We use cookies on this site. By browsing our site you agree to our use of cookies. Close this message Find out more

Home > SMLLC home > IT1950 Building the Italian Nation: Heroes and anti-Heroes from Pinocchio to The Leopard.
More in this section Information for current students

IT1950 Building the Italian Nation: Heroes and anti-Heroes from Pinocchio to The Leopard.

IT1950 Building the Italian Nation: Heroes and anti-Heroes from Pinocchio to The Leopard.

Terms 1-2

Convenor: Dr Stefano Jossa

Assessment:

Essay 30% (1,200-1,500 words); Exam: 60%; Online (Moodle) Test: 10%

Plus one formative piece of work, not counting towards the final mark

Overview

The course focuses on some of the symbolic passages in the process of nation-building in Italy in the 19th and 20th centuries, as Italy reached its unity only in 1861.

Four key moments will exemplify the development of Italy’s national identity: two in the 19th century, pre-Risorgimento (the making of Italy), and post-Risorgimento (the making of the Italians); and two in the 20th century; the Resistenza (the making of the Republic), and the post-war (the crisis of nationhood).

The authors selected to represent these four moments in the history of Italy will be Ugo Foscolo (1778-1827), Carlo Collodi (1826-90), Italo Calvino (1923-85), and Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (1896-1957). The works to be read will be Foscolo’s Last Letters of Jacopo Ortis (1798), Collodi’s Pinocchio (1880), Calvino’s The Path to the Nest of Spiders (1947), and Tomasi di Lampedusa’s The Leopard (1958). Special attention will be paid to the problem of the absence of a national hero in the Italian literary tradition, such as Wilhelm Tell for Switzerland or D’Artagnan for France or Robin Hood for Britain.

Bibliography

<start_a>    Primary Texts

Foscolo, Ugo, Last letters of Jacopo Ortis; and, Of tombs; translated by J.G. Nichols, London : Hesperus, 2002.

Collodi, Carlo, Pinocchio, Penguin Classics, 2002

Calvino, Italo, The path to the spiders’ nest, translated from the Italian by Archibald Colquhoun, revised by Martin McLaughlin, London : Jonathan Cape, 1998.

Tomasi di Lampedusa, Giuseppe, The Leopard, translated from the Italian by Archibald Colquhoun, London : Vintage, 2007.

 

  
 
 
 
 

Comment on this page

Did you find the information you were looking for? Is there a broken link or content that needs updating? Let us know so we can improve the page.

Note: If you need further information or have a question that cannot be satisfied by this page, please call our switchboard on +44 (0)1784 434455.

This window will close when you submit your comment.

Add Your Feedback
Close