Medieval, Humanistic and Renaissance Italian Literature
A.Y. 2020/2021
Learning objectives
This course aims at two main objectives: 1) to provide students with a critically founded knowledge of medieval, humanistic and Renaissance Italian literature, through the reading of texts and essays 2) to develop students' analytical and critical skills in order to understand and evaluate both ancient texts and their own and others' research work.
Expected learning outcomes
Knowledge: By the end of the course, the student is expected to: know the main lines of Italian literature from 13th to 16th cent. with relation to historical and cultural context; be acquainted with different instruments and methodologies to analyse and interpret texts; know the main lines of studies' history and more recent achievements regarding some fundamental themes and problems; know and use instruments of bibliographic research.
Abilities: By the end of the course, the student is expected to: fully comprehend and analyse ancient texts in historical and cultural context; find, select and critically evaluate previous scholarship, understanding possibilities and limitations of different methodological perspectives and identifying main themes and challenges of the discipline; prepare a full scientific bibliography on a topic; produce an articulate and personal judgment and express it with clarity using appropriate scholarly lexicon.
Abilities: By the end of the course, the student is expected to: fully comprehend and analyse ancient texts in historical and cultural context; find, select and critically evaluate previous scholarship, understanding possibilities and limitations of different methodological perspectives and identifying main themes and challenges of the discipline; prepare a full scientific bibliography on a topic; produce an articulate and personal judgment and express it with clarity using appropriate scholarly lexicon.
Lesson period: Second semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
Second semester
In the misfortunate case of distant teaching and learning in the second semester, information will be available on UNIMI site and on ARIEL.
Teaching methods:
The course will be held mainly by synchronous online lectures following the scheduled timetable, using Teams, with the exception of some asynchronous lessons (video lessons, power point + audio). Some lessons might consist both of syncronous and asyncronous parts. Every face-to-face lecture will include a question time. All lessons will be registered and available on ARIEL platform.
Some poems will be read with the contribution of volunteer students. Schedule of lessons and activities will be posted on ARIEL site, as well as a forum.
Any updates will also be communicated through ARIEL (and please read often mail @studenti.unimi.it)
Students unable to attend face-to-face synchronous lessons, can be considered to be attending if carry out alternative online activities.
Reference materials:
Attending students must refer to all the lessons, materials and resources published on Teams and ARIEL, in addition to the bibliography listed in the course programme.
Learning verification procedures and assessment criteria:
The exam is oral and takes place in Teams (videoconferencing), according to the indications provided by the University. The details and calendars of the oral examinations are published and constantly updated on ARIEL.
Teaching methods:
The course will be held mainly by synchronous online lectures following the scheduled timetable, using Teams, with the exception of some asynchronous lessons (video lessons, power point + audio). Some lessons might consist both of syncronous and asyncronous parts. Every face-to-face lecture will include a question time. All lessons will be registered and available on ARIEL platform.
Some poems will be read with the contribution of volunteer students. Schedule of lessons and activities will be posted on ARIEL site, as well as a forum.
Any updates will also be communicated through ARIEL (and please read often mail @studenti.unimi.it)
Students unable to attend face-to-face synchronous lessons, can be considered to be attending if carry out alternative online activities.
Reference materials:
Attending students must refer to all the lessons, materials and resources published on Teams and ARIEL, in addition to the bibliography listed in the course programme.
Learning verification procedures and assessment criteria:
The exam is oral and takes place in Teams (videoconferencing), according to the indications provided by the University. The details and calendars of the oral examinations are published and constantly updated on ARIEL.
Course syllabus
The course, for the present year, is divided into two sections. The first section (Parts A-B) is dedicated to Cinquecento lyric poetry in its historical and social context and in its formal characteristics. The second section (Part C) deals with epistolography and philological transcript of autographs.
The course includes the following topics:
First section: Lyric poetry in Renaissance society and culture.
Part A (20 hrs; 3 CFU): From Petrarch to Pietro Bembo.
- Recall and improvement of undergraduate knowledge about history of Italian poetry and petrarchan poetry in particular, with in-depth text readings; early petrarchism in Tre and Quattrocento; spreading and innovation of Tuscan literary models; courtly poetry and the innovation of Pietro Bembo.
Part B (20 hrs; 3 CFU): Moments of Renaissance lyric. An outline of European petrarchism. Second part:
Part C (20 hrs; 3 CFU): The letter: genre tradition and philological practise.
- Outline of epistolary genre history from Antiquity to Middle Age to Humanism; the Renaissance, age of letters and of secretaries; material and textual characteristics of the letter; fundamentals of epistolary philology; autograph transcriptions, with classroom guided practice on Giovanni Della Casa's autographs; digital exploration of some Della Casa's manuscripts and presentation of the didactic project for MA dissertations "Lettere di Giovanni Della Casa: schedatura sul database epistolare ARCHILET".
The course includes the following topics:
First section: Lyric poetry in Renaissance society and culture.
Part A (20 hrs; 3 CFU): From Petrarch to Pietro Bembo.
- Recall and improvement of undergraduate knowledge about history of Italian poetry and petrarchan poetry in particular, with in-depth text readings; early petrarchism in Tre and Quattrocento; spreading and innovation of Tuscan literary models; courtly poetry and the innovation of Pietro Bembo.
Part B (20 hrs; 3 CFU): Moments of Renaissance lyric. An outline of European petrarchism. Second part:
Part C (20 hrs; 3 CFU): The letter: genre tradition and philological practise.
- Outline of epistolary genre history from Antiquity to Middle Age to Humanism; the Renaissance, age of letters and of secretaries; material and textual characteristics of the letter; fundamentals of epistolary philology; autograph transcriptions, with classroom guided practice on Giovanni Della Casa's autographs; digital exploration of some Della Casa's manuscripts and presentation of the didactic project for MA dissertations "Lettere di Giovanni Della Casa: schedatura sul database epistolare ARCHILET".
Prerequisites for admission
There are no required prerequisites. Yet, a good undergraduate study of Italian literature is recommended to attend the course. Students who, for different reasons, do not possess this background should contact the teacher to draw a study plan.
Teaching methods
The course (Part A-B), more complex and wider than an undegraduate one, is based on traditional lectures, yet leaves large room to students' active participation. Many text readings will be held, by the teacher and by the students, and bibliography will be discussed in classroom. At the end of the course students can, if they wish (many do), submit a short written analysis of a poetry, so as to test their knowledge and method. The paper is evaluated and taken into account in the final assessment. Teaching widely uses materials posted on the Ariel platform: essays, texts, list of topics to think about.
Part C has a limited theoretical part, being mainly a workshop where student work in small groups under the teacher's guidance to autograph transcripts. This year, sanitary situation permitting, the Unit will be held in cooperation with a Visiting professor, a prominent scholar in Renaissance epistolography and digital philology.
Part C has a limited theoretical part, being mainly a workshop where student work in small groups under the teacher's guidance to autograph transcripts. This year, sanitary situation permitting, the Unit will be held in cooperation with a Visiting professor, a prominent scholar in Renaissance epistolography and digital philology.
Teaching Resources
Part A:
- Petrarca, Rerum Vulgarium Fragmenta, a cura di M. Santagata, Mondadori (the use of this commented edition is mandatory, other editions being too simple for MA students).
- Lirici europei del Cinquecento. Ripensando la poesia del Petrarca, a cura di G. M. Anselmi et alii, Rizzoli, BUR.
For those students who are unable to attend the lectures a dedicated programme can be found on the ARIEL platform under the voice "Studenti non frequentanti".
Part B:
See Unit A,
Part C:
This teaching module including a large practical part, attendance (at least 7 lectures out of 10) is compulsory and verified through signatures (see next paragraph).
- M. Marti, L'epistolario come «genere» e un problema editoriale, in Studi e problemi di critica testuale. Convegno di Studi di Filologia italiana nel Centenario della Commissione per i Testi di Lingua, Bologna, 1961, pp. 203-208;
- P. Moreno, Filologia dei carteggi volgari quattro-cinquecenteschi, in Studi e problemi di critica testuale 1960-2010. Per i 150 anni della Commissione per i testi di lingua, a cura di E. Pasquini, Bologna, Commissione per i testi di lingua, 2012, pp. 127-147;
- C. Berra, Dal regesto dei manoscritti casiani alle schede Archilet: appunti e un progetto, in Archilet. Reti epistolari. Per un archivio ragionato delle corrispondenze letterarie del Cinquecento e del Seicento (Seminario internazionale di studi, Bergamo 11-12 dicembre 2015), a cura di C. Carminati ed E. Russo.
- C. Berra, Giovanni Della Casa, in Autografi dei letterati italiani, Il Cinquecento. II., published soon.
- E. Russo, La traduzione dell'epistolografia italiana: protagonisti e punti di svolta, in Scrivere lettere. Briefe Schreiben. Ecrire des lettres. Writing letters. Typologies, Utilisation, Corpora, a cura di E. Garavelli e H. Lenk, Memo CII (2018), pp. 15-35.
All essays will be posted on ARIEL site.
- Petrarca, Rerum Vulgarium Fragmenta, a cura di M. Santagata, Mondadori (the use of this commented edition is mandatory, other editions being too simple for MA students).
- Lirici europei del Cinquecento. Ripensando la poesia del Petrarca, a cura di G. M. Anselmi et alii, Rizzoli, BUR.
For those students who are unable to attend the lectures a dedicated programme can be found on the ARIEL platform under the voice "Studenti non frequentanti".
Part B:
See Unit A,
Part C:
This teaching module including a large practical part, attendance (at least 7 lectures out of 10) is compulsory and verified through signatures (see next paragraph).
- M. Marti, L'epistolario come «genere» e un problema editoriale, in Studi e problemi di critica testuale. Convegno di Studi di Filologia italiana nel Centenario della Commissione per i Testi di Lingua, Bologna, 1961, pp. 203-208;
- P. Moreno, Filologia dei carteggi volgari quattro-cinquecenteschi, in Studi e problemi di critica testuale 1960-2010. Per i 150 anni della Commissione per i testi di lingua, a cura di E. Pasquini, Bologna, Commissione per i testi di lingua, 2012, pp. 127-147;
- C. Berra, Dal regesto dei manoscritti casiani alle schede Archilet: appunti e un progetto, in Archilet. Reti epistolari. Per un archivio ragionato delle corrispondenze letterarie del Cinquecento e del Seicento (Seminario internazionale di studi, Bergamo 11-12 dicembre 2015), a cura di C. Carminati ed E. Russo.
- C. Berra, Giovanni Della Casa, in Autografi dei letterati italiani, Il Cinquecento. II., published soon.
- E. Russo, La traduzione dell'epistolografia italiana: protagonisti e punti di svolta, in Scrivere lettere. Briefe Schreiben. Ecrire des lettres. Writing letters. Typologies, Utilisation, Corpora, a cura di E. Garavelli e H. Lenk, Memo CII (2018), pp. 15-35.
All essays will be posted on ARIEL site.
Assessment methods and Criteria
Intended learning outcomes are assessed through an oral examination. Students can submit a short written analysis of a text, which will be graded as "sufficiente", "discreto", "buono", "ottimo" and will be part of the final grade. The examination usually starts with the reading of a text (paraphrasis and commentary regarding style and contents) and moves to the discussion of some critical issues and/or essays.
Assessment criteria are: knowledge of topics, ability to analyse a literary ancient text in its different levels and aspects, ability to organize a synthetic, clear and rigorous discourse, full command of disciplinary lexicon, ability to locate problematic themes, ability to synthetise and employ in an original way ideas from across the subject. The grades are on a scale of 30, plus the possibile distinction of the "lode", which in this course, out of statistics, is tributed to ca. 5% of the students
Assessment criteria are: knowledge of topics, ability to analyse a literary ancient text in its different levels and aspects, ability to organize a synthetic, clear and rigorous discourse, full command of disciplinary lexicon, ability to locate problematic themes, ability to synthetise and employ in an original way ideas from across the subject. The grades are on a scale of 30, plus the possibile distinction of the "lode", which in this course, out of statistics, is tributed to ca. 5% of the students
Unita' didattica A
L-FIL-LET/10 - ITALIAN LITERATURE - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Unita' didattica B
L-FIL-LET/10 - ITALIAN LITERATURE - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Unita' didattica C
L-FIL-LET/10 - ITALIAN LITERATURE - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Professor(s)
Reception:
Prof. Berra will receive on Wednesday, 10.30-13.30, in person or via Teams, by appointment.
Dipartimento di Studi letterari filologici e linguistici, section Filologia Moderna, 1st floor