the significant contacts, convergences and divergences that exist between the different authors.

2. Skills:

By the end of the Unit the student will be able to:
- Analyse and interpret sections of chosen texts from the genres of the novel, the theatre and poetry using an eclectic approach, i.e. a variety of readings: thematic and linguistic approaches;
- Appraise the writers’ contribution to reviving the Italian literary canon;
- Provide a written analysis on a selected text or concepts discussed;
- Master the skills necessary to enact a textual analysis of a literary text provided.

Main texts (primary sources):

- Verga Giovanni, 1968, La lupa, in Vita dei campi.
(Available online on http://www.classicitaliani.it/verga/novelle/verga_03_vita_dei_campi.htm)
- Verga Giovanni, 1968, Rosso Malpelo, in Vita dei campi.
(Available online on http://www.classicitaliani.it/verga/novelle/verga_03_vita_dei_campi.htm)
- Pirandello Luigi, 1997, Maschere nude, Vol. 1,a cura di A. D’Amico, Premessa di G. Macchia, “I Meridiani”, Milano, Mondadori.
- Pirandello Luigi, 2005, Tutti i romanzi, Vol. 1, a cura di Giovanni Macchia, “I Meridiani”, Milano, Mondadori.
- SvevoItalo, 1994, La Coscienza di Zeno, a cura di Giovanni Palmieri, Giunti.
- Montale Eugenio, 1970, Ossi di Seppia: poesie, 1920-1927, Milano, Mondadori.

Supplementary readings (secondary sources):

- Russo Luigi, 1955, Giovanni Verga, Bari, Laterza.
- Luperini Romano, 2005, Vergamoderno, Bari, Laterza.
- Gherarducci Isabella – Ghidetti Enrico, 1994, Guidaallalettura di Verga, Firenze,Nuova Italia.
- Bassanese Fiora, 1997, Understanding Luigi Pirandello, Columbia-South Carolina, University of South Carolina Press.
- Scarpati Claudio, 1970, Invitoallalettura di Eugenio Montale, Milano, Mondadori.

 
ADDITIONAL NOTES Pre-requisite Qualification: SEC level in Italian (or better)

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Assignment Yes 100%

 
LECTURER/S

 

 
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

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