Theory of Literature
A.Y. 2020/2021
Learning objectives
The purpose of the course is to offer students the in-depth knowledge of some theoretical issues often debated in the twentieth century, and (depending upon the textual analysis) either to lead them to both a reflection and analysis of the forms, ways, and styles of the literary texts considered, or to a contextualization of the authors discussed in the lessons. For this reason, the first teaching unit always deals with theoretical questions and essays, while the second and third units move on to the discussion of themes and literary, poetic or narrative and texts.
Expected learning outcomes
The skills that students can acquire are based upon the strength of different levels of texts: the ability to reflect on issues of literature theory, to read and critically discuss writing in verse or prose,the ability to analyze literary text from a linguistic, stylistic and rhetorical point of view, the ability to understand different forms of critical interventions, and to relate texts with their historical context, with their authorial identity, with different kinds of ideas.
In this sense, the expected results relate to the strength of interpretive skills, critical awareness of the close link that must be established between the analysis of the stylistic-expressive level and the attribution of meanings, which necessarily include the reference to not only historical context but the experiences of the author.
In this sense, the expected results relate to the strength of interpretive skills, critical awareness of the close link that must be established between the analysis of the stylistic-expressive level and the attribution of meanings, which necessarily include the reference to not only historical context but the experiences of the author.
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 case the health emergency is prolonged in the second semester, the course will be organized as follows:
COURSE ORGANIZATION
Lessons will be held remotely, through synchronous classes on Microsoft Teams platform. Recording of the lessons will be available on the platform.
On Ariel website students will find teaching materials and pdf files of hard to find books and articles.
Students will also find on Ariel website guidelines to access online classes and updates on the course, exams and eventual changes in the course schedule, therefore frequent access on the Ariel website is highly recommended.
TEACHING MATERIALS
See the course syllabus
ASSESSMENT METHODS
If, due to health emergency conditions, should be impossible to take face-to-face oral tests, the exam will take place online on Microsoft Teams, following the instructions that will be communicated on the Ariel website. Modalities of the oral test and the evaluation criteria do not change with respect to what stated in the course syllabus.
COURSE ORGANIZATION
Lessons will be held remotely, through synchronous classes on Microsoft Teams platform. Recording of the lessons will be available on the platform.
On Ariel website students will find teaching materials and pdf files of hard to find books and articles.
Students will also find on Ariel website guidelines to access online classes and updates on the course, exams and eventual changes in the course schedule, therefore frequent access on the Ariel website is highly recommended.
TEACHING MATERIALS
See the course syllabus
ASSESSMENT METHODS
If, due to health emergency conditions, should be impossible to take face-to-face oral tests, the exam will take place online on Microsoft Teams, following the instructions that will be communicated on the Ariel website. Modalities of the oral test and the evaluation criteria do not change with respect to what stated in the course syllabus.
Course syllabus
The part A of the course aims to address some issues of theory of poetry, in the light of a critical discussion that, during modernity, brings into play its transformations, transgressions, processes of renewal, the consequences on the level of reception.
The part B and the part C takes into consideration the poem genre and a very close category, the macrotext, but deal with different cases. The part B analyses two specific works of extreme experimentation of the sixties, Lezione di fisica by Elio Pagliarani and Gli Sguardi i Fatti and Senhal by Andrea Zanzotto.
In the part C will be analysed two later works by Vittorio Sereni and Giovanni Giudici, respectively Un posto di vacanza and Fortezza, which experiment with unusual poetic modules and innovative forms that also belong to the more narrative lyrical experience.
The part B and the part C takes into consideration the poem genre and a very close category, the macrotext, but deal with different cases. The part B analyses two specific works of extreme experimentation of the sixties, Lezione di fisica by Elio Pagliarani and Gli Sguardi i Fatti and Senhal by Andrea Zanzotto.
In the part C will be analysed two later works by Vittorio Sereni and Giovanni Giudici, respectively Un posto di vacanza and Fortezza, which experiment with unusual poetic modules and innovative forms that also belong to the more narrative lyrical experience.
Prerequisites for admission
Basic knowledge of poetry textual analysis.
Teaching methods
The course will mainly be comprised of lectures, but some time will be devoted to discussion. This will help students delve into the issues under discussion, improve their analysis, reasoning, and interpretation skill. To participate more actively, students will also be encouraged to read the works and essays in the course syllabus while they attend classes. The Ariel website of the course will be used to share the teaching materials that might be proposed for discussion. During some lessons, in the second and third parts, students can discuss in class their own analysis of a text, in dialog with the professor and the other students. This oral presentation is not mandatory and will be consider during examination. Regular class attendance is strongly recommended.
Teaching Resources
PART A
Franco Brioschi, Il lettore e il testo poetico, in Id., La mappa dell'impero, Milano, Il Saggiatore, 2006, pp. 57-114.
Guido Mazzoni, Sulla poesia moderna, Bologna, Il Mulino 2005.
Enrico Testa, Antagonisti e trapassanti: soggetto e personaggi in poesia, in Per interposta persona, Roma, Bulzoni, 1999, pp. 11-32.
PART B
Elio Pagliarani, Lezione di fisica e Fecaloro, or any other edition.
Andrea Zanzotto, Gli Sguardi i Fatti e Senhal, or any other edition.
Federico Fastelli, Dall'avanguardia all'eresia. L'opera poetica di Elio Pagliarani, Firenze, Società Editrice fiorentina, 2011.
Mattia Carbone, Gli Sguardi i Fatti e Senhal di Andrea Zanzotto, Venezia, Edizioni Ca' Foscari, 2017.
PART C
Vittorio Sereni, Un posto di vacanza, in Stella variabile, or any other edition. Giovanni Giudici, Fortezza, or any other edition.
Enrico Testa, Il quarto libro di Sereni, in Per interposta persona, Roma, Bulzoni, 1999, pp. 49-78.
Laura Neri, I silenziosi circuiti del ricordo. Etica, estetica e ideologia nella poesia di Giovanni Giudici, Roma, Carocci 2018.
BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS
Students who do not attend should supplement the texts indicated in the bibliography with the following readings:
PART A
Niccolò Scaffai, Il poeta e il suo libro. Retorica e storia del libro di poesia nel Novecento, Firenze, Le Monnier 2005.
PART B
Andrea Cortellessa, Ma dobbiamo continuare a ballare, in Elio Pagliarani, Tutte le poesie, Milano, Il Saggiatore 2019.
Giulio Ferroni, Gli ultimi poeti. Giovanni Giudici e Andrea Zanzotto, Milano, Il Saggiatore 2013.
PART C
Edoardo Esposito, Stella variabile, in Lettura della poesia di Vittorio Sereni, Milano, Mimesis 2015, pp. 171- 187.
Giulio Ferroni, Gli ultimi poeti. Giovanni Giudici e Andrea Zanzotto, Milano, Il Saggiatore 2013.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Further information will be published on the online Ariel platform, on the website dedicated to Literary Theory and Criticism (A-H).
Franco Brioschi, Il lettore e il testo poetico, in Id., La mappa dell'impero, Milano, Il Saggiatore, 2006, pp. 57-114.
Guido Mazzoni, Sulla poesia moderna, Bologna, Il Mulino 2005.
Enrico Testa, Antagonisti e trapassanti: soggetto e personaggi in poesia, in Per interposta persona, Roma, Bulzoni, 1999, pp. 11-32.
PART B
Elio Pagliarani, Lezione di fisica e Fecaloro, or any other edition.
Andrea Zanzotto, Gli Sguardi i Fatti e Senhal, or any other edition.
Federico Fastelli, Dall'avanguardia all'eresia. L'opera poetica di Elio Pagliarani, Firenze, Società Editrice fiorentina, 2011.
Mattia Carbone, Gli Sguardi i Fatti e Senhal di Andrea Zanzotto, Venezia, Edizioni Ca' Foscari, 2017.
PART C
Vittorio Sereni, Un posto di vacanza, in Stella variabile, or any other edition. Giovanni Giudici, Fortezza, or any other edition.
Enrico Testa, Il quarto libro di Sereni, in Per interposta persona, Roma, Bulzoni, 1999, pp. 49-78.
Laura Neri, I silenziosi circuiti del ricordo. Etica, estetica e ideologia nella poesia di Giovanni Giudici, Roma, Carocci 2018.
BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS
Students who do not attend should supplement the texts indicated in the bibliography with the following readings:
PART A
Niccolò Scaffai, Il poeta e il suo libro. Retorica e storia del libro di poesia nel Novecento, Firenze, Le Monnier 2005.
PART B
Andrea Cortellessa, Ma dobbiamo continuare a ballare, in Elio Pagliarani, Tutte le poesie, Milano, Il Saggiatore 2019.
Giulio Ferroni, Gli ultimi poeti. Giovanni Giudici e Andrea Zanzotto, Milano, Il Saggiatore 2013.
PART C
Edoardo Esposito, Stella variabile, in Lettura della poesia di Vittorio Sereni, Milano, Mimesis 2015, pp. 171- 187.
Giulio Ferroni, Gli ultimi poeti. Giovanni Giudici e Andrea Zanzotto, Milano, Il Saggiatore 2013.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Further information will be published on the online Ariel platform, on the website dedicated to Literary Theory and Criticism (A-H).
Assessment methods and Criteria
The final exam will consist of an oral exam about the topics of the course, aimed at ascertaining the knowledge and skills acquired by the student, regarding both theory and textual analysis. Students will be asked to present the works comprised in the course syllabus and to critically discuss about the issues that will have been dealt with through them. Language proficiency (this includes technical language proficiency) and the accuracy of historical and literary references will also contribute to the final score. A precise knowledge of the bibliographic references in the program is required.
Unita' didattica A
L-FIL-LET/14 - LITERARY CRITICISM AND COMPARATIVE LITERATURE - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Unita' didattica B
L-FIL-LET/14 - LITERARY CRITICISM AND COMPARATIVE LITERATURE - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Unita' didattica C
L-FIL-LET/14 - LITERARY CRITICISM AND COMPARATIVE LITERATURE - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Professor(s)