Courses for Fall 2022

Title Instructors Location Time Description Cross listings Fulfills Registration notes Syllabus Syllabus URL
ITAL 0097-401 First-Year Seminar: Italian Foods and Cultures Lourdes Contreras
Eva Del Soldato 		MEYH B13 TR 3:30 PM-4:59 PM Topics vary. See the Department's website at https://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses for a description of current offerings. CIMS0097401, CIMS0097401, GSWS0097401, GSWS0097401 Cross Cultural Analysis
Arts & Letters Sector 		https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=ITAL0097401
ITAL 0100-301 Elementary Italian I Alessandra Fumagalli WILL 302 MTWR 10:15 AM-11:14 AM A first-semester elementary language course for students who have never studied Italian or who have had very little exposure to the language. Students who have previously studied Italian are required to take the placement test. Class work emphasizes the development of spontaneous discourse skills and interactional competence. Out-of-class homework required. https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=ITAL0100301
ITAL 0100-302 Elementary Italian I Julia Heim WILL 318 MTWR 12:00 PM-12:59 PM A first-semester elementary language course for students who have never studied Italian or who have had very little exposure to the language. Students who have previously studied Italian are required to take the placement test. Class work emphasizes the development of spontaneous discourse skills and interactional competence. Out-of-class homework required. https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=ITAL0100302
ITAL 0100-303 Elementary Italian I CANCELED A first-semester elementary language course for students who have never studied Italian or who have had very little exposure to the language. Students who have previously studied Italian are required to take the placement test. Class work emphasizes the development of spontaneous discourse skills and interactional competence. Out-of-class homework required. https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=ITAL0100303
ITAL 0100-304 Elementary Italian I Julia Heim CANCELED A first-semester elementary language course for students who have never studied Italian or who have had very little exposure to the language. Students who have previously studied Italian are required to take the placement test. Class work emphasizes the development of spontaneous discourse skills and interactional competence. Out-of-class homework required. https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=ITAL0100304
ITAL 0100-305 Elementary Italian I Stefania Baita WILL 317 MTWR 3:30 PM-4:29 PM A first-semester elementary language course for students who have never studied Italian or who have had very little exposure to the language. Students who have previously studied Italian are required to take the placement test. Class work emphasizes the development of spontaneous discourse skills and interactional competence. Out-of-class homework required. https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=ITAL0100305
ITAL 0120-301 Accelerated Elementary Italian Rossella Di Rosa WILL 320 MTWR 1:45 PM-2:44 PM An intensive two-credit course covering the first and second semester of the elementary year for students who have never studied Italian before but have already fulfilled the language requirement in another modern language, preferably a romance language. Students who have fulfilled the language requirement in a language other than a romance language will be considered on an individual basis. All students must have departmental permission to register. Class work emphasizes the development of spontaneous discourse skills and interactional competence. Out-of-class homework required. https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=ITAL0120301
ITAL 0200-301 Elementary Italian II WILL 203 MTWR 12:00 PM-12:59 PM This course is the continuation of the elementary-level sequence designed to develop functional competence in the four skills. Class work emphasizes the further development of spontaneous discourse skills and interactional competence. Out-of-class homework required. https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=ITAL0200301
ITAL 0300-301 Intermediate Italian I Lourdes Contreras DRLB 2N36 MWF 12:00 PM-12:59 PM Italian 0300 is the first half of a two-semester intermediate sequence designed to help you attain a level of proficiency that will allow you to function comfortably in an Italian-speaking environment. The course will build on your existing skills in Italian, increase your confidence and your ability to read, write, speak and understand the language, and introduce you to more refined lexical items, more complex grammatical structures, and more challenging cultural material. You are expected to have already learned the most basic grammatical structures in elementary Italian and to review these. The course materials will allow you to explore culturally relevant topics and to develop cross-cultural skills through the exploration of similarities and differences between your native culture and the Italian world. https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=ITAL0300301
ITAL 0300-302 Intermediate Italian I Stefania Baita WILL 203 MWF 1:45 PM-2:44 PM Italian 0300 is the first half of a two-semester intermediate sequence designed to help you attain a level of proficiency that will allow you to function comfortably in an Italian-speaking environment. The course will build on your existing skills in Italian, increase your confidence and your ability to read, write, speak and understand the language, and introduce you to more refined lexical items, more complex grammatical structures, and more challenging cultural material. You are expected to have already learned the most basic grammatical structures in elementary Italian and to review these. The course materials will allow you to explore culturally relevant topics and to develop cross-cultural skills through the exploration of similarities and differences between your native culture and the Italian world. https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=ITAL0300302
ITAL 0300-303 Intermediate Italian I Deion Dresser WILL 315 MWR 3:30 PM-4:29 PM Italian 0300 is the first half of a two-semester intermediate sequence designed to help you attain a level of proficiency that will allow you to function comfortably in an Italian-speaking environment. The course will build on your existing skills in Italian, increase your confidence and your ability to read, write, speak and understand the language, and introduce you to more refined lexical items, more complex grammatical structures, and more challenging cultural material. You are expected to have already learned the most basic grammatical structures in elementary Italian and to review these. The course materials will allow you to explore culturally relevant topics and to develop cross-cultural skills through the exploration of similarities and differences between your native culture and the Italian world. https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=ITAL0300303
ITAL 0340-301 Accelerated Intermediate Italian Lorella Prichett WILL 705 MWF 1:45 PM-2:44 PM This course is the intensive and accelerated course that combines in one semester the intermediate sequence (0300 and 0400). It will build on your existing skills in Italian, increase your confidence and your ability to read, write, speak and understand the language, and introduce you to more refined lexical items, more complex grammatical structures, and more challenging cultural material. The course will allow you to explore culturally relevant topics and to develop cross-cultural skills through the exploration of similarities and differences between your native culture and the Italian world. https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=ITAL0340301
ITAL 0400-301 Intermediate Italian II Julia Heim WILL 23 MWR 1:45 PM-2:44 PM This course is the second half of a two-semester intermediate sequence designed to help you attain a level of proficiency that will allow you to function comfortably in an Italian-speaking environment. The course will build on your existing skills in Italian, increase your confidence and your ability to read, write, speak and understand the language, and introduce you to more refined lexical items, more complex grammatical structures, and more challenging cultural material. The course will allow you to explore culturally relevant topics and to develop cross-cultural skills through the exploration of analogies and differences between your native culture and the Italian world. The course will move beyond stereotypical presentations of Italy and its people to concentrate on specific social issues together with cultural topics. https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=ITAL0400301
ITAL 0800-301 Italian Conversation CANCELED The course materials and nature of assignments and projects complement the Italian Studies curriculum by supporting the cultural content, linguistic functions, and types of assignments students may have already been exposed to in other Italian courses. This course will serve not only as a gateway to inspire students to take Italian Studies courses in the future, but will also accompany classes they may be taking simultaneously. The learning objectives of the works studied in this course will mirror and support the goals of the Italian Studies Curriculum while paying particular attention to oral expression, communication, and fostering a community of students of Italian both inside and outside the classroom. https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=ITAL0800301
ITAL 1000-301 Advanced Italian I Rossella Di Rosa WILL 315 MWF 12:00 PM-12:59 PM This course will focus on contemporary Italian culture following its development since the 1960s. Pertinent films, literary texts, articles, as well as material in other media will complement the analysis of films and allow in-depth discussion. The cultural material explored in the course will be also used as a basis for a review of linguistic structures and vocabulary. Audiovisual materials develop students' comprehension and production in Italian and enable them to function in an academic setting. Class work will center primarily on conversation to improve students' fluency, vocabulary, and accuracy in speaking. Homework will consist of research and writing assignments in written Italian. Additionally, students will be required to prepare presentations. Students will write a final essay. https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=ITAL1000301
ITAL 1211-301 Business Italian Massimiliano Lorenzon WILL 319 TR 1:45 PM-3:14 PM The course is conducted entirely in Italian and should be taken after completion of Italian 1000 or equivalent. It is designed to enable students to acquire language proficiency in the current Italian business and labor world. Business terminology will be used in specific business situations such as banking, trade, communications, etc. The course will examine Italian business practices, cultural differences such as the attitude towards money, work, leisure and consumerism through websites, newspaper and magazine articles and video clips. Students will learn to read business publications, write and compose business texts, and participate in business-related conversations. Additionally, guest lecturers from the local business world with ties to Italy will provide students with information about internship and job opportunities and the knowledge necessary to navigate international and Italian commercial routes. All reading and lectures in Italian. https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=ITAL1211301
ITAL 1320-401 Composers: Opera Composers 1600-1900 Mauro P Calcagno This course will center on the biography, works, and cultural context of a specific composer or group of composers. As well as introducing students to the musical works of the composer(s), the course will examine issues such as reception history, the canon, mechanisms of cult formation, authorship and attribution, identity, historical and social contexts, and nationalism and patriotism. Fulfills Arts and Letters Requirement. The course centers on a group of composers who created or developed opera as a successful genre by setting texts in Italian: Monteverdi, Handel, Mozart, Verdi, and Puccini. We will explore how these musicians were involved in opera as a business model, how their careers took shape, how their music interacted on stage with words, bodies, and sets (enhancing narratives based on literature, mythology and history), how their works were products of larger social contexts, and finally, how and why these operas are presented today by American theatres (also adapted as Broadway musicals) or in film versions. The course is intended for non-majors, but music majors are welcome. Knowledge of Italian is not necessary. MUSC1320401, MUSC1320401, MUSC1320401 Arts & Letters Sector
ITAL 1440-401 Film Music in Post 1950 Italy Jamuna S Samuel BENN 406 TR 10:15 AM-11:44 AM An exploration of cinematic sound through the lens of specific composer/director collaborations in post-1950 Italy, examining scores, soundtracks, and the interaction of diegetic and non-diegetic music with larger soundscapes. Composers Nino Rota and Ennio Morricone serve as case studies, in partnership with directors Fellini, Visconti, Leone, Pontecorve, Pasolini, and Coppola. Highlights include several excerpts form the Fellini/Rota collaboration, including The White Sheik, I vitelloni, The Road, Nights of Cabiria, La dolce vita, 8 1/2, Juliet of the Spirits, Satyricon, The Clowns, Roma, Amarcord, Casanova, and Orchestra Rehearsal. Rota's music for Visconti will be examined in Senso, the Leopard, and Rocco and his Brothers, along with his Transatlantic collaboration for The Godfather. Morricone's work with various directors will be discussed in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, The Battle of Algiers, and Teorema, as well as for American films such as Malick's Days of Heaven and Tarantino's The Hateful Eight. Weekly screenings required. Open to all: music majors, minors, and non-majors; will count toward requirements for music minor. Knowledge of music and Italian helpful but not required. All readings and lectures in English. MUSC1440401, MUSC1440401
ITAL 1890-401 Masterpieces-Italian Literature Eva Del Soldato CANCELED This course surveys the history of Italian literature through its major masterpieces. Beginning with Dante's Divine Comedy, Petrarca's love poems, and Boccaccio's Decameron, we will follow the development of Italian literary tradition through the Renaissance (Machiavelli's political theory and Ariosto's epic poem), and then through Romanticism (Leopardi's lyric poetry and Manzoni's historical novel), up to the 20th century (from D'annunzio's sensual poetry to Calvino's post-modern short stories). The course will provide students with the tools needed for analyzing the texts in terms of both form and content, and for framing them in their historical, cultural, and socio-political context. Classes and readings will be in Italian. ITAL 1890 is mandatory for Majors in Italian Literature and Minors in Italian Literature. If necessary, ITAL 1000 can be taken at the same time as ITAL 1890. Prerequisite: Open to students who have completed ITAL 1000 or equivalent. COML1890401, COML1890401 Arts & Letters Sector
Cross Cultural Analysis 		https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=ITAL1890401
ITAL 1900-401 Italian History on Screen: How Movies Tell the Story of Italy Deion Dresser
Carla Locatelli 		DRLB A6 MW 3:30 PM-4:59 PM How has our image of Italy arrived to us? Where does the story begin and who has recounted, rewritten, and rearranged it over the centuries? In this course, we will study Italy's rich and complex past and present. We will carefully read literary and historical texts and thoughtfully watch films in order to attain an understanding of Italy that is as varied and multifacted as the country itself. Group work, discussions and readings will allow us to examine the problems and trends in the political, cultural and social history from ancient Rome to today. We will focus on: the Roman Empire, Middle Ages, Renaissance, Unification, Turn of the Century, Fascist era, World War II, post-war and contemporary Italy. Lectures and readings are in English. CIMS1900401, CIMS1900401, CIMS1900401 Arts & Letters Sector
Cross Cultural Analysis 		https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=ITAL1900401
ITAL 1910-401 Sicily on Page and Screen Julia Heim BENN 16 TR 3:30 PM-4:29 PM What images come to mind when we hear the words Sicily and Sicilians? Often our thoughts range from scenic vacation spots, delicious seafood and cannoli, and sweet grandmothers dressed in black, to mafia violence, vendettas, and the deep-rooted code of silence, omerta. But, how did these ideas get to us? Is there truth in them? Is there more to this island and its people? Through careful analysis of literary and cinematic representations of this Italian region, and those that do and have inhabited it, we will trace and analyze how Sicilians have represented themselves, how mainland Italians have interpreted Sicilian culture, how outsiders have understood these symbols, how our own perceptions shaped what we thought we knew about this place and, finally, how our own observations will have evolved throughout our studies. We will watch films such as Tornatore's Cinema paradiso and Coppola's The Godfather II, and read texts such as Lampedusa's The Leopard and Maraini's Bagheria. This course aims to increase students' understanding and knowledge of the Sicilian socio-cultural system. It will help students develop their ability to understand and interpret Sicilian culture through close analysis of its history, values, attitudes, and experiences, thereby allowing them to better recognize and examine the values and practices that define their own, as well as others', cultural frameworks. CIMS1910401, CIMS1910401 Cross Cultural Analysis https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=ITAL1910401
ITAL 2201-401 The City of Rome: From Constantine to the Borgias Ann Elizabeth Moyer COLL 311A TR 1:45 PM-3:14 PM The great city of Rome outlived its empire and its emperors. What happened to the Eternal City after “the fall of the Roman Empire in the West?” In this course, we will follow the story of this great city, its people, its buildings old and new, and its legacy across Italy, Europe, and beyond. Rome rebuilt and reshaped itself through the Middle Ages: home for popes, destination for pilgrims, power broker for Italy. It became a great Renaissance and early modern city, a center of art and architecture, of religion, and of politics. We will be reading a mix of primary sources and modern scholarship. All required texts are in English, though students who take this course for Italian Studies credit may choose to read some works in Italian. HIST2201401, HIST2201401 Cross Cultural Analysis
ITAL 2522-401 Modern Italian Culture CANCELED Please check the website for a current course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses CIMS2522401, CIMS2522401, GSWS2522401, GSWS2522401 https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=ITAL2522401
ITAL 2550-601 Michelangelo and the Art of the Italian Renaissance Sheila Carol Barker JAFF B17 R 5:15 PM-8:14 PM An introduction to the work of the Renaissance artist Michelangelo (1475-1564)-his sculptures, paintings, architecture, poetry, and artistic theory-in relation to his patrons, predecessors, and contemporaries, above all Leonardo and Raphael. Topics include artistic creativity and license, religious devotion, the revival of antiquity, observation of nature, art as problem-solving, the public reception and function of artworks, debates about style, artistic rivalry, and traveling artists. Rather than taking the form of a survey, this course selects works as paradigmatic case studies, and will analyze contemporary attitudes toward art of this period through study of primary sources. ARTH2500601, ARTH2500601 Cross Cultural Analysis
ITAL 2950-401 Palermo: Urban Migration, the Built Environment, and Global Justice Franca Trubiano
Domenic Vitiello 		VANP 302 F 8:30 AM-11:29 AM This City Seminar sponsored by Penn’s Humanities+Urbanism+Design initiative explores Palermo, Italy, its migrant communities, built environment, and related questions of justice. In the first half of the semester, we will survey Palermo’s long history as one of the most “conquered” cities in the world, tracing different empires and peoples’ impacts on the city, its social life and built environment, to its recent history as a “sanctuary city” and center of diverse communities from Africa, Asia, and Europe. The class will travel to Palermo during the week of fall break, documenting the built environments of historic and contemporary immigrant neighborhoods, and meeting with leaders of city government, immigrant rights movements, and migrant community associations. Assisted by “cultural mediators” from various communities, students will produce case studies of different migrant communities, their civil society organizations, and the recent impacts they have had on the city and its built environment. Leaders of Palermo’s elected migrants’ city council, the Consulta delle Culture, will be our partners in this class and its engagement with migrant communities. During the second half of the semester, we will continue to explore contemporary topics related to migration, the built environment, and social justice in the city while students work to develop their case studies, which we will publish at the end of the semester on a web site that we build together. URBS2950401, URBS2950401 Perm Needed From Instructor
ITAL 3335-401 BFS--Med/Red Dante in English: Creative Responses to the Divine Comedy David Wallace VANP 627 MW 1:45 PM-3:14 PM Dante's Divine Comedy has long been acclaimed as the greatest poem ever written, in any language. It is certainly among the most inclusive, covering every conceivable realm of human experience-- past, present, and future. In his Vita nuova ('New Life'), Dante tells of his growing love for a woman who first induces in him paralysis of feeling, then later free-flowing poetic creativity-- but then, suddenly, she dies. The Commedia, as it is known in Italian, proposes that death may not be the end; that lovers may meet again, and that their love forms part of the greater energy of the universe. This journey towards understanding comes in stages, or steps. First, led by the great Roman poet Vergil, Dante travels downwards through a lightless realm (Inferno) where people remain fixed in a single, inflexible attitude: Hell for Dante is another word for inability to change. Next, Dante and Vergil emerge into the light and climb the mountain of Purgatory. With first-hand knowledge of the worst of human nature behind them, they travel hopefully upwards and finally recover the first site of simple human happiness: the Earthly Paradise. Here, through much effort and much help from artists and poets, human beings can change, leaving destructive impulses behind. Finally, freed from worldly anxieties, Dante travels further beyond time to experience ultimate truths with his first beloved, Beatrice: Paradiso.
The first English poet to be seriously inspired by Dante was Geoffrey Chaucer (died 1400). Chaucer's encounter with Dante's text and Dante's disciples (he travelled to Italy twice) led first to artistic crisis and then to his revolutionizing of English poetry. Many poets and writers since have seen revolutionary potential (Irish Dante, black Dante), across Europe and beyond. Students in this class will sample a wide range of this creativity while formulating their own, unique research project (plus one shorter, tune-up essay). This can take the form of a traditionally-footnoted final long essay, or be given a more creative spin.
We will read substantial sections of the Commedia, using parallel Italian-English texts, but never more than five cantos (about 600 lines) per class. No prior knowledge of Italian needed. We'll read more of Inferno than Paradiso, but not neglect Purgatorio or the Vita nuova. It's not crucial that we all employ the same edition, since the Commedia's text is designedly stable (tamperproof). There are many excellent recent translations to choose from (plus some duds and eccentricities). For a first pass through the poem I recommend the translation of Allan Mandelbaum, that I'll likely use myself, because i) he stages a real poet's struggle with the Italian; ii) his notes are helpful, but not overpowering; iii) very cheap (Bantam classics).
Anglophone writers who have been inspired by Dante, and who we might read in class, include: Geoffrey Chaucer; John Milton; Percy Bysshe Shelley; John Keats; William Blake; Alfred Lord Tennyson; Dante Gabriel Rossetti and other pre-Rapahelites; Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; Fanny Appleton; H. Cordelia Ray; Ezra Pound; T.S. Eliot; James Joyce; Samuel Beckett; Seamus Heaney; Osip Mandelstam; Amiri Baraka; Derek Walcott; Eternal Kool Project; film and video makers (since 1907); Caroline Bergvall. 		COML0502401, COML0502401, ENGL0502401, ENGL0502401 Arts & Letters Sector
ITAL 3408-401 Italian Literature Filippo Trentin BENN 406 TR 12:00 PM-1:29 PM Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses CIMS3408401, CIMS3408401, GSWS3408401, GSWS3408401 Cross Cultural Analysis
ITAL 3508-301 Italian Literature: Italian Ecologies Rossella Di Rosa BENN 19 MW 1:45 PM-3:14 PM Taught in Italian. Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Cross Cultural Analysis https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=ITAL3508301
ITAL 5110-401 Introduction to Paleography & Book History Eva Del Soldato VANP 627 W 3:30 PM-5:29 PM Writing and reading are common actions we do every day. Nonetheless they have changed over the centuries, and a fourteenth century manuscript appears to us very different from a Penguin book. The impact of cultural movements such as Humanism, and of historical events, such as the Reformation, reshaped the making of books, and therefore the way of reading them. The course will provide students with an introduction to the history of the book, including elements of paleography, and through direct contact with the subjects of the class: manuscripts and books. Furthermore, a section of the course will focus on digital resources, in order to make students familiar with ongoing projects related to the history of book collections (including the "Philosophical Libraries" and the "Provenance" projects, based at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa and at Penn). The course will be conducted in English; a basic knowledge of Latin is desirable but not required. CLST7709401, CLST7709401, COML5111401, COML5111401 https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=ITAL5110401
ITAL 5810-401 Modern/Contemporary Italian Culture Carla Locatelli WILL 307 T 3:30 PM-5:29 PM Please see department website for current description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/graduate/courses COML5811401, COML5811401, COML5811401, JWST5810401, JWST5810401, JWST5810401 https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=ITAL5810401
ITAL 5910-301 Italian Teaching & Learning Rossella Di Rosa CANCELED This is a year-long course required of all first-year Teaching Assistants in Italian. It is designed to provide new instructors with the necessary practical support to carry out their teaching responsibilities effectively and to build their own portfolio. It will also introduce students to various approaches to foreign language teaching as well as to current issues in second language acquisition. https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=ITAL5910301
ITAL 5940-401 English, Irish, and American Dantes David Wallace VANP 629 M 10:15 AM-1:14 PM You cannot build a wall to stop the free flow of literary and creative ideas. But in constructing narratives of national identity, states have long adopted particular texts as "foundational." Very often these texts have been epics or romances designated "medieval," that is, associated with the period in which specific vernaculars or "mother tongues" first emerged. France and Germany, for example, have long fought over who "owns" the Strasbourg oaths, or the Chanson de Roland; new editions of this epic poem, written in French but telling of Frankish (Germanic) warriors, have been produced (on both sides) every time these two countries go to war. In this course we will thus study both a range of "medieval" texts and the ways in which they have been claimed, edited, and disseminated to serve particular nationalist agendas. Particular attention will be paid to the early nineteenth century, and to the 1930s. Delicate issues arise as nations determine what their national epic needs to be. Russia, for example, needs the text known as The Song of Igor to be genuine, since it is the only Russian epic to predate the Mongol invasion. The text was discovered in 1797 and then promptly lost in Moscow's great fire of 1812; suggestions that it might have been a fake have to be handled with care in Putin's Russia. Similarly, discussing putative Mughal (Islamic) elements in so-called "Hindu epics" can also be a delicate matter. Some "uses of the medieval" have been exercised for reactionary and revisionist causes in the USA, but such use is much more extravagant east of Prague. And what, exactly, is the national epic of the USA? What, for that matter, of England? Beowulf has long been celebrated as an English Ur-text, but is set in Denmark, is full of Danes (and has been claimed for Ulster by Seamus Heaney). Malory's Morte Darthur was chosen to provide scenes for the queen's new robing room (following the fire that largely destroyed the Palace of Westminster in 1834), but Queen Victoria found the designs unacceptable: too much popery and adultery. Foundations of literary history still in force today are rooted in nineteenth-century historiography: thus we have The Cambridge History of Italian Literature and The Cambridge History of German Literature, each covering a millennium, even though political entities by the name of Italy and Germany did not exist until the later nineteenth century. What alternative ways of narrating literary history might be found? Itinerary models, which do not observe national boundaries, might be explored, and also the cultural history of watercourses, such as the Rhine, Danube, or Nile. The exact choice of texts to be studied will depend in part on the interests of those who choose to enroll. Faculty with particular regional expertise will be invited to visit specific classes. COML5904401, COML5904401, ENGL5940401, ENGL5940401
ITAL 6050-401 Modern Literary Theory and Criticism Ian Fleishman
Andrea Goulet 		VANP 626 M 1:45 PM-4:44 PM This course will provide an overview of major European thinkers in critical theory of the 20th and 21st centuries. We will pay particular attention to critical currents that originated in Eastern European avant-garde and early socialist contexts and their legacies and successors. Topics covered will include: Russian Formalism and its successors in Structuralism and Deconstruction (Shklovsky, Levi-Strauss, Jakobson, Derrida); Bakhtin and his circle, dialogism and its later western reception; debates over aesthetics and politics of the 1930s (Lukacs, Brecht, Adorno, Benjamin, Radek, Clement Greenberg); the October group; Marxism, new Left criticism, and later lefts (Althusser, Williams, Eagleton, Jameson, Zizek). COML6050401, COML6050401, ENGL7905401, ENGL7905401, FREN6050401, FREN6050401, GRMN6050401, GRMN6050401, REES6435401, REES6435401
ITAL 9950-011 Dissertation Eva Del Soldato Preparation for the dissertation
ITAL 9999-011 Independent Study Eva Del Soldato Independent research under the supervision of a department faculty member. Research topic is determined in consultation with the supervising faculty member.
ITAL 9999-012 Independent Study Rossella Di Rosa Independent research under the supervision of a department faculty member. Research topic is determined in consultation with the supervising faculty member.