Learning outcomes

Teaching comparative literature aims at transmitting to the students crucial conceptual intruments and modes of thoughts concerning some important literary themes current in the Western World. By the end of the course the student will master notions and critical methodologies used by the professor in class.

Program

Title: "Mythomania"

The course aims to pursue two purposes: on the one hand, to rediscover figures, themes, episodes, meanings and symbols of the classical Greek myth; on the other hand, to critically retrace, from a comparative point of view, some ancient or contemporary works that find inspiration in Greek myth, to verify the persistence of the fascination of mythology in Western culture for two millennia. In this sense, will be analyzed texts by Theocritus and Bione; Virgil and Ovid; Poliziano and Ronsard; Shakespeare and La Fontaine; Shelley and Yeats; Rilke and Cocteau; Gore Vidal and Luigi Santucci; Giraudoux and Dürrenmatt; Cesare Pavese and Madeline Miller; Anne Carson and Louise Glück. The illustration of classical myths will also be carried out through examples taken from the visual arts (paintings, sculptures, frescoes, etc.) as well as from cinema and the media in general.

Bibliography

1) Maurizio BETTINI, "Il grande racconto dei miti classici", Il Mulino, Bologna, 2018 (ISBN: 9788815279262)

2) Giorgio IERANÒ, "Gli eroi della guerra di Troia", Venezia, Marsilio, 2015, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2020 (ISBN: 9788829706099)

A text of your choice for each of the following 5 sections:

3A) Andrea RODIGHIERO e Maria Grazia CIANI, "Orfeo: Variazioni sul mito", Venezia, Marsilio, 2004 (ISBN: 9788831784450)
or 3B) Alessandro GRILLI, "Adone: Variazioni sul mito", Venezia, Marsilio, 2021 (ISBN: 9788829710775)

4A) Jean GIRAUDOUX, "La Guerre de Troie n’aura pas lieu" (1935), Paris, Larousse, 1998, trad. it. a cura di Stefano Serri, "La guerra di Troia non si farà", Torino, Robin, 2020 (ISBN: 978-88-7274-618-9)
or 4B) Friedrich DÜRRENMATT, "Das Sterben der Pythia" (1976), Zürich, Diogenes, 1998, trad. it. "La morte della Pizia", Milano, Adelphi, 2008 (ISBN: 978-88-459-0296-3)

5A) Gore VIDAL, "The Judgment of Paris" (1952), Frogmore, Panther Books, 1974, trad. it. di Caterina Cartolano, "Il giudizio di Paride", Roma, Fazi, 2006 (ISBN: 88-8112-753-9)
or 5B) Luigi SANTUCCI, "Orfeo in Paradiso" (1967), Genova-Milano, Marietti, 2010 (ISBN: 978-88-211-8237-2)

6A) Madeline MILLER, "The Song of Achilles", London, Bloomsbury, 2012, trad. it. di Matteo Curtoni e Maura Parolini, "La canzone di Achille", Venezia, Marsilio, 2021 (ISBN: 978-88-317-8098-8)
or 6B) Madeline MILLER, "Circe", New York, Black Bay Books, 2019, trad. it. di Marinella Magrì, "Circe", Venezia, Marsilio, 2021 (ISBN: 978-88-297-0532-0)

7A) Louise GLÜCK, "Averno", Manchester, Carcanet, 2006, trad. it. di Massimo Bacigalupo, Averno, Milano, Il Saggiatore, 2020 (ISBN: 978-88-428-2967-6)
or 7B) Anne CARSON, "Autobiography of Red", New York, Knopf, 1998, trad. it. di Sergio Claudio Perroni, "Autobiografia del Rosso", Milano, La Nave di Teseo, 2020 (ISBN: 978-88-346-0401-4)

The program may be subject to variations; it is therefore necessary to check this site until the beginning of the lessons and subsequently near the first session

Examination Methods