TEXT ANALYSIS AND TRANSLATION

The module is part of the Master's Degree Course in EUROPEAN, AMERICAN AND POSTCOLONIAL LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES - LITERATURES AND CULTURES as a characterising course (with 30 hours of lectures and 6 CFU) and shares the objectives described above, declining them, in this specific case, for the area of analysis and interpretation of German literature texts.

The course aims to initiate students into an in-depth reading and comprehension of texts of particular significance for German culture and into the analysis of various critical theories and literary methodologies with a view to the elaboration of appropriate interpretative approaches to the literary text.

In coherence with the objective of initiating students into advanced linguistic knowledge and analytical and interpretative skills at a specialised level, the course will be held in German with comments and concise explanations in Italian where these are needed or requested by the participants.

The course is also open to students who wish to take it for free-choice or supernumerary credits and to Erasmus students who meet the required prerequisites.

Knowledge and understanding:

1) acquisition of tools and strategies for reading and analysing literary texts;

2) in-depth knowledge of the main methodologies of critical approaches to the text;

3) developed awareness of the plurality of critical approaches to the text;

4) acquisition of intercultural notions and awareness from a comparative perspective;


Ability to apply knowledge and understanding:

1) ability to critically approach a text, tracing it back to the historical-critical context of reference and applying the most suitable critical methodologies;

2) ability to analyse some particularly difficult texts of German literature;

3) ability to master the tools of intertextual criticism;

4) refinement of the ability to apply the critical tools acquired in the analysis of the proposed texts, thematically, stylistically and formally;

Judgement skills:

Improved ability to evaluate competing interpretative approaches and to make independent hypotheses and judgements in a relevant manner;

Communication skills:

1) to be able to communicate effectively in oral form the knowledge acquired using appropriate terminology;

2) to be able to sustain a critical scientific debate at a high level;

Learning skills

1) On the basis of such knowledge, skills and abilities, it will thus be possible to acquire an effective awareness of the functioning and structure of a literary text and the direct ability to identify the junctures and critical mechanisms functional to its critical-interpretative reading.

German language level B2/C1

Thomas Mann
Through the detailed analysis of the main methods of hermeneutic approach to the literary text, the aim is to provide an overall picture of the different reading strategies and methods of analysing the literary text. By elaborating models of structuring critical discourse on the content and formal level and identifying the semantic, stylistic and formal dimensions of literary writing, it will be possible to acquire a specific competence in the active analysis of the text, starting from the understanding of its constituent joints and its dynamic structure to the consideration of its functions and effects.
This will be achieved through the overall analysis and study of the translation of Thomas Mann's Zauberberg. Particular attention will be paid to the consequences of textual interpretation for the translation of the text and the value of commentary notes for the orientation of the translation.

Thomas Mann. Der Zauberberg. Fischer. Frankfurt a.M. 2025

Luca Crescenzi. La montagna della melancolia. Thomas Mann e la Montagna magica. Carocci, Roma 2012
Michael Neumann. Thomas Mann. Romane. Erich Schmidt, Berlin 2008

The verification of learning will take place through an oral test at the end of the course. It will consist of a general overview of the text analysed, a partial in-depth analysis and a translation test.

oral

between 18 and 24 if the student shows sufficient knowledge of the course content
between 25 and 28 if the student shows good knowledge of the topics and an ability to critically analyse them
between 29 and 30 if the student shows very good knowledge of the topics, confidence in exposition and very good capacity for critical analysis.

Lectures and seminar exercises. Exercises in textual analysis and translation of the novel under study will be offered

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