Ateneo - UPO

The “Integrated” Course of Italian and Comparative Literature for Students studying foreign languages (12 ECTS credits) comprises the two courses: Italian Literature for Languages I (6 ECTS credits) and Comparative Literature A (6 ECTS credits). The specific topics covered in the two modules change each year. What remains constant is the focus on authors, works and key issues in Italian literature and other national literatures, their historical contextualisation, their comparison, and the use of appropriate tools for the analysis, interpretation and commentary of literary texts.

Academic Year 2026/2027:

The Italian Literature for Languages course is dedicated to "Two poets compared: Umberto Saba and Vittorio Sereni".
The Comparative Literature A course comprises an institutional section, dedicated to key aspects of theory, methodology and comparative literature, and a monographic section, dedicated to ‘Stories and images of identity, memory and oblivion’.

Italian Literature for Students studying foreign languages I:
The teacher will prepare a booklet containing the texts that will be discussed during class, which will be deposited at the copy shop (copisteria Lisa, Vercelli, via Galileo Ferraris 76) before the start of class. When the booklet is available, a notice will be posted on the DIR platform, in the course area.

Other reference texts for further study (not mandatory readings):
- Vittorio Sereni, Poesie, edizione critica a cura di Dante Isella, Milano, Mondadori, 1995;
- Umberto Saba, Tutte le poesie, a cura di Arrigo Stara, Introduzione di Mario Lavagetto, Milano, Mondadori, 2004 (I ed. 1988);
- Umberto Saba, Tutte le prose, a cura di Arrigo Stara, con un saggio introduttivo di Mario Lavagetto, Milano, Mondadori, 2001;
- Umberto Saba, Vittorio Sereni, Il cerchio imperfetto. Lettere 1946-1954, a cura di Cecilia Gibellini, Milano, Archinto, 2010;
- Cecilia Gibellini, Nell’atelier di Umberto Saba: da «Solaria» al «Canzoniere», in «Strumenti critici», gennaio 2013, pp. 119-134;
- Stefano Carrai, Saba personaggio degli «Strumenti umani», in «Gli strumenti umani» di Vittorio Sereni, Atti della Giornata di Studi (Università di Ginevra, 5 dicembre 2013), a cura di Georgia Fioroni, Pensa, 2015, pp. 67-79 (pdf available from Academia.edu);
- Cecilia Gibellini, Vittorio Sereni: viaggi, ritorni, agnizioni, in Leggere la lontananza. Immagini dell’altro nella letteratura di viaggio della contemporaneità, a cura di Silvia Camilotti, Ilaria Crotti e Ricciarda Ricorda, Venezia, Edizioni Ca’ Foscari, 2015, pp. 85-105 (link open-access: https://edizionicafoscari.unive.it/it/edizioni/libri/978-88-6969-055-6/vittorio-sereni-viaggi-ritorni-agnizioni/);
- Stefano Carrai, Saba, Roma, Salerno Editrice, 2017;
- Niccolò Scaffai, Introduzione, in Umberto Saba, Poesie scelte da Giovanni Giudici, Milano, Mondadori, 2018 (prima ed. 1976; pdf available from Academia.edu);
- Vittorio Sereni, Poesie e prose, a cura di Giulia Raboni, con uno scritto di Pier Vincenzo Mengaldo, Milano, Mondadori, 2020.

Comparative literature A:

General Introduction

- Stefania Sini, and Franca Sinopoli (eds), Percorsi di teoria e comparatistica letteraria, Milano, Pearson, 2021

Focus seminar
- A full and complete reading of all the following texts:
1. Jorge Luis Borges – “Funes el memorioso”;
2. Leonardo Sciascia – “Il Teatro della memoria, la sentenza memorabile”;
3.Jonathan Franzen – My Father's Brain;
4.Umberto Eco, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana;
5. Georgi Gospodinov, Времеубежище (Time Shelter).

- Two movies chosen from the following:
1. Andrey Tarkovsky – Solaris
2. Aki Kaurismaki, Mies vailla menneisyyttä (The man without a past) (2002);
3. Christopher Nolan - Memento (2000);
4. Paolo Rosa – Il menemonista (2000).

- A TV series of one's choice from the following:
1. Nic Pizzolatto, True Detective (season three) (2019)
2. Francesco Arlanch, Viola Rispoli, Doc – Nelle tue mani (season one) (2020)

Supplementary material for non-attending students

- An essay chosen from the following:
1. Marc Augé – Les formes de l’oubli, Payot & Rivages, Paris, 1998;
2. Adriano Prosperi – Un tempo senza storia. La distruzione del passato, Torino, Einaudi, 2021;
3. Paul Ricoeur – “Passé, memoire, histoire, oubli”. “La marque du passé”, Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale, 1998, 1, pp. 7-32. (German ed. Das Rätsel der Vergangenheit. Erinnern – Vergessen – Verzeihen, Wallstein, Göttingen 1998);
4.Tzvetan Todorov – Les abus de la memoire, Arlea, 2015
5. Aleida Assmann – Forms of Forgetting https://h401.org/2014/10/forms-of-forgetting/7584/.

The integrated course of Italian and Comparative Literature for Students studying Foreign Languages aims to provide:

- the fundamental methodological tools for the analysis of literary texts – in particular poetry, through an examination of the works of two major 20th-century Italian authors – and prose, through a selection of 20th-century and contemporary literary and film narratives.
- the fundamental theoretical and methodological tools for understanding the cognitive, existential and social value of the literary experience, and for an up-to-date critical understanding of literary studies in terms of their historical vitality and inter- and transdisciplinary scope.

The learning objectives are structured on two levels:

Basic level
- Historical and cultural contextualization of the two authors and their work; understanding of their theoretical and poetic stances; and the ability to interpret, analyze, and comment on key poetic texts (Italian Literature for Students studying foreign languages I);
- the major issues in literary theory and comparative literature, as well as the primary tools for analysing literary works, with a particular focus on narrative texts. Analysis and comparisonof some examples of 20th-century and contemporary literary and film narratives focused on the relationship between identity and memory/oblivion from an individual, historical, and social perspective (Comparative Literature A).

Advanced level
Acquisition of skills
- in intertextual analysis (identifying sources and echoes) and stylistic analysis (examining vocabulary, syntax, and choices regarding meter and rhetoric), - as well as the ability to navigate critical and bibliographic resources (understanding the main contributions made by various critical approaches to the study of these two authors) (Italian Literature for Students studying foreign languages I).
Stimulate and/or enhance the the following abilities:
- to analyse a literary work in the light of different critical and theoretical approaches;
- to evaluate the work as a multi-layered aesthetic object to be considered within its original context, in terms of its main structural and compositional elements and its historical and multicultural vitality;
- to integrate methodological and theoretical content with independent and original interpretations of the texts and films covered during the course (Comparative Literature A).

In this course, the proposed approach to teaching literature is inherently dialogic, with no neat demarcation between delivery-based and interactive teaching.

The 12 ECTS credits awarded for this course are allocated as follows:
• 3 ECTS credits for lectures (DE) and interactive didactic (DI) (see ‘Teaching Methods’);
• 9 ECTS credits for independent study.

Basic knowledge of the history of Italian, European and non-European literature, covering its main lines of development (at upper secondary school level). Basic elements of literary text analysis, as well as basic linguistic, stylistic and metrical knowledge (at upper secondary school level).

Frontal lessons accompanied and followed by discussion; reading, analysis and commenting on the texts in class, with the possibility of individual or group contributions and presentations; online learning (DIR).

The professors will make some teaching materials available via the university’s IT service (DIR), which students can sign up for even before lessons begin.

Students who are unable to attend the majority of lessons are asked to contact the professors in sufficient time to receive some general guidance on exam preparation and advice on supplementary reading.

An optional, free programme of sessions led by student tutors is available to assist and support students’ preparation for both exams.

Students with disabilities, Specific Learning Difficulties (SLD) or Special Educational Needs (SEN) may request specific services and resources by contacting the Career Development and Coordination and Student Services team and consulting the dedicated page on the University website: https://uniupo.it/it/servizi/servizi-studentesse-e-studenti-condizione-di-disabilit%C3%A0-e-dsa. Once they have made contact with the University staff, students with disabilities, SLDs or SEN may contact the lecturer responsible for the course to discuss the arrangements for examinations and teaching-related matters.

Italian Literature
A 2-hour written test designed to assess the student's knowledge and ability to apply it to the texts covered in the course. Specifically, the test will comprise two open-ended questions, structured as follows:
1 A question designed to assess knowledge of the biographical details, cultural references, and theoretical and poetic stances of the two authors (e.g.: Saba and psychoanalysis; the experience of imprisonment) or of a specific poetry collection of theirs (e.g. themes and settings in Sereni’s first poetry collection). [50% of the exam grade]
2 A text analysis exercise: identification, contextualization, paraphrasing, and commentary regarding a poem selected from those examined during the course. [50% of the exam grade]

To pass the exam, students must provide satisfactory answers to both questions, demonstrating knowledge of the key aspects of the two authors' biographies, cultural references, and theoretical and poetic positions; the ability to chronologically place the authors' major poetry collections, and to correctly paraphrase the poems studied in class while contextualizing them within the authors' poetics. A broader knowledge of the syllabus content – demonstrated by the ability to draw connections between different texts and substantiate them with precise references – will result in a grade above the minimum pass mark.

To achieve an excellent grade on the text analysis and commentary exercise, it will be necessary to enrich the literal explanation and contextualization of the text with observations regarding intertextuality and stylistics (lexis, syntax, and choices of meter and rhetoric).

Comparative literature A
Written or oral exam (student's choice).
Whether oral or written, the exam will consist of two parts:
A One or more questions on literary theory, comparative literature, and methodological tools (General Introduction);
B A narratological and stylistic analysis of an excerpt from the literary texts or films; commentary on and comparison with the other texts and films; an overall interpretation in light of the issues addressed during the course (Focus Seminar).

To pass the exam with a sufficient grade, students are required to provide a satisfactory response to the questions in both parts A and B. A response to only one of the two parts will not be sufficient.
Students will therefore need to: 1 know the fundamentals of literary theory, comparative literature and the tools for analysing literary texts, particularly narrative ones; 2 know and be able to analyse, in terms of their main narratological categories, a number of examples of 20th-century and contemporary literary and film narratives centred on the link between identity and memory/oblivion from an individual perspective; 3 be able to present knowledge, information and opinions relating to the topics covered during the course clearly and effectively, using appropriate language and terminology.
The following weightings will be applied when assessing the achievement of the learning outcomes: 1. 40%; 2. 40%; 3. 20%.

To achieve an excellent grade, students must have acquired a confident complementarity between theoretical and methodological competences and interpretative skills; an active command of expression and critical theoretical terminology; the ability to analyse a literary work in the light of different critical and theoretical approaches.

To achieve an excellent grade in the entire exam, students must demonstrate the ability to present their knowledge independently – going beyond the points raised in class – by drawing comparisons with other primary texts and critical scholarship, and by formulating well-reasoned critical judgments.

The evaluation of the written exam will include an assessment of grammatical correctness of the italian.

The final grade of the integrated exam will be the result of the average collectively reasoned, and no mechanical of the grades of the two exams.

Literature for Students studying foreign languages I
1. Fundamentals of poetic text analysis. 2. Outline of the history of poetry from the late 19th to the early 20th century. 3. Umberto Saba: Il Canzoniere, theoretical reflections and statements on poetics, the self-commentary in Storia e Cronistoria, and prose works. 4. Vittorio Sereni: poetry collections, critical reflections, and prose works.

Comparative literature A
1. Fundamentals of literary theory, methodology and comparative literature. 2. Fundamentals of narrative text analysis. 3. Memory/oblivion and individual, historical and social identity. 4. Stories of memory according to Borges, Sciascia, Franzen, Eco, Gospodinov, Tarkovsky, Kaurismäki, Nolan, Rosa, and the TV series True Detective and Doc.

Both modules of the integrated course focus consistently on gender issues, through specific lessons on intersectional and feminist criticism and 'women's knowledge', and in a comprehensive manner through the analysis of the poetic and narrative works studied in class.

In order to achieve in the integrated exam Italian and Comparative Literature for Students studying Foreign Languages the knowledge and skills corresponding to the sufficiency level, the student is asked to demonstrate:
(KNOWLEDGE)
• familiarity with the key biographical details, cultural contexts, and theoretical and poetic stances of the two authors;
• knowledge of the authors' major poetry collections, situating them chronologically and within the evolution of each author's poetics;
• knowledge of the basic principles of literary theory, comparative literature and the tools for analysing literary texts, particularly narrative works;
• knowledge of selected examples of 20th-century and contemporary literary and film narratives focusing on the link between identity and memory/oblivion from individual, historical and social perspectives.
(COMPETENCE)
• the ability to paraphrase, interpret, analyze, and comment on the poetic texts examined during the course;
• the ability to analyse a narrative in terms of its main narratological categories;
• the ability to compare works from different literary traditions by contextualising them historically and culturally and identifying their stylistic and genre-specific features;
• ability to analyse and compare narratives centred on the link between identity and memory/oblivion from individual, historical and social perspectives, identifying their narrative techniques and historical and cultural context.
(TRANSVERSAL SKILLS)
• the ability to present knowledge, information, and opinions regarding the texts and issues discussed clearly and effectively, using appropriate language and terminology.

To achieve an advanced level, students must demonstrate:
(KNOWLEDGE)
• familiarity with key critical contributions to the study of Umberto Saba and Vittorio Sereni.
(COMPETENCE)
• the ability to comment on the texts from an intertextual perspective, linking them to other works and identifying significant sources and echoes;
• the ability to examine the texts stylistically, analyzing vocabulary, syntax, and choices regarding meter and rhetoric;
• the ability to analyse a literary work in the light of different critical and theoretical approaches;
• the ability to evaluate the work as a multi-layered aesthetic object to be considered within its original context, in terms of its main structural and compositional elements and its historical and multicultural vitality;
• a comprehensive and coherent understanding of the pathway taken, with a confident integration of theoretical and methodological skills and interpretative abilities.
(TRANSVERSAL SKILLS)
• the ability to formulate reasoned critical judgments on the texts, independently drawing comparisons with other primary texts and critical scholarship, going beyond the material presented in class;
• a confident and thorough command of critical and theoretical terminology, combined with excellent expressive skills.