Ateneo - UPO

The course is dedicated to both literature and contemporary Italian criticism, over a period of time that goes, above all, from the 1980s to the 2010s and yet concerns the return (a) of authors from past centuries as characters (b) crucial issues of our more or less recent past and (c) intellectual postures: (a) Salgari, d'Annunzio, Pasolini, Bazlen, Debenedetti, Benjamin, Campanella, Bonhoeffer; (b) deportation, concentration camps, colonialism, city of plague spreaders; (c) the challenge of “not being read”, the translation. Authors taken into consideration: Bruno Arpaia, Eraldo Affinati, Alessandro Barbero, Daniele Del Giudice, Antonio Debenedetti, Alessandro Defilippi, Umberto Eco, Ernesto Ferrero, Dante Maffia, Claudio Magris, Corrado Stajano, Antonio Tabucchi, Emanuele Trevi and many others.
Professor Cecilia Gibellini will speak on another kind of return: the Return of Raffaello Sanzio in a novel by Giulio Aristide Sartorio, Romae Carrus Navalis. Favola contemporanea (1905 and 1907).

Luciano Curreri, Misure del ritorno. Scrittori, critici e altri revenants, Milano, Greco&Greco-«I quaderni di Nuova Prosa», 2014 and, revised and corrected reprint, 2016, 200 pp. (Internal PDF available free of charge from the DIR at the beginning of the course).
Luciano Curreri, Emilio Salgari. Una biografia intellettuale, Venezia, Marsilio, 2026.

A basic level, the course proposes to stimulate the students with (a) less usual and closer choices of authors, texts and periodisations (b) and less canon-oriented guidelines (c) in order to suggest to him the idea that literary history is not given once and for all in the manuals and the more or less extensive syntheses they offer. At an advanced level, At an advanced level, it is understood that such syntheses are useful but do not impose fixed limits and do not exclude new interpretations.
Teaching format: lectures: 1,2 CFU (30 hours of lessons); self-study: 4,8 CFU.
Lecture-based teaching involves interaction with and amongst students.

Historical and historical-literary knowledge relating to the 20th century, and in particular its second half, and the first two decades of the 21st century.

Lectures followed by discussions and questions; web-based teaching if necessary.

DSA/BES. Students with physical disabilities, Learning Disabilities or Special Education Needs can request specific services and tools via the Staff Sviluppo e Coordinamento Carriere e Servizi alle Studentesse e agli Studenti, consulting the University webpage: https://www.uniupo.it/en/services/services-students-physical-or-learning-disabilities Students with disabilities, learning disabilities or special education needs, once they have contacted the University Staff, can refer to the tutor in charge of the course to define the examination modalities, concerning academic aspects.

The final exam consists of an oral examination, which will focus on the following points: 1. Verification of knowledge of certain texts of Italian literature from 1980 to 2015, starting with the essay listed above and corresponding to 50% of the exam grade; 2. Testing of skills in analysing and interpreting the texts examined (with particular attention to the texts chosen and presented by the teacher in the classroom; see complete programme/content) and at the same time of communicative skills and the potential to already express an autonomous critical ability, starting with a question on a couple of specific essays, corresponding to 50% of the exam grade. At least sufficient answers to each of the questions are required to pass the examination.
The possible mark ranges are: 18–22; 23–26; 27–30; 30 with distinction.

For a 'portrait of the writer as an old man': for a return of Emilio Salgari. D'Annunzio against all (and “an [almost] impossible encounter” with Pasolini. A certain idea of difference: returns of Bazlen, Debenedetti, Benjamin. Two “men against”: Campanella and Bonhoeffer. Suicides and intellectual resistance. The challenge of “not being read”: Tabucchi and Magris. Best in translation: Steiner, Eco and other revenants. What's left of the night: colonial returns and the city of plague spreaders.
The Return of Raffaello Sanzio in a novel by Giulio Aristide Sartorio, Romae Carrus Navalis. Favola contemporanea (1905 and 1907).

In order to attain the knowledge and skills corresponding to the a passing level, students is asked to demonstrate: (KNOWLEDGE) to know the main typologies of the italian novel selected in the second half of the 20th century and the first two decades of the 21st century; (SKILLS) to be able to analyse and interpret texts, linking historical-literary elements to ethical and political ones; (TRANSVERSAL SKILLS) to be able to present in a clear and effective manner knowledge, information and opinions related to the texts and problems dealt with, using appropriate language and terminology. For the attainment of a more advanced level, the students must demonstrate: a personal vision of the themes addressed in the lessons, combined with a critical ability for analysis and synthesis.