Global Arc

This course will explore the direction Italian culture has taken from WWI to the present, bringing into focus notions of identity and nationhood. Its purpose is to consider both historical developments and the impact of change in the formation of the Italian democratic state. We shall examine the ways film artists have identified visual images with specific socio-political factors. Close reading and extensive practice of writing in a variety of genres. Focus on composition of short essays.

This course is designed to give an overview of pivotal moments in Italian culture, such as the relationship between Church and Empire in the Middle Ages, Machiavelli's political theory during the Renaissance, and the rise and fall of Fascism in the 20th century. Through the examination of the most relevant intellectual, historic and artistic movements and their main geographical venues, students will be able to acquire a comprehensive understanding of the development of Italian history and civilization. Prerequisite: Italian 107 or instructor's permission.

Working at the crossroads of American influences and the tradition of political songs, Italian cantautori merge popular appeal and literary sophistication. For at least three generations, their songs have provided an engaged soundtrack to Italy's turbulent social, political and cultural transformations in the post-WWII years. As lyrics on the page, as music to be listened to, and as performances recorded in video, Italian canzoni d'autore are part of Italian history and identity today. Prerequisite: ITA 107 or permission of instructor. This course is taught in Italian.

We will concentrate on the theory and practice of translation, focusing on the stylistic differences present in various genres and periods. An intensive grammatical and syntactical analysis of every piece translated will be conducted through class discussion. Students will be required to write original compositions following the stylistic mode of the various pieces translated. Texts to be translated will include selections from English and American writers, from the 18th (J. Austen) to the 20th century (J. Heller), and poetry as well as prose.

Considered by many the greatest scholar of his age, a successful rival to Dante, the revered teacher of Boccaccio, Petrarch bequeathed to posterity the most beautiful sonnets ever written in the Florentine vernacular. In the course, we will study the "Canzoniere", his collection of lyric poetry, a book which shaped the language of love in the European Renaissance, and a sample from his "Trionfi". The texts will be analyzed in relation to their historical and cultural context and for the impact they will have on modern European Literature. Prerequisite: One 200-level ITA course or permission of instructor.

Intensive study of the Inferno, with major attention paid to poetic elements such as structure, allegory, narrative technique, and relation to earlier literature, principally the Latin classics. Course conducted in English in a highly interactive seminar format. Prerequisites: One 200-level ITA course or permission of instructor required.

This course covers the study of the entirety of Dante's "Commedia" in connection with Dante's other poetic and prose works in the vernacular. Highly interactive seminar, taught in Italian.

An investigation on modern and post-modern experimentalism focused on gender issues and gendered perspectives. The main object of analysis will be Italy, from futurism to the current revivals of vanguardism, but a variety of trans-national and international voices will substantiate the historical landscape. We will address a number of case studies and their socio-cultural contexts: from aviatrixes and futurist women to the bodies of surreal metamorphic creatures in paintings and stories, to neo-avant-garde movements in the Sixties and Seventies, to post-punk books, non-textual literature, and audio/video-poetry.

This course will introduce students to the basic trends and problems of Renaissance literature as the main source of our civilization. The major literary figures of the 16th-century Italian revival (such as Machiavelli, Leonardo, Galileo, Castiglione, Michelangelo, etc.) will be studied in relation to their time, the courts or the cities where they lived, and their seminal contributions to modern Europe culture including works of visual art, theater, and good living. Prerequisite: a 200-level Italian course or instructor's permission.

Intensive practice of written and spoken Italian through close analysis of grammatical and syntactic structures, literary translation, and the stylistic study of representative literary works from the Middle Ages to the present. Focus on rhetorical structures and on Italian linguistic change. Prerequisite: a 200-level course in Italian or instructor's permission. Two 90-minute classes.