Literatures and Cultures 3700-MSNS-23-LAC

We will start, along with the first guide, Prof. P. Kordos, from Greece or rather from the Greek language, once the lingua franca in the Oikoumene, the language that travelled far and wide with its users and became one of the universal Western languages to build up new terms and - in a way - a new world of ideas. Greek neologisms as well as old philosophical terms travelled around the globe and are universally present. Then we will move on to several examples of migration in Modern Greek literature, written from the point of view of a Greek emigrant (Chatzis, Alexakis), but also from the perspective of an immigrant to Greece (Kaplani). All these texts are at the very core of the Modern Greek literary canon.
We then move on to Italy and its literary perspective on immigration. The guide will be Professor Stefano Redaelli, the scholar and writer. He will present not only written texts but also films. This part of the class will require knowledge of Italian language at the B2 level. In addition to the issue of migration we will talk about certain stereotypes and problems of contemporary Italian culture: madness, mental health (2024 is the centenary of the birth of Franco Basaglia, the psychiatrist who stood behind closure of psychiatric hospitals in Italy), football (the film "Crazy for football").
The last module will move away from thinking within language regions and will focus on literature (and other cultural texts) dedicated not to a certain nationality, but to a certain social group - namely, the youth. Dr Krzysztof Rybak, the key specialist in children’s and YA culture, will discuss representation of migration in picturebooks (Tan's "The Arrival", Watanabe's "Migrants", Greder's "The Mediterranean", Sanna's "The Journey"), comics (Satrapi's "Persepolis", European Commission Representation in Poland's "Paneuropa: Standing with Ukraine"), films (Aardman and Save the Children UK's "Home", King's "Paddington"), video games ("The Waiting Game", "Syrian Journey", "We. The Refugees", "Path Out"), and the use of wordless picturebooks with refugees in Lampedusa and beyond (IBBY's project "Silent Books – Final Destination Lampedusa").