Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate an understanding of different poetic trends and literary movements in Italy between 1914 and 1945;
2. Analyse poetic texts in terms of form, content, and cultural/historical context;
3. Write critical essays of a high standard, using appropriate secondary sources in both Italian and English;
4. Engage in discussion on central themes of the module.
Indicative Module Content:
1. Module introduction + Italy and WW1 + Futurism (Manifesto and poems)
2. Idealization of war – Futurism and Giuseppe Ungaretti’s relationship with Fascism
3. The experimental nature of Ungaretti’s poetry (Il porto sepolto, 1916)
4. After WW1 - Hermetic poetry and Vittorio Sereni (Frontiera 1941 > 42).
5. Research skills – (comparative work, critical sources)
6. Break
7. Fascism policies – Realist poetry and Cesare Pavese (Lavorare stanca 1936 > 43).
8. Antifascism – Cesare Pavese and poetry of exile.
9. Prisoners – Poetry of immobility and memory in Vittorio Sereni’s Diario d’Algeria (1947).
10. Race laws in Italy and WW2 - Ungaretti (Il dolore 1947).
11. Conclusions.