B003469 - ITALIAN LITERATURE

Teaching Language: Italian

Reading of texts from the Italian literary tradition of the XIII-XVI centuries in order to gain knowledge of the most representative authors of that period and technical abilities useful for a critical approach to their works (bibliographic research, textual analysis, study of the sources, and definition of the literary genre).
topic: Tasso’s Rinaldo

Bibliography: a previous knowledge of the following texts and monographs is required: Torquato Tasso, Rinaldo (a cura di Matteo Navone, Alessandria, Edizioni dell’Orso, 2012); C. Dionisotti, Amadigi e Rinaldo a Venezia, in La ragione e l’arte. Torquato Tasso e la Repubblica Veneta, a cura di G. Da Pozzo, Venezia, Il Cardo, 1995, pp. 13-25; G. Benzoni, Tra Padova e Venezia: le Accademie, ivi, pp. 49-56; P. Preto, Tasso e l’Università di Padova, ivi, pp. 57-61; G. Baldassarri, La prima formazione delle idee tassiane sulla poetica, ivi, pp. 63-66; G. Da Pozzo, L’esperienza veneta del giovane Tasso: gli amici, i maestri, le scelte, ivi, pp. 89-101; S. Rozsnyói, Dopo Ariosto. Tecniche narrative e discorsive nei poemi postariosteschi, Ravenna, Longo, 2000; S. Jossa, La fondazione di un genere. Il poema eroico tra Ariosto e Tasso, Roma, Carocci, 2002; M. Residori, Tasso, Bologna, il Mulino, 2009

Academic objectives: lectures are intended for enrolled students of LT CdL DAMS (12 cfu). By approaching the early work of a key figure of the Italian literary tradition, these lectures aim to facilitate the understanding of Tasso’s poem through a series of detailed readings and by placing his work in its proper context within the romance and epic production of the sixteenth century. The lectures will also consider the poet’s own theoretical speculation on his work.

Prerequisites: an elementary knowledge of sixteenth-century Literature and elements of Italian versification

Teaching method: lectures: reading, analysis of and commentary on selected cantos and episodes from Tasso’s work

You may contact the lecturer at the following e-mail address: carla.molinari@unifi.it

Type of exam: oral exam

Extensive programme: the lectures will address the following topics: bibliography; Torquato Tasso’s life and works; minute analysis of Rinaldo (themes, characters, style), its composition and publication, including the author’s theoretical thinking contained both in his Preface to Rinaldo and in his Discorsi dell’arte poetica. Key cantos and episodes from Tasso’s romance will be singled out for special reading and commentary