Programme

This course, open only to students enrolled in the Bachelor’s Degree Program in Languages and in the Bachelor’s Degree Program in History, aims to explore, through the analysis of poetic, narrative, and memoir texts, the main literary representations of the world wars in 20th-century Italian literature, focusing on the themes of wartime experience, captivity, the Resistance, deportation, and the memory of the conflict, as well as on the evolution of the forms and languages through which these experiences have been recounted and interpreted. Chronologically, the course will cover a period spanning from the years of World War I to the first postwar memoirs, with references to the subsequent critical and cultural reception of the works examined. The historical, geographical, and cultural context of the works under study will also be examined, providing students with tools for reading and textual analysis.

Core Documentation

Students should prepare for the course on 20th-century Italian literature—specifically the period covered—using an Italian literature textbook (recommended textbook: M.A. Bazzocchi, "Cento anni di letteratura italiana. 1910-2010", Einaudi, 2021). For fiction, a good knowledge of the following authors is required, within their respective chronological periods and movements: Lussu, Gadda, Malaparte, Soffici, Viganò, Ada Gobetti, Moravia, Pavese, Vittorini, de Céspedes, Morante, Primo Levi, Fenoglio, Calvino, Maraini. Regarding poetry, a thorough knowledge of the following authors is required, placed within their respective chronological periods and movements: Saba, Ungaretti, Montale, Quasimodo, Sereni, Rosselli.
For students attending class. Choose three works to read and analyze from the following:
I. Calvino Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno, Ultimo viene il corvo
A. de Céspedes, Prima e dopo
B. Fenoglio: Il partigiano Johnny, Una questione privata
C.E. Gadda, Diario di guerra e di prigionia
A. Gobetti, Diario Partigiano
P. Levi, Se questo è un uomo, La tregua
E. Lussu, Un anno sull’altipiano
C. Malaparte, Viva Caporetto!
D. Maraini, Bagheria
E. Montale, La bufera e altro
E. Morante La Storia
A. Moravia La ciociara
C. Pavese Paesi tuoi, La luna e i falò
A. Rosselli, Variazioni belliche
S. Quasimodo, Giorno dopo giorno
U. Saba, Il canzoniere
V. Sereni, Diario d’Algeria
A. Soffici, I diari della grande guerra
G. Ungaretti, L’Allegria, Il dolore
R. Viganò, L’Agnese va a morire
E. Vittorini, Uomini e no
For non-attending students. Choose five works from the list to read and analyze

Attendance

In-person

Type of evaluation

Oral exam. Part of the exam will focus on the literary context of the 20th century, particularly starting from the year the First World War began, and part will be on analyzing works (by authors to be chosen from those listed in the general bibliography).

Programme

This course, open only to students enrolled in the Bachelor’s Degree Program in Languages and in the Bachelor’s Degree Program in History, aims to explore, through the analysis of poetic, narrative, and memoir texts, the main literary representations of the world wars in 20th-century Italian literature, focusing on the themes of wartime experience, captivity, the Resistance, deportation, and the memory of the conflict, as well as on the evolution of the forms and languages through which these experiences have been recounted and interpreted. Chronologically, the course will cover a period spanning from the years of World War I to the first postwar memoirs, with references to the subsequent critical and cultural reception of the works examined. The historical, geographical, and cultural context of the works under study will also be examined, providing students with tools for reading and textual analysis.

Core Documentation

Students should prepare for the course on 20th-century Italian literature—specifically the period covered—using an Italian literature textbook (recommended textbook: M.A. Bazzocchi, "Cento anni di letteratura italiana. 1910-2010", Einaudi, 2021). For fiction, a good knowledge of the following authors is required, within their respective chronological periods and movements: Lussu, Gadda, Malaparte, Soffici, Viganò, Ada Gobetti, Moravia, Pavese, Vittorini, de Céspedes, Morante, Primo Levi, Fenoglio, Calvino, Maraini. Regarding poetry, a thorough knowledge of the following authors is required, placed within their respective chronological periods and movements: Saba, Ungaretti, Montale, Quasimodo, Sereni, Rosselli.
For students attending class. Choose three works to read and analyze from the following:
I. Calvino Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno, Ultimo viene il corvo
A. de Céspedes, Prima e dopo
B. Fenoglio: Il partigiano Johnny, Una questione privata
C.E. Gadda, Diario di guerra e di prigionia
A. Gobetti, Diario Partigiano
P. Levi, Se questo è un uomo, La tregua
E. Lussu, Un anno sull’altipiano
C. Malaparte, Viva Caporetto!
D. Maraini, Bagheria
E. Montale, La bufera e altro
E. Morante La Storia
A. Moravia La ciociara
C. Pavese Paesi tuoi, La luna e i falò
A. Rosselli, Variazioni belliche
S. Quasimodo, Giorno dopo giorno
U. Saba, Il canzoniere
V. Sereni, Diario d’Algeria
A. Soffici, I diari della grande guerra
G. Ungaretti, L’Allegria, Il dolore
R. Viganò, L’Agnese va a morire
E. Vittorini, Uomini e no
For non-attending students. Choose five works from the list to read and analyze

Attendance

In-person

Type of evaluation

Oral exam. Part of the exam will focus on the literary context of the 20th century, particularly starting from the year the First World War began, and part will be on analyzing works (by authors to be chosen from those listed in the general bibliography).

Programme

This course, open only to students enrolled in the Bachelor’s Degree Program in Languages and in the Bachelor’s Degree Program in History, aims to explore, through the analysis of poetic, narrative, and memoir texts, the main literary representations of the world wars in 20th-century Italian literature, focusing on the themes of wartime experience, captivity, the Resistance, deportation, and the memory of the conflict, as well as on the evolution of the forms and languages through which these experiences have been recounted and interpreted. Chronologically, the course will cover a period spanning from the years of World War I to the first postwar memoirs, with references to the subsequent critical and cultural reception of the works examined. The historical, geographical, and cultural context of the works under study will also be examined, providing students with tools for reading and textual analysis.

Core Documentation

Students should prepare for the course on 20th-century Italian literature—specifically the period covered—using an Italian literature textbook (recommended textbook: M.A. Bazzocchi, "Cento anni di letteratura italiana. 1910-2010", Einaudi, 2021). For fiction, a good knowledge of the following authors is required, within their respective chronological periods and movements: Lussu, Gadda, Malaparte, Soffici, Viganò, Ada Gobetti, Moravia, Pavese, Vittorini, de Céspedes, Morante, Primo Levi, Fenoglio, Calvino, Maraini. Regarding poetry, a thorough knowledge of the following authors is required, placed within their respective chronological periods and movements: Saba, Ungaretti, Montale, Quasimodo, Sereni, Rosselli.
For students attending class. Choose three works to read and analyze from the following:
I. Calvino Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno, Ultimo viene il corvo
A. de Céspedes, Prima e dopo
B. Fenoglio: Il partigiano Johnny, Una questione privata
C.E. Gadda, Diario di guerra e di prigionia
A. Gobetti, Diario Partigiano
P. Levi, Se questo è un uomo, La tregua
E. Lussu, Un anno sull’altipiano
C. Malaparte, Viva Caporetto!
D. Maraini, Bagheria
E. Montale, La bufera e altro
E. Morante La Storia
A. Moravia La ciociara
C. Pavese Paesi tuoi, La luna e i falò
A. Rosselli, Variazioni belliche
S. Quasimodo, Giorno dopo giorno
U. Saba, Il canzoniere
V. Sereni, Diario d’Algeria
A. Soffici, I diari della grande guerra
G. Ungaretti, L’Allegria, Il dolore
R. Viganò, L’Agnese va a morire
E. Vittorini, Uomini e no
For non-attending students. Choose five works from the list to read and analyze

Attendance

In-person

Type of evaluation

Oral exam. Part of the exam will focus on the literary context of the 20th century, particularly starting from the year the First World War began, and part will be on analyzing works (by authors to be chosen from those listed in the general bibliography).