BA Italian Studies

Running parallel with the core course units ITAL10300 Italian Cultural Studies and ITAL10500 Reading Italy: Medieval to Modern, and building on the techniques of textual analysis that they introduce, this is a hands-on course which will enable students to improve their reading abilities in Italian, whilst deepening their appreciation and understanding of literary texts and of social issues in the Italian-speaking world.  Through a combination of small-group discussions, group tutorials and private study, students will acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to undertake close readings of texts (chosen from a prescribed list) and to write analyses of them that situate them in their social-political context. The discussions will focus on a range of tutor-led and student-led activities designed to develop an understanding of literature in Italian and also methods of analysing and discussing that literature. 

• To develop critical thinking, conceptual reasoning and analytical skills
• To develop the ability to read and analyse literary texts
• To develop the ability to place literary texts in social and political context
• To develop a better understanding of the historical and social realities of the Italian-speaking world
• To develop a better understanding of literary texts in Italian

The first semester will be devoted to developing close reading skills on shorter excerpts  (e.g. a poem, a scene from a play). It will also fine-hone students’ commentary skills.  

In the second semester, students will turn to the study of longer narrative forms (e.g. novels, films and novellas). With the help of the tutor they will formulate a topic and a research question about the novel of their choice and write an essay about it . 

Below is an indicative list of texts to be studied on this unit: 

Short Stories: 

• Dino Buzzati, ‘Paura alla Scala’, from Sessanta racconti (1949) 
• Italo Calvino, ‘Il bosco sull’autostrada’, from Marcovaldo (1963) 
• Anna Maria Ortese, ‘Un paio di occhiali’, from Il mare non bagna Napoli (1953) 

An extract from a novel (prose): 

• An extract from Luigi Pirandello, Uno, nessuno e centomila (1926)
• An extract from Primo Levi, Se questo è un uomo (1947)
• An extract from Luciano Bianciardi, La vita agra (1962)
• An extract from Elsa Morante, La storia (1974)
• An extract from Oriana Fallaci, Lettera a un bambino mai nato (1975)
• An extract from Antonio Tabucchi, Sostiene Pereira (1994)
• An extract from Elena Ferrante, L’amica geniale (2011)

An extract/scene from a film

• Roberto Rossellini, Roma città aperta (1945)
• Mario Monicelli, I soliti ignoti (1958)
• Paolo Sorrentino, La grande bellezza (2013)
• Nanni Moretti, Aprile (1998)
• Alice Rohrwacher, Le meraviglie (2014)

Please note: if students have an interest in any particular topic, we can agree a text that is not in this list. You should however remember that in Semester 1 we will work on short excerpts (i.e.: you cannot write a commentary on an entire novel/film).

Secondary bibliography will be made available after you will have selected the text you wish to work on.

This course will combine tutor-led and student-led group discussions, individual tutorials, problem-based sessions and independent research. 
There will also be one guided visit to the library. 
eLearning:  
Extensive resources will be available via Blackboard. These will include copies of slides and/or handouts used in class discussions and tutorials, links to relevant online sources, and supplementary materials to aid students in preparing for classes and assessment.

Having satisfactorily completed this course unit, students will be able to: 

• demonstrate an improved ability to read in Italian 

• demonstrate knowledge and understanding of Italian literary texts  

• write commentaries and essays in English discussing and analysing Italian literary texts  

• place literary texts in their historical context within the Italian-speaking world  

• make use of relevant methodology 

• engage critically with secondary literature  

Having satisfactorily completed this course unit, students will: 

• Display cultural analytical skills (literary analysis, social and political analysis) 

• Be able to value knowledge for its own sake, and to appreciate literary creativity within the Italian-speaking world 

Having satisfactorily completed this course unit, students will demonstrate: 

• A significantly improved ability to read Italian 

• A significantly improved vocabulary and syntax in Italian 

• An ability to manage time, and work to deadlines; 

• An improved ability to work with information and communication technology (ICT) 

Having satisfactorily completed this course unit, students will have learned to: 

• undertake independent learning and reflect upon their achievements; 

• participate constructively in group discussions; 

• think critically and present arguments logically 

Resit Assessment

Semester 1: A selection of short stories, poems and plays will be made available on Blackboard 

Semester 2: A list of selected novels and novellas with short summaries will be made available on Blackboard. All texts suggested are available in the University of Manchester library and in affordable pocket editions.  

Suggested further readings:

Bondanella, Peter, The Italian Cinema Book (London: BFI, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014)  

Ciccarelli, Andrea, and Peter Bondanella, The Cambridge companion to the Italian novel (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003) 

Chambers, Ellie, and Andrew Northledge, The Arts Good Study Guide (Milton Keynes: Oxford University Press, 1997) 

Cuddon, J. A., The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory (any edition) 

Eagleton, Terry, How To Read Literature (New Heaven, London: Yale University Press, 2013) 

McKee, Alan, Textual Analysis: A Beginner’s Guide (London: SAGE, 2003) 

Reardon, Denis, Doing Your Undergraduate Project (London: SAGE, 2004)