EU8391: Twentieth Century Italian Women's Writing
School | null |
Department Code | null |
Module Code | EU8391 |
External Subject Code | R320 |
Number of Credits | 20 |
Level | L6 |
Language of Delivery | English |
Module Leader | Dr Mariagiovanna Motta |
Semester | Spring Semester |
Academic Year | 2013/4 |
Outline Description of Module
This module aims to examine how Italian women writers have responded to the social, political and cultural changes in Italian society in the twentieth century. Areas of special interest examined in the course will include the representation of the female self, the relationship between mother and daughter and the construction of a female genealogy. Aspects to be covered include history and critical theory.
On completion of the module a student should be able to
- Show perception of Italian women’s writing in its broader context.
- Understand the importance of women’s writing in the history of Italian literature
- Understand the historical, social and cultural background of the novels examined.
- Understand how a single text can be read at a variety of levels.
- Discuss in an informed manner the importance of the novels examined in the module.
How the module will be delivered
There will be lectures and seminars up to 35-40 hours annually, including in-depth revision classes at the end of Semester S.
Skills that will be practised and developed
· A capacity for analysing and evaluating complex arguments in prose narrative by women writers and critical theory.
· Demonstrate a high level of critical awareness, and the ability to argue and rebut a case, justifying own viewpoint, in analysis and comparison of a range of works by women writers, considered in relation to the Italian context.
· Show ability to present arguments in a structured, logical and coherent manner.
· Demonstrate basic word-processing skills.
How the module will be assessed
Type of assessment
|
Contribution |
Description |
Duration |
Approx date of assessment |
|
Coursework |
30% |
2000 word essay |
|
End of semester |
|
Coursework |
10% |
Presentation |
|
In semester |
|
Exam |
60% |
Written exam |
2 hours |
Exam period |
Assessment Breakdown
Type | % | Title | Duration(hrs) |
---|---|---|---|
Exam - Spring Semester | 70 | Twentieth Century Italian Women'S Writing | 2 |
Written Assessment | 30 | Twentieth Century Italian Women'S Writing - 2000 Word Essay | N/A |
Syllabus content
Novels from Italian literature by female authors such as Sibilla Aleramo, Elsa Morante, Natalia Ginzuburg and Elsa Morante. The texts chosen may vary from year to year.
Essential Reading and Resource List
Primary Sources
Sibilla Aleramo, Una donna Universale Feltrinelli, 1994
Anna Banti, Artemisia. Any edition
Elsa MoranteMenzogna e sortilegio. Any Einaudi edition
Natalia Ginzburg Le voci della sera. Any Einaudi edition
Dacia Maraini La lunga vita di M arianna Ucrìa. Milano: BUR, 1993 or any later edition
Secondary Sources
Critical theory
de Beauvoir, Simone. The second sex. Any edition
Gilbert, Sandra M. and Gubar, Susan. The madwoman in the attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-century Literary Imagination. Boston South End Press, 1981
Heilmann, Ann and Llewellyn, Mark Metafiction and metahistory in contemporary women’s writing. Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan, 2007
Humm, Maggie. Feminism: A Reader. Boston: Hall, 1987
Kaplan, Carla. Erotics of talk : women’s writing and feminist paradigms. New York : Oxford University Press, 1996
Lashgari, Deirdre (ed.) Violence, silence, and anger: women’s writing as transgression. Charlottesville : University Press of Virginia, 1995
Lury, Celia. Difference of women’s writing: essays on the use of personal experience. Manchester : Department of Sociology, University of Manchester, 1987
Moy, Toril. Sexual/Textual Politics: Feminist Literary Theory. New York: Methuen, 1985
Robbins, Ruth. Literary criticism. Basingstoke and London: Macmillan 2000
Warhol, Robyn and Price Herndl, Diane. Feminism: An Anthology of Literary Theory and Criticism. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1991
Roe, Sue (ed.). Women reading women’s writing. Brighton : Harvester, 1987
Rosello, Mireille(ed.) Infiltrating culture: power and identity in contemporary women’s writing. Manchester : Manchester University Press, 1996
Showalter, Elaine. New feminist criticism: essays on women, literature and theory. London : Virago Press, 1986
Showalter, Elaine. Speaking of gender. New York ; London : Routledge, 1989
Spacks, Patricia A.M. The female imagination : a literary and psychological investigation of women’s writing. London : Allen and Unwin, 1976
Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today. New York and London: Garland Publishing Inc., 1999
Woolf, Virginia. A Room of one’s own. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1992
Historical and Literary context
Amoia, Alba. 20th Century Italian women writers: the feminine experience. Carbondale : Southern Illinois University Press, 1996
Cento Bull, Anna and Giorgio, Adalgisa (ed.). Speaking out and silencing: culture, society and politics in Italy in the ‘70s. London, Legenda, 2006
Brogini, Patrizia. Raccontare il novecento : percorsi didattici nella letterarura italiana attraverso i racconti di Dino Buzzati, Italo Calvino, Natalia Ginzburg, Alberto Moravia. Roma : Edilingua, 2005
Giorgio, Adalgisa (ed.) Writing mothers and daughters : renegotiating the mother in Western European narratives by women. New York ; Oxford : Berghahn, 2002
Jones, Verina R. and Lepschy, Anna L. (ed.). With a pen in her hand : women and writing in Italy in the nineteenth century and beyond. Exeter, Society for Italian Studies, 2000
Panizza, Letizia and Wood, Sharon. (ed.). History of women’s writing in Italy. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press 2000
Russi, Anotinio. Narrativa italiana dal neosperimentalismo alla neoavanguardia (1950-1983). Vol.1, Roma : Lucarini, 1983
Simborowski, Nicoletta. Secrets and puzzles: silence and the unsaid in contemporary Italian writing. Oxford : Legenda, 2003
Wood, Sharon. (ed.) Italian women’s writing. London ; Atlantic Highlands, NJ : Athlone, 1995
Sibilla Aleramo
Conti, Bruna e Morino, Alba (ed.). Sibilla Aleramo e il suo tempo : vita raccontata e illustrata. Milano : Feltrinelli, 1981
Contorbia, Franco, Melandri Lea, [et al.]. Sibilla Aleramo : coscienza e scrittura. Milano : Feltrinelli, 1986
Scaramuzza, Emma.La santa e la spudorata : Alessandrina Ravizza e Sibilla Aleramo ; amicizia, politica e scrittura. Napoli : Liguori, 2004
Anna Banti
Biagini, Enza. Anna Banti. Milano : Mursia, 1978
Di Blasi, Maria Luisa. L’altro silenzio : per leggere Un grido lacerante di Anna Banti nel segno di una trascendenza femminile. Firenze : Le Lettere, 2001
Valentini, Daria. and Carù, Paola. (ed.) Beyond Artemisia : female subjectivity, history, and culture in Anna Banti. Chapel Hill, NC : Annali d’Italianistica, 2003
Elsa Morante
Bardini, Marco. Elsa MoranteItaliana : di professione, poeta.Pisa : Nistri-Lischi, 1999
Bellini, Giovanna (ed.). Morante e la scrittura femminile. Roma-Bari : Laterza, 2005
Lucamante, Stefania.ElsaMorante e l’eredità proustiana. Fiesole (Firenze) : Cadmo, 1998
Mazziotti, Maria Pia and Lattarulo, Silvia. Una signora di mio gusto Elsa Morante e le altre. Apeiron, 2005
Venturi, Gianni. Elsa Morante. Firenze : La Nuova Italia, 1977
Schifano, Jean Noel, Notarbartolo Tjuna. Cahiers Elsa Morante. Roma : Lucarini, 1983
Sgorlon, Carlo. Invito alla lettura di Elsa Morante. Milano : Mursia, 1988
Natalia Ginzburg
Bullock, Alan. Natalia Ginzburg : human relationships in a changing world. New York ; Oxford : Berg, 1991
Garboli, Cesare , Ginzburg Lisa (ed.). E’ difficile parlare di sé. Torino : Einaudi, 1999
Jeannet, Angela M. Sanguinetti Katz G. Natalia Ginzburg: a voice of the twentieth century . Toronto : University of Toronto Press, 1999
Merry, Bruce. Women in modern Italian Literature: four studies based on the work of Grazia Deledda, Alba de Cespedes, Natalia Ginzburg and Dacia Maraini. Townsville : James Cook University of North Queensland, Department of Modern Languages, 1990
Picarazzi, Teresa. Natalia Ginzburg’s mothers, daughters and sisters. Madison [N.J.] : Fairleigh Dickinson University Press ; London ; Cranbury, NJ : Associated University Presses, 2002
Quarsiti, Maria L. Natalia Ginzburg: Bibliografia. Firenze : Giunti, 1996
Dacia Maraini
Cannon, Joann. Novel as investigation: Leonardo Sciascia, Dacia Maraini, and Antonio Tabucchi. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006
Merry, Bruce. Women in modern Italian Literature: four studies based on the work of Grazia Deledda, Alba de Cespedes, Natalia Ginzburg and Dacia Maraini. Townsville : James Cook University of North Queensland, Department of Modern Languages, 1990
Passione, Lina. Sulle orme di Marianna Ucria. Catania : C.U.E.C.M, 1997
Picchietti, Virginia A. Relational spaces: daughterhood, motherhood, and sisterhood in Dacia Maraini’s writings and films.Madison [N.J.] : Fairleigh Dickinson University Press ; London ; Cranbury, NJ : Associated University Presses, 2002