| CODE | ITL3666 | ||||||||||||
| TITLE | Italia occulta: magia, superstizione, orrore tra folklore e cultura popolare | ||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 03 - Years 2, 3, 4 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 6 | ||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Italian | ||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | Witchcraft, ever-lingering pagan rites, woodland monsters, wolves and werewolves, ghostly apparitions, the darkest (but also imaginative) side of Etruscology and diabolical manifestations are but a few of the topics which will be discussed within this study-unit, whose lectures will draw primarily on literature, cinema, television, music, comics and the press. Through a series of significant case studies, the study-unit will focus on the historically peculiar and inextricable merging of folklore and pop in the Italian sociocultural landscape. At the same time, in the light of such a fertile mixture, lectures will encourage revisitations and reappraisals of numerous cultural products which have wrongly been labelled as either ephemeral or merely derivative. Study-Unit Aims: - To introduce students to the basic notion of folklore and popular culture through an appraisal of their permutations and developments in modern and contemporary culture (not only the Italian one); - To introduce students to the scholarly examination of magic and superstition in both folklore and popular fiction; - To introduce students to some of the most influential works blending folklore and pop in the Italian cultural landscape; - To discuss the ongoing debate on the social role of popular fiction in Italian culture from the 19th century till the present. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - appraise the differences between folkore and pop culture, but also their osmotic interconnections; - critically survey folkloric elements in fictional works on the basis of the audience they have been historically and commercially conceived for; - discuss folklore as an ever-changing cultural phenomenon but also in relationship with the mass media; - analyse the main tools and techniques of the language used in popular culture. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - enhance their skills in textual analysis via an understanding of the key concepts and the terminology of criticism related to folklore and popular fiction; - develop the skills which are necessary for the analysis of folkloric and fictional works; - transfer the ability of analysing the cultural and ideological ramifications in folklore and popular culture to the analysis of language and style in any work of fiction; - examine Italian cultural products within a broader international context. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: - Fabio Camilletti and Fabrizio Foni (eds), Almanacco dell’orrore popolare: Folk horror e immaginario italiano, Città di Castello-Bologna: Odoya, 2021 (available at Main Library General). - Fabio Camilletti and Fabrizio Foni (eds), Almanacco dell’Italia occulta: Orrore popolare e inquietudini metropolitane, Città di Castello-Bologna: Odoya, 2022 (available at Main Library General). - Marco Malvestio and Stefano Serafini (eds), Italian Gothic: An Edinburgh Companion, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2023 (available at Main Library General). Recommended texts: - Fabrizio Foni, Alla fiera dei mostri: Racconti ‘pulp’, orrori e arcane fantasticherie nelle riviste italiane 1899-1932, Latina: Tunué, 2007 (available at Main Library General). - Fabrizio Foni (ed.), Il gran ballo dei tavolini: Sette racconti fantastici da “La Domenica del Corriere”, Cuneo: Nerosubianco, 2008 (available at Main Library General). - Fabrizio Foni, Piccoli mostri crescono: Nero, fantastico e bizzarrie varie nella prima annata de “La Domenica del Corriere” (1899), Ozzano dell’Emilia: Perdisa Pop, 2010 (available at Main Library General). - Fabio Camilletti, Italia lunare: Gli anni Sessanta e l’occulto, Oxford: Peter Lang, 2018 (available at Main Library General). |
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| ADDITIONAL NOTES | This study-unit is taught and assessed in Italian. | ||||||||||||
| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||||||
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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