Learning objectives
The course aims to provide students with the skills and abilities
necessary to read the history of contemporary literature from a
perspective that does not only look at the author,'s background but considers the
literary work as the result of a mediation between the
literary system and the editorial one. The theoretical reflections, the literary
and cultural insights, together with the witnesses of employees of the
publishing industry and with the analysis of the contemporary publishing
system, will contribute to facilitate the student's knowleadge of the publishing world and future work experience on this area.
Prerequisites
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Course unit content
Editing: the literary text between editor and author.
In the first part of the course we will introduce some fundamental topics for the understanding of the following discourses, such as: which are the subjects of the literary system of modernity, how this system arises in relation to the publishing system, which are the hegemonic literary genres in modernity and what correspondence there is with genres or editorial segments.
In the second part the areas of influence of the editorial work on the literary one will be analyzed, in relation to the creation of the book (paratext in function of presentation, interpretation and promotion of the texts by a publisher). This year's course, in particular, proposes an articulated reflection on the practice of editing, analyzed in its historical-theoretical aspects and above all exemplified through particularly emblematic cases. Finally, during the course, space will be dedicated to the reading / evaluation of narrative texts.
At the end of the course there will be a conference, in which important exponents of the contemporary publishing world will be invited and who will be asked to clarify how text editing is today and what are the new professions involved with text revision.
Full programme
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Bibliography
Erasmus students are asked to contact the teacher to talk about the exam program
Teaching methods
Lectures, which will take place in class, teaching will develop
theoretical reasoning, accompanied by specific examples from
literary history. To make several examples clearer, we will make use of the
projection of cover images, and other paratextual elements. The final
part of the course involves the participation of people who work in the publishing world, who will provide a concrete image of their skills, abilities and cultural resources required in a publishing house nowadays.
Assessment methods and criteria
The lectures have open-ended questions for students, on
topics that we will be dealt during classes. The answers will not be evaluated for a
final result, but have the purpose of verifying the understanding of the topics. The final evaluation will be expressed in thirties and will take into
account the knowledge of contemporary Italian literature, and the oral
examination, which will focus on materials developed during the course
and in the bibliography.
Other information
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