The Mediterranean Myth of Ulysses in Italian Literature

This course looks to deepen the understanding of the figure of Ulysses, as legend in the foundation of Mediterranean culture. The course will examine the multifarious nature of the character of Ulysses, i.e., its ancient as well as modern aspects. The figure of Ulysses offers itself as a symbol of innumerable potentialities: a varying heroismk constantly reinterpreted with the passage of centuries. It stimulated expression from Homer to authors of the twentieth century, and inspired a plurality of protagonists very different from one another. After an analysis of the Ulysses in Homeric poetry (the Illiad and the Odyssey), the course will focus on the metamorphosis of the character in some classical authors of Italian literature: from Dante Alighieri to Ugo Foscolo, from Gabriele D’Annunzio to Giovanni Pascoli, and to Guido Gozzano; from Primo Levi to Umberto Saba.

Required Text:
G. Tellini, Letteratura italiana. Un metodo di studio. Firenze, le Monnier Università, 2011.

Additional reading materials will be provided by the instructor.