Module ITAL1091: INTRODUCTION TO ITALIAN LITERARY CULTURE AND THEORY

Department: Modern Languages and Cultures (Italian)

ITAL1091: INTRODUCTION TO ITALIAN LITERARY CULTURE AND THEORY

Prerequisites

• Grade A or above at A level in a foreign European language, or equivalent qualification.

Corequisites

• Modern Languages, Combined Honours and all Joint and 'with' programmes: Italian Language 1B (ITAL1**2) OR Italian Language 1A (ITAL1071). Others: See Chairman/woman of the Board of Studies in MLAC or his/her representative.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To offer students the opportunity to examine essential aspects and themes of Italian cultural legacy in the areas of literary culture and theory.
• To offer students a bird’s eye view of the variety of Italian texts and approaches to them, and to help them appropriate the necessary terminology and skills to deal with them effectively and engagingly.
• To help students recognise the importance of the codification of literary expression and the role it plays in the wider Italian society.
• To have students engage with their topics through a variety of critical approaches and appreciate the uniqueness of certain specific traits of Italian literary culture.
• To encourage students to acquire critical modes of enquiry that may be successfully redeployed in a variety of contexts.
• To let students experience initial contacts with the topics and disciplines they shall be dealing with in the following years.

Content

• This module addresses the need of First-Year students to acquire the relevant terminology and skills for an effective appreciation of Italian literary culture and its texts in the light of the most valued critical approaches.
• It will encourage critical examination of Italy’s literary geography and offer ways of systematizing the students’ progressive acquisition of knowledge, both in the first and the following years, by addressing basic questions concerning chronology, periodization, literary trends and critical currents.
• Special attention will be given to a) the peculiar relationship between past and present that has constantly characterized Italy’s cultural legacy, and b) the prominence of specific literary genres and themes, which will allow fruitful insights into several different modes of cultural production and fruition.

Learning Outcomes

• To gain familiarity with the position and significance of literary culture in Italy.
• To acquire familiarity with basic notions of literary history and literary theories.

• To become aware of the importance of codification and conventions in literary production.
• To identify, define and carry out a critical appreciation of literary texts.
• To acquire the basic skills that allow access to information about the literary world of Italy.
• To acquire awareness of such notions as originality, significance and rigour in the field of literary studies.
• To allow students to orientate themselves in the literary panorama of past and contemporary Italy.
• To get students acquainted with Italian cultural geography.
• To encourage students to examine the relations between literary output and readership.

• To be able to select and evaluate primary and secondary sources.
• To work independently in order to complete to a deadline a project providing an interpretation or a solution of questions and problems posed by the module topics and in-class discussions.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• The module is taught by means of a weekly lecture and fortnightly seminars.
• Students will be required to attend all lectures and seminars and are expected to prepare themselves for classes
• Students will be encouraged to participate in class discussion, to contribute with seminar presentations and to work in close relationship with their peers.
• The summative essay will enable students to demonstrate and develop their knowledge of the subject as well as that of particular set texts.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

None

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University