Civilization and language of modern and contemporary greece

According to the Dublin descriptors, students, at the end of the course, will demonstrate:

1) knowledge and understanding in a post-secondary level field of study and knowing the fundamental themes in one's field of study;

2) ability to apply knowledge and understanding in order to demonstrate a professional approach and possess adequate skills both to conceive and support arguments and to solve problems in one's field of study

5) learning skills necessary to undertake subsequent studies with a high degree of autonomy.

In particular, and in addition to the fundamentals of modern Greek, the course aims to provide students with a general knowledge and understanding of modern and contemporary Greek civilization (literature, myth, folklore, history), through the analysis of the “vicissitudes” of loanwords, the relationship between cinematography and Greek history/civilization, historiographical prejudices, and literary and philological issues, in order to acquire an autonomy of judgement and improve learning skills. A further aim is to provide students with an opportunity to meet the increasingly demanding expectations of the labour market with a broader view of humanistic studies in order to foster careers in tourism and publishing work. In this respect, the course can be considered preparatory to obtaining the Certificate of Competence in Modern Greek Language (Ministry of Education of Greece), with attendance of a free preparation course organized by the Chair (Ministerial Examination Centre).

Frontal/traditional teaching

No prerequisites: the course can be easily followed even by students with no knowledge of ancient Greek

In addition to the ability to communicate effectively in modern Greek, the programme aims to introduce students - through the topoi of “different”, “crime” and “escape/travel” - to the critical examination of texts (literary and film) and historical sources, and to the knowledge of the relations between Greece, Europe and Turkey in the modern and contemporary age, highlighting the contrast between ideal and real language, engagement, contestation and dictatorship, women and the weak, the phenomena of ‘migration’ and ethnic and religious hatred, as well as the processes of national identity construction. The course is divided into three modules where ample space is given to multimedia application .

A. “Is Modern Greek language in crisis?”. Aspects of modern Greek language, of literary translation and of its relations with Italian language:

- A text of your own choice between: a) E. Giakumaki, Della sorte di alcuni prestiti italiani in neogreco. Mutamenti semantici in senso dispregiativo, in Italia e Grecia: Due culture a confronto, Univ. di Palermo 1991, 93-103; b) V. Rotolo, L’insegnamento del neogreco nelle scuole italiane, in Id., Scritti sulla lingua greca antica e moderna, Univ. di Palermo, 200 9, 373-377.

- A text of your own choice between: a) A. Di Gregorio, Vademecum del traduttore. Idee e strumenti per una nuova figura di traduttore, Dante Alighieri, 2014 [157 pp.]; b) D. Minniti Gonias, Traduzione specialistica (La traduzione specialistica: un percorso operativo; Linguaggi speciali; Linguaggio del turismo e traduzione; Testi scritti in linguaggi speciali, in La traduzione. Storia-teoria-pratica, Athina 2018, 121-161.

- Hand-outs available on Studium: KLIK A1 [95 pp.]; (Fundamentals of Modern Greek Language comics, puzzles, advertising material, different types of modern songs).

 

B  “Proud to be Greek”. Superheroes, myths, reality or propaganda? Traditions and contradictions of Nation among dictatorships, genocides, wars and terrorism:

- K. Papatheu, Percorsi temporali e spaziali in “Terre insanguinate” di Didò Sotiriou, in Synergheion 1, 2018, 31-55.

- M. Herzefeld, Azzurro contro verde, e Z. Tsirpanlìs, La politica scolastica italiana nel Dodecaneso (1912-1943), in La politica culturale del fascismo nel Dodecaneso, Esedra 2009, 21-32 e 63-74.

- A text of your own choice between: a) S. Barberani, L’occupazione italiana a Kastellorizo: memorie e contromemorie, in La politica culturale..., cit., 33-50; b) F. Veronese, Il patrimonio archeologico nel Dodecaneso e il suo uso propagandistico, in La politica culturale..., cit., 137-150; c) M. Peri, Ebrei di Salonicco. Appunti sull’“Umanità italiana”, in Studi Storici 48/2, 2007, 341-359.

- Movies: I due colonnelli (1962); Mediterraneo (1991); Il mandolino del capitano Corelli (2001); Il mio grosso grasso matrimonio greco (2002); Un tocco di zenzero (2003).

- Readings (a text of your own choice between): a) D. Sotiriu, Addio Anatolia; b) A. Arslan, La masseria delle allodole o La strada di Smirne; c) J. Eugenides, Middlesex.

 

C  “Does fear come from Athens?”. Madonnas, Maddalenes, monsters, migrants, corrupts, escapees and tax evaders, and other derelicts and crimes:

- Hand-outs available on Studium: Notes on Modern Greek Literature.

- D. Minniti Gonias, Gli italianismi nel neogreco. Una presentazione complessiva; I prestiti italiani nel neogreco: mutamenti semantici e integrazione lessicale; Prestiti lessicali italiani, veneziani e latini in testi giuridici di Naxos (secc. XVI-XVII), in Italoellenica A’. Μελέτες για τον λεξικό δανεισμό, Athina 2020, 13-34; 37-47; 183-213.

- M. Peri, Donna/Donnola, e R. Lavagnini, Le donne cattive, in La presenza femminile nella letteratura neogreca, Univ. di Roma, 2003, 31-40, 41-47.

- A text of your own choice between: a) P. Militello, La terra ai profughi. I Graecorum casalia in Sicilia (XV-XVI secolo), in Id. Storie mediterranee. Destini di uomini e cose tra XV e XIX secolo, Carocci, 2018, pp. 21-38; b) G. Spadaro, La novella della Matrona di Efeso in un testo greco medievale, in Id., Letteratura cretese e Rinascimento italiano, Rubbettino, 1994, pp. 207-229.

- Readings 1 (a text of your own choice between): a) K. Papatheu, Konstantinos Theotokis, Dodici Storie di Corfù; b) F. Grasso, Andreas Karkavitsas, “Capo Malea” e altri racconti da “Parole della prora”.

- Readings 2 (a text of your own choice between): a) K. Kavafis, Poesie (trad. it. di F.M. Pontani); b) Gh. Seferis, Poesie (trad. it. di F.M. Pontani o N. Crocetti o R. Lavagnini, C. Luciani); c) T. Patrikios, Le parole nude; d) un’opera a scelta di P. Markaris.

- Documentary: Passato e Presente: Panagulis e la Grecia dei Colonnelli (https://www.raiplay.it/video/2018/11/Passato-e-Presente-Panagulis-e-la-Grecia-dei-Colonnelli-58fcee9c-e8e6-43da-8631-7d13098d9bd7.html).

 

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.

Final oral examination
Students may take oral examinations in itinere for module A or for modules A and C. The profit mark will be averaged with the end-of-course examination.

For the assessment of the examination, account will be taken of the candidate's command of the content and skills acquired, linguistic accuracy and lexical property, and argumentative ability.
The test will be assessed by means of an oral examination - on each text included in the syllabus - graded in thirtieths according to the following parameters Null 1-6; Severely insufficient 7-12; Insufficient 12-17; Sufficient 18-21; Good 22-24; Very good 25-27; Excellent 28-30. Honours will be awarded to those who also demonstrate maturity in problem-setting, the ability to make connections between the examination texts and the content discussed in class, and the ability to personally and critically rework the knowledge acquired.

Modern Greek language: reading, translation, morphology, oral production;
Common practices in translation and roles in publishing (editor, translator, proofreader);
The rendering of idiomaticity in translation;
Ideas and tools for a new figure of the translator;
Semantic evolution of Venetian voices in a derogatory sense in the modern Greek language;
Fascism's cultural, archaeological and educational policy in the Dodecanese and film stereotypes;
Clashes between Ottomans and Micro-Asian Greeks;
Identity and migration through the eyes of Hollywood cinematography and Greek fiction;
Affinities and divergences between ithography and verism;
Female literary prototypes in medieval and modern Greek literature;
Thematic and linguistic lines in modern and contemporary Greek literature.