COMPARATIVE LITERATURES

Università degli Studi
"G. d'Annunzio"

Chieti - Pescara

Single discipline educational activity

Course Sheet

Course code:

LT0096

Academic Year of enrolment:

2020

Year of supply:

2022/2023

Type of Course:

Related/Supplementary

Degree:

Course of 1st Cycle Degree in HUMANITIES

Disciplinary Sector:

LITERARY CRITICISM AND COMPARATIVE LITERATURE

Language:

Italian

Location:

CHIETI

Credits:

Programme Year:

Professor and Collaborators:

STURLI Valentina

Cycle:

Second semester

Hours of classroom activity:

Individual study hours:

162

Prerequisites:

No prerequisites are required, except curiosity, passion and genuine interest in literature.

Objectives

1) the knowledge of the course’s topics, with special reference to the literary, historical, and social context of the texts addressed in class;
2) the ability to understand the proposed concepts and methods;
3) the ability to apply this knowledge independently and consciously to reading texts;
4) the ability to effectively rework and discuss the studied contents;
5) the ability to build a clear, interesting and personal interpretation.

Contents

The course aims to provide an overview of the main forms of the nineteenth-century supernatural fiction, with special reference to the genre of fantastic tales, and to the great European tradition of narratives that see as protagonist vampires, ghosts, returning gods, demons. The aim is to approach, week by week, some themes and key figures of nineteenth-century supernatural fiction that still found our current imagery. We will present for each of these themes some famous examples, and we will investigate the modalities of representation of the supernatural in literature in a perspective as much content as formal.

Extended Syllabus

The course aims to provide students with an overview of the history, methods, essential issues of comparative literature studies. Tools will be proposed to develop a critical attitude towards the literary text: the ability to ask questions about its forms and contents; the ability to frame it in the context of reference; the ability to compare it with other texts in a thematic, formal, historical, and cultural sense. The course will provide a perspective of in-depth investigation of a specific and widespread narrative form of nineteenth-century European literature, namely the supernatural and fantastic tale, which has extensions in contemporary both in terms of literature and other media. The aim is to approach, week by week, some themes and key figures of nineteenth-century supernatural fiction that still found our current imagery. We will present for each of these themes some famous examples, and we will investigate the modalities of representation of the supernatural in literature in a perspective as much content as formal. Will be analyzed in particular some fundamental authors of the supernatural narrative throughout the chronological arc of the nineteenth century (Hoffmann, Polidori, Poe, Gautier, Mérimée, Le Fanu, Maupassant, Stoker and James) through reading some of their most celebrated texts. The primary bibliography will be analyzed in the light of the theoretical and comparative instruments (Orlando, Ceserani, de Cristofaro) indicated as secondary bibliography.

Recommended Bibliography

1. E. T. A. Hoffmann, Der Sandmann (1815) [in original language or we recommend the Italian edition of Racconti Mondadori/Einaudi]
2. J. V. Polidori, The Vampyre (1819) [in original language or in any good Italian translation]
3. E. A. Poe, The Fall of the House of Usher (1839) [in original language or we recommend the Italian edition of Racconti Mondadori/Einaudi/Feltrinelli]
4. T. Gautier, La morte amoureuse (1836) [in original language or we recommend the Italian edition of Racconti fantastici Garzanti]
5. P. Mérimée, La Vénus d’Ille (1837) [in original language or we recommend the Italian edition of Tutti i racconti Donzelli editore]
6. J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Carmilla (1872) [in original language or any good Italian translation]
7. G. de Maupassant, Le Horla (1887) [in original language or or we recommend the edition of Racconti e novelle Garzanti]
8. B. Stoker, Dracula (1897) [in original language or we recommend the edition of Mondadori/Feltrinelli]
9. H. James, The Turn of the Screw (1898) [in original language or in any good Italian translation]
10. F. Orlando, Il soprannaturale letterario, Einaudi 2017
11. R. Ceserani, Il fantastico, il Mulino, 1996
12. F. de Cristofaro (a cura di), Letterature comparate, Carocci (NB: Second Edition, 2020)

A reading of one of the following critical essays is also required:

- T. Braccini, Prima di Dracula. Archeologia del vampiro, il Mulino 2011
- M. Scotti, Storia degli spettri, Feltrinelli 2013
- D. Pellizzari, L’esilio e il ritorno degli dèi pagani nei racconti dell’Ottocento, Pacini 2017
- N. Groom, Vampiri. Una nuova storia, Il Saggiatore 2019
- M. Fusillo, L’altro e lo stesso. Teoria e storia del doppio, Mucchi 2013
- T. Todorov, La letteratura fantastica, Garzanti 2022

Methods of Provision

Conventional

Teaching Methods

lectures, with reading and discussion of texts in class

Evaluation methods

Verification of learning:

The exam will take place in oral form with questions about the entire course program and any additional materials provided in class. The tales and novels in the program must be read in full, in original language or in a good Italian translation; the three volumes of secondary bibliography (de Cristofaro, Orlando, Ceserani) must be studied in full, plus a text chosen from those indicated.

Contacts/More Information

For any question you can contact the teacher at valentina.sturli@unich.it

Università degli Studi
"G. d'Annunzio"

Chieti - Pescara

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