This module analyses the development of the novel in Italy, in terms of form and themes, from its nineteenth-century roots (Manzoni, Nievo, Vivanti), to the mid-twentieth century (realism and beyond). In-depth readings (close readings), with a focus on particularly important themes and stylistic features, are offered during the lectures. Careful and guided textual analysis is an important element of the work carried out in class. Students consider the development of the genre in the 19th and 20th centuries; the debate around the concept of a literary canon; the development of the realist novel as a genre and its influence on contemporary Italian literary production.