Sustainable tourism science

VINCENZO ALLEGRINI
VINCENZO ALLEGRINI

The student will have to acquire high-level knowledge and ability to interpret events in the field of contemporary Italian literature, with attention to the most recent developments in the debate and disciplinary bibliography; he will also have to be able to collect and interpret the data on which to base a judgment that is critically aware, also in the ethical-social dimension underlying the discipline. The student will therefore have to know how to use the knowledge acquired in arguing, in dealing with open questions, in implementing study and research methods, and will have to be able to communicate the results of his work both to specialist subjects and to an audience of non- subject matter experts. Finally, the student must be provided with the necessary skills to successfully undertake a future specialist degree course that includes exams in contemporary Italian literature.

At the end of the course, students are expected to have acquired the following competences: 1) knowledge of key stages in the literary history of modern Italian literature; 2) the ability to analyze and comment on literary texts, both in prose and in verse

Foundational knowledge of Italian literature at the high-school level

This course examines three pivotal forms of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century prose literature — the dialogue, the novel, and the short story — through the study of Giacomo Leopardi’s Operette morali, Giovanni Verga’s I Malavoglia, and a selection of Luigi Pirandello’s short stories. Emphasis will be placed on the emergence of modernity, the articulation of the “tragic dilemma” of the modern subject, and the crisis of identity that characterizes this literary and cultural moment.

1. G. Leopardi, Operette morali (recommended editions: edited by Laura Melosi, BUR Rizzoli, or edited by Cesare Galimberti, Guida) – complete text.
2. G. Verga, I Malavoglia (any edition) – complete text.
3. L. Pirandello, Novelle per un anno. Selected short stories (7): Lumíe di Sicilia; Il treno ha fischiato; La toccatina; Scialle nero; Il bottone della palandrana; La patente; La veste lunga (anthology provided by the instructor)

1. R. Bonavita, L’Ottocento, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2005
2. Storia e testi della letteratura italiana. Guerre e fascismo. Vol. 9 (1910-1945), Milano, Mondadori, 2004 (o successiva ed.), pp. 3-15 (Modernità e distruzione), pp. 55-73 (Pirandello). 
Alternatively, students may consult other textbooks already available, which provide an overview of Pirandello’s life and works within their historical and cultural context."
3. F. D’Intino, La prosa, in Leopardi, a cura di F. D’Intino e M. Natale, Roma, Carocci, pp. 63-97.
4. M. D’Urso, Il romanzo come tragedia. Il tragico nel romanzo italiano moderno, Bulzoni, Roma, 2008, pp. 87-137

In-person, instructor-led lectures

While attendance is highly encouraged to facilitate learning, it is not a formal requirement.

The exam consists of a written test (2 hours) including three open-ended questions. Question 1 focuses on the topics covered in the textbook and/or the reference bibliography, while the other two require the identification and commentary of two excerpts taken from the literary works included in the syllabus.

a) Describe the Scapigliatura movement in Italy (chronology, major authors, and principal works).

b) Identify and comment on the following passage from Operette morali, discussing the key structures and themes of the work from which it is taken, and relating it to at least two other operette.

c) Identify the following passage from I Malavoglia (or from Pirandello), situating it within the narrative and commenting on the characters, with any further thematic and stylistic considerations.

• Giacomo Leopardi and the Operette morali (October - late November)
  • Books: F. D'Intino, La prosa;  Leopardi, Operette morali; Bonavita, L'Ottocento (part I)


• Giovanni Verga e I Malavoglia (late November - December, weeks 1-2)
  • Books: D'Urso, Romanzo come tragedia; Bonavita, L'Ottocento (part II) 


• Pirandello and the Novelle per un anno (December, week 3)
  • Books: History if italian literature (1900-1932); Pirandello, selection of seven short stories from Novelle per un anno