LETTERATURA DEL MERIDIONE D’ITALIA

Knowledge and understandig: Knowledge of fundamental data of the southern Italian literary civilization of the twentieth century; learning of philological and critical-literary research methodologies, with particular regard to the ability to critically analyze the literary text.  

Applying knowledge and understanding: Ability to consider literary texts critically; ability to connect elements of one’s own culture with those of other cultures; ability to orient oneself within the printed and online bibliography; ability to link competences in an interdisciplinary fashion.

Making judgement: Critical ability to combine literary competences acquired in an interdisciplinary fashion and to interpret different sociolinguistic and cultural domains from both a synchronic and a diachronic perspective.

Communication skills: Ability to present the results of one’s study in complex ways; ability to discuss literary contents effectively and critically.

Learning skills: Development of autonomous learning skills in studying the literary materials of the course with the aim of interacting with diverse interlocutors and in different working environments.

Course title: Literature in the Iblei area and the works of Gesualdo Bufalino

During the course, the general problems concerning literature in the Iblean area will be analysed, with particular reference to the work of its most illustrious exponent, Gesualdo Bufalino.

1) Critical texts:

-          Nunzio Zago, Brancati e il vento di Pachino; Nunzio Zago, Gli Iblei nella letteratura (the two essays are taken from the book Da Dante a Brancati, available in the library).

-          Nunzio Zago, I sortilegi della parola. Studi su Gesualdo Bufalino, Euno Edizioni.

-          Giuseppe Traina, Il romanzo del tempo e della felicità: Argo il cieco di Gesualdo Bufalino (the essay will be available on the Studium platform).

2) Literary texts:

-          Vitaliano Brancati, Singolare avventura di Francesco Maria e Il nonno (the tales will be available on the Studium platform);

-          Leonardo Sciascia, La contea di Modica, Guastella, il barone dei villani, Invenzione di una prefettura (the essays will be available on the Studium platform);

-          Gesualdo Bufalino, Museo d’ombre, Bompiani;

-          Gesualdo Bufalino, Argo il cieco, Bompiani;

-          Gesualdo Bufalino, La luce e il lutto, Sellerio (the book, currently out of print, is available in the library: full reading is recommended but the study of the essays L’isola plurale, La Passione secondo noi, Visite brevi, Viaggio sentimentale a Siracusa and the whole section IV – Il paese is strongly recommended);

-          Gesualdo Bufalino, Istruzioni per l’uso della Sicilia, Il mondo delle Parità…, Pubblicità per due provincie lontane, Il fiele ibleo (the essays will be available on the Studium platform);

-          Vincenzo Consolo, L’olivo e l’olivastro, Mondadori (the complete reading is recommended but the study of the chapters I, II, V, XI, XII, XIII and XVII is strongly recommended);

-          Maria Occhipinti, Una donna di Ragusa, Sicilia punto L;

selected poems by Mariannina Coffa, Serafino Amabile Guastella, Vann’Antò, Salvatore Quasimodo, Gesualdo Bufalino e Sebastiano Burgaretta (the poems will be available on the Studium platform).

Please note that, pursuant to art. 171 of the law of 22 April 1941, n. 633 and subsequent provisions, it is a criminal offense to photocopy books on the market for more than 15% of the volume or magazine issue.

For more information on the restrictions and penalties for the illicit use of photocopies, you can consult the Guidelines on the management of copyright in universities (by the Italian Association for the Rights of Reproduction of intellectual works - AIDRO).

The reference texts can be consulted in the Library.

The examination will take place orally and may possibly be supplemented by the production of a short essay on a part of the program.

The student will be able to achieve full marks if he / she can demonstrate terminological precision, expository accuracy, ability to correctly place data in time and space, ability to relate acquired knowledge.

The knowledge and skills necessary to achieve sufficient examination are indicated below: grammatical and syntactic correctness, linguistic coherence and cohesion in the presentation, correct ability to place data in time and space, correct ability to relate the knowledge acquired.

The questions will always be aimed at verifying the full understanding of the texts studied, the knowledge of critical studies, the ability to place the texts in time and space, the critical awareness of the student in recognizing the specifically literary aspects of the texts.

Sample questions:

- The construction of the representation of the Iblean area through the literary texts studied.

- Critical analysis of the literary evolution in the Iblean area.

- The relationship of the Iblean authors with the traditions, places and history of the area in question.

- The relationship of Iblean authors with the production and cultural centers of national literature.

- The representation of the Iblean area in relation to the representation of Sicily as a whole.

- Province and provincialism in the works of the authors studied, in particular Bufalino.

- The peculiarities of Brancati's writing.

- The peculiarities of Bufalino's writing.

- The poetic experience of Quasimodo.

- Linguistic aspects of literature in the Iblean area

- Differences in outlook between Hyblaean authors and non-Hiblean authors.

- Maria Occhipinti and history, between fascism and the end of the Second World War.