Department of European Studies & Modern Languages, Unit Catalogue 2007/08 |
EU30078 Italian national option IT3: Scrittrici Italiane del ventesimo secolo |
| Credits: 6 |
| Level: Honours |
| Semester: 2 |
| Assessment: ES67CW33 |
| Requisites: |
| Before taking this unit you must take EU20070 |
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Aims: To further the knowledge of Italian women's writing acquired in Year 1 and Year 2, and provide students with an overview of 20th Century women's writing in relation to the situation of women Italian literature, culture, and society; an in-depth knowledge of four narrative texts by major Italian women writers; and a set of critical and theoretical tools necessary for a gendered reading of the texts which can be transferred to the analysis of other discourses.
Learning Outcomes: By the end of the unit students should be able to: * evaluate the position of women in Italy as producers of literature over the 20th Century; * understand the role of 1970s feminism in changing Italian women's position vis-à-vis the institution of literature; * produce a gendered reading of a literary text by making use of different modes of textual analysis, including feminist theory; * evaluate the extent women writers have revised and subverted traditional genres; * identify themes in Italian women's writing as represented in the set texts. Skills: Skills in critical analysis, conceptual thinking, precision in the use of written and spoken language, exercise of independent judgement, reasoned argument, teamwork and the planning/conduct/reporting of non-quantitative research are developed and assessed in this unit. Content: Four set texts: Grazia Deledda, Cosima (1937); Dacia Maraini, Donna in guerra (1975); Francesca Sanvitale, Madre e figlia (1980); Elsa Morante, Aracoeli (1982). Lectures and seminars will focus on: artistic vocation and femininity, sex and gender, equality and difference, sexuality, patriarchal relations, relationships between women, mother-son/mother-daughter relationship, gender and genre (autobiography, romance, etc.), writing and sexual difference. New editions of the texts are currently in print. Taught partly in Italian. |