Criticism theory and comparative literature I A
Course objectives
The aim is to enable students to explore the theoretical issues of literature and to reason about the methodology of comparative literature at an advanced level. The course, delivered in face-to-face lessons and in a distance mode (moodle-elearning), enables students to master the subject (knowledge) in order to use and apply it in other fields of study with the correct use of the specific technical language (skills). Specific teaching objectives: 1. to provide students with knowledge and understanding, at an advanced level, of the comparative study of literature and its main critical categories such as the canon, modernity, worldliness (Weltliteratur), intertextuality, transnationality; 2. to develop the autonomous ability to use, at an advanced level, the theoretical and methodological tools useful for the theoretical and comparative study of literature; 3-5. to enable the student to use the knowledge acquired and the specific language learnt for the so-called "transversal competences" (autonomy of judgement, communication skills).
Channel 1
FRANCA SINOPOLI
Lecturers' profile
Program - Frequency - Exams
Course program
The course is devoted to the study of the concept of ‘European literature’ and the cultural memory it conveys.
Prerequisites
A good knowledge of the history of European literature and culture of the twentieth century. A good competence on key topics of literary theory (author, literary work, character, reader, literary genres, methods of literary criticism).
Books
T.S. Eliot, L’unità della cultura europea (1948), tr. it. in Id., Opere, a c. di R. Sanesi, Milano, Bompiani, 1992-1993, vol. 2, pp. 626-641.
S. Sontag, The Idea of Europe (One More Elegy) (1988), in Id., Where the Stress Falls: Essays, New York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001, pp. 285-289.
I. Bachmann, Letteratura come utopia [1960], in Id., Letteratura come utopia. Lezioni di Francoforte [1980], tr. it., Milano, Adelphi, 1993, pp. 105-124
F. Moretti, La letteratura europea, in Storia d’Europa, vol. I: L’Europa oggi, Torino, Einaudi, 1993, pp. 837-866.
S. R., Suleiman, The Idea of Europe, in “Comparative Literature”, n. 4, 2006.
Teaching mode
Lectures, commented power points, videoconferences, commented documentaries and films.
Frequency
lessons in presence or online teaching (in case of prolongation of the Covid19 pandemic)
Exam mode
Students attending the course will be able to give an oral presentation with a power point on a topic of their choice from those covered in the course, supplemented by an oral exam if they have not achieved a satisfactory grade;
non-attending students will only take an oral exam on the course bibliography.
Assessment of learning outcomes:
knowledge of the topics dealt with during the course and ability to understand the works and authors covered by lessons;
ability to outline a critical reasoning in front of the literary text and to contextualise it;
ability to apply knowledge and understanding: ability to use the main methodologies of literary study to deal with authors and texts by comparing them in order to identify the main aspects of analysis of the text as well as its thematic and cultural density;
autonomy of judgement: the ability to compare two or more literary texts, identifying similarities and differences at a general level and framing their meaning within the framework of the course topic.
Bibliography
Anthology of World Literatures:
M.A. Caws, C. Pendergast (Editors), World Reader (Harper Collins College Publishers)
Lesson mode
lectures and discussion with students
FRANCA SINOPOLI
Lecturers' profile
Program - Frequency - Exams
Course program
The course is devoted to the study of the concept of ‘European literature’ and the cultural memory it conveys.
Prerequisites
A good knowledge of the history of European literature and culture of the twentieth century. A good competence on key topics of literary theory (author, literary work, character, reader, literary genres, methods of literary criticism).
Books
T.S. Eliot, L’unità della cultura europea (1948), tr. it. in Id., Opere, a c. di R. Sanesi, Milano, Bompiani, 1992-1993, vol. 2, pp. 626-641.
S. Sontag, The Idea of Europe (One More Elegy) (1988), in Id., Where the Stress Falls: Essays, New York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001, pp. 285-289.
I. Bachmann, Letteratura come utopia [1960], in Id., Letteratura come utopia. Lezioni di Francoforte [1980], tr. it., Milano, Adelphi, 1993, pp. 105-124
F. Moretti, La letteratura europea, in Storia d’Europa, vol. I: L’Europa oggi, Torino, Einaudi, 1993, pp. 837-866.
S. R., Suleiman, The Idea of Europe, in “Comparative Literature”, n. 4, 2006.
Teaching mode
Lectures, commented power points, videoconferences, commented documentaries and films.
Frequency
lessons in presence or online teaching (in case of prolongation of the Covid19 pandemic)
Exam mode
Students attending the course will be able to give an oral presentation with a power point on a topic of their choice from those covered in the course, supplemented by an oral exam if they have not achieved a satisfactory grade;
non-attending students will only take an oral exam on the course bibliography.
Assessment of learning outcomes:
knowledge of the topics dealt with during the course and ability to understand the works and authors covered by lessons;
ability to outline a critical reasoning in front of the literary text and to contextualise it;
ability to apply knowledge and understanding: ability to use the main methodologies of literary study to deal with authors and texts by comparing them in order to identify the main aspects of analysis of the text as well as its thematic and cultural density;
autonomy of judgement: the ability to compare two or more literary texts, identifying similarities and differences at a general level and framing their meaning within the framework of the course topic.
Bibliography
Anthology of World Literatures:
M.A. Caws, C. Pendergast (Editors), World Reader (Harper Collins College Publishers)
Lesson mode
lectures and discussion with students
- Lesson code1055590
- Academic year2025/2026
- CourseModern Philology
- CurriculumSingle curriculum
- Year1st year
- Semester1st semester
- SSDL-FIL-LET/14
- CFU6