Comp. Lit. 88300 – Writing Lives/Framing Life
Prof. Paulicelli

The seminar will examine the relationship between writing as an art form and as a craft that narrates the twists and turns of the self, whether that of authors, narrators or characters. Special attention will be given to the styles and techniques of the literary texts considered, especially those of authors like Alberto Savinio, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Carlo Levi, Italo Calvino who have been involved in painting, cinema, literature, criticism and so have pushed the act of writing to its limit. In addition, the course will examine issues pertaining to different genres such as autobiography, the historical novel and the essay. The seminar will also address theoretical questions that bear on the narrative of the self, the formal boundaries of a literary genre, its language, tradition and the various forms in which the genre, the self and the world have been re-written and re-framed. The course will also investigate the complex relationship between writing and memory, language and representation in the works of Anna Banti, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Vincenzo Consolo, Natalia Ginzburg and Clara Sereni.