ITALIAN LITERATURE

Providing students with an adequate knowledge of the most important authors and significant works of Italian literature from the origin to the early twentieth century. Providing students with methodological tools to develop their own critical skills on the selected writer’s production, taking into account historical, philological and stylistic aspects.

Lectures and seminars.

The most important authors and significant works will be analysed as a diachronic journey focused on texts, properly placed in their historical, literary and geographical context. The chronological journeys proposed are: From the origin to Dante; From Petrarca to Humanism; From the Renaissance to the Enlightenment; the Nineteenth century.

Module A (3 CFU)

It’s required to study the historical and critical profile of Italian literature from the origin to Dante, focusing particularly on the following writers and texts:

- Francesco d'Assisi, Laudes creaturarum

- Iacopone da Todi: O iubelo del core; O Segnor, per cortesia

- Iacopo da Lentini: Io m’ag[g]io posto in core a Dio servire

- Cecco Angiolieri: La mia malinconia è tanta e tale

- Guido Guinizelli: Al cor gentil rempaira sempre amore

- Guido Cavalcanti: Perch’i’ non spero di tornar giammai

- Dante Alighieri: Vita nuova: (cap. II; cap. III; cap. XIX: Donne ch'avete intelletto d'amore; Tanto gentile e tanto onesta pare); Convivio II,1; Divina Commedia (Inferno: canti I, V, X, XXVI; Purgatorio: canto XXIV; Paradiso: canto XXXIII)

Module B (2 CFU)

It’s required to study the historical and critical profile of Italian literature from Petrarca to Humanism, focusing particularly on the following writers and texts:

- Francesco Petrarca, Canzoniere (I, III, XVI, XXXV, LXI, XC, CXXVI, CXXVIII, CXXXIV, CCCLXV, CCCLXVI).

- Giovanni Boccaccio, Proemio; Introduzione; I, 5 La marchesana di Monferrato; II,4 Landolfo Rufolo; III, 3 Donna inganna un frate; Introduzione alla IV giornata; IV, 1: Tancredi e Ghismunda; IV, 5 Elisabetta da Messina; V, 9 Federigo degli Alberighi, VI, 1: Madonna Oretta; 3: Calandrino; X, 10: Griselda.

- Matteo Maria Boiardo, Orlando innamorato, I, 1, ottave 1-3; II, 1, ottave 1-3; II, 18, ottave 1-3; II, 19, ottave 1-3.

- Luigi Pulci, Morgante, XVIII, ottave 112-120; XXVII, ottave 50-57.

Module C (2 CFU):

It’s required to study the historical and critical profile of Italian literature from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, focusing particularly on the following writers and texts:

- Niccolò Machiavelli, Il Principe: capp. I; V; VII; XII; XVII; XVIII; XXVI.

- Francesco Guicciardini: Ricordi: 1, 5, 16, 24, 30, 33, 107, 109, 118, 160, 173, 189.

- Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando furioso: I, XII, XXIII

- Gaspara Stampa, Rime VII, VIII, XCI

- Torquato Tasso, Gerusalemme liberata: I, XII.

- Vittorio Alfieri, Saul, II atto

- Ugo Foscolo, Dei Sepolcri

Module D (2 CFU):

It’s required to study the historical and critical profile of the Nineteenth century’s Italian literature, focusing particularly on the following writers and texts:

- Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi sposi: capp. I, XXI, XXXVIII; Storia della Colonna infame (Introduzione, capp. I, III).

- Giacomo Leopardi, I Canti: Ultimo canto di Saffo, L’infinito, La sera del dì di festa, Il sabato del villaggio, A se stesso; Operette morali: Dialogo della Natura e di un’anima; Dialogo della Natura e di un Islandese, Dialogo di Plotino e Porfirio.

- Giovanni Verga, Rosso malpelo, La lupa; Libertà; I Malavoglia: capp. I, II, XV.

- Federico De Roberto, La paura, La posta

To study the profile of Italian literature it’s recommended:

- A. Battistini (a cura di), Letteratura italiana, vol. I, Dalle origini al Settecento, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2014, pp. 21-40; 57-65; 79-153; 165-190; 205-221; 223-226; 236-244; 251-266; 273-343; 387-410; vol. II, Dal Settecento ai nostri giorni, pp. 53-70; 155-184; 199-209; 211-225; 231-263; 281-290; 303-329; 359-361.

A handbook to choose from the list below for the author’s works:

- G. Baldi, S. Giusso e M. Razett, Testi e storia della letteratura, Paravia.

- C. Segre, C. Martignoni, Leggere il mondo, Bruno Mondadori.

For prosody and rhetoric, students will be provided with a pdf file from G. Anselmi, L. Chines, E. Menetti, Tempi e immagini della letteratura, Edizioni scolastiche Bruno Mondadori (28 pp.)

Students will find on Studium other information and materials during the course.

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.