HISTORY OF CZECH CULTURE

The course is part of the curriculum and aims at understanding the history of Czech literature and culture, the theory of literary history and the analysis of literary text.


The aim of the course is to deepen the knowledge of cultural and literary production in the Czech language as well as of a literary and cultural investigation. The analysis of the text is inserted in the historical - cultural discourse both in a diachronic sense, that is as a history of literature, and synchronically, as a specific phenomenon within a pulsating cultural system. The achievement of these objectives allows the student to enrich his literary and cultural education both in analytical and synthetic terms.

1. Knowledge and understanding
● Know the basic linguistic terminology and understand the texts that make it
use.
● To know literary production and its interaction with the different spheres of culture.
● To know the theory of analysis of the literary text in its linguistic, literary and cultural components.

2. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding
● (Know the basic linguistic terminology and understand the texts that make it
use.) Knowing how to properly use linguistic terminology in all processes
application and communication of acquired knowledge.
● (Knowing the literary production and its interaction with the different spheres of culture.) Knowing how to relate the analysis of the specific text with contemporary and coherent critical production in addition to the mechanisms for using the text
● (To know the tools of analysis of the literary text in its linguistic, literary, cultural components.) To be able to apply the analysis tools and the literary production as a whole to the single specific text.

4. Communication skills
● Know how to communicate the specificities of literary reflection, using one
appropriate terminology.
● Knowing how to interact with peers and with the tutor, in a critical and respectful manner, in the presence and
on the virtual classroom forum.
5. Learning skills
.
● Knowing how to critically consult the reference texts and the bibliography in them
contained.

Knowledge of the Czech language is not required.

The body of the text: adaptations of Czech literary classics

The course aims to investigate the representation of women in Czech cultural production by examining recent adaptations of works considered classics of Czech literature. In particular, we will analyze adaptations of works from the period of the so-called national awakening: Kytice (A Bouquet of Flowers) by K. J. Erben (a film and two comic book adaptations), Máj (May) by K. H. Mácha (a film), and Babička (Grandmother) by B. Němcová (multiple film adaptations and comic book adaptations for children). Adaptations of these works tend to be linked to their authorship and literary nature. This means that the visual impulse does not aim to popularize the work in an educational sense (with the partial exception of Němcová's text), as may be the case with other works, but rather to reincarnate its potential. In some cases, for example Erben's Kytice, there is also a desire to resurrect the work from a literary canon perceived as partly ‘dead’.
The choice to update the texts to a greater or lesser extent and to ‘translate’ them into a specific genre has the effect of creating a specific temporal dimension, absent in the original precisely because it is an expression of eternally valid traditions and therefore eternally present in their origin from an
ahistorical time.
The character, interpreted and/or drawn, thus acquires a historical “form”—primarily in appearance and clothing—that responds to the depiction of the period, and its materiality and physicality (including the canons of beauty and “normality”) both in the common imagination and in that of the artist.
The choice of the female subject stems from the very nature of the selected classical texts: they move (in agreement or opposition) within a heteronormative binary structure, in a society governed by Christian values, primarily those of tradition and family, also in relation to the construction of national identity (Czech national awakening). In this binary structure
(woman-man; good-bad; natural-unnatural; traditional-new; domestic-foreign, and so on), women are “traditionally” conceived as the guardians of the hearth,
the family, and the order of the world.

The course will examine both individual works and adaptations in their cultural context. The critical issues and potential of adaptation as a method of interpreting a literary work will also be explored: adaptation, like translation, is the result of multiple choices linked to the ‘target’ cultural system, as it is carried out through a different medium, a different historical period and therefore a different socio-cultural system.

Literature
Texts:


- Karel H. Mácha, Maggio, Marsilio
- Karel Jaromír Erben, Un mazzetto di leggende, GSE
- Božena Němcová, La Nonna, Mondadori (solo parti indicate dalla docente)

- Alfred Thomas, The Bohemian Body: Gender and Sexuality in Modern Czech Culture, University of Wisconsin Press
-Derek Sayer, The Coasts of Bohemia: A Czech History, Princeton University Press
-Abraham, Diya. "Page to Screen: How Media Adaptations Reframe Classic Literature for Contemporary Audiences." Media and Intercultural Communication: A Multidisciplinary Journal 3.1 (2025): 83-96.
-Linda Hutcheon, Teoria degli adattamenti. I percorsi delle storie fra letteratura, cinema, nuovi media, Armando Editore
- Benoît Mitaine, David Roche, Isabelle Schmitt-Pitiot ed. Comics and Adaptation, University Press of Mississippi - Introduction; chapter 1.

Single literary texts will be distributed in the classroom.

The final exam consists of an oral interview (lasting approximately 30 minutes) on the contents of the module and the bibliography (as indicated in the “Reference texts” section).
Students with working student status and those who are unable to attend classes are required to contact the instructor as soon as possible to be assigned a specific topic to present during the exam. In general, in the event of problems with attendance (even partial), the professor is available (in person or online) for one or more meetings (office hours) to evaluate any targeted interventions. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact the professor via email.

oral

The grade will be determined by: 1. knowledge of the topics covered during the course (up to 10 points); 2. ability to explore the topic in depth (up to 5 points); 3. detailed and accurate knowledge (up to 5 points); 4. confidence in presentation (up to 5 points); 5. ability to argue (up to 5 points).

Lectures. The reading of indicated literary texts will be required. A discussion will follow in the classroom.

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development