Comparative Literature: Theory and History (2016/2017)

Learning outcomes

Giacomo Leopardi’s “filosofia dolorosa ma vera” and the cosmic symbology in the poetry of Giovanni Pascoli

The course will follow the evolution of Giacomo Leopardi’s pessimistic thought, focusing on the Operette morali, and some poems of Giovanni Pascoli. The course is divided into three parts: a 18-hour module will be dedicated to reading and commenting the texts; a 18-hour module will be devoted to the critical literature in English language; the third module will be taught in English by an international scholar and will analyze the concept of poetry in his theoretical interpretations.

MODULE 1
Main Texts
- Giacomo Leopardi, Operette morali, a cura di Giovanni Getto, Milano, Mursia, 1966
- Giovanni Pascoli, Canti di Castelvecchio, a cura di Giuseppe Nava, Milano, Rizzoli, 2002
- Giovanni Pascoli, Nuovi poemetti, in Poesie, vol. II, Milano, Mondadori, 1969

Critical bibliography

- LEOPARDI GIACOMO, Operette morali: Essays and Dialogues, by Giovanni Cecchetti, University of California Press, 1983;
- FICARA GIORGIO, Il punto di vista della Natura, Genova, Il Melangolo, 1996.
- Leopardi, Dichter und Denker, Napoli, Guida, 1997, pp. 43-65;
- GETTO GIOVANNI, L'ispirazione cosmica nella poesia di Giovanni Pascoli, in “Lettere Italiane”, 1 Apr., 1958, 10, 2;
- GIANNANGELI OTTAVIANO, Pascoli e lo spazio, Bologna, Cappelli, 1975;
- SCARTOZZI SERGIO, La lirica cosmica di Pascoli. Il ciocco e il corpus astrale: fonti, immagini e intertestualità della mitologia siderale, in «Ticontre. Teoria Testo Traduzione», iv (2015), pp. 99-123.

Operette morali/ Essays and Dialogues

- Dialogo della Natura e di un Islandese (Dialogue Between Nature and Icelander)
- Dialogo di Federico Ruysch e delle sue mummie
- Cantico del gallo silvestre (Song of the Great Wilde Rooster)
- Dialogo di Tristano e di un amico

MODULE 2
Essays in English

- Benj. M. Woodbridge, The role of Illusion in Leopardi’s Pessimism
- Daniela Bini, Leopardi and the French Materialism
- Giovanni Gullace, Pascal and Leopardi: some relationships
- Gerato Erasmo G., Reality of Illusion and Illusion of Reality


MODULE 3
Theories of the Lyric
instructor: Alberto Comparini
mail: compa@stanford.edu
office hours: after class: M, 12-13; T, 10:30-11:30; Th, 12-13;
Class meetings
Monday, 10:10-11:50
Tuesday, 8:30-10:10
Thursday, 10:10-11:50
Main Text: Jonathan Culler, Theory of the Lyric, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 2016;
Further texts will be given during the lessons

Examination: Oral
The student must be able to read and paraphrase texts, exposing a critical comment.
Some questions on the critical-theoretical part will be in English.

STUDENT MODULE EVALUATION - 2016/2017