2008-2009 Undergraduate Courses in Italian
| AUTUMN | WINTER | SPRING |
|---|---|---|
| 10100 Beginning Elementary Italian 1 | 10200 Beginning Elementary Italian 2 | 10300 Beginning Elementary Italian 3 |
| 20100 Language, History, Culture I | 20200 Language, History, Culture 2 | 20300 Language, History, Culture 3 |
| 20400 Corso di perfezionamento | 20400 Corso di perfezionamento | 21100 Le regioni italiane: lingua, dialetti, tradizioni |
| 21200 Poeti del Duecento | 21703 Survey 1. Letteratura italiana dal Duecento al Quattrocento | 21803 Survey 2. Letteratura italiana dal Cinquecento al Seicento |
| 21903 Survey 3. Letteratura italiana dal Settecento ad oggi | 23403 Marinella | 23603 II Canzoniere Di Francesco Petrarca |
| 23203 Rome in Literature and Film | 24403 Orlando furioso | 24603 La Letteratura Europea Un Problema. |
| 24803 Outsiders I: Elsa Morante | 24903 Outsiders II: Italo Svevo | 26703 Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered |
| 29700 Readings in Special Topics | 29700 Readings in Special Topics | 24800 M.A. Exam |
| 29900 B.A. Paper Preparation: Italian | 29700 Readings in Special Topics |
Some 30000 and 40000-level courses in Italian (ITAL) are open to advanced undergraduates in Romance Languages with consent of instructor. Please contact the department for further information.
Language
These courses must be taken for a quality grade.
10100-10200-10300. Beginning Elementary Italian I, II, III. Must be taken for a quality grade. This three-quarter sequence is designed for beginning and beginning-intermediate students in Italian. Its aim is to provide students with a solid foundation in the basic patterns of spoken and written Italian (e.g., grammar, vocabulary, sociocultural norms) to develop their speaking, listening, writing, and reading skills to the level required to demonstrate competency on the Italian examination. Although the three classes constitute a sequence leading to the Italian competency examination, there is enough review and recycling at every level for students to enter the sequence at whatever level is appropriate for them. Cultural awareness is enhanced through close study of the Italian theatrical tradition. Summer (complete sequence offered); Autumn, Winter, Spring. (ITAL 10300 is also offered in Pisa in Spring Quarter.)
- 10100. ITAL 10100 is designed for students who have no previous knowledge of Italian, and for those who need an in-depth review of the basic patterns of the language.
- 10200. PQ: ITAL 10100 or placement. ITAL 10200 offers a rapid review of the basic patterns of the language and expands on the material presented in ITAL 10100.
- 10300. PQ: ITAL 10200 or placement . ITAL 10300 expands on the material presented in ITAL 10200, reviewing and elaborating the basic patterns of the language as needed to prepare students for the Italian competency examination. (ITAL 10300 is also offered in Pisa in Spring Quarter.)
20100-20200-20300. Language, History, and Culture I, II, III. PQ: ITAL 10300 or placement. Must be taken for a quality grade. In this intermediate-level sequence, students review and extend their knowledge of all basic patterns (e.g., grammar, vocabulary, sociocultural norms) of the language. They develop their oral and written skills in describing, narrating, and presenting arguments. They are exposed to texts and audio-visual material that provide them with a deeper understanding of the Italian-speaking world. Summer (complete sequence offered; Autumn, Winter, Spring. (This complete sequence also offered in Pisa in Spring Quarter.)
- 20100. PQ: ITAL 10300 or placement. ITAL 20100 is designed as a general review and extension of all basic patterns of the language for intermediate students. Students explore the diversity of the Italian-speaking world through contemporary Italian short stories.
- 20200. PQ: ITAL 20100 or placement. ITAL 20200 seeks to develop the student's use of persuasive and argumentative language. Our focus is on analyzing and debating current issues pertaining to the Italian-speaking world, and articulating sound personal perspectives on these issues. A variety of written, oral, listening, and reading activities allow the student to explore different genres while reviewing grammatical and lexical items. Cultural awareness is enhanced through close study of contemporary Italian film and literature, as well as through in-class discussion.
- 20300. PQ: ITAL 20200 or placement. ITAL 20300 completes the study of the common grammatical functions and syntactical structures of the oral and written language and introduces the student to description and analysis of a variety of texts through written, oral, listening, and reading activities. Readings concentrate on classics of the Italian lyric tradition from Petrarca to Leopardi, with some examples of contemporary Italian poetry. Brief selections of literary critical and historical texts serve to contextualize the poetry.
20400/30400. Corso di perfezionamento. PQ: ITAL 20300, placement, or consent of instructor. Must be taken for a quality grade. The goal of this course is to help students achieve mastery of composition and style through the acquisition of numerous writing techniques. Using a variety of literary and nonliterary texts as models, students examine the linguistic structure and organization of several types of written Italian discourse and are guided in the acquisition of the rules underlying each discourse type. Autumn, Winter.
Literature and Culture
All literature and culture courses are conducted in Italian unless otherwise indicated. Italian majors do all work in Italian. With prior consent of instructor, nonmajors may write in English.
21100. Le regioni italiane: lingua, dialetti, tradizioni. PQ ITAL 203 or consent of instructor. This course expands students' awareness of the diversity of the Italian language and culture. It emphasizes the interrelationship between language and culture as well as social and historical transformations. The course also includes a study of the Italian phonological system. Students are exposed to a wide variety of texts, both literary and nonliterary as well as audio-visual materials that enhance their awareness of regional expressions and Italian dialects. Guest lecturers include native speakers from different Italian regions. Staff. Spring.
21200/31200. Poeti del Duecento. A reading of the earliest Italian documents and poetry from the Sicilian School to the Dolce Stil Nuovo, paying particular attention to the historical situation and to the rhetorical tradition. Final Paper. H. Justin Steinberg. Autumn.
21703/31703. Survey I. Letteratura italiana dal Duecento al Quattrocento. PQ: Ital 20300 or consent of the instructor. An introduction to Italian literature of the Middle Ages and early Renaissance. We will read works by three of the greatest figures of Italian literature—Dante, Petrarca, Boccaccio—as well as a number of other important authors of the medieval period. The literary genres examined will be primarily lyric and narrative poetry and the short story (the Italian novella). There will be equal emphasis placed on the formal, metrical, and technical aspects of reading early Italian literature as well as the vibrant social, political, and material contexts in which these texts were produced, circulated, and read. H. Justin Steinberg. Winter.
21803. Survey 2. Letteratura italiana dal Cinquecento al Seicento. PQ: Ital 20300 or consent of the instructor. This course is an introduction to the literature of the Renaissance and Baroque periods and a close reading of works by major authors (e.g., Alberti, Michelangelo, Stampa, Castiglione, Ariosto, Tasso). We study various literary genres (i.e., drama, dialogues, treatises, lyric and narrative poetry) and important cultural debates of the period, including the querrelle des femmes and the nascent women’s literary tradition. Armando Maggi. Spring.
21903. Survey 3. Letteratura italiana dal Settecento ad oggi. PQ: ITAL 20300 or consent of the instructor. This course is an introduction to the major works of Italian literature from the eighteenth century to the present. The genres studied are primarily lyric poetry, narrative prose, and drama. We also consider the birth and development of Italian cinema and creative and critical trends in today's increasingly multicultural Italy. Lisa Barca. Autumn.
23203/33203. Rome in Literature and Film. The “Eternal City” of Rome has permeated cinematic and literary works in complex representations that make of it one of the richest motifs across centuries and national cultural expressions. In this course, the focus will be on films by Rossellini, Fellini, De Sica, Bertolucci, and Pasolini in the Italian cinematic tradition, as well as on a few selected films directed by non-Italians (Gladiator, Roman Holiday). Novels by D’Annunzio, Moravia, Ginzburg, Gadda, and Malerba, all set in Rome and in which the city plays a central role in the economy of the texts in question, will be read and analyzed. Our goal will be to explore the multiple significations and complexities of Rome as place, representation, dream, image, etc. Rebecca West. Autumn
23403/33403. Marinella. Lucrezia Marinella is primarily known for The Nobility and Excellence of Women. This course is a thorough analysis of Marinella’s vast and multifaceted oeuvre, which encompasses a variety of different genres. We will first read the volume Rime di Veronica Gambara, Lucrezia Marinella, Isabella della Morra e Selvaggia Borgini, which will help us situate Marinella’s lyric poets within the context of early modern women poets. Marinella’s pastoral novel Arcadia felice will be read in the light of Sannazaro’s Arcadia, Tasso’s Aminta, and Guarini’s Pastor fido. We will then examine Amore innamorato et impazzato, Marinella’s original poem in octaves which is a fascinating interpretation of classical mythology. Of her numerous hagiographic texts we will read selections from her two lives of Saint Francis of Assisi (the first in verses and the second in prose) and Vita di Maria Vergine, Imperatrice dell’universo in octaves, a masterpiece of baroque poetry. Armando Maggi. Winter.
23603. II Canzoniere Di Francesco Petrarca Spring.
24403/34403. Orlando furioso. PQ: Ital 203 or consent of instructor. A study of chilvalric romance and of Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando furioso, the unrivaled masterpiece of the genre in Italy. The course will concentrate on Ariosto’s poem, however, we will also discuss the epic-chivalric tradition, Ariosto’s precursors, (especially M. M. Boiardo's Orlando innamorato), critical discussions of the genre and interpretations of the poem in sixteenth-century Italy and today. There will be an oral presentation and a term paper. Classes will be conducted in Italian; concentrators will do all work in Italian. Elissa Weaver. Winter.
24603. La Letteratura Europea Un Problema. Il corso affronterà le concezioni più significative della letteratura europea, da Curtius e Auerbach a F. Moretti, R. Antonelli e G. Fontaine, ponendole in relazione con la storia dfell'identità europea nel tempo e nello spazio. Spring.
24803/34803. Outsiders I: Elsa Morante. One of the most innovative and original writers of twentieth-century Italy, Elsa Morante (1912-1985) did not enjoy canonizationand full integration into the modern Italian novel tradition during her life. From the late 1940s to her death, her works stimulated numerous critical debates, but she remained fundamentally an “outsider”whose art could not find a comfortable place in the prevailing niches into which her more “insider” contemporaries were placed. In this course we shall read and analyze in detail her novels and essays, and consider the earlier and more recent critical reception of her corpus. We shall also consider her influence on subsequent writers, and the ways in which her poetics and practice interact in important ways with feminist, queer, and political theories of current interest. Given that her major novels are translated into English, the course is open to non-specialists of Italian literature, although students concentrating on Italian literature will read the original versions. Rebecca West. Autumn.
24903/34903. Outsiders II: Italo Svevo. Jewish and Triestine, Italo Svevo was an “outsider” in many ways: culturally, geographically, and linguistically. Now included as one of the twentieth-century’s canonical writers, he is emblematic of those writers whose works move from the margins to the center, and it is to this fascinating process that we shall devote much attention, as we read and analyze Svevo’s novels and short stories. We shall also consider the intellectual and cultural milieu of early twentieth-century Trieste, itself an “outsider” city vis-à-vis the nation of Italy. The importance of Freudian thought to Svevo’s art will be discussed, as well as his creative rapport with James Joyce. Readings will be in Italian. Rebecca West. Winter.
26703/36703. Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered. This course analyzes Torquato Tasso’s epic rewriting of the First Crusade from a historical, literary, and theological point of view. Through an in-depth reading of Jerusalem Delivered (La Gerusalemme liberata) we will investigate the poet’s vast and profound knowledge of Renaissance philosophy and literature, and Christian theology, in particular Counter-Reformation spirituality. Along with his famous poem, we will read selections from those of his texts in prose and verses that are crucial for a correct understanding of his poetics: his philosophical Dialoghi, which address a variety of cultural, literary and spiritual issues; a selection of his lyric poetry; his theoretical treatises on the nature and goals of epic poetry. Special emphasis will be given to Jerusalem Conquered, Tasso’s rewriting of his epic poem in the light of a much stricter adherence to Catholic Reformation. Armando Maggi. Spring.
29700. Readings in Special Topics. PQ: ITAL 10300 or 20300, depending upon the requirements of the program for which credit is sought. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. Directed readings in special topics not covered by courses offered as part of the program in French. Because registration in ITAL 29700 is subject to departmental approval, the subjects treated and work completed for the course must be chosen in consultation with the instructor no later than the end of the preceding quarter. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.
29900. B.A. Paper Preparation: Italian. PQ: Consent of B.A. adviser. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. This course offers a structure for students writing their B.A. papers. Students work with a faculty member of their choice who directs their paper and supervises their writing. Staff. Winter.