MAKE-UP DAYS: JCU MAKE-UP: SEPT 21 (for NOV. 1); NOV. 9 (for NOV. 22).
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE INSTRUCTOR CAN MAKE CHANGES
Week 1
Introduction to the course. When does ‘Modern’ Italian literature
begin?
Italian Literature into the context of European Literature.
Week 2
Discussion on readings-
Italian Literature and Society in the XIXth century-Alessandro Manzoni and the Italian Romanticism. The question of a new
language for a new nation. Introduction to I promessi sposi.
Week 3
Towards an European dimension of Italian Literature- Manzoni and the
'romanzo storico'.
Response Paper 1
Giacomo Leopardi and the founding of the modern lyrical subject-
Week 4
Literature and Society. The Italian Risorgimento and the question of a
national literature. .
The role of theatre in shaping the modern literary canon. Giuseppe Verdi's opera.
Week 5
Realism in Italian
narrative. Verismo and regional cultures.
Giovanni Verga’s I
Malavoglia.
Week 6.
Forms and techniques of Italian Decadentism.
Questioning the 'ism' framing of literature and arts.
FINAL PAPER OUTLINE (INCLUDING BIBLIOGRAPHY) DUE
Oct 11: Book Presentation. Gottardo Pallastrelli "Ritratto di signora in viaggio".
Week 7.
In-class response paper 2
Review for Midterm
Week 8
Midterm:(Oct 16)
The Decline of the Poeta-Vate.
Selected poems from G. D.Annunzio and G. Pascoli.
Week 9
Reacting against the Past. Italian Futurism and the European avanguards-.
Poetry against History. Ungaretti’s
selected poems.
In-class response paper 3
Week 10.
Montale’s selected poems.
Narratives of Self. The crisis of the traditional narrative
subject.
Italian literature and Fascism-
Week 11
Literature rediscovers History. Postwar Italian literature.
Introduction to Neorealism. ORAL PRESENTATIONS
Week 12
Towards the Sixties: the question of modernity in Italian
literature. Introduction to Neoavanguardie.
ORAL PRESENTATIONS
In-class response paper 4
Week 13.
Two paradigms for the late modernity: Italo Calvino and Pier
Paolo Pasolini.
The decline of the letterato as an intellectual.
Pasolini's controversial legacy in the postmodern literature-
Week 14.
Contemporary Italian literature: new paradigms for the Third
Millenium-
Conclusions and review for the final exam.