PLEASE NOTE THAT THE INSTRUCTOR MIGHT NEED TO MAKE CHANGES TO THE SCHEDULE
WEEK 1 (Sept. 6, 8)
Introduction to the course. Syllabus, Course Materials, Learning Oucomes. The Notion of Italy. Sebastiano Vassalli, L’Italiano .
Readings: Christian Raimo, Contro l'identità italiana, chap 1: "Italiano per forza".
The Cambridge Companion to Modern Italian Culture, pp. 17-33.
WEEK 2 (Sept. 13, 15, 16)
UNIT I: The Question of Language. I
Dante's De Vulgari Eloquentia, Libro I.
Readings: The Cambridge Companion to Modern Italian Culture, pp. 63-70.
Italian Renaissance and the literary definition of Italian Language. Pietro Bembo’s Canon and the Culture of Imitatio.
Readings: Excerpts from P. Bembo, Prose della Volgar Lingua; Francesco Petrarca's Rerum vulgarium fragmenta, and ‘Petrarchisti’’s poems.
WEEK 3 (Sept. 20, 22)
The Question of Language during the Risorgimento.
Alessandro Manzoni and Italian Risorgimento. Giuseppe Verdi and the Role of Italian Opera in Shaping National Identity during Risorgimento.
Readings: Excerpts from Manzoni and Verdi’s librettos; Christian Raimo, Contro l'identità italiana, Chap. 3: "La rivincita del neonazionalismo".
WEEK 4 (Sept 27, 29)
ESSAY I DUE ON SEPT 29
UNIT 2: Literature as Political Discourse. Dante Alighieri, Divina Commedia: i “canti politici”.
Critical Readings: Inferno, Canto VI, vv. 58-75; Purgatorio, Canto VI, vvi. 223-228.
WEEK 5 (Oct. 4, 6)
Unit 2- Continue. F. Petrarca, Italia mia; N. Machiavelli, Il Principe, chapter XXVI.
Readings: The Cambridge Companion to Modern Italian Culture, pp. 35-53.
WEEK 6 (Oct. 11, 13)
Unit 2- Continue. Giacomo Leopardi, All'Italia; Pier Paolo Pasolini, Alla mia nazione.
Readings: The Cambridge Companion to Modern Italian Culture, pp. 53-61.
WEEK 7 (Oct. 18, 19, 20)
Review for Midterm
Oct 20: MIDTERM EXAM
Oct 21: Screening La grande guerra (M. Monicelli, 1959)
Readings: Alberto Crespi, Storia d'Italia in 15 film, pp. 37-48; The Cambridge Companion to Modern Italian Culture, pp.215-242
WEEK 8 (Oct. 25, 27)
Unit 3: Italian Intellectuals. Pier Paolo Pasolini, Scritti corsari, Chapters: “Sviluppo e progresso”, “Acculturazione e acculturazione”.
Readings: The Cambridge Companion to Modern Italian Culture, pp. 81-91; Home screening. Pier Paolo Pasolini, Comizi d’amore.
WEEK 9 (Nov. 3)
Unit 3- Continue. Discussion on PPP
Readings: Pier Paolo Pasolini, Scritti corsari, chapter “Il romanzo delle stragi”; Roberto Saviano, Gomorra, pp. 231-240. The Cambridge Companion to Modern Italian Culture,pp. 91-96.
WEEK 10 (Nov. 11, 13)
Unit 3. Continue.
In-Class Screening: Alina Marazzi, Vogliamo anche le rose (2007).
Readings: Christian Raimo, Contro l'identità italiana, chapt. 4: "Il virilismo dell'identità italiana"; Igiaba Scego, Dismatria (in Pecore nere)
WEEK 11 (Nov. 15, 17)
Unit 4: Questioning the Italian Literary Tradition from Gender and Postcolonial Perspectives.
Readings: Alberto Crespi, Storia d'Italia in 15 film, pp. 235-252; Christian Raimo, Contro l’identità italiana, chapter 5: "Un'identità italiana alternativa".
WEEK 12 (Nov. 22)
ESSAY 2 due
ORAL PRESENTATIONS
WEEK 13 (Nov. 29, Dec. 1, 2)
In-class screening: Viva l'Italia (Massimo Bruno, 2012)
Readings: Christian Raimo, Contro l'identità italiana, chap 6: "Contro l'identità"
WEEK 14 (Dec. 6)
Conclusions and Review for Final Exam