SELCS

Italian Literature, 1860-1925


Course code: ITAL2110.
Course unit value: 0.5.

Between 1860 and 1925 Italy underwent profound transformations: the creation of the Italian state, and its difficult aftermath; industrialisation and urbanisation; the spread of literacy, popular culture and the vote; the traumas of the First World War and the rise of Fascism. The course aims to examine Italian literature’s response to these changes by examining a variety of the most important works of the period, ranging from verismo and children’s literature, to modernism.

Assessment: one unseen three-hour written examination (100%).

Tutor: Prof John Dickie

Preparatory reading:

The texts studied will include:

  • Giovanni Verga, Vita dei campi (1880)
    Vita dei campi     is a short-story collection contained in G. Verga, Tutte le novelle, vol. I, Mondadori, Milan, 1968. You will also be required to read the earlier story ‘Nedda (Bozzetto siciliano)’ (1874) which is also contained in Tutte le novelle, vol. I.
  • Carlo Collodi, Le avventure di Pinocchio (1883)There are many modern editions, all based on the 1883 edition. The endnotes in the edition of Pinocchio included in Carlo Collodi, Opere, ed. D. Marcheschi, Milan, 1995 are a very rich source.
  • Igino Ugo Tarchetti, Fosca (1869)The most easily available edition is published by Mondadori.
  • Luigi Pirandello, Il fu Mattia Pascal (1904)The most easily available edition is published by Mondadori. You will also need to read Pirandello’s 1908 essay L’umorismo, which is available, for example, in Saggi e interventi, ed. F. Taviani, Milan, 2006.
  • Italo Svevo, La coscienza di Zeno (1923)
    Garzanti do a good edition.

A detailed reading list will be available at the beginning of the course.