HISTORY OF ITALIAN CULTURE AND LITERATURE-MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY

N.B. This class is organised by the Ca' Foscari School for International Education (SIE). Students cannot attend classes or take exams if they are not officially enrolled in the course. For further information on the SIE Italian language courses for exchange students, please visit this webpage: https://www.unive.it/courses-exchange

Major class goals focus on implementing the students' knowledge of both specific content and textual analysis. In particular, students are expected to meet the following objectives:
• Learning which major authors and works are relevant within the Italian cultural and literary tradition from the 17th century to the present day.
• Learning to read critically and contextualize key literary themes and trends of the selected time period in the Italian context.
• General awareness of the historical and political framework during Italy’s late Modern and Contemporary Age.
• General awareness of the role played by the city of Venice within the context of Modern Italian literature.

There is no specific requirement needed to attend this class. However, any previous knowledge of Italian is welcome, as well as a general interest in literature as a discipline, besides literary genres and linguistic background.

This course aims to provide exchange students with a simple yet solid background in Modern and Contemporary Italian Literature, with added reference to Italian historical context and culture. After providing a quick summary of Italian literature before modernity, class will consider relevant literary works and authors before and after Italy's Unification ("Risorgimento"), with dedicated attention to post WWI and post WWII literary production and cultural frameworks. A specific focus on female literature will also be considered within 20th and 21st centuries.

All class content, including written texts, will be offered in English translations at a level suitable for students coming from any field of study. When possible, class content will reflect on authors and cultural references within the context of the city of Venice. A field trip to a museum in Venice is also scheduled in the first part of classes.

Class-selected readings will be available on Moodle. The list below presents recommended texts used in reference to class content - this is especially relevant for students who are not attending class, or have attendend less than 60% of classes (more than 6 missed/ > 9 hours missed) to still be able to take the final exam:

• "The Cambridge History of Italian Literature", edited by P. Brand and L. Pertile (Revised Edition, Cambridge University Press: 2004) (selected chapters).
• "The Penguin Book of Italian Short Stories", introduced, edited, and with selected translations by Jhumpa Lahiri (Penguin Classics: 2019-2020).
• Natalia Ginzburg, "Family Lexicon" (any English edition).
• Primo Levi, "If This Is a Man" (any English edition).
• Goliarda Sapienza, "The Art of Joy", transl. by Anne Milano Appel (Farrar Straus & Giroux: 2013).
• Tiziano Scarpa, "Venice is a Fish: A Cultural Guide" (Profile Books: 2009) – especially chapter 5, “Volto”.
• Leonardo Sciascia, "The Moro Affair" (any English edition).

There is going to be a final oral exam at the end of classes. Students are required to prepare a short presentation that investigates a specific class topic and discuss it during the final oral exam. In addition, questions will be asked about both their work and other class content in general. Students who are attending less than 60% of classes are required to contact the instructor to agree on extra content to prepare for accessing the final exam.

oral

Grade system follows the Italian academic grade scale (30/30), where a grade of 18 of 30 is a passing grade.

Class topics are developed following a chronological order and distributed according to a weekly schedule (two classes per week). Classes will be taught with in-depth lectures and seminar-type activities, involving the analysis of literary texts and class debates (or class field trips) in specific cases. To encourage active student participation, homework readings will be assigned week by week. Lectures may be accompanied by quizzes and supplementary activities through the use of specific ICT platforms for active learning.

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