B026276 - ARABIC LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE (12 CFU)

Italian

The course of a total of 60 hours for 12 credits is divided as follows:
1) An introduction to the Syriac language of 30 frontal hours held by Dr. Margherita Farina as Visiting Professor for the academic year 2023-24.
2) An introduction to Arabic Christian literature and its development within its various denominations. In particular, emphasis will be placed on polemistic literature.

M. Pazzini, Grammatica Siriaca, Gerusalemme 1999.
G. Graf, Storia della letteratura araba cristiana, Bologna 2018.
Sulayman Ibn Hasan al-Ghazzi, I trattati teologici, CSCO, Scriptores Arabici Vol. 648-649, tt. 52-53, Lovanii: In Aedibus Peeters 2013.

The course intends to offer the student a basic knowledge of the Syriac language (30 hours), one of the most important languages in which much of the Christian literature of the East has been expressed, from Asia Minor to the Far East.
In the second 30 hours, the course will offer a general overview of Arab Christian literature in its various literary and linguistic eras and manifestations. A medieval text of Christian Arab polemics against Islam will be read and commented on.

B1 knowledge of Arabic language. Rudiments of medieval and Byzantine history.

The course will mainly consist of frontal lessons.
As regards the first part (30h), the Syriac language course includes interactive lessons with the teacher in order to ensure a more dynamic learning of the grammatical categories in order to arrive as soon as possible to read and interpret simple texts.
As regards the second part (30h), the course will be further divided into two modules, one theoretical and one practical for reading and translating a text.

The course will take place entirely in the first semester. There are also 40 hours of standard Arabic language tutoring which will be carried out between the first and second semester.

The exam will take place in oral form. The test will consist of three questions relating to the following parts of the programme:
1. Syriac language and literature (prof. Farina)
2. specific themes and problems of medieval Christian Arab literature.
3. Reading, translation and analysis of read texts.
The three specific parts can possibly be verified with one or more articulated questions, covering all areas. During the test, the analysis of the texts discussed in class will be required and the student's ability to know how to move within the primary texts and bibliographic material will be evaluated.
To pass the test it is necessary to demonstrate a sufficient level of preparation in all three parts.
The final evaluation is made up of all the evaluations obtained in the three parts.
The test aims to verify:
- knowledge of the basic concepts of the history of Arab Christian literature;
- the ability to describe literary phenomena by placing them in the historical and cultural context;
- the ability to read and comment on the texts being studied with expressive mastery;
- the ability to use critical terminology appropriately.
- activity and checks on the moodle e-learning platform
The student will have to demonstrate that he is able to sustain a critical interview on the topics covered during the course, possibly proposing links between different works/authors and expressing himself with clarity and precision.
The score of the exam is attributed by means of a vote expressed out of thirty. In evaluating the exam, the determination of the final mark takes into account the following elements:
1) knowledge of the formal and substantial structure of the literary texts covered during the lessons;
2) ability to understand, synthesize and propose critical readings of the literary texts in the programme;
3) ability to formulate autonomous and motivated judgments;
4) clarity of exposition.
Satisfaction of aspects 1 and 4 is a necessary condition for passing the exam (grade not lower than 18/30); grades exceeding sufficient will be attributed to students whose tests at least partially satisfy the aspects listed above, while to achieve a score of 30/30 cum laude, the student must instead demonstrate that he has acquired an excellent knowledge of all the topics covered during the the course.

The course includes:
a) An introduction to the Syriac language in its main aspects of alphabet, phonology and verbal and nominal morphology. Learning the use of vocabulary, reading and translating some simple passages.
b) Historical introduction to medieval Christian Arabic literature and to the main themes it has touched on (translated literature, original literature). In particular, importance will be given to the first movement of translation from Greek and Syriac into Arabic which began in Palestinian monastic circles between the eighth and ninth centuries. Finally, the Islamic-Christian correspondence between Ibn al-Munaggin and Qusta Ibn Luqa (9th century) will be read and analysed.

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Reduce inequalities.