Comparative Literature
Prof. Sandro Mario Moraldo; Prof. Federico Bellini
COURSE AIMS
The course will introduce the student to comparative literature as a discipline, from both the synchronic viewpoint - as the theory and practice of literary and cultural interactions - and the diachronic viewpoint - as the history of the vast literary and cultural streams that have flowed through European civilisation. With that grounding, the course sets out to develop the student’s ability to define a literary theme and to analyse it in some of its most significant expressions in the literature of the 19th-20th centuries.
COURSE CONTENT
General Part
Comparative literature/literature compared: terminology issues. Definition of the discipline’s contents. Historical evolution of comparative literature. Recent developments: cultural studies, literature and philosophy, literary topics and subjects.
Special Subject Part
E. T. A. Hoffmann and 19th- and 20th-century world literature.
Reading the key writings of one of German Romanticism’s best-known representatives and comparing them with other world literary texts has the aim of identifying, through different themes and subjects, (e.g., the doppelganger, the femme fragile, the detective, the view, the aesthetic/ethical moment). The importance of E. T. A. Hoffmann’s literary output for world literature in the 19th and 20th centuries.
READING LIST
General Part
A. Gnisci (ed.), Introduzione alla letteratura comparata, Bruno Mondadori, Milan, 2001 (or later editions).
Special Subject Part
a. Secondary texts (optional)
S.M. Moraldo, Simius Humanae Naturae Simia. Zur Metapher der verständnislosen Nachahmung bei Aldo Palazzeschi und Wilhelm Hauff. In: Philosophischer Taschenkalende. Jahrbuch zum Streit der Fakultäten, Band 2: Das Denken der Bilder, R. Schmitt-B. Wahrig Schmitt (Eds.), Luciferlag, Lübeck, 1992/1993 (157-171).
S.M. Moraldo, Vom Doppeltgänger zum homo duplex. Zur literarischen Evolution eines Motivs, in Comparatistica 6, 1994 (39-62).
S.M. Moraldo, Zur Semantik der femme fragile bei E.T.A. Hoffmann, Gabriele D’Annunzio und Tennessee Williams oder Geburt, Blüte und Niedergang einer literarischen Frauengestalt, in: Das Land der Sehnsucht. E.T.A. Hoffmann und Italien, S. M. Moraldo (Eds.), C. Winter Universitätssverlag, Heidelberg, 2002 (69-89).
S.M. Moraldo, Der Mensch und sein artifizielles Double. Formen humaner Reproduzierbarkeit in Oskar Panizzas ‹Die Menschenfabrik› und Ray Bradburys ‹Marionettes›, Inc.», in Comparatistica 15, 2006 [2008] (147-162).
S.M. Moraldo, Komparatistik und Literaturtheorie oder Wider den Methodenpluralismus. In: Studi Comparatistici III, 5, 2010 (45-62).
S.M. Moraldo, Experimente mit Affen. Gustav Meyrinks ‹Schöpsoglobin› und Dino Buzzatis ‹Esperimento a Askania Nova›, in Odeporica e dintorni. Studi in onore di Emanuele Kanceff, P. Menzio-Chiara Kanceff (Eds.), Biblioteca del Viaggio in Italia, Studi 100. C.I.R.V.I., Moncalieri, 2011, Vol. 4 (1699-1710).
b. Primary text
E.T.A. Hoffmann, Das Fräulein von Scudéri(La signorina Scudery), 1820; Prinzessin Brambilla (La Principessa Brambilla), 1821; Geschichte vom verlornen Spiegelbilde (Storia dell’immagine perduta), 1815; Rat Krespel (Il consigliere Krespel), 1818; Nachricht von einem gebildeten jungen Mann (Notizie di un uomo colto), 1814; Don Juan, 1813; Des Vetters Eckfenster, (La finestra d’angolo del cugino) 1922.
P.K. Dick, Impostor (Impostore), 1953; Second Variety, Modello DUE, 1953; The Electric Ant (Le formiche elettriche), 1969.
F. Dürrenmatt, Das Versprechen. Requiem auf den Kriminalroman (La promessa. Requiem del romanzo poliziesco), 1958.
T. Gautier, Le Chevalier double (Il cavalliere doppio), 1840.
S. King, The Dark Half (La metà oscura), 1989.
L. Lugones, Yzur, 1906.
T. Mann, Tristan, 1903.
A. Palazzeschi, La donna del ventaglio, 1951.
L. Pirandello, La carriola, 1822.
E.A. Poe, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, 1841; The Purloined Letter, 1844; The Spectacles (Gli occhiali), 1844.
O. Panizza, Die Menschenfabrik (La fabbrica degli uomini), 1890.
T. Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire (Un treno chiamato desiderio), 1947.
Students specialising in foreign languages are advised to read the original versions, information on which can be obtained by contacting the lecturer.
TEACHING METHOD
Annual course (two hours of classes per week). Classroom lectures. The course will be integrated with a cycle of theory-based lectures (taken during the first semester) held by Professor Federico Bellini. The students will be encouraged to actively contribute and participate in the themes addressed.
ASSESSMENT METHOD
Final oral exams in the scheduled exam sessions. The exam is split into two parts. To qualify for the Special Subject exam with Professor Sandro M. Moraldo, the students must sit an exam on the General Part (theory) with Professor Federico Bellini (see Notes).
The student must demonstrate their theoretical knowledge of the discipline and the authors studied in the course as well as their ability to critically analyse the reading list texts and to establish significant connections between them. Non-attending students must see the lecturer during his office hours to agree their programme. No programmes will be agreed via email.
NOTES
Further information can be found on the lecturer's webpage at http://docenti.unicatt.it/web/searchByName.do?language=ENG, or on the Faculty notice board.