Comparative Literature

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. Art and literature can be seen weaving around each other, influencing one and another, and being used as a tool to teach students about liberal arts and humanity; this course explores various ways in which words and images have interacted and shaped Italian culture in the 20th and 21st centuries. It is divided into two modules.

Module 1: Literature and Visual Culture explores the relations between the Italian novel and comic strip fiction between the 20th and 21st centuries, highlighting the fundamental role played by comics in the personal formation and creative activity of some writers. Tracing the development and diffusion of comic strip fiction in Italy starting from the second half of the 20th century, this module focuses in particular on how much the experience of comic strip readers influenced the narrative and non-fiction production of Italo Calvino and Umberto Eco, shaping their imagery and writing methods. The module analyzes and discusses interpretations of comic book characters and serial stories, as well as the different ways in which comics are incorporated into their texts.

Module 2: Literature and the Arts provides students with themes and areas for in-depth study: 1) the interaction between literature and photography; 2) the issue of the gaze in literature; 3) iconology, the visual turn and the pictorial turn; 4) literature and visual arts facing the crisis of modernity and postmodernity. In particular, the course delves into these specific forms of interaction between literature and photography: 1) the photographer as a character; 2) photography as a theme in literature; 3) photography as a way of writing or the role of photographic gaze in literature; 4) phototexts. At the end of the course, students are able to develop a general vision of the relationships between Italian Literature and other Arts, from the nineteenth century to nowadays, with a focus on painting. Students acquire knowledge on the most relevant works of literature which interact with images and they will be capable of analyzing critical, theoretical, and literary texts regarding visual arts.

This course is designed to reflect upon the relationship between humankind and nature through the study of selected literary works ancient and modern, mostly drawn from the English, French, and American traditions. 

This course examines the cultural fascination with the supernatural from the nineteenth century to the present. It explores a range of topics including the publication of important horror novels such as Mary Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN (1818) and Bram Stoker’s DRACULA (1897), studies of séances and psychic investigations, as well as paranormal media and its online culture. Themes such as the otherworldly, monsters, magic, and supernatural forces continue to feature regularly in our modern society. Therefore, the course asks: how does the fascination with horror manifest itself in culture? And why are humans so drawn to the dark, evil, and macabre? By delving into the intersection of science, literature, media and the occult, this interdisciplinary exploration provides a deep understanding of the multiple contexts and social factors in which supernatural phenomena and the occult emerged and grew over the past two centuries. The course has a significant digital humanities component that takes up around 50% of the course.

This course examines Chinese literature from the Song Dynasty to the late Qing Dynasty. The course will help students gain an understanding of cultural history and the internal development of literary history. Students will gain basic knowledge about Chinese literary works in this course knowledge and understanding of the relationship between historical conditions and literary production.

This course, "Gaming, Esports, and Interactive Narratives," offers a comprehensive exploration of the gaming and esports landscape, covering the cultural, artistic, and technical dimensions of games. Students examine complex questions about games' potential to achieve a depth of character development and insight into the human experience comparable to novels or films. Through literary criticism, postmodern theory, and cinema studies, we analyze how interactive narratives and visual design contribute to unique player experiences. Additionally, students gain an advanced understanding of the cultural and aesthetic history of games. A distinctive feature of this course is its integration of industry expertise. Gen G—one of the largest and most innovative companies in gaming— provides guest lecturers throughout the semester, including influential figures from the gaming industry, professional gamers, and experienced developers. These guest speakers offer valuable insights into the latest trends, challenges, and innovations shaping the gaming industry today. Guided by a "learning by doing" philosophy and a problem- and project-based learning (PBL) approach, students explore interactive narrative design and develop advanced game literacy. Hands-on assignments introduce students to the game development process, emphasizing game design principles and team collaboration. Through this approach, students understand the diverse roles within a game development team, gaining insights into how each role contributes to the overall design and player experience—laying the foundation for creative and collaborative project work.

This course provides a solid understanding of post-war American novels—their historical background, style of writing, and some recurrent themes. The American writers discussed in the course include Kurt Vonnegut, Jerzy Kosinski, John Barth, Ishmael Reed, E. L. Doctorow, Don Delillo, and Robert Coover. The course also surveys contemporary Chinese novels, with a focus on works since the 1980s, the core writers include Mo Yan, Yu Hua, Su Tong, Ye Zhaoyan, Wang Xiaobo, and Yang Xianhui, who have adopted a similar way of writing characterized by the use of metafictional skill and parody, the blending of historical fact and fiction, the fusion of generic boundaries, etc. The course also explores, from a comparative perspective, such themes as war, trauma, ideological interventions, the writing and rewriting of history, etc. 

This courses examines a widespread phenomenon in the history of narrative that deals with the fantastic. Taking a transcultural and transmedia approach to the study of the fantastic, this course investigates its expressions in literary and cinematic narratives from a variety of historical periods and cultural traditions, in association with genres as diverse as fairy tales, science fiction, gothic romances, psychological thrillers, legends, love stories, and so on. This expansive view not only allows us to appreciate the adaptability of the fantastic as a discursive narrative mode, but also creates opportunities for us to understand its varying connections with its native cultures, as it migrates across cultural boundaries.

This course introduces ways of thinking about culture and society in an international frame. “Culture” and “society” are familiar yet difficult terms. The main purpose of this class is to arrive at a sense of why each of them represents something important, something that speaks to everyday, real life and not just the dominant accounts of what is going on. It will introduce students to some of the key terms, techniques, and interpretive strategies that enable them to think about culture and society in complex ways. Thinking in this sense means being familiar with a range of concepts, issues, and “isms” and being able to relate them to other texts and problems. But to think is also to read. Thus we will also study the ways of reading in its broadest and narrowest senses – how we make sense of texts and problems and do “readings” of them. To do this we must place texts into their contexts and analyze them rhetorically. This includes the ability to do “practical criticism” or “close reading” – to make advanced sense of the words on the page, or what people actually say and do.

This course examines critical and creative texts that engage with narrative ethics as they appear in different cultural and linguistic traditions. This focus on ethics will simultaneously redirect us back to narrativity and the constructedness of texts.

This course examines the connection between modern media and Korean dramatic culture. By analyzing literary elements inherent in TV dramas, animation, and popular music, as well as elements of these genres introduced into literary works, students explore interconnectedness between literature and popular culture and gain a deeper understanding of both literature and popular culture.  

The course surveys dramatic literature trends both in relation to the media through which they are broadcast as well as the cultural, social, and historical environments in which dramas and plays are situated.