The bibliography will be illustrated during the course. List of volume (optionally):
➢ Jeremy D. Popkin, History, Historians & Autobiography, 2005
➢ Luisa Tasca, Le vite e la storia. Autobiografie dell’800, 2010
➢ B. Croce, L’autobiografia come storia e la storia come autobiografia (1941)
➢ Georg Misch, Storia dell’autobiografia, 1962
➢ Philippe Lejuene, Il patto autobiografico, 1975 (it. 1986; L’autobiografia in Francia, 1971)
Sources:
➢ Vita di Giambattista Vico scritta da sé medesimo (1725-28)
➢ Pietro Giannone, Vita scritta da lui medesimo (1736 manoscritta, ed. postuma)
➢ Edward Gibbon, Memoirs of my life and writings (1796)
➢ The education of Henry Adams, 1907, postuma 1918.
➢ Benedetto Croce, Contributo alla critica di me stesso (1918)
-Johan Huizinga, Scritti autobiografici (1947), 2018
➢ Friedrich Meinecke, Esperienze 1862-1919, 1964 (trad. it. 1971)
➢ Pierre Nora, cur., Essais d’ego-histoire, 1987
➢ Luisa Passerini-Alexander C.T. Geppert (eds.), European ego-histoires: historiography and the self 1970-2000, “Historein”, 2001, n. 3
➢ Gli storici si raccontano. Tre generazioni tra revisioni e revisionismi (acd A. d’Orsi, 2005)
➢ Jacques Le Goff, Con Hanka, 2010
➢ Edward Hallett Carr, Autobiografia, 1980
➢ Raymond Aron, Memorie. Cinquant’anni di riflessioni politiche, 1983
➢ Peter Gay, My German question: growing up in Nazi Berlin, 1998
➢ Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, Une vie avec l’histoire. Mémoires, 2014
➢ Geoff Eley, A crooked line. From Cultural History to the History of the Society, 2007
➢ Natalie Zemon Davis, La passione della storia, 2004 (it. 2007, tit. or. “tutto il fuoco”)
➢ Annette Wieviorka, L’heure d’exactitude. Histoire, mémoire, témoignage, 2011
➢ Angelo Del Boca, Il mio Novecento, 2008
➢ Eric J. Hobsbawm, Anni interessanti (2002)
➢ George Mosse, Confronting history. A Memoir, 2000
➢ George Iggers, Two Lives in Uncertain Times: Facing the Challenges of the 20th Century as Scholars and Citizens, 2002
➢ Tony Judt, The memory chalet, 2010
➢ Edward W. Said, Sempre nel posto sbagliato. Autobiografia, 1999, it. 2000
➢ Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, Paris-Montpellier P.C.-P.S.U. 1945-1963, 1982
➢ Richard Cobb, Still life: a Turnbridge Wells Childhood, 1984
➢ Arthur Schlesinger jr, Il mio secolo americano. Ricordi di una vita. 1917-1950, 2001
➢ Claudio Pavone, La mia Resistenza. Memorie di una giovinezza, 2015
➢ Id., Prima lezione di storia contemporanea, 2007
➢ Michel Vovelle, Mémoires vives or perdue: essai sur l’histoire et le souvenir, 2018
➢ Ernesto Sestan, Memorie di un uomo senza qualità (acd Cherubini e Turi, 1997)
➢ Roberto Vivarelli, La fine di una stagione. Memoria 1943-1945, 2000
➢ Joachim Fest, Io no. Memorie d’infanzia e gioventù, 2007
• F. Braudel (Scritti sulla storia, 1969
• Georges Duby, L’histoire continue, 1991 (it. 1992)
Learning Objectives
KNOWLEDGE OBJECTIVES
- knowledge of the main interpretations about history of historiography
- knowledge of the relationship between history and memory
EXPERTISE OBJECTIVES
- skill in recognize the main historical and historiographical issues, and the use of sources (autobiographies, memories. etc.)
BEHAVIORAL OBJECTIVES
- to encorauge critical reflection on the relationship between past and present, and the role of the historian
in the present day
Prerequisites
Knowledge of Contemporary history
Teaching Methods
I section: frontal lessons (also by experts).
II section: discussions on specific issues by the students (mandatory for LM84 students, optional for other Cds's students)
Further information
Mandatory inscription at the beginning of the course. Mandatory frequente.
Use of the Course e-learning platform Moodle as repository for documents, sources, bibliography
Type of Assessment
The examination will take place in diversified manner, depending on the students, belonging to different courses of study:
I) Students belonging to Cds LM84 (mandatory) and to Cds LM37 (optional):
a) oral exercise during the course (in itinere) on a sources agreed upon with the professor
b) written report of the exercise (to be delivered almost one week before the exam: maximum 20.000 characters, all included)
c) oral final examination about the written report and one volume of historiography, chosen by the list. The final oral examination consisti of 3 parts:
1) discussion about wtritten report
2) a question to verify the understanding of the main arguments proposed by the chosen volume (on a topic different from the one addressed in the report)
3) a question to verify the understanding of the material available on the Moodle platform (illustrated during the course)
The final evaluation consists of all the assessments obtained in parts a), b) and c).
All students have to to demonstrate a sufficient level of preparation in all three parts to pass the test.
The exam aims to verify:
- the comprehension of the main processes that characterized the relationship between history and memory, with special attention on the role of autobiography
- the comprehension of the main categories used to describe the mentioned topic
- the skill to distinguish and to use the different types of sources for the study of the mentioned topic
- the skill to establish relevant connections between events
- the skill to adopt the terminology of the discipline (in the oral and written report)
II) Students of the LM37 cds who do not choose the typology I and students of other Cds, Erasmus students, part time students:
The examination is diversified, according to the level of knowledge of Contemporary history:
a) Students without certificated knowledge of Contemporary history:
I) Gabriele Turi, Il nostro mondo. Dalle grandi rivoluzioni all'11 settembre, Laterza 2006 (mandatory); 2) one volume chosen by bibliography
b) Students with certificated knowledge of Contemporary history:
2 volumes chosen by the bibliography (1 historiography, 1 source)
The exam, for a) and b) students, consists in an oral examination, about at least three questions, related to:
1) a question to verify the level of knowledge obtained by reading the basic text (type a) and the chosen volume (type b)
2) a question to verify the understanding of the main themes proposed by the chosen volume (typology a) or by the second chosen volume (typology b)
3) a question to verify the understanding of the material available on the Moodle platform (illustrated during the course and available to all types of students, after iscription to the course)
The final evaluation consists of all the assessments obtained in the three parts.
It is necessary to demonstrate a sufficient level of knowledge in all three parts to pass the test.
The exam aims to verify
- the comprehension of the main processes that have characterized the relationship between history anda memory from the XVIII century
- the comprehension of the main categories proposed to frame the mentioned topic
- the knowledge of the various kind of self-narration
- the skill to distinguish and to use the different kinds of sources for the study of the mentioned topic
- the skill to establish relevant connections between events
- the capacity to adopt the specific terminology of the discipline in an appropriate manner
Course program
Historians in the mirror. Autobiographies, memories, narratives of the self (historical).
From a historical point of view (paying attention to the psichological and literature studies), we'll analyse the relationship between history and memory, paying attention to autobiographical essays written by historians. We'll analyse also memories written by "ordinary people".
It will be analyzed and discussed, with the active partecipations by the students, various autobiographical sources