Teaching code

4S000880

Teacher

Rossella Bonfatti

Credits

6

Language

Italian

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

L-FIL-LET/11 - CONTEMPORARY ITALIAN LITERATURE

Period

2 B dal Apr 12, 2023 al May 27, 2023.

Lessons timetable Moodle Seminars 0

To show the organization of the course that includes this module, follow this link:  Course organization

Program

ITALIAN TERRORISM, ARMED WORDS
The course aims to explore the story of Italian political terrorism of the 1970s and early 1980s, starting from the same problematic definition of "anni di piombo" - a misleading expression that holds back a non-neutral and simplifying vision of this phemonenon, excluding some aspects as well as other states of tension. Along the narrative trajectories, offered by instant journalism of Italian intellectuals-writers, by memorials (produced both by the protagonists of the armed struggle and by the victims), by the contemporary novels, we will focus on the 'Moro case' - already at the center of antagonistic historical interpretations - to reconstruct the cultural debate triggered in public opinion, the role of the media, the militant exposure of essayists and writers during a crucial period of republican Italy that should be considered as "laboratory of political violence" for the past and also for the future.
The Moro affair represented a fundamental event for public information, oriented towards self-censorship (in order not to compromise the investigations in progress), inaccurate or biased. Similarly to what happened in Germany in 1977 for the Schleyer kidnapping, the Italian press is in fact characterized by blurry or 'decorative' information, more attentive to the socio-cultural analysis of the subversive phenomenon, of its international matrices and less attentive to the the facts; while writers, journalists and intellectuals, even in recent years engaged an investigation for truth, becoming interpreters of civil society. Hence the word-denunciation of Sciascia, author of the pamphlet released in August 1978, according to which the "prisoner of state"; paradoxically rediscovered his identity in the loss of personal freedom, transforming the letters from his imprisonment "documents of the retaliation” against political party and against all institutional system. If, as Sciascia argues, the life and death of the honorable Aldo Moro in the days of the kidnapping"lose reality", becoming only "a present gerund"; so under the sign of the spectralization of history, the wound originated by terror can still be said to be open. . BIBLIOGRAPHY (compulsory)
G. Bianconi, Terrorismo [Italian terrorism], Roma, Treccani, 2022;
L. Sciascia, L'affaire Moro, Milano, Adelphi, 1994;
A. Moro, Lettere dalla prigionia [Letters from imprisonment], edited by M. Gotor, Torino, Einaudi, 2009;
M. Tolomelli, Terrorismo e società. Il dibattito pubblico in Italia e in Germania [Terrorism and society. The public debate in Italy and Germany in the 1970s], Bologna, Il Mulino, 2016, pp. 143-197;
M. Belpoliti, La foto di Moro [The photo of Moro], Milano, Nottetempo, 2008.

RECOMMENDED READINGS (one text of your choice)
M. Barone, Città sommersa, Milano, Bompiani, 2020;
M. Calabresi, Spingendo la notte più in là, Milano, Mondadori, 2017;
A. Iovane, La seduta spiritica, Roma, Minimum Fax, 2021;
L. Zoja, Nella mente di un terrorista, Torino, Einaudi, 2017.
B. Tobagi, Come mi batte forte il tuo cuore, Torino, Einaudi, 2015;
G. Fasanella – S. Rossa, Guido Rossa, mio padre, Milano, Rizzoli, 2006;
L. Ravera, La festa è finita, Milano, Bompiani, 2014;
E. Albinati, Cuori fanatici, Milano, Rizzoli, 2019;
F. Camon, Occidente: diritto di strage?, Milano, Apogeo, 2022;
G. Vasta, Il tempo materiale, Roma, Minum Fax, 2017;
J. Tondelli, I giorni sbagliati, Milano, Laurana, 2020;
A. Sofri, L’ombra di Moro, Palermo, Sellerio, 1991;
A. Moravia, La vita interiore, Milano, Bompiani, 1979;
M. De Vito, Colpirne uno, Bari, Laterza, 2022;
M. Damilano, Un atomo di verità. Aldo Moro e la fine della politica in Italia, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2018;
A. M. Ortese, Alonso e i visionari, Milano, Adelphi, 1996;
G. Culicchia, Il tempo di vivere con te, Milano, Mondadori, 2021;
C. Stajano, Un eroe borghese, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2022;
A. Bertante, Mordi e fuggi, Milano, Baldini & Castoldi, 2022;
M. Galfré, Il figlio terrorista. Il caso Donat-Cattin e la tragedia di una generazione, Torino, Einaudi, 2022.

Bibliography

Didactic methods

Lectures
Meetings with experts, scholars and writers
E-learning platform

Learning assessment procedures

Oral examination
There is no separate program for attending and non-attending students.

Evaluation criteria

Guidelines for evaluation: - appropriateness and clarity in the use of specific terminology; - knowledge of the treated contents; - pertinent use to bibliographic sources; - capacity for argumentation and textual analysis - ability to create links or establish transversal reading paths that demonstrate full mastery of the themes; - personal re-elaboration, deepening and critical reading of the bibliography.
The final evaluation will follow the following grid: 1. The oral interview will be assessed as excellent in which you demonstrate that you are able to analyze the texts in depth and be able to insert them into an organic vision of the topics addressed in class. The expressive mastery demonstrated during the interview (grade 27-30) will also be fundamental. Honors will be awarded only to students who demonstrate a complete and solid knowledge of the program, without any gaps in content and formal expression. 2. The mnemonic knowledge of the texts, in-depth analysis and correct expression will lead to fair evaluations (grade 26-23). 3. Approximate or superficial knowledge of the texts, poor analytical skills and not entirely pertinent expression will lead to sufficient or slightly more evaluations (grade 18-22). 4. Training gaps, inappropriate language, lack of orientation within the bibliographic materials indicated in the program can only be evaluated negatively.

Exam language

Italiano