500982 - MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ITALIAN LITERATURE – a

courses

ID:

500982

Duration (hours):

36

CFU:

SSD:

LETTERATURA ITALIANA CONTEMPORANEA

Year:

2025

Date/time interval

Secondo Semestre (23/02/2026 - 22/05/2026)

Course Objectives

The cours aims to provide in-depth investigations into literary works, authors, major historical and cultural issues addressing multiple aspects of Modern and Contemporary Italian Literature: philological facts, cultural connections, historical background, stylistic and linguistic elements, literary models and genres, the relation between tradition and innovation. The expected outcomes are as follows: • Knowledge of the history of italian literature of the twentieth century (authors, movements, groups, literary journals); • Awareness of the historical-cultural context, in its main lines; • Ability to apply the knowledge acquired in the analysis of anthologized texts and in texts/works examined during the lessons. • Ability to expose the knowledge acquired during the lessons and through the study of the anthology with a precise and correct technical-scientific language.

Course Prerequisites

For foreign students, a good language proficiency is requested.

Teaching Methods

The course is divided into frontal lectures, during which texts/works object of the course will be analyzed and commented. The texts will be uploaded to the KIRO platform, and will be projected during the lessons to facilitate the sharing and to stimulate the discussion with the students. Where appropriate, the teacher will use presentations in Powerpoint, which will then be uploaded to KIRO in the form of PDF. Class attendance is highly recommended.

Assessment Methods

The exam consists of an individual oral test, aimed at assessing the skills acquired in relation to the contents of the course. The test is divided into two parts. The first, general, deals with the anthology/ the manual, and concerns at least two separate topics, related to the first and the second twentieth century. The candidate will be required to read, analyze and comment at least one of the texts anthologized. The second part deals with the monographic course and the analysis/commentary of the texts (at least one) covered by the lessons. The final assessment is based on the degree of deepening and understanding of the topics presented, the ability to integrate the knowledge acquired during the course, and to expose them fluently, using an appropriate lexicon. NB: the exam, like the lessons, focuses on reading and commenting on passages from the works covered by the course. Having all the texts covered by the course, no matter whether in paper or electronic format, is therefore an INDISPENSABLE condition for taking the exam.

Texts

For the general part of the course, students will have on Kiro scans of the anthology Segre-Martignoni "Testi nella storia" (selected parts). For the monographic course, the analytical bibliography will be provided during the lessons. Below, the reference editions for the main novels treated, provided that students will be able to use the pocket editions of the novels considered. Students will be required to read one book of their choice from the list that the teacher will provide during the lessons. Primary bibliography - Elio Vittorini, Le opere narrative, vol. I, a cura di Maria Corti, Milano, Mondadori, 1982 [Uomini e no, a cura di Virna Brigatti, Milano, Mondadori, 2022] - Italo Calvino, Romanzi e racconti, vol. I, a cura di Mario Barenghi e Bruno Falcetto, Milano : Mondadori, 2003 [Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno, Milano, Mondadori, 2022] - Cesare Pavese, Tutti i romanzi, a cura di Marziano Guglielminetti, Torino, Einaudi, 2000 [La casa in collina, Torino, Einaudi, 2020] - Beppe Fenoglio, Romanzi e racconti, a cura di Dante Isella, Torino, Einaudi-Gallimard, 1992 [Una questione privata, Torino, Einaudi, 2018]

«Private issues» and partisan struggle in the resistance novels of Vittorini, Pavese, Fenoglio, Calvino

For the protagonists of the great Italian resistance novels, adherence to the partisan struggle (or non-adherence, in the case of Pavese) implies a decisive comparison with reality which always has a mirror reverse in the relationship with the Feminine: Berta in Uomini e no by Vittorini (1945), Cate in Pavese's La casa in collina (1948), Fulvia in Una questione privata of Fenoglio (posthumous, 1963); for Pin, the protagonist of the Sentiero dei nidi di ragno (1947) the theme arises in different terms, but is nevertheless central. It is a complex, tormented relationship, which ends up bringing the civil question back to the great «private question» of unresolved Oedipal-maternal conflicts. Starting from the splendid Preface to the '64 reprint of the Sentiero, the course will cross the novels cited, attempting in particular to understand why and in what sense, according to Calvino, the posthumous novel by the less celebrated Fenoglio could (can?) be considered the masterpiece and the "crowning" of that narrative line.

Course Language

Italian

More information

For foreign students, custom exam program to be agreed.

Class attendance is highly recommended; students who cannot attend are invited to meet the teacher during his office hours and/or contact him to the email address provided, in order to agree an alternative exam program.