The course intends to present to students the main research guidelines concerning the theory and literary criticism from the last decades of the nineteenth century to the present day, i.e. from the historical and idealistic school to feministic, post-colonial and ecocritical readings. The skills that the learner will have to achieve, interest the ability to analyze and recognition of proposed methodologies, autonomous reflection and discussion around the theoretical prospects. For this purpose, in the first part of the course, some of the most famous critical reliefs of the twentieth-century literature will be examined, pointing attention to exemplary texts of representative authors of the current or the thematic scope analyzed.

The first part of the program will affect the following points:
— Introduction to literary criticism.
— The historical school, idealistic criticism, stylistic and philological criticism.
— Marxist prospects.
— Literature between philosophy and psychoanalysis.
— Structuralism, semiotics and narrarology.
— Beyond structuralism: existentialism, hermeneutics, deconstructionism.
— Militant and essays criticism.
— New perspectives: feminist, post-colonial criticism and ecocriticism.

The second part, monographic, will be dedicated to the Theme of Beatrice:
— Introduction to the Theme of Beatrice.
— Reading and commenting of cantos XXX and XXXI of Paradiso.
— The last smile of Beatrice: Jorge Luis Borges.
— Between proportion and disproportion: Carlo Bo, Paul Claudel and Harold Bloom.
— The name of beatitude: Guglielmo Gorni, Erich Auerbach and Walter Benjamin.
— Between ideal and real: Charles Singleton, Remy de Gourmont and Eugenio Montale.

During the third part there will be seminar activities and study days linked to literary criticism in universities and in the cultural page of national newspapers.

None.

Knowledge and understanding 
The student will have to demonstrate a discreet knowledge of internal connection points that allow the identification of existing links among the most important strands of literary criticism. At the end of the course the fundamental objective will be the full acquisition of the intrinsic problems with the matter and the timeline that connects the historical school to feministic, post-colonial and ecocritical perspectives.
Knowledge and understanding capacity applied
The student will have to show that he knows how to develop a rigorous critical approach to literary texts not only of a disciplinary type stricto sensu, but also with philosophical, psychological, sociological and anthropological cut. The interdisciplinary flexibility of the learner is therefore fundamental in learning of critical and literary techniques, so as to be able to relevant the inextricable intertwining of the different fields of knowledge.
Judgment
The student will have to have acquired the ability to independently articulate a journey of historical and theoretical recognition of the specific thematic proposed during the lessons. In particular, you will need to be able to formulate your intellectual position around the Theme of Beatrice, replacing the different perspectives, operating a profitable synthesis of the hermeneutical problem and creating unpublished interpretative convergences.
Communication skills
The student must have developed a discreet communicative skill, in order to expose their considerations regarding the issues addressed during lessons with clarity and rigor. Furthermore, the instruments implemented at the conclusion of the educational path will have to decode the literary theoreses with discernment and competence: the objective is to favor in the learner of the rise of skills such as to produce texts of scientific and dissemination analysis in the theme (essays, articles, reviews).
Ability to learn
The student will have to demonstrate a discrete sensitivity in supporting the study of discipline, in the correct use of critical instruments and specialist language, in the setting of bibliographic research useful to direct interpretative activity, in the identification in theoretical way of the precipuished purposes of the literary criticism.

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

During the third part of the course, some days of study will be dedicated to militant literary criticism with the eventual participation of the editors-in-chief of Avvenire and il manifesto.

Teaching

Frontal lessons with possible seminar activities.

Attendance

None.

Course books

First part

• Gino Tellini, Metodi e protagonisti della critica letteraria. Con antologia di testi e prove di letteratura, Le Monnier Università, Firenze 2019.

Second part

• Reading and comment of cantos XXX and XXXI of Paradiso, edited by Anna Maria Chiavacci Leonardi, Mondadori «I Meridiani», Milano 2007, pp. 817-873.

• Jorge Luis Borges, Nove saggi danteschi, edited by Tommaso Scarano, Adelphi, Milano 2001.

• Carlo Bo, Claudel di fronte a Dante, «Lingua e letteratura», 22-23, Feltre, Milano 1994, pp. 5-18 (material supplied in pantry).

• Harold Bloom, La singolarità di Dante: Ulisse e Beatrice, in Il canone occidentale. I libri e la scuola delle ere, edited by Francesco Saba Sardi, Bompiani, Milano 1996, pp. 67-93 (material supplied in pantry).

• Erich Auerbach, La poesia giovanile di Dante, in Studi su Dante, preface of Dante Della Terza, Feltrinelli, Milano 1986, pp. 55-62 (material supplied in pantry).

• Eugenio Montale, Esposizione sopra Dante, in Il secondo mestiere. Prose 1920-1979, II, edited by Giorgio Zampa, Mondadori «I Meridiani», Milano 1996, pp. 2668-2690 (material supplied in pantry).

 

Optional reference texts, mentioned in lesson

• Niccolò Scaffai, Letteratura e ecologia. Forme e temi di una relazione narrativa, Carocci, Roma 2017.

• Alberto Casadei, La critica letteraria contemporanea, il Mulino, Bologna 2015.

Assessment

An oral interview is foreseen to verify in each candidate the possession of the fundamental notions of the matter of study. Furthermore, the teacher will aim to ascertain that every student has acquired not only an adequate global knowledge of the discipline, but also the ability to develop an autonomous critical discourse using, with sufficient precision, the specialist language.

Disabilità e DSA

Le studentesse e gli studenti che hanno registrato la certificazione di disabilità o la certificazione di DSA presso l'Ufficio Inclusione e diritto allo studio, possono chiedere di utilizzare le mappe concettuali (per parole chiave) durante la prova di esame.

A tal fine, è necessario inviare le mappe, due settimane prima dell’appello di esame, alla o al docente del corso, che ne verificherà la coerenza con le indicazioni delle linee guida di ateneo e potrà chiederne la modifica.

Teaching

Individual study by students.

Attendance

None.

Course books

First part

• Gino Tellini, Metodi e protagonisti della critica letteraria. Con antologia di testi e prove di letteratura, Le Monnier Università, Firenze 2019.

Second part

• Reading and comment of cantos XXX and XXXI of Paradiso, edited by Anna Maria Chiavacci Leonardi, Mondadori «I Meridiani», Milano 2007, pp. 817-873.

• Jorge Luis Borges, Nove saggi danteschi, edited by Tommaso Scarano, Adelphi, Milano 2001.

• Carlo Bo, Claudel di fronte a Dante, «Lingua e letteratura», 22-23, Feltre, Milano 1994, pp. 5-18 (material supplied in pantry).

• Harold Bloom, La singolarità di Dante: Ulisse e Beatrice, in Il canone occidentale. I libri e la scuola delle ere, edited by Francesco Saba Sardi, Bompiani, Milano 1996, pp. 67-93 (material supplied in pantry).

• Erich Auerbach, La poesia giovanile di Dante, in Studi su Dante, preface of Dante Della Terza, Feltrinelli, Milano 1986, pp. 55-62 (material supplied in pantry).

• Eugenio Montale, Esposizione sopra Dante, in Il secondo mestiere. Prose 1920-1979, II, edited by Giorgio Zampa, Mondadori «I Meridiani», Milano 1996, pp. 2668-2690 (material supplied in pantry).

 

Optional reference texts, mentioned in lesson

• Niccolò Scaffai, Letteratura e ecologia. Forme e temi di una relazione narrativa, Carocci, Roma 2017.

• Alberto Casadei, La critica letteraria contemporanea, il Mulino, Bologna 2015.

Assessment

An oral interview is foreseen to verify in each candidate the possession of the fundamental notions of the matter of study. Furthermore, the teacher will aim to ascertain that every student has acquired not only an adequate global knowledge of the discipline, but also the ability to develop an autonomous critical discourse using, with sufficient precision, the specialist language.

Disabilità e DSA

Le studentesse e gli studenti che hanno registrato la certificazione di disabilità o la certificazione di DSA presso l'Ufficio Inclusione e diritto allo studio, possono chiedere di utilizzare le mappe concettuali (per parole chiave) durante la prova di esame.

A tal fine, è necessario inviare le mappe, due settimane prima dell’appello di esame, alla o al docente del corso, che ne verificherà la coerenza con le indicazioni delle linee guida di ateneo e potrà chiederne la modifica.