Italian Modern and Contemporary Literature

Teaching part A: The modern literary system
- Teaching part A is meant to highlight dynamics and phases of the modern literary system, focusing on authors, intellectuals, horizon of expectation-related changes and the functional relationships between the main actors of literary communication (authors, readers, publishers, critics).

Teaching part B: The tradition of the novel in Italy
- Development of the novel in Italy from the beginning of the 18th century to the end of the 20th century.

Teaching part C: "Mondo piccolo" e mondo grande
- Close reading of two best-seller: Mondo piccolo by Giovannino Guareschi and L'oro di Napoli by Giuseppe Marotta.

In addition to the lessons, the didactic part B offers the opportunity of an optional Critical Writing Workshop, consisting in further seven lessons held by a teacher assistant. For students who decide to take the workshop, attendance is mandatory. The maximum number of participants is 35: enrolment will be possible within the first three lessons of the course.
During the workshop, students will be guided to the composition and discussion of a critical essay of 4/5 pages, about a twentieth-century Italian narrative text agreed with the teacher assistant. The evaluation of the paper will contribute to the final assessment of the exam. For students who will attend the Critical Writing workshop, the exam interview will focus on only one novel chosen by the student in the materials of Parts B and C together with the corresponding essay listed in the syllabus.
The positive evaluation of the workshop short essay favours the possibility of writing the Bachelor final paper in the discipline.

Students who plan to take this exam for 6 cfu are required to study the Third part and to choose one between the First part or the Second part.

The course syllabus includes the presentation and discussion of the following topics:

First part: The modern literary system
Teaching Unit A is meant to highlight dynamics and phases of the modern literary system, focusing on authors, intellectuals, horizon of expectation-related changes and the functional relationships between the main actors of literary communication (authors, readers, publishers, critics).

Second part: Italian poetry in the second half of Twentieth Century
A history of the development of Italian poetry from the Fifties to the end of the Twentieth century (with in-depth analysis of several poems).

Critical Writing Workshop
In addition to the lessons, the didactic unit B offers the opportunity of an optional Critical Writing Workshop, consisting in further seven on line lessons held by a teacher assistant (on Microsoft Teams). For students who decide to take the workshop, attendance is mandatory. The maximum number of participants is 35: enrolment will be possible within the first three lessons of the course.
During the workshop, students will be guided to the composition and discussion of a critical essay of 4/5 pages, about a twentieth-century Italian narrative text agreed with the teacher assistant. The evaluation of the paper will contribute to the final assessment of the exam. For students who will attend the Critical Writing workshop, the exam interview on Second part of the course will focus on six (instead of twelve) of the poems presented in the course and on two of the three essays listed in the syllabus.
The positive evaluation of the workshop short essay favours the possibility of writing the Bachelor final paper in the discipline.

Teaching unit C: "Dal cuore del miracolo": "Gli strumenti umani" by Vittorio Sereni and "La vita in versi" by Giovanni Giudici
In depth analysis of "Gli strumenti umani" by Vittorio Sereni and "La vita in versi" by Giovanni Giudici: genre features, voicing patterns, characters system, space and time structures, rhetorical and stylistic devices, macro-textual stuctures.