Italian Literature A - L

In accordance with the Dublin descriptors, at the end of the course students will acquire:

- knowledge of of Italian literature development from the thirteenth century to the end of the sixteenth century through direct reading, commentary and interpretation of texts from the Italian literary tradition;

- understanding of the relationships between literary forms and history, of the different methods by which texts can be interpreted, of the very limits of interpretation, and of respect for the other (the text and other interpretations);

- the ability to comment on and interpret the proposed texts, and to combine knowledge of Italian literature from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century with a conscious autonomy of judgment, historically and philologically grounded.

The student should be able to express acquired knowledge and skills through communicative skills (written and oral), which will be constantly solicited during the course (including through in itinere tests). They will be marked by clarity, expressive effectiveness, argumentative rigor, and appropriate use of technical language.

A.     Italy, its history, its literature. Institutional and epistemological aspects of the discipline: historiographical issues, critical methodologies, rhetoric and metrics The Italian classics and the reception of foreign writers: Dante (3 ECTS).

B.      Literary history of the thirteenth century. – Dante: Commedia (3 ECTS).

C.      Literary history of the fourteenth and the fifteenth century. –  “Frame” and short stories: Boccaccio, Decameron. . – Petrarca: key ideas and lyrical self. – (3 ECTS).

D.  Literary history of the sixteenth century  –   Machiavelli: “real truth” and theater: Principe and Mandragola;  Ariosto: Orlando furioso; – Tasso: Gerusalemme liberata (3 CFU)

A.    Literature and we: war and literature. - Italy, its history, its literature. Institutional and epistemological aspects of the discipline: historiographical issues, critical methodologies, rhetoric and metrics (2 ECTS).

Texts:

1.       F. De Sanctis, A’ miei giovani,  in Idem, Verso il realismo, edited by N. Borsellino, Torino, Einaudi, 1965,  pp. 5-9; Idem,  Storia della letteratura italiana, edited by N. Gallo, introd. of G. Ficara,  Torino,   Einaudi-Gallimard,  1996, pp. 3-8, 168-170, 510-514, 623-624, 812-815.

2.       C. Dionisotti, Geografia e storia della letteratura italiana, Torino, Einaudi, 1967, pp. 25-54.

3.       Elements of literary criticism: R. Luperini, Dalla teoria della letteratura alla didattica, in Insegnare la letteratura oggi, Lecce, Manni, 2002, pp. 55-64; few selected pages from B. Croce, A. Gramsci, E. Auerbach, W. Benjamin, M. Bachtin, R. Jakobson, V. Šklovskij, C. Segre (texts, totaling 20 pages, will be made available on Studium).

4.       P. G. Beltrami, Gli strumenti della poesia, Bologna, il Mulino, 2012: from  chapters I-VII:  pp. 11-15, 17-23, 31-52, 63-75, 77-80, 101-110, 112-136, 140-144.

5.       For rhetoric consult: file on the figures of speech available on Studium; G. Lavezzi, Breve dizionario di retorica e stilistica, Roma, Carocci, 2017.  

6. Edmond Jabès, L’Inferno di Dante; a short texts anthology (Eliot, Pound, Mandel’stam, Borges); G. Traina, Le «interrogazioni» di Edmond Jabès sull’Inferno di Dante, “Studi medievali e moderni”, XXV, 1-2 Dante 21. Questioni, interpretazioni, fortuna, 2021, pp. 817-828 (texts, totaling 20 pages, will be made available on Studium).

For authors and topics indicated in modules B, C, D, we require knowledge of the lines of development of Italian literature from the thirteenth century to sixteenth century. The student must take care in particular, with a fair witness of anthology of readings, knowledge of the following authors: Francesco d’Assisi, Jacopone da Todi, Jacopo da Lentini, Cielo d’Alcamo, Guinizzelli,  Cavalcanti, Angiolieri, Dante, Petrarca, Boccaccio, Alberti, Pulci, Poliziano, Boiardo, Sannazaro, Bembo, Castiglione, Machiavelli, Guicciardini, Ariosto, Tasso, Galilei, Marino, Basile. At the time of the examination, the student must submit a written list of readings carried out, specifying, if the work is not complete, which poetry or prose has chosen; in class and on site studium.unict.it will still be given an indication of the recommended readings. Need to be fleshed particularly the topics and texts discussed in class.

For the history of literature, it is recommended the study of one of the following works: Alberto Casadei-Marco Santagata, Manuale di letteratura italiana medievale e moderna, Roma-Bari, Laterza;  G. Alfano, P. Italia, E. Russo, F. Tomasi, Profilo di letteratura italiana. Dalle origini a fine Ottocento, Milano, Mondadori Università 2021; Carlo Vecce, Letteratura italiana. Piccola storia, I. Dalle origini al Settecento, Napoli, Liguori..

For the reading of the anthological passages it is recommended to use one of the following manuals: R. Luperini, P. Cataldi, et alii,  La scrittura e l’interpretazione, Palermo, Palumbo; G. Baldi, S. Giusso et alii, Dal testo alla storia dalla storia al testo, Torino, Paravia. These manuals may also be adopted for the study of literary history and authors, as an alternative to those of A. Casadei - M. Santagata and of C. Vecce.

 B.    Literary history of the thirteenth century. – Dante: Commedia (3 ECTS).

  Texts:

1.       Casadei-M. Santagata, Manuale di letteratura italiana, cit., pp. 5-68 (or  G. Alfano, P. Italia, E. Russo, F. Tomasi, Profilo di letteratura italiana, cit., pp. 3-93; or C. Vecce, Letteratura italiana. Piccola storia, cit., pp. 3-77).

2.       Anthological readings of: Francesco d’Assisi, Jacopone da Todi, Jacopo da Lentini, Cielo d’Alcamo, Guido Guinizzelli, Guido Cavalcanti, Cecco Angiolieri, Dante (Vita nuova).

3.       Dante, Divina Commedia, eighteen  canti: Inferno: Inferno: I, II, III, V, X, XIII, XV,  XXVI, XXVIII; Purgatorio: I, III, VI, XI; Paradiso: I, VI, XI,  XV, XXXIII.  We recommend a good annotated edition, integral, of Commedia (edited by A.M Chiavacci Leonardi, Mondadori, edited by U. Bosco-G. Reggio, Le Monnier, edited by G. Inglese, Carocci). It can also be taken the anthology La Divina Commedia. Testi Strumenti Percorsi, edited by N. Mineo,  Palumbo).

4.       E. Auerbach, Farinata e Cavalcante, in Idem, Mimesis. Il realismo nella letteratura occidentale, Torino, Einaudi,  1979, pp. 189-221.

5.       S. Cristaldi, Seminator di scandalo e di scisma, in Idem, Verso l’Empireo, Roma-Acireale, Bonanno, 2013, pp. 11-31, 63-81.

6.       A. Manganaro, “Dante: un sogno di armonia terrena”: gli studi danteschi di Nicolò Mineo e l’attualità di Dante, in Idem,  Significati della letteratura. Scritture e idee da Castelvetro a Timpanaro, Caltanissetta-Roma, Salvatore Sciascia, 2007  pp. 185-204.

7.       A. Manganaro, Il cono d’ombra delle  Lettere dal carcere,  in Carceri vere e d’invenzione dal tardo Cinquecento al Novecento, edited by G. Traina and N. Zago, Acireale-Roma,  Bonanno, 2009, pp. 497-508.

8.       C. Tramontana, Carte e amanti, in Idem, Legato con amore in un volume. Forme del desiderio in Dante, Lecce, Pensa Multimedia, 2019, pp. 199-235.

 C.    Literary history of the fourteenth and the fifteenth  century. –  “Frame” and short stories: Boccaccio, Decameron. . – Petrarca: key ideas and lyrical self. – (4 ECTS).

  Texts:

1.      A. Casadei-M. Santagata, Manuale di letteratura italiana, cit., pp. 69-143; (or  G. Alfano, P. Italia, E. Russo, F. Tomasi, Profilo di letteratura italiana, cit.,, pp. 94-247; or C. Vecce, Letteratura italiana. Piccola storia, cit., pp. 81-164).

2.      Anthological readings of  Alberti, Pulci, Poliziano, Boiardo, Sannazaro.

3. G. Boccaccio, Decameron, edited by A. Quondam, M. Fiorilla, G. Alfano, Milano, BUR, 2013: Proem; Introduction; Introduction IV day; the first  and sexth day;  the following 13 short stories: II, 5 (Andreuccio da Perugia); II, 7 (Alatiel); III, 1 (Masetto da Lamporecchio); III, 2 (Agilulf); III, 8 (Ferondo); III, 10 (Alibech); IV, 1 (Tancredi e Ghismunda); IV, 5 (Lisabetta da Messina); V, 9 (Federico degli Alberighi); IX, 3 (Calandrino pregno); X, 3 (Mitridanes e Natan); X, 9 (messer Torello); X, 10 (il marchese di Sanluzzo).

4.      A. Manganaro, Forme e storia del “genere” novella, in «Le forme e la storia», n. s. 2013, 2 (La novella), pp. 7-18.

5.      Idem, «Raccontare cento novelle raccontate nel pistelenzioso tempo», in «Le donne parimente e gli uomini tutti lodarono il novellare». Percorsi della cornice narrativa, edited by E. Creazzo, Soveria Mannelli, Rubbettino, 2021, pp. 71-84.

6.      Idem, L’«altra, che vostra fu». L’alterità nella novella di Gualtieri e Griselda (Decameron, X, 10), in «Le forme e la storia», VIII, 2015, 2 (Letteratura, alterità, dialogicità. Studi in onore di Antonio Pioletti), pp. 577-594.

7.      A. Manganaro, Riconoscere l’altro, tra Ponente e Oriente. Sulla novella di messer Torello (Decameron, X, 9), in Confini e oltre. Studi fra Oriente e Occidente per Francesca Rizzo Nervo, edited by R. Barcellona, G. Lalomia, T. Sardella, Soveria Mannelli, Rubbettino, 2020, pp. 189-199.

8.      F. Petrarca,  Rerum familiarum libri: Fam. XII, 10; Fam. XIII, 7;  Rerum senilium libri: Sen. XVII, 2; Sen. XVIII, 1 (Posteritati);      Secretum: Proemio; La lussuria e l’accidia (II 98 ss.):  by De remediis utriusque fortunae: Tutto è in perenne lotta; I rimedi alle passioni: ratio e voluntas;  by Canzoniere: 1, 3, 5, 11, 22, 35, 61, 77, 90, 126, 189, 272, 286; 366; by Improvvisi: Solitudini;   by Trionfi: Triumphus Cupidinis, III, vv. 1-24; 79-123 (cfr. texts in  L. Chines, Francesco Petrarca, Bologna, Patron,   2016).

9.      L. Chines, Francesco Petrarca, Bologna, Patron,   2016, Introduction;   pp. 11-53.   

 D.  Literary history of the sixteenth century  –   Machiavelli: “real truth” and theater: Principe and Mandragola;  Ariosto: Orlando furioso; – Tasso: Gerusalemme liberata   (3 ECTS)

Texts:

1.       Casadei - M. Santagata, Manuale di letteratura italiana, cit., pp. 147-22 (or G. Alfano, P. Italia, E. Russo, F. Tomasi, Profilo di letteratura italiana, cit.,, pp. 251-386; or C. Vecce, Letteratura italiana. Piccola storia, cit., pp. 164-241).

2.        Anthological readings of Bembo, Castiglione, Machiavelli, Guicciardini, Ariosto, Tasso.

3.       N. Machiavelli, Il Principe, edited by R. Ruggiero,  Milano, BUR, 2008: chapters: I,  VI; VII, IX, XV; XVI; XVIII; XXV; XXVI; Idem, letter to Francesco Vettori, 10 dec. 1513; Idem,  by Discorsi sopra la prima Deca di Tito Livio: lib. I, cap. XII; lib. III, cap. 1.

4.       N. Machiavelli, Mandragola, edited by P. Stoppelli, Milano, Oscar Mondadori (about 100 pp.).

5.       L. Ariosto, Orlando furioso (edited by Bigi, Milano, Bur, 2012; or by Segre, Milano, Mondadori, 2006; or by Caretti, Torino, Einaudi, 1992): I; XII (Il palazzo di Atlante); XVIII (Cloridano e Medoro); XIX (Angelica e Medoro); XXIII- XXIV (La pazzia di Orlando); XXXIV (Astolfo sulla luna); LXIII  (Rinaldo e il nappo d’oro) (about  80 pp.).

6. T. Tasso, Aminta: atto I, coro: O bella età de l’oro; Gerusalemme liberata, edited by L. Caretti, Torino, Einaudi, or edited by F. Tomasi, Milano, BUR-Rizzoli: I, IV (Concilio dei infernali; Armida nel campo cristiano); (Argante e Tancredi); VII (Erminia tra i pastori);  XII (Clorinda e Tancredi);  XVI (Il giardino di Armida);  XX.

7.       Verità effettuale e ferinità umana: la Mandragola di Machiavelli e La caccia al lupo di Verga, in «Settentrione. Nuova serie», Turku (FIN),  30, 2018, pp. 161-168.

8.       O. Branchina, «Sia Marganorre essempio di chi regna». Catastrofe, tirannia e misoginia nel XXXVII canto dell’«Orlando furioso», in «Griseldaonline» 20, 1 | 2021, pp. 1-16.

Please remember that in compliance with art 171 L22.04.1941, n. 633 and its amendments, it is illegal to copy entire books or journals, only 15% of their content can be copied.

For further information on sanctions and regulations concerning photocopying please refer to the regulations on copyright (Linee Guida sulla Gestione dei Diritti d’Autore) provided by AIDRO - Associazione Italiana per i Diritti di Riproduzione delle opere dell’ingegno (the Italian Association on Copyright).

All the books listed in the programs can be consulted in the Library.

Two "in itinere", written tests on modules A and C, totalling 6 CFU. Strongly recommended for all students.

Type and organisation of test: open-ended questions, commentary and interpretation of texts.  Duration: three hours.

 Booking on Studium will be required.

Passing an "in itinere" written test will entitle you not to take, at the final oral examination, the parts of the programme covered by the test. Failure to pass the written test does not in any way prejudice the passing of the final examination, which must, however, also be taken on the part of the syllabus covered by the in itinere test. The assessment of the in itinere test will be taken into account proportionally, but not rigidly, in the final examination.

Examination modalities

End-of-course examination

Oral examination

Those who did not take or did not pass the written "in itinere" examination will still have to take a written, albeit short, examination on the same day as the oral examination.    

Booking on the University website is compulsory for the examination. Students who, after registering, decide not to take the exam must remove their name from the list of those registered for the exam.

At the time of the examination, the student must present a written list of the readings he or she has taken, specifying, if the work is not complete, which poems or prose he or she has chosen.

For the assessment of the examination, account will be taken of the candidate's mastery of the content and skills acquired, linguistic accuracy and lexical propriety, as well as his or her ability to argue.

Paraphrase and commentary on verses by 13th century authors

Paraphrase and commentary of verses from The Divine Comedy

Paraphrase and commentary of passages from the Decameron

Paraphrase and commentary on texts from Petrarch's Canzoniere

Synthesis and commentary of passages from The Prince or Machiavelli's Mandragola

Paraphrase and commentary of verses from Orlando furioso

Paraphrase and commentary of verses from Gerusalemme liberata

Exposition of critical and interpretative issues relating to the works studied

Historical contextualisation of the works studied