Politics and Religion in Alessandro Manzoni's The Betrothed
| Module title | Politics and Religion in Alessandro Manzoni's The Betrothed |
|---|---|
| Module code | MLI2220 |
| Academic year | 2021/2 |
| Credits | 15 |
| Module staff | Professor Luciano Parisi (Convenor) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 11 |
Module description
Manzoni’s spiritual quest led him from trust in ideas of social progress through political action to disillusionment to a religious view of life, mainly derived from the Christian traditions of his native Lombardy. His novel The Betrothed (1840-42) raises key moral issues: is the pursuit of happiness a sensible goal in life? Is it possible to be honest in a dishonest society? What is justice? What is compassion? What is religion? What is a church? We will discuss Manzoni’s answers by focusing on his recurring themes, characters, and situations. No knowledge of Italian is required for this module.
Module aims - intentions of the module
The most important aims of this module are:
- To analyse the main topics of Manzoni’s novel, its characters, its scenes and to consider the role that The Betrothed has had in the history of European culture
- To acquaint you with forms of Christian spirituality in Italy
- To discuss the long history of secondary literature on The Betrothed and to highlight recurring discussions and interpretations
- To teach you good techniques of literary analysis
The Betrothed is read in its entirety and the lecturer makes sure that essential passages are properly understood. Lectures identify relevant critical points, sketch in the historical, social and cultural background to the plot, and form the basis for your preparation. However, you are expected to reflect on the texts and other material independently and to be able to express a personal interpretation of
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Analyse a complex 19th century text making appropriate use of critical and stylistic analyses
- 2. Situate the text within its socio-historical and intellectual contexts
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 3. With some guidance from the course tutor(s), evaluate and apply a range of critical approaches to the material covered
- 4. Mount a detailed argument in the appropriate register of English, mustering a range of textual or other evidence in its support
- 5. Understand and use, in written and oral contexts, a range of critical terms
- 6. Access and use critically printed and, where appropriate, electronic learning resources identified as useful by the course tutor(s), and, to a limited extent, discover other useful materials independently
- 7. Analyse selected texts, relating them to significant elements in their cultural context
- 8. Use recommended reference works to compile a bibliography, within given parameters (chronological, thematic, etc.) on a specified topic
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 9. Adopt a critical approach to the selection and organisation of material in order to produce, to a deadline, a written or oral argument
- 10. Present a cogent and sustained argument orally/in writing, in English/in the TL, on a topic chosen from a range of options provided, following broad guidelines but selecting and adapting them as required
Syllabus plan
Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:
- The Betrothed’s introduction
- Manzoni’s role in the history of Italian culture; chapters 1-4
- Manzoni's style; chapters 5-8
- The historical context; chapters 9-12
- Turning the world upside down; chapters 13-16
- Novels and love; chapters 17-20
- Historical novels and Manzoni’s understanding of history; chapters 21-24
- Was Manzoni a romantic writer?; chapters 25-28
- Manzoni’s spirituality; chapters 29-33
- The Betrothed’s reception history; chapters 34-38
- Revision
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | 134 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 10 | Lectures (10 x 1 hour) |
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 5 | Seminars (5 x 1 hour) |
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 1 | Conclusion |
| Guided independent study | 134 | Private study |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short essay or commentary | 500 words | 1-10 | Written feedback plus debriefing in class |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | 100 | 2500 words | 1-10 | Feedback sheet |
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Examination | Examination | 1-10 | Referral/Deferral period |
Re-assessment notes
Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.
Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Set text:
- Alessandro Manzoni, The Betrothed (London: Dent, 1997) or (London: Penguin, 1984)
Students of Italian are encouraged to read an Italian edition of the novel and will receive support if they do. The editions of I promessi sposi by Ezio Raimondi and Luciano Bottoni (Milan: Principato, 1988), Luigi Russo (Florence: La nuova Italia, 1968), and Natalino Sapegno (Florence: Le Monnier, 1971) are particularly recommended.
Recommended:
(1) General introductions and historical sources:
- Ann Hallamore Caesar and Michael Caesar, Modern Italian Literature (Cambridge: Polity, 2007).
- Marco Codebò, Narrating from the Archive. Novels, Records, and Bureaucrats in the Modern Age , Madison, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2010
- Jerome de Groot, The Historical Novel ,Londra, Routledge, 2010
- Michael Ferber, Romanticism. A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2010, pp. xvi + 148.
- Peter Hainsworth e David Robey, Italian Literature. A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2011)
- Richard Maxwell, The Historical Novel in Europe, 1650-1950, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2009.
- Rosa Mucignat, Realism and Space in the Novel, 1795-1869 (Farnham: Ashgate, 2013)
- Giuseppe Ripamonti, La peste di Milano del 1630. Testo latino a fronte a cura di Cesare Repossi e Angelo Stella (Milano: Casa del Manzoni, 2009)
(2) Essential literary criticism:
- Jean-Pierre Barricelli, ‘Structure and Symbol in Manzoni’s I promessi sposi ’, PMLA vol. 87 (1972), no. 3, pp. 409-507
- Amy Boylan, ‘ The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni’, Italian Literature and its Times , edited by Joyce Moss (Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005), pp. 61-69
- Stanley Bernard Chandler, Alessandro Manzoni. The Story of a Spiritual Quest (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1974), pp. 86-115
- Mark Davie, ‘Manzoni After 1848: an “Irresolute Utopian"’, The Modern Language Review , vol. 87 (1992), no. 2, pp. 847-57
- Marisa Escolar, ‘Censorship and Desire in Matilde Serao's La mano tagliata and Alessandro Manzoni's I promessi sposi ’, inThe Fire Within: Desire in Modern and Contemporary Italian Literature , edited by Elena Borelli (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars, 2014), pp. xv + 267 (110-129)
- David Forgacs, ‘Introduction’, in A. Manzoni, The Betrothed (London: Dent, 1997), pp. xxiii-xxxiii
- Piero Garofalo, ‘Romantic Poetics in an Italian Context’, in A Companion to European Romanticism edited by Michael Ferber (Oxford, Blackwell, 2005), pp. 238-55.
- Jacques Goudet, Catholicisme et poésie dans le roman de Manzoni ‘I promessi sposi' (Lyon: Imprimerie générale du Sud-est, 1961)
- Augustus Pallotta, ‘Characterization through Understatement: A Study of Manzoni’s Don Rodrigo’, Italica , vol. 58 (1981), pp. 43-55
- Luciano Parisi, ‘Alessandro Manzoni’s I promessi sposi , a chaste novel and an erotic palimpsest’, The Modern Language Review , vol. 103 (2008), no. 2, pp. 427-40
- Luigi Pirandello, On Humour (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1974)
- Annick Paternoster, Politeness and Style in «The Betrothed», in An Italian Novel by Alessandro Manzoni , in Historical (Im)Politeness edited by Jonathan Culpeper and Dániel Z. Kádár (Bern, Peter Lang, 2010), pp. 201-30.
- Olga Ragusa, ‘Alessandro Manzoni and the developments in the historical novel’, in The Cambridge Companion to The Italian Novel edited by Peter Bondanella and Andrea Ciccarelli (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), pp. 42-60
- Olivia Santovetti, ‘Italian Digressions’, Textual Wanderings: The Theory and Practice of Narrative Digression , edited by Rhian Atkin(London: Legenda, 2011), pp. 47-63
(3) A second list of useful secondary literature in Italian will be circulated in class
Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources
- ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=4365
- An English edition of The Betrothed is available on line at http://www.bartleby.com/21/ . The original is at: http://www.liberliber.it/mediateca/libri/m/manzoni/i_promessi_sposi/pdf/manzoni_i_promessi_sposi.pdf
| Credit value | 15 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 7.5 |
| Module pre-requisites | None |
| Module co-requisites | None |
| NQF level (module) | 5 |
| Available as distance learning? | No |
| Origin date | 16/01/2014 |
| Last revision date | 08/02/2019 |
