Course Syllabus

JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "EN 282H"
COURSE NAME: "Italian Visions: Perceptions of Italy in Literature (This course carries 4 semester hours of credits. A minimum CUM GPA of 3.5 is required)"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Spring 2015

SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Shannon Russell
EMAIL: [email protected]
HOURS: TTH 11:30AM 12:45PM
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:

“A man who has not been in Italy is always conscious of an inferiority, from his not having seen what it is expected a man should see.” Samuel Johnson [who did not make it to Italy] 1776

This course attempts to chart the incredible influence of Italy on the imaginations of British, American and European writers of the 18th and 19th centuries. In addition to reading, students will make on-site visits to places relevant to the literature studied, including: Keats Shelley House, Goethe House, the Protestant Cemetery, the Palazzo Barbarini and the Capitoline Museum. We begin with the European “discovery” of Italy through accounts of the Grand Tour. From there we consider the ways in which Italy existed as a destination for the emotional transformation of artists. From our discussion of Goethe through the gothic novel and on to the Romantics, we will consider the changing landscape of pre and post-revolutionary Italy. Victorian responses both to Rome’s imperial past, to its art, and to the Risorgimento will follow. We will look at how the “otherness” of Italy is involved in the definition of Euro-American values in this period. The historical changes in Europe and America which inform the way writers encounter the culture of Italy will provide the map for our understanding of the literature of the period. The relationship between constructions of gender and nationalism in this literature will also be a focus. By the end of the course, we will be able to appreciate how much these writers are influenced not just by Italy, but by each other’s responses to its rich resources, despite their very different cultural or historical perspectives. Students should develop an appreciation and awareness of importance of the transcultural and transnational relationships between these writers.

SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:
See above as well as the reading list and course schedule.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Students will become familiar with eighteenth and nineteenth century Biritish, American and European literary engagement with and about Italy. It is hoped that they will be able to identify the important trans-cultural relationships between these writers which their encounters with Italy expose. Students will also become familiar with the cultural challenges of travel writing.
Honors Requirements: Students who are taking the course for an Honors requirement will be exposed to more advanced critical and theoretical issues in the field and will be asked to do an extra assignment, such as an essay, where they will demonstrate this engagement with the state of the discipline of eighteenth and nineteenth century studies. Honors requirements can also be fulfilled if students add to the length and critical requirements of the regular essay assignments, or through a special presentation on a topic of their choice to be arranged in advance with the professor.

TEXTBOOK:

Book Title	Author	Publisher	ISBN number
Where Angels Fear to Tread	E. M. Forster	Penguin Classics	978-0-141-44145
Corinne; or Italy	Germaine de Stael	Oxford World's Classics	978-0-19-955460-7
Daisy Miller	Henry James	Oxford World's Classics	978-0-19-953856-0
The Italian	Ann Radcliffe	Oxford World's Classics	978-0-19-283254-2
The Marble Faun	Nathaniel Hawthorne	Oxford World's Classics	978-0-19-955407-2
Italian Journey	Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe	Oxford World's Classics	978-0-14--44233-5

REQUIRED RESERVED READING:

NONE

RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:

NONE

GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:

Assignment	Guidelines	Weight
Two essays 6-8 pages typed	Essays should conform to MLA standards in terms of documentation of sources and research.	50%
Reading Journal (Minimum 15 typed pages)	Reading journals are to demonstrate the student's engagement with the material in light of their own attempts to articulate either their own or an alien culture. Journals may be personal but must also be critically engaged with the reading assigned. Students should aim to comment in some way on every work of literature we study in the course through their responses in the journal.	20%
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 in place.	20%
Honors requirement	Students who take the course for Honors must complete an extra assignment to be arranged between the professor and the student. Typically, these extra assignments are designed to expose the student to advanced critical thinking in the field of study. Students usually produce an extra essay or add to the length of the regular essay assignments to fulfil the Honors requirement. Students may, instead, choose to do an extra presentation which demonstrates advanced critical and historical knowledge of a particular aspect of the literature studied. They may also choose to do a combination of the two -- involving extra writing and an extra presentation, depending on their interests. Students are individually mentored by the professor, and meet to discuss and devise the Honors requirements at the beginning of the semester.	PASS/Fall (B+ standing is a pass)

-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 cours
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. At three absences your overall grade for the course is reduced.

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 will be FIVE on-site classes. ATTENDANCE IS MANDATORY and our visits have been pre-booked. Absences will be counted as 1.5 missed classes and an extra assignment will be required to make up for any legitimate absences. Personal trips planned do NOT count as a legitimate excuse for absences.

Payment for our field trips is required in advance of the visit. In lieu of these required field trips and the extra time required during the lunch hour break to get to and from sites, one class in the regular schedule has been cancelled. See schedule below for details.

WEEK 1

Tues. Jan. 20

Introduction to the Course and Requirements

The Grand Tour - An Introduction

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

Review: Three views of the Grand Tour in Norton Anthology

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

Thurs. Jan. 22

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

Tues. Jan. 27

Goethe's Italian Journey Read Part 1 for today (Tuesday)

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

Thurs. Jan. 29
Goethe's Italian Journey Read Part 3 Second Roman Visit

WEEK 3

Tues. Feb. 3 Italy and the Female Gothic

Ann Radcliffe The Italian Read Volume 1. Please read the prefatory story that introduces the novel, carefully.

Thurs. Feb. 5

FIRST FIELD TRIP: Casa di Goethe Via del Corso 18 Meet there at 12 pm for our scheduled tour in English (lasts one hour; Entry to the museum is 4 euros per person, including a private and free guided tour in English)

WEEK 4

Tues. Feb. 10

Read: Ann Radcliffe The Italian (Volume 1 continued and Volume 2)

Thurs. Feb. 12 JOURNALS DUE TODAY

Read: Radcliffe The Italian (Volume 2 and 3)

Aesthetic and psychological categories: The Sublime and the Picturesque Background Reading: The concept of the Sublime on the Victorian Websitehttp://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

WEEK 5

Tues. Feb. 17

Read: The Italian (Volume 3)

Thurs. Feb. 19 SECOND FIELD TRIP: Capitoline Museum Meet at 12pm in front of ticket office to the right of the statue of Marcus Aurelius on his horse.

Read: Madame de Stael's Corinne; or Italy Books 1-8

Meet at the Capitoline Museum at 12 pm. The Capitoline is an important and large museum and at 12 euros a ticket, it is worth savouring. 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 Pinoteca to view the Cumean Sibyl. After that we will visit the sculpture gallery to view the Marble Faun and the Dying Gladiator.

WEEK 6

Tues. Feb. 24 FIRST ESSAY DUE

Read: Madame de Stael's Corinne; or Italy Books 9-16

Thurs. Feb. 26
Read: Corinne (Books 17-20)

WEEK 7

Tues. March 3

Read: Corinne (Books 17-20)

Thurs. March 5 -- NO CLASS -- cancelled in lieu of field trips

WEEK 8

Tues. March 10 The Romantics in Italy

Read: Percy Bysshe Shelley’s The Cenci

http://web.bilkent.edu.tr/Online/www.english.upenn.edu/jlynch/Frank/PShelley/cencitp.html

Thurs. March 12

Read: Keats’s “Happy is England” and Byron’s Beppo

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

(Not required reading, but you may want to look at “Childe Harolde Canto 4” 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

WEEK 9

Tues. March 17

Hawthorne's The Marble Faun (Chapters 1-16)

THIRD FIELD TRIP: The Palazzo Barberini at 12 pm (cost 7 euros for non-EU, less for EU citizens under 25). 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).

Thurs. March 19

Read: Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Marble Faun (Chapters 17-35)

WEEK 10

Tues. March 24

Read: The Marble Faun

Thurs. March 26

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

WEEK 11

Tues. March 31

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

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/TwaInno.html

Hypertext of map of Twain’s journey http://etext.virginia.edu/railton/innocent/iamaphp.html

Thurs. April 2 FOURTH FIELD TRIP: Keats Shelley House Meet at the Museum on the Spanish Steps at 12 pm for a scheduled tour (cost 5 euros).

WEEK 12 April 6-10 SPRING BREAK

WEEK 13
Tues. April 14

Henry James Daisy Miller Chapters 1-3

Thurs. April 16

Read: Henry James’s Daisy Miller Chapters 4-end

WEEK 14

Tues. April 21

E. M. Forster Where Angels Fear to Tread Chapters 1-4

Thurs. April 23

SECOND ESSAY DUE

Read: E. M. Forster Where Angels Fear to Tread Chapters 5-6

WEEK 15

Tues. April 28

E. M. Forster Where Angels Fear to Tread Chapters 7-end

Thurs. April 30

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

Thursday April 24 FIFTH FIELD TRIP - Protestant Cemetery (Piramide). Donation required. Meet at Keats's graveside at 12 pm.