The course introduces students to the main creative, critical, and aesthetic issues involved in the construction of a narrative: where it originates, how it develops, how it concludes, etc. It offers guidance in understanding and developing analytical skills related to the key categories of narrative discourse, such as plot, character, voice, temporal structure, point of view, setting, etc. The course fosters knowledge and competencies necessary for understanding the mechanisms of narrativity from a multimedia, transmedia, and comparative perspective.
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Teaching will be delivered through lectures, strongly dialogic in nature, involving students in an active process of theoretical reflection and critical analysis of the materials. In addition to appropriate critical literature, films, photographies, art, music, and pop culture materials will be used. Creative writing sessions are also planned, aimed at actively fostering students’ critical awareness and skills through hands-on engagement.
Written exam consisting of open questions (generally, five questions to be answered in 150 minutes). Some questions verify the actual assimilation of the study materials. Other questions address the ability to articulate and connect critical issues emerging from the course as a whole. The logical, linguistic and rhetorical quality of the answers contribute to the final evaluation.
More specifically, evaluations will fall into 5 bands (out of 30 points):
A: Excellent (30 e lode): excellent knowledge of course contents. Presentation is accurate, correct, andappropriate.
B: Very good (30-27): very good knowledge of course contents. Presentation is correct.
C: Good (26-24): good knowledge of course contents. Presentation is mostly correct.
D: Sufficient (23-18): acceptable knowledge of course contents. Occasional mistakes are made.
E: Insufficient (less than 18): knowledge of course contents is partial and superficial; presentation ishampered by numerous mistakes
Based on multi- and transmedia readings and viewings conducted from a comparative perspective, the course introduces key concepts in narrative theory and practice, both in strictly literary contexts (pure narration) and in broader media contexts (narration across the arts and media). Reflections will be drawn from classical narratology, literary fiction and nonfiction (short stories and novels), as well as non-literary narrative forms (films and TV series, narrative podcasts, music, comics, games, etc.). The structure and organization of the lectures will adapt to the insights and interests emerging over the course of the programme, for student participation will be strongly encouraged. The course develops students’ critical, aesthetic, and expressive skills in relation to the field of textual, narrative, and semiotic knowledge, fostering both speculative inquiry (analysis) and critical-creative productivity (writing). In pursuit of the latter objective, the course includes moments of creative engagement in the form of short narrative writing sessions during class.
