Module Code / tbc
Credits/Level / 30 credits, Level 4
Convenor: / Nicolette David
Lecturer(s): / Nicolette David
Entrance Requirements / No language requirement other than English
Day/Time: / Mondays, 7.40-9.00
Module Description: / In this module we will explore a wide range of Italian writers and film-makers. We will journey through Dante’s Inferno and meet the most seductive sinners from Medieval Italy and Mythology. We will then study Petrarca, whose love poetry shaped the poetry of the Renaissance. In Term Two we will examine the modern period in Italian culture. First, we will explore the theatre of the absurd, Pirandello, followed by three pivotal Italian novels, Moravia’s GliIndifferenti, Di Lampedusa’s Il Gattopardo and Bassani’sIl GiardinodeiFinzi-Contini, each of which relates to and emerges out of a specific historical context. We will then examine three famous Italian films by innovative Italian film-makers: De Sica’sLadri di Biciclette, Fellini’s La Stradaand Tornatore’sCinema Paradiso. Each of these films represents an important strand in Italian film-making and will be studied in relation to its cultural and political context. Our aim will be to engage with and enjoy the rich variety of Italian literary texts and films and to understand how they have shaped Italian culture.
Texts can be studied in the original language or in translation.
Syllabus: / Term One
02.10.17 / Dante’s Inferno:
Canto I: Lost in the Dark Forest and the Rescue / ND
09.10.17 / Dante’s Inferno:
Canto III: The Gate of Hell / ND
16.10.17 / Dante’s Inferno:
Canto V: The Damned Lovers – Paolo and Francesca / ND
23.10.17 / Dante’s Inferno:
Canto X: The Great Politician - Farinata / ND
30.11.17 / Dante’s Inferno
Canto XIII:The Forest of the Suicides – Pier delleVigne / ND
06.11.17 / Reading Week
13.11.17 / Dante’s Inferno
Canto XXVI: Deception and Seduction- Ulysses / ND
20.11.17 / Dante’s Inferno:
Canto XXVII: The Smooth Operator – Guido da Montefeltro / ND
27.11.17 / Dante’s Inferno:
Canto XXXI: The Ultimate Betrayal - Ugolino / ND
04.12.17 / Dante’s Inferno:
Canto XXXIII: Satan, The Exit from Hell and the Sight of the Stars / ND
11.12.17 / Petrarca, Il Canzoniere/ Song Book / ND
Term Two
08.01.18 / Pirandello, SeiPersonaggi in cercad’autore/ Six Characters in Search of an Author (1921) / ND
15.01.18 / Pirandello, SeiPersonaggi / ND
22,01.18 / Moravia, Moravia, GliIndifferenti/Time of Indifference (1929) / ND
29.01.18 / Di Lampedusa, Il Gattopardo/ The Leopard (1958) / ND
05.02.18 / Di Lampedusa, Il Gattopardo / ND
12.02.18 / Reading Week
19.02.18 / Bassani, Il GiardinodeiFinzi-Contini / The Garden of the Finzi-Contini(1968) / ND
26.02.18 / Bassani, Il Giardino / ND
05.03.18 / De Sica, Ladri di Biciclette/ Bicycle Thieves (1948) / ND
12.03.18 / Fellini, La Strada/ The Road (1954) / ND
19.03.18 / Tornatore, Cinema Paradiso (1988) / ND
Assessment: /
- A 500 word assessment task to be submitted by Monday November 13 2017. This is worth 20% of the mark for the module.
- A 500 word assessment task to be submitted by Monday 15 January 2018. This is worth 20% of the mark for the module.
- A 1,500 word essay to be submitted on Monday 23 April 2018. This is worth 30% of the mark for the module.
- A 1,500 word essay to be submitted on Monday 21 May 2018. This is worth 30% of the mark for the module.
EssentialTexts: / P.Bondanella, A History of Italian Cinema (Continuum, 2009)
P.Brand and L.Pertie, eds, The Cambridge History of Italian Literature(CUP, 1999)
J.Farrell and P.Puppa,eds, A History of Italian Theatre (CUP, 2006)
D.Forgacs and R Lumley eds, Italian Cultural Studies: An Introduction(OUP, 1996)
R.Gordon, Introduction to 20th Century Italian Literature(Bloomsbury, 2005)
R.Jacoff, ed, The Cambridge Companion to Dante(CUP, 1993)
R.Kirkpatrick, Dante: The Divine Comedy (Landmarks of World Literature, Second Edition. CUP, 2004)
Dante Alighieri, Inferno: The Divine Comedy, Volume 1, trans. John D. Sinclair (OUP, 1939 and 1961)