Course Syllabus

JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "EN 282"
COURSE NAME: "Italian Visions: Perceptions of Italy in Literature"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Spring 2026

SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Shannon Russell
EMAIL: [email protected]
HOURS: TTH 1:30 PM 2:45 PM
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45
CREDITS: 3
PREREQUISITES: Prerequisite: EN 110 with a grade of C or above
OFFICE HOURS: By appointment

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
The course considers the importance of Italy for non-Italian writers, particularly European, British and American writers from the eighteenth century onward. Topics considered include: a critique of the perception and construction of Italy and Italians, the development of genres like the gothic or novels of national identity, the gendering of nationality, imperialism, the use of art and history in literature. Consideration is given to the ways in which these works are in dialogue with each other in terms of cultural assumptions and influence. This course is an alternate course to EN 278. If taken in addition to EN 278, it may count as a major elective. This is a reading and writing intensive course. Students in 200-level literature classes are required to produce 4-5,000 words of critical writing.

SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:

This course traces out the construction of Italy and Italianness through the eyes of foreign visitors to and writers about Italy. Beginning with European writers of the Grand tour era, the course considers the ways in which stereotypes are replicated and evolve through selected works from the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Students will become aware of how their own assumptions about Italy and Italianness might be reflected in these works.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Students will become familiar with eighteenth and nineteenth century British, American, and European literary engagement with and about Italy. They will be able to identify the important trans-cultural relationships between these writers which their encounters with Italy expose. They will have a greater appreciation of the way cultural stereotypes both persist and evolve in time. Students will also become familiar with the cultural challenges of travelling and travel writing, through the production of their own reading journals.

TEXTBOOK:

Book Title	Author	Publisher	ISBN number	Local Bookstore
The Italian	Ann Radcliffe	OUP	978-0-19-283254-2	Almost Corner Bookshop
Italian Journey	JW Goethe	OUP	978-0-14-44233-5	Almost Corner Bookshop
Daisy Miller	Henry James	OUP	ISBN-10:0199538565	Almost Corner Bookshop
Corinne, or Italy	Germaine de Stael	OUP	9780199554607	Almost Corner Bookshop
Where Angels Fear to Tread	E.M. Forster	Penguin	978-0-14144145-0	Almost Corner Bookshop
Pictures from Italy	Charles Dickens	Penguin	‎ 978-1596257221	Almost Corner Bookshop
The Innocents Abroad	Mark Twain	Penguin	ISBN-10: 0142437085

REQUIRED RESERVED READING:

NONE

RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:

NONE

GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:

Assignment	Guidelines	Weight
First essay	Essays should be 1,500 words, and conform to MLA standards in terms of documentation of sources and research. This first paper does not have to have research but if you want to do research, no more than 2 peer-reviewed sources are required and these sources should come from one of the library's databases (MLA; JSTOR) or a book found in the library.	25%
Collective reading journal through forum posts	Students are expected to make a weekly contribution to the forums as part of a collective reading journal. Comments are to demonstrate the student's reflections on their own attempts to articulate either their own or an alien culture. These comments may bring in personal experiences but these must be critically engaged with and responsive to the assigned readings. Students should aim to comment in some way on every work of literature we study in the course through their responses in the forum, and they should also comment respectfully on other student's observations. Students should aim to respond to other student's work in at least 7 of the weeks of class.	15%
Participation	Participation is essential. Students are expected to demonstrate their reading and understanding of the material assigned through their class contributions.	10%
Final Exam	The Final Exam will involve an extended essay which will be completed in the exam timetable. The topic will be given in advance and students are expected to arrive at the exam with an outline to be submitted with their exam.	25%
Second essay	This second essay should be 2,000 words, conform to MLA style guidelines and include research (no more than 2-3 peer-reviewed sources to be found in JSTOR, MLA or in one of the books in our library)	25%

-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
AWork of this quality directly addresses the question or problem raised and provides a coherent argument displaying an extensive knowledge of relevant information or content. This type of work demonstrates the ability to critically evaluate concepts and theory and has an element of novelty and originality. There is clear evidence of a significant amount of reading beyond that required for the course.
BThis is highly competent level of performance and directly addresses the question or problem raised. There is a demonstration of some ability to critically evaluatetheory and concepts and relate them to practice. Discussions reflect the student’s own arguments and are not simply a repetition of standard lecture andreference material. The work does not suffer from any major errors or omissions and provides evidence of reading beyond the required assignments.
CThis is an acceptable level of performance and provides answers that are clear but limited, reflecting the information offered in the lectures and reference readings.
DThis level of performances demonstrates that the student lacks a coherent grasp of the material.Important information is omitted and irrelevant points included. In effect, the student has barely done enough to persuade the instructor that s/he should not fail.
FThis work fails to show any knowledge or understanding of the issues raised in the question. Most of the material in the answer is irrelevant.

-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:
Attendance is mandatory and attendance is taken in class. Absences do not go unnoticed and frequent absences will be considered by the professor to indicate a lack of participation in the class which will affect your final grade.

ACADEMIC HONESTY
As stated in the university catalog, any student who commits an act of academic dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred. In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment, may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course. Instances of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs. A student who is reported twice for academic dishonesty is subject to summary dismissal from the University. In such a case, the Academic Council will then make a recommendation to the President, who will make the final decision.

STUDENTS WITH LEARNING OR OTHER DISABILITIES
John Cabot University does not discriminate on the basis of disability or handicap. Students with approved accommodations must inform their professors at the beginning of the term. Please see the website for the complete policy.

SCHEDULE

There are five on-site classes in this course and attendance is mandatory. Absences will be counted as a missed class. Payment is required for some of our visits, but the fees can vary depending on Museum approvals for free entry. When fees are required, students should pay for the trip in advance of the visit. The fees for all 5 on-site visits are not expected to exceed 25 euros and might be as little as 10 euros or free. Confirmation on costs should be available by the first week of the semester.

"The real voyage of discovery consists, not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes." Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Things Past, p. 147.

WEEK 1 The Grand Tour - An Introduction

Tuesday

Introduction to the Course and Requirements

We will go through the virtual tour of Italy and the Grand Tour constructed from the 2001 exhibition at the Getty Museum.

http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/grand_tour/

http://museum.oglethorpe.edu/GrandTour.htm

http://www2.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/18century/topic_4/tour.htm

Thursday

The Grand Tour continued: The Anti-Italy (or Splenetic) Travellers

Tobias Smollett, Selections from Travels through France and Italy (1766). Do a google search to find an e-text version like http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/_Texts/Smollett/Travels/25.html

Read Letters 29 - 35 (letters on Rome and final letter in which he sums up the effect of his travels).

WEEK 2 Pre-Revolution Travellers and the European Artists Abroad

Tuesday

Goethe's Italian Journey Read Part 1

Required reading is the two sections on Rome for our classes, but please feel free to read the entire book.

Thursday

Goethe's Italian Journey Read Part 1 and Part 3

WEEK 3 Transformations continued

Tuesday

Ann Radcliffe’s The Italian Volume 1

Please read the prefatory story that introduces the novel and Volume 1

Thursday

FIRST FIELD TRIP: Casa di Goethe Via del Corso 18 Meet there at 1:15 pm for our scheduled tour in English (lasts one hour; Entry to the museum is 5 euros per person, including a private and free guided tour in English).

WEEK 4 Italy and the Female Gothic: Sublime and Picturesque

Tuesday

Read: Ann Radcliffe The Italian Volume 2

Aesthetic and psychological categories: The Sublime and the Picturesque Background Reading: The concept of the Sublime on the Victorian Website http://www.victorianweb.org/philosophy/sublime/sublimeov.html

Edmund Burke excerpts from essay on the Sublime http://www2.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/romantic/topic_1/burke.htm

Gilpin on ideas of the Picturesque for Romantics http://www2.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/romantic/topic%5F1/riverwye.htm

Thursday

Read: Ann Radcliffe The Italian Volume 3

WEEK 5 The Novel of National Character

Tuesday

Read: Germaine de Stael Corinne; or Italy Book 1-8, 14, 19

Thursday

SECOND FIELD TRIP: Capitoline Museum: Meet at 1:15 pm outside the ticket office. Come with your Student ID and appropriate change for the tickets, if we have to pay. PLEASE purchase the Museum of Rome card (5 euros) to get free or reduced entry to many of Rome's museums, including the Capitoline. The Capitoline is an important and large museum and depending on the approval, can cost 15 euros. Plan to spend some time here on your own after we see the things relevant to our reading for the course, as it is well worth it. We will meet at the Ticket Office and will proceed to the Pinacoteca to view the Cumean Sibyl. After that we will visit the sculpture gallery to view the Marble Faun and the Dying Gladiator.

WEEK 6

Tuesday FIRST ESSAY DUE

Read: Germaine de Stael Corinne; or Italy Book 1-8, 14, 19

Thursday

Lord Byron

Byron’s Childe Harolde’s Pilgrimage Canto IV especially stanzas cxxviii-cxxxi; cxxxviii-cxlv) http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext04/chpl10h.htm

Timeline: http://www.rc.umd.edu/reference/chronologies/mschronology/chrono.html#1822

and

Beppo http://readytogoebooks.com/LB-Bp48.htm

WEEK 7

Tuesday The Romantics In and Out of Italy

Percy Byssche Shelley The Cenci

Thursday

Keats “Happy is England” and Selections from Samuel Rogers's poem Italy: A Poem with illustrations from JMW Turner (editions from 1830 onward)

WEEK 8 SPRING BREAK

WEEK 9

Innocence Abroad: American Travellers in Europe

Tuesday

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Marble Faun (Chapters 1-16)

Thursday

THIRD FIELD TRIP: Keats Shelley House: Meet at the Museum on the Spanish Steps at 1:15 pm for a scheduled tour (cost is 6 euros).

WEEK 10

Tuesday

Hawthorne's The Marble Faun (Chapters 17-35)

Thursday

Hawthorne's The Marble Faun (to end)

WEEK 11

Victorian Travellers, New Technologies and the Reinvention of Travel

Tuesday

Charles Dickens Pictures from Italy

Read: Excerpts from Dickens’s Pictures from Italy, including chapters entitled: Italian Dream, Rome, and A Rapid Diorama: e-text available on Project Gutenberg

Thursday

Compare Charles Dickens's account of his ascent of Vesuvius with that of Mark Twain in The Innocents Abroad

Read: Mark Twain's The Innocents Abroad (Chapter 17-31 and Conclusion)

WEEK 12 Gilded Age Travellers, The New Woman and more "Innocents" abroad?

Tuesday

Read: Mark Twain's The Innocents Abroad (Chapter 17-31 and Conclusion)

Thursday

Henry James, Daisy Miller Chapter 1-3

WEEK 13 New Woman Travellers, Mediterranean Paganisms and the Modern Imagination

Tuesday

Henry James Daisy Miller Chapter 4-end

Thursday

FOURTH FIELD TRIP: The Palazzo Barberini at 1:15 pm (cost 7 euros for non-EU, less for EU citizens under 25, though we may be approval for free entry). For those who have time, we can follow our visit to the Palazzo Barberini with a visit to the Bone Church or the Church of L'Immacolata Concezione, Via Vittorio Veneto 27 (Metro Barberini or Bus to Piazza Barberini).

WEEK 14

Tuesday SECOND ESSAY DUE

E. M. Forster Where Angels Fear to Tread Chapters 1-2

Thursday All submissions for the reading journal are due in today

Read: E. M. Forster Where Angels Fear to Tread Chapters 3-4

WEEK 15

Tuesday

Read: E. M. Forster Where Angels Fear to Tread Chapters 5-end

Thursday

Read Edith Wharton's "Roman Fever" available on the internet

FIFTH FIELD TRIP - Protestant Cemetery (Piramide). Donation required. Meet at Keats's graveside at 1:15pm