Unit information: Ariosto's Amorous Quests: The Orlando furioso in 2011/12

Unit name	Ariosto's Amorous Quests: The Orlando furioso
Unit code	ITAL30033
Credit points	20
Level of study	H/6
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Dr. Lombardi
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Department of Italian
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

Ariosto's Orlando Furioso (1532) is the best known, the most sophisticated and the most entertaining of the romance epic poems produced in late 15th and in 16th century Italy. The Ferrarese poet has created a world of uninhibited imaginative power in which elaborately intertwined narratives of chivalry, love and magic are handled with irony, humour, parody and perhaps with a modicum of seriousness.

Aims:

• To introduce students to a significant body of knowledge of a complexity appropriate to final year level. The content matter will normally include one or more of the following: literature; social, cultural or political history; linguistics; cultural studies; film, television or other media.

• To facilitate students’ engagement with a body of literature, including secondary literature, texts, including in non-print media, primary sources and ideas as a basis for their own analysis and development. Normally many or most of these sources will be in a language other than English and will enhance the development of their linguistic skills.

• To develop further skills of synthesis, analysis and independent research, building on the skills acquired in units at level I.

• To equip students with the skills to undertake postgraduate study in a relevant field.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Successful students will:

• be knowledgable about a significant cultural, historical or linguistic subject related to the language they are studying;

• will have advanced skills in the selection and synthesis of relevant material;

• be able to evaluate and analyse relevant material from a significant body of source materials, usually in a foreign language, at an advanced level;

• be able to respond to questions or problems by presenting their independent judgements in an appropriate style and at an advanced level of complexity;

• be able to transfer these skills to other working environments, including postgraduate study.

Teaching Information

Two seminar hours per week across one teaching block (22 contact hours).

Assessment Information

One of the following:

a) A written assignment of 3000 words and a two hour exam (50% each)

b) A written assignment of 3000 words (25%) and a three hour exam (75%)

c) One written assignment of 6000 words (or equivalent)

d) Two written assignments of 3000 words (50% each)

e) One oral presentation (25%) plus one written assignment of 1500 words (25%) plus one written assignment of 3000 words (50%)

Reading and References

Set text

Ludovico Ariosto Orlando furioso (any modern unabridged edition with good notes and a detailed index)

Preparatory reading

A. R. Ascoli Ariosto’s Bitter Harmony: Crisis and Evasion in the Italian Renaissance (1987)

D. Delcorno Branca L’Orlando furioso e il romanzo cavalleresco medievale (1973)

V. Finucci The Lady Vanishes: Subjectivity and Representation in Castiglione and Ariosto (1992)

W. Gundersheimer Ferrara: The Style of a Renaissance Despotism (1973)

D. Looney Compromising the Classics: Romance Epic Narrative in the Italian Renaissance (1996)

M. Santoro Ariosto e il Rinascimento (1989)

D. Shemek Ladies Errant: Wayward Women and Social Order in Early Modern Italy (1998)

P. DeSa Wiggins Figures in Ariosto’s Tapestry: Character and Design in the OF (1986)