Teaching code

4S00905

Credits

9

Coordinatore

Donatella Boni

Language

Italian

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

L-FIL-LET/14 - CRITICAL COMPARATIVE LITERATURE

Moodle Seminars

The teaching is organized as follows:

Learning objectives

The learning outcomes of the class “Letterature Comparate” L11 LLS lead students to acquire a knowledge of both the comparative methodologies and an overview of the topics related to both theory of literature and comparative literature. Through the application of the comparative tools, the subject of the course is analyzed in relation to the relative conceptual junctions. At the core of the analysis there is the comparison of texts belonging to different literary traditions, both diachronically and synchronously. At the end of the course, the student must demonstrate that he has acquired adequate knowledge and skills in the fields of comparative literature and literary theoy (knowledge and understanding); of having acquired the ability to learn and understand, and being able to argue and defend a position (learning skills); to be able to convey information, ideas, problems related to the subject imparted (making judgements).

Prerequisites and basic notions

Knowledge of the Italian language

Program

The course aims to investigate the fantastic genre according to two guidelines:
Part I (6 credits, Prof. Boni) offers an overview of the posthumous fantastic colloquium, a small but fertile and inexhaustible literary genre in prose that includes imaginary conversations, dialogues of deaths, minutes of “author's” séances and impossible interviews published independently or separately, where famous historical figures who are no longer alive at the time of writing intervene. The course outlines the identifying characteristics of the genre, illustrated and discussed in the classroom thanks to some examples (readings and audio/video contributions). The metamorphoses of the posthumous fantastic colloquium are also retraced, from Plato and Luciano di Samosata to the postmodern and the most recent developments in online writing. Finally, we recognize recurring themes, motifs and purposes in these dialogues. The program includes preliminary parts concerning literary genres, definitions of dialogue, conversation and interview, fantastic literature.
Part II of the course (3 credits, Prof. Baroni) instead focuses on the nineteenth-century fantastic and, in particular, on the representation of the magical object in the four primary texts listed in the bibliography. The representation of the magical object recurs obsessively throughout the 19th century even among the great authors of the realist novel. The course aims to investigate how the fantastic is intertwined with realism, the role of objects in the expression of the social ghosts of modernity, and its encounter with the visual arts, from the illustrations for La Pelle di zigrino to the theme of the animated painting in Oscar Wilde.

Bibliography

Didactic methods

Part I: - Frontal lessons, face-to-face and/or remote (in the foreseen situations) - Resources and activities on the University e-learning platform and in the cloud - Reading of the texts in the bibliography and of the materials on the platform (in some cases before to the lesson) - Critical discussion in the classroom - Individual or group written reworking (optional: composition of a short dialogue). - Comprehension self-assessment exercise at the end of the course
Part II: Most of the hours will be lectures. Students are required to actively participate in the classroom during collective critical discussions. The power points projected in class will be made available to those enrolled in the course at the end of each topic covered on Moodle. Precise indications will also be provided on the images, illustrations and videos that will be analyzed in class.

Learning assessment procedures

Oral interview with open questions, also connected to classroom debates or from culture, reflections and personal connections.

Evaluation criteria

The interview aims to evaluate the student's critical and argumentative skills, his language proficiency and mastery of the course contents. The object of the evaluation will also be the student's ability to know how to move within the sources and bibliographic material in order to be able to identify in them the useful information that allows him to illustrate the cultural aspects and fields of the discipline. Part I: For attending students (at least 14 out of 18 lessons) the following will be considered: active participation in the classroom, reading and understanding of study materials, written work (optional: maximum 2 points), application of what has been learned, language properties. For non-attending students, the criteria will be: proactivity, reading and understanding of study materials (with additions specified at the beginning of the course), application of what has been learned, language skills. Part II: The precise knowledge of the texts, the interpretative acumen, the critical sense and the argumentative effectiveness will be evaluated with the highest scores (27-30), while the descriptive and generic knowledge of the bibliography, with limited capacity for analysis and in summary, it will lead to positive but not high evaluations (24-26). Training gaps, superficial analysis and inappropriate or confused language will lead to poor or negative evaluations (18-23). Failure to read one of the texts (primary and/or critical) and/or a study conducted only on power point will lead to low or negative grades.

Exam language

Italiano