Abstract

This paper explores how Chinese-speaking students approach and represent Italian literary texts. The author refers to Chinese-speaking students of Italian, about whom he has on-the-job experience. The introduction emphasizes how Chinese culture and philosophy, pivoting around the ideal of harmony, befit the textual teaching in Italian language, within the Romance cultural and linguistic context, where the fracture, the Dyonisian, the textual pathos, are important concepts. The subject is approached with a two-fold perspective. The first is more general and expresses the need for an integrated and dynamic encounter between Chinese and Italian culture. The second is more specific and considers the best didactic model for the Chinese speakers who need to analyze Italian literary texts. A specific model is proposed based on the “ludic textual functionµ, which comprises an “agonistic functionµ and a “creative functionµ. With regards to agonism, the most important Chinese and Italian poems and chants in which the agonistic function is central are illustrated. With regards to creativity, after a digression on the connotative nuances of the Chinese words translating “gameµ and “playµ, the most important definitions of creativity within the Italian context are examined. The conclusion explores three activities conducted with Chinese-speaking students and based on the agonistic function and on the creative function.