L00941 - THEORY OF LITERATURE

In accordance with the educational objectives of the Master's Degree Program, students will acquire specific knowledge regarding the scientific approach to literary texts and develop appropriate skills in the use of the tools of literary criticism and theory to be applied in the contextualization, comprehension, and analysis of the proposed authors' texts. Among this knowledge, students should demonstrate mastery of literary language, style, and narrative techniques related to the series of critical reading experiences offered by the course. They should also demonstrate an ability to navigate contemporary texts that are thematically related to the proposed texts. They should also be knowledgeable about the most relevant and up-to-date theoretical-critical positions applied to the exegesis of the author's text and the sources that contributed to its construction, as well as the "history of mentality" contextualizing literary production itself. It is also necessary to develop an understanding of the diachronic development of personalities and theoretical-critical and historiographical positions applied to Italian literature and related European and world literatures, from the perspective of theoretical development and reception. Comparison between different literary contexts is a specific feature of the proposed discipline. Among the skills developed, it is desirable for students to consolidate an attitude of autonomy, as far as possible, in the exegesis and judgment of literary texts; thus, to orient themselves within the critical landscape, developing, in light of the methods learned, a personal aptitude for selecting and consequently reading one or a series of thematically related texts, not only indigenous ones. Independent judgment must also be combined with adequate communication skills that allow for persuasiveness both in oral presentations and in the possible production of a short written essay: the latter, in fact, constitutes the specific tool for disseminating theoretical and critical thought at any level, including with respect to the production of the Master's thesis. The exercise on the literary text and the comparison between the textualities of different areas of production represents the tool for acquiring the main skills that the specific discipline of Literary Theory and the Master's Degree in Literature aim to impart: the progressive refinement of argumentative skills, of the critical spirit relating to broader contexts and of independent judgment, mastery of which prepares the student to undertake the post-graduate path.