The course will introduce students to the cultural debate surrounding the notion of Postmodernism. Particular attention will be paid to the Italian context through a selection of literary and critical works by authors including Italo Calvino (Le città invisibili, 1973 – Invisible Cities), Umberto Eco (Il nome della rosa, 1980 – The Name of the Rose), Luther Blissett (Q, 1999), Wu Ming (The New Italian Epic, 2008) and Roberto Saviano (Gomorra – Gomorrah, 2006). All works studied are informed by or address postmodernist thinking, and challenge traditional notions of culture and literature through a range of innovative practices. The course also considers the recent crisis of postmodernist aesthetics and explores a new and emerging form of epic realism in Italian literature.