French
Romance Languages and Literatures
Subject to change so please refer to InsideND for the most up-to-date, accurate information.
FALL 2013 COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
(As of 4/16/2013)
LLRO 10111-01 BEGINNING QUECHUA
MWF 10:30-11:20 / TR On-line
V. Maqque
Join the millions of Quechua speakers in South America and around the world. Quechua (Runa Simi = people’s tongue) was the official language of the Inca civilization and continues to be spoken by over 10 million people in six countries in South America and the world today. Beyond its conventional rural environment the Runa Simi has expanded almost everywhere in our modern world. In this course we will explore stories from time immemorial, colonial and contemporary documents, and access its digital existence. Students will acquire beginning-level competency and proficiency in Quechua while examining the history and culture of the peoples of the Andes.
This is a six-credit hybrid introductory language course, which combines traditional classroom with on-line instruction. Students attend class with a Quechua native instructor (MWF) and work on-line (T-TH). The instructor will balance both spoken and written Quechua as well as exercise reading and listening. Cross list with LAST 10500 (5).
LLRO 10112-01 BEGINNING CREOLE
MWF On-line / TR 3:30-4:45
K. Richman
Creole is spoken by an estimated seventeen million people. Creole is spoken on the islands of the Caribbean and the western Indian Ocean that were former or current French colonial possessions and in the countries where many of these former island residents have emigrated, including the United States, Canada, France, Dominican Republic, Bahamas and other parts of Latin America and the Caribbean. Haitians are the largest Creole speech community of approximately eleven and a half million speakers.
Creole language courses provide a valuable foundation for Notre Dame faculty, staff and students working to understand and address critical issues related to Haiti and the Francophone world, from language and culture to history and education, from engineering to public health. Creole language and literature are of increasing interest in the dynamic field of Francophone studies. Creole has also become a major area in the field of linguistics, especially in areas of language evolution, sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology.
The University of Notre Dame and the Congregation of Holy Cross have a long history of engagement and partnership with Haiti. The Kellogg Institute has provided key synergy to bring together Notre Dame faculty working in the areas of health, science, engineering, education, architecture, business, language and culture to better understand Haiti’s social and physical obstacles to overcoming poverty, disease, inadequate housing and infrastructural shortages. The Haiti Program, which is based in Léogane, and has been working to eradicate lymphatic filaraisis since 1993, and has partnered with several institutes and programs around campus in that effort, including the Esteem program, the Business school and the graphic design curriculum. The Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) is been engaged with Catholic education initiatives in Haiti for many years and is particularly involved in preparing teachers. The earthquake of January 12, 2010 highlighted Notre Dame’s experience and commitment to Haiti, as the Notre Dame Haiti program’s site in Léogane became a center of operations for the rescue and treatment of survivors in the area. Since the cataclysm, Notre Dame faculty and students in the College of Engineering, in collaboration with faculty in the College of Arts and Letters, been actively pursuing applied research to help conceptualize and develop a comprehensive, safe home reconstruction plan.
This is a six-credit hybrid introductory language course, which combines traditional classroom with on-line instruction. Students attend class with a instructor (MWF) and work on-line (T-TH). The instructor will balance both spoken and written Creole as well as exercise reading and listening.
LLRO 10113-01 BEGINNING CATALAN
MWF 10:30-11:20 / TR On-line
L. Francalanci
Despite being a lesser-known language, Catalan is spoken today by a community of more than 9 million people across four countries (Spain, France, Italy and Andorra), and forms part of every-day life in such internationally-renown cities as Barcelona and Valencia. Catalan culture is extremely rich and has a unique personality that is well reflected by its literary and artistic traditions. The study of Catalan language and culture is fundamental to achieving a full understanding of the socio-cultural complexity of today¿s Spain, as well as the multiplicity of political and linguistic identities present in contemporary Europe. The focus of this course is on a balanced approach to acquisition of language skills ¿equal emphasis is placed on spoken and written Catalan¿ and appreciation of Catalan Culture through reading, films, music, and class discussion. This is a six-credit hybrid introductory language course, which combines traditional classroom with on-line instruction. Students attend class with an instructor (MWF) and work on-line (T-TH). A prior knowledge of another Romance Language is highly desirable.
6.000 Credit hours
3.000 Lecture hours
3.000 Lab hours
LLRO 30123-01 KING ARTHUR IN HISTORY AND LITERATURE
TR 2:00-3:15
J. Boulton / A. Weppler
This course, intended to introduce undergraduates to one of the major themes as well as to the interdisciplinary approaches characteristic of medieval studies, is a team-taught examination of the development and influence of the legend of Arthur, King of Britain, both in history and in literature. Cross List MI 30278
LLRO 40107-01 BETWEEN RELIGION & LITERATURE: MEANING, VULNERABILITY & HUMAN IDENTITY
TR 2:00-3:15
V. Montemaggi
Taught in English, this course – which can also be taken as the Gateway Course for the Religion and Literature Minor – explores how theology and literature can combine to enrich our understanding. Focusing on the work of Augustine, Aquinas, Dante, Primo Levi, Dostoevsky and Shakespeare, students will address questions such as: ‘How does the way we use language bear upon our notions of truth?’; ‘How are the intellect and the imagination engaged by literary texts?’; ‘How does all this relate to how we think about God, human nature, and the relationship between them?’ Such questions will be addressed, in particular, by reflecting on how the texts studied invite us to think about love, forgiveness, vulnerability and creativity. Cross list with RLT 40241/ ENG 40157/THEO 40837/LIT 73526/LLRO 63107/Phil 43915/MI 40584.
LLRO 40114-01 DANTE’S DIVINE COMEDY: THE CHRISTIAN UNIVERSE AS POETRY
TR 12:30-1:45
Z. Baranski
Dante is the greatest religious poet of Western culture, and his great epic poem, the Divine Comedy, offers a remarkable and original synthesis of his view of the fundamental relationship between God and humanity. The course offers an introduction to Dante’s Commedia (the title of the poem is Comedy and not Divine Comedy as is commonly believed) by focusing on the first of its three parts, Inferno, while also paying significant attention to its other two parts, Purgatorio and Paradiso. Classes will principally concentrate on providing readings of individual cantos. (The course will be divided into 4 introductory lectures, 12 classes on Inferno, 7 on Purgatory, and 6 on Paradiso.) At the same time, broader issues central to Dante’s masterpiece will be discussed. In particular, attention will be paid to Dante’s ties to classical and Christian culture, his political views, his ideas on language, his involvement in contemporary intellectual debates, his efforts to use poetry for ethical and religious ends, and his literary experimentation (including his perplexing choice of title for his masterpiece). The course is open to all second-, third-, and fourth-year students, and will be taught in English. Dante’s poem, too, will be read in English translation, though students with a reading knowledge of Italian are encouraged to read it in both languages. The translation is that found in the annotated bilingual edition by Robert and Jean Hollander (Doubleday). Cross List MI 40565/ROIT 40114
LLRO 40520-01 / 41520-01 CONTEMPORARY EUROPEAN CINEMA
TR 3:30-4:45 / T 5:00-7:00
O. Morel
As in French literature, there is a long history in French cinema of depictions of poverty. The working class, the lives of the working poor, the homeless and other ¿vagabonds¿ make frequent appearances in films from France. Nevertheless, many film critics point out that, with few exceptions, the theme of poverty disappeared from the screens for a while, especially during the 1970s and 80s, when the economic crisis arose. Things started to change slightly toward the end of the 80s, but it wasn¿t until recently that something significant happened in French cinematic production: in the past several years, poverty has made a strong and remarkable comeback. From comedies to socially engaged feature films and documentaries, there is now a wave of films depicting a new form of poverty: a ¿systemic poverty¿ that affects every social category. The acclaimed ¿Une Vie Meilleure¿ by Cédric Kahn and ¿Louise Wimmer¿ by Cyril Mennegun are probably the best examples of this trend; both films, released at the end of 2011 and beginning of 2012 respectively, are breaking the cliché of a French cinema often seen by critics as too ¿bourgeois,¿ self-centered, apolitical and unaware of the world¿s challenges. Poverty is obviously not a topic limited to French cinematic production, and in this course we analyze the prolific French creation alongside films from other European countries (Italy, UK, Belgium¿). We try to distinguish among different periods represented in these films, and we seek both commonalities and differences among these cinematic works. We will watch and analyze a selection of pertinent films while reading critical texts on the subject, such as, for example, Pierre Bourdieu¿s famous book on the ¿Misère du Monde¿ (¿The Weight of the World: Social Suffering in Contemporary Society¿). We will also welcome the French filmmaker Cyril Mennegun to our class, or at the very least, we will organize a skype discussion with him on his 2012 film, ¿Louise Wimmer.¿ Cross list with FTT 40250, LLRO 41520 Lab.
3.000 Credit hours
3.000 Lecture hours
0.000 Lab hours
LLRO 40542 / ROIT 40512 / FTT 30231COMEDY, ITALIAN STYLE! John P. Welle
MW 11:00-12:15 / M 5:00-7:00 Lab Screening
John P. Welle
Taught in English, this course examines Italian film comedy, comic traditions in theatre and literature, and national identity. The popular film genre known as “comedy Italian style” is analyzed in its historical development in the 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s and is framed by earlier comic works as well as by subsequent films from the ‘80s and ‘90s to the present. We will analyze a long tradition of comic genius, stretching from the Commedia dell’arte and Goldoni’s comedy of manners; from The Adventures of Pinocchio and Pirandello’s writings on humor to the political farce of Nobel-prize winning playwright Dario Fo, and the antics of Roberto Benigni: a living comic tradition that continues to be a vital force of aesthetic pleasure and political commentary. Requirements include attendance at mandatory film screenings, participation in class discussions, oral presentations, a number of short papers, and midterm and final exams. Cross list with ROIT 40512, FTT 30231.
LLRO 40906-01 FRENCH LITERATURE GOES TO THE OPERA
MW 2:00-3:15
L. MacKenzie
In this course, the full title of which is Taking Liberties: From Book to Libretto, or French Literature Goes to the Opera and which may be taught in either French or in English, we will be looking a series of parent texts, written originally in French, and their operatic offspring. Works include The Barber of Seville (Beaumarchais/Rossini); The Marriage of Figaro (Beaumarchais/Mozart); Don Juan (Molière) and Don Giovanni (Mozart); Manon Lescaut (Prévost/Puccini), Carmen (Mérimée/Bizet). Cross list with MUS 10160.
GRADUATE COURSES
LLRO 61075-01 PRACTICUM IN SPANISH
R 8:20-9:50
A. Topash-Rios
This weekly practicum is designed for graduate students who serve as Spanish Teaching Assistants in the Department of Romance Languages. The course focuses on the development of organizational and presentation skills needed to excel as a foreign language teacher. Students carry out micro-teaching projects and collaborate to develop a portfolio of their own activities based upon the principles learned in the course.
LLRO 61076-01 PRACTICUM IN FRENCH
MW 8:20-9:50
M.C. Escoda-Risto
This course is designed for graduate students in the M.A. program in French and is mandatory during their first year of teaching. It complements the theoretical basis for foreign language teaching methodology provided in LLRO and gives students hands-on practice with the organizational tasks and pedagogical procedures that are pertinent to their daily teaching responsibilities.
LLRO 61077-01 PRACTICUM IN ITALIAN
M 8:20-9:50
A. Blad
This course is designed for graduate students in the M.A. program in Italian and is mandatory during their first year of teaching. It complements the theoretical basis for foreign language teaching methodology provided in LLRO and gives students hands-on practice with the organizational tasks and pedagogical procedures that are pertinent to their daily teaching responsibilities.
LLRO 63075-01 FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING METHODOLOGY AND SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION (graded)
R 12:30-3:15
A. Blad
This course introduces language instructors to the theoretical background and debates that inform current teaching methodologies for second language learning. Language instructors will learn to develop a communicative classroom environment that blends listening, speaking, reading, and writing while building toward a proficiency goal. Students will familiarize themselves with key concepts in linguistics and research methodologies. They will gain a historical perspective on theories of second language acquisition and foreign language teaching methodologies and be encouraged to develop informed views of their own. Projects include presentations, peer observations, self-assessment, small research components, micro-teaching demos, and developing basic elements of the FL teaching portfolio. Cross list with LIT 61603.
LLRO 63050 INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY CRITICISM
R 3:30-6:15
O. Morel
SPRING 2013
LLRO 10101-01 BEGINNING QUECHUA I MWF 12:50-1:40, T 12:30-1:45
G. Maldonado
The principal aims of this beginning-level Quechua Language course are to encourage the development of competency and proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, writing, and to generate cultural understanding. LLRO 10101 taken in connection with LLRO 10102 and 20201 fulfill the language requirement. Crosslisted with LAST 10500.
LLRO 27201-01 INTERMEDIATE QUECHUA I MW 3:00-4:15
G. Maldonado
An intermediate-level, third-semester college language course with emphasis on and refinement of grammatical competence and oral and written language skills. Class time is dedicated to interactive discussion encouraging the development of language proficiency and generating cultural understanding. Crosslisted with LAST 27501.
LLRO 33000 EXPLORING INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS TBD
S. Williams, Mary Flannery
In this special course designed for inquisitive international economics / romance language majors, students will attend a number of lectures, panels, and seminars on campus during the semester, with a follow-up discussion for each led by either a visitor or a member of the economics or romance languages faculty. Before each session, students will be expected to complete a short reading assignment. At each follow-up session, the students will submit a 1-2 page summary and analysis of the talk, with a critical question for discussion. The goal is to encourage students to enrich their major experience by participating in the intellectual discussions that occur amongst ND and visiting scholars across the campus, distinguished alumni, and professionals in the field.
LLRO 40116 DANTE II TR 2:00-3:15
C. Moevs
Dante's Comedy is one of the supreme poetic achievements in Western literature. It is a probing synthesis of the entire Western cultural and philosophical tradition that produced it, a radical experiment in poetics and poetic technique, and a profound exploration of Christian spirituality. Dante I (ROIT 40115) or Dante’s Divine Comedy: The Christian Universe as Poetry (ROIT 40114) focus primarily on the Inferno, the first of the three canticles of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Dante II focuses on the culminating two canticles, Purgatorio and Paradiso, which explore the highest reaches of Dante’s great theological, philosophical, cosmological and moral vision. This is where Dante pursues, in some of the greatest poetry ever written, his deepest inspired understanding of what a human being is, and of the human relation to the world and to the transcendent foundation of reality. Many students find that it is through reading Dante that the most profound achievements of Catholic thought and contemplative life first come to life for them, in all their subtlety, beauty, radical challenge, and life-changing power.
While ROIT 40114 or 40115 provide the perfect foundation for Dante II, one can take this course alone, or before one of the others. The course and all discussion will be conducted in English. We will read the Comedy in a facing-page translation, so that we can make reference to the irreplaceable original Italian. Acquaintance with Latin or a Romance language is therefore helpful, but not necessary. Requirements include a series of short (1-2 page) papers (or a longer paper), a mid-term, and a final exam. Cross-listed with ROIT 40116, ROIT 63116, MI 40553, MI 60553, and LIT 73665. Counts for the Literature requirement, and as an Italian Studies course.
LLRO 40510 BRAZILIAN CINEMA TR 11:00-12:15
S. Wells
This course introduces students to major issues in Brazilian film studies, from silent film to the contemporary documentary. Through weekly viewings and readings in film theory, history, and criticism, we will investigate the local and global forces that shape Brazilian cinema, placing it in dialogue with both Brazilian and Latin American cultural history. Students will gain an understanding of key movements, artists, and problems in the field, including the formation of a national film industry; representations of race, gender, and class; and minority and experimental film cultures. In addition, they will hone their skills in analyzing cinema through presentations, discussion, and writing assignments. No prior knowledge of Brazilian cinema, film studies, or the Portuguese language is required. This course is intended for juniors and seniors. Crosslisted with ROIT 40510, LAST 40508, AFST 40xxx, LIT 73876.
LLRO 40548 ITALIAN CINEMA: THE REALITIES OF HISTORY TR 12:30-1:45
Z. Baranski
Italian film-making continues to be most highly regarded for the films made by directors, such as Vittorio De Sica, Roberto Rossellini, and Luchino Visconti, who belonged to the Neo-realist movement (1945-53) and who tried to make films that examined the contemporary experiences of ordinary Italians. The films became known as Neo-realist, and were inspired by the belief that, by presenting a truthful reflection of life in Italy which gave spectators information about the experiences of their fellow citizens, they would lead to greater understanding, and hence to a better society.
Such was the impact of Neo-realist cinema on Italian culture in general and on Italian film-making in particular that its influence may be discerned in most films that have been made from the mid 1950s to this day. This state of affairs has led to the assumption that Neo-realism marks a decisive break with Italy’s pre-war past. Yet, even though Neo-realism did constitute, in ideological terms, a clear departure from fascism, its stylistic roots, its sense of the need for commitment, and its faith in the efficacy of a realist aesthetic all establish ties both with the ventennio and with Liberal Italy.
The principal aim of the course is to explore the construction and development of the Italian cinematic realist tradition from the silent era to the the early 1970s, although its primary focus is on the period 1934-1966. In particular, the course examines the formal and ideological continuities and differences between Neo-realist films and their silent and fascist predecessors. In a similar way, it analyses Neo-realism’s impact on later film-makers, such as Federico Fellini, Pietro Germi, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Gillo Pontecorvo, Dino Risi, and Francesco Rosi, who attempted to develop new versions of cinematic realism. Cross-listed with ROIT 40548, FTT 40249, FTT 60250, and ROIT 63548.
GRADUATE COURSES
LLRO 61075-01 PRACTICUM IN SPANISH TBD
A. Topash-Rios
This weekly practicum is designed for graduate students who serve as Spanish Teaching Assistants in the Department of Romance Languages. The course focuses on the development of organizational and presentation skills needed to excel as a foreign language teacher. Students carry out micro-teaching projects and collaborate to develop a portfolio of their own activities based upon the principles learned in the course.
LLRO 61076-01 PRACTICUM IN FRENCH TBD
M.C. Escoda-Risto
This course is designed for graduate students in the M.A. program in French and is mandatory during their first year of teaching. It complements the theoretical basis for foreign language teaching methodology provided in LLRO and gives students hands-on practice with the organizational tasks and pedagogical procedures that are pertinent to their daily teaching responsibilities.
LLRO 61077-01 PRACTICUM IN ITALIAN M 1:15-4:15
A. Blad
This course is designed for graduate students in the M.A. program in Italian and is mandatory during their first year of teaching. It complements the theoretical basis for foreign language teaching methodology provided in LLRO and gives students hands-on practice with the organizational tasks and pedagogical procedures that are pertinent to their daily teaching responsibilities.
O. Morel
This course is designed as an introductory survey of some major trends in twentieth-century literary theory and criticism. While focusing on major fields of thought (structuralist, Marxist /historicist, feminist, anthropological/postcolonial, deconstructionist) in their larger context, we will pay a specific attention to literary movements, theoretical displacements, and trans-disciplinary approaches that arose in the past years. Cross-listed with LIT 73570. Cross-listed with LIT 73570.
FALL 2011
UNIVERSITY SEMINAR
NOTE: THESE UNDERGRADUATE COURSES ARE TAUGHT IN ENGLISH
LLRO 13186-01 LITERATURES OF LUSOPHONE AFRICA 02:00-03:15 TR
I. Gould
This university seminar offers a comprehensive survey of postcolonial Lusophone-African literatures (in translation) produced by contemporary writers from Angola, Cape Verde, and Mozambique. The course has several goals: to acquaint English-speaking students with literatures and regions with which they are not familiar; to study comparatively the literary representations of independence, civil wars, colonial legacies, and postcolonial identities; and to learn how to employ literary concepts involved in the study of novels and short fiction. The course provides students with a variety of approaches to close reading and creative writing. Students will develop debating and other skills of oral expression.
LLRO 13186-02 IMAGINARY WORLDS AND FANTASTIC TRAVELS 02:00-03:15 TR
S. Ferri
This course focuses on the geography of imagined places and made-up fantasy worlds in literature and film. The seminar will be organized around thematic clusters, such as the worlds of the afterlife, utopian and dystopian lands, cities of the future, enchanted gardens and descriptions of unexplored countries. For each theme we will see how it has developed over time, we will discuss the reasons and ideas behind each author’s creation, we will examine the allegorical and symbolic meanings associated with a specific imaginary place, and we will try to understand what an imaginary place tells us about the real world. Some of the questions that we will raise are: What is the significance of geographical imagination? What are the assumptions and intentions of the authors in developing fantasy worlds? What do imaginary places reveal about the social and historical contexts against which they are set? What is the connection between literary creation and geographical invention?
LLRO 13186-03 CROSSING CULTURES IN CONTEMPORARY FRENCH AND FRANCOPHONE FILM
C. Perry 11:00-12:15 TR
This seminar is designed to familiarize students with contemporary French and Francophone films which dramatize the possibilities of intercultural and transnational communication. These films will give us the opportunity to reflect upon issues such as exile and immigration in a globalized world as well as Muslim cultures in relation to the West. The films will be screened in original version with English subtitles. To help us appreciate the differences between text and image we will also read a novel and a graphic novel that were adapted to film, while critical articles will enable us to develop our understanding of contemporary French and Francophone cinema and the issues represented in the films. At least two of the movies (to be selected) will be part of a French film festival at the Browning Cinema. Students will be responsible for carefully reading the texts and viewing the movies outside of class (mostly at the Hesburgh Library). Their responsibilities will also include participating actively in class discussions, giving an oral presentation with 2 classmates, writing three short papers (with rewrites) and a longer term paper at the end of the semester. By the end of the semester, students will be able to discuss: issues of cultural identity, race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, and religious difference; cinematic representations of these issues with the use of a vocabulary appropriate to film; the esthetic, cultural, social, and political contexts of the works under study; relations between the formal aspects of a film and the themes it represents; dialogue among transnational communities. Texts will include Fear and Trembling by Amélie Nothomb (1999) and Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (2002). Pending selections for the French film festival at the Browning cinema, films will include at least eight among the following: the documentary Crossing Borders (Morocco-USA) by German director Arnd Wächter (2009), Fear and Trembling by Alain Corneau (2003), Inch’Allah Dimanche by Yamina Benguigui (2001), Chaos by Coline Serreau (2001), Daughter of Keltoum by Mehdi Sharef (2001), Monsieur Ibrahim by François Dupeyron (2003), Exiles by Tony Gatlif (2004), Le Grand Voyage by Ismaël Ferroukhi (2004), Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud (2007), Welcome by Philippe Lioret (2009), Of Gods and Men by Xavier Beauvois (2010).
LLRO 13186-04 ON INTERPRETATION 11:00-12:15 TR
L. Mackenzie
In this seminar our truck will be with "texts" from various registers of art: "low" (e.g., songs by Bob Dylan); "middle" (e.g., films by Martin Scorsese) and "high" (opera, symbolist poetry, absurdist theater). This variety of sources is chosen with one purpose in mind: to encourage techniques of reading from the inside of the text outward. To this end, our interest is more on the how than on the what. In other words, how do we go about finding the seam, the portal through which to enter a text? Written work will be publicly scrutinized in the hopes of also cultivating the fine, difficult and all too often lost art of self-critique. Students under the impression that they "can't" do textual analysis are especially welcome, as, of course, are those for whom literature and the artsy
a source of joy and an engine of growth.
COLLEGE SEMINAR
CSEM 23101-01 MARGINAL VOICES 03:00-04:15 MW
P. Martin
This seminar will explore the experience of marginalization through its spatial representations and associated modes of expression. Resistant to conventional configuration as places of silence and isolation, the boundary areas of desert and social margin, of shoreline and interior borderland are all regions of privileged encounter and communication. Our work together will engage with marginalization as a spiritual discipline, as an imposed social category, and as a precondition of the aesthetic life. It is the voice of the prophet, the poet, the poor and the handicapped that we hear, calling us to a life of charity, of freedom and compassion, and of celebration.
Our conversation this semester will be supported by reflection on theological, sociological and literary sources, as well as by substantial use of film and photography. As we explore that material, you will have the opportunity to refine your communication skills through individual and collaborative activities. You will be encouraged to read attentively, to identify important ideas and organizational strategies, to ask productive questions, to develop an argument or a line of investigation, and to respond usefully to the questions and observations of others. Written assignments will also offer you a chance to practice expressing an argument clearly, exploring it logically and supporting it by appropriate textual reference.
ROMANCE LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES
LLRO 10101-01 Beginning Quechua I 09:35-10:25 MWF, 09:30-10:45 T
G. Maldonado
The principal aims of this beginning-level Quechua Language course are to encourage the development of competency and proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, writing, and to generate cultural understanding through a communicative approach to second language acquisition. Songs, role-playing and other related activities will also be incorporated. Cross List 10500.
LLRO 27201-01 INTERMEDIATE Quechua I 02:00-03:15 tr
G. Maldonado
The principal aim of this two-semester language course is to encourage the development of competency and proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, writing, and to generate cultural understanding through a communicative approach to second language acquisition. This course is designed for highly motivated students and is taught in Spanish. LLRO 10101 and 10102 may be taken in conjunction with LLRO 20201 to fulfill the language requirement. Cross list LAST 27501
LLRO 30123-01 KING ARTHUR 12:30-01:45 TR
M. Boulton/J. Boulton
This course, intended to introduce undergraduates to one of the major themes as well as to the interdisciplinary approaches characteristic of medieval studies, is a team-taught examination of the development and influence of the legend of Arthur, King of Britain, both in history and in literature. Cross List MI 30278
LLRO 40107-01 BETWEEN RELIGION & LIT: MEANING, VULNERABILITY & HUMAN EXISTENCE
V. Montemaggi 01:30-02:45 MW
Taught in English, this course – which can also be taken as the Gateway Course for the Religion and Literature Minor – explores how theology and literature can combine to enrich our understanding. Focusing on the work of Augustine, Aquinas, Dante, Primo Levi, Dostoevsky and Shakespeare, students will address questions such as: ‘How does the way we use language bear upon our notions of truth?’; ‘How are the intellect and the imagination engaged by literary texts?’; ‘How does all this relate to how we think about God, human nature, and the relationship between them?’ Such questions will be addressed, in particular, by reflecting on how the texts studied invite us to think about love, forgiveness, vulnerability and creativity. Cross List RLT 40241/ ENG 40157/THEO 40837/LIT 73526/LLRO 63107/Phil 43915/MI 40584
LLRO 40114-01 DANTE’S DIVINE COMEDY: THE CHRISTIAN UNIVERSE AS POETRY 02:00-03:15 TR
Zyg Baranski
Dante is the greatest religious poet of Western culture, and his great epic poem, the Divine Comedy, offers a remarkable and original synthesis of his view of the fundamental relationship between God and humanity. The course offers an introduction to Dante’s Commedia (the title of the poem is Comedy and not Divine Comedy as is commonly believed) by focusing on the first of its three parts, Inferno, while also paying significant attention to its other two parts, Purgatorio and Paradiso. Classes will principally concentrate on providing readings of individual cantos. (The course will be divided into 4 introductory lectures, 12 classes on Inferno, 7 on Purgatory, and 6 on Paradiso.) At the same time, broader issues central to Dante’s masterpiece will be discussed. In particular, attention will be paid to Dante’s ties to classical and Christian culture, his political views, his ideas on language, his involvement in contemporary intellectual debates, his efforts to use poetry for ethical and religious ends, and his literary experimentation (including his perplexing choice of title for his masterpiece). The course is open to all second-, third-, and fourth-year students, and will be taught in English. Dante’s poem, too, will be read in English translation, though students with a reading knowledge of Italian are encouraged to read it in both languages. The translation is that found in the annotated bilingual edition by Robert and Jean Hollander (Doubleday). Cross List MI 40565/ROIT 40114
LLRO 40505-01 ITALIAN NATIONAL CINEMA 01:30 to 2:45 MW,
John Welle 05:00 to 07:00 T, LabScreening
This course traces the history of one of the world’s most renowned and beloved national cinemas. In addition to learning how to analyze Italy’s greatest achievements in film art by such directors as Pastrone, Blasetti, Rossellini, De Sica, Visconti, Pasolini, Wertmuller, Fellini and contemporary filmmakers, students will also come to understand the dynamic interaction among Italian history, film history and national identity. Attention will also be given to the importance of stardom and celebrity, to governmental film policies and attempts to produce a “national” cinema, and to the development of Italian film culture over the course of the twentieth century. Representative of the high points of Italian cinema when the film industry was significant internationally, three moments will receive particular emphasis: 1) early cinema and the Golden Age of Italian silent film, 2) neorealism in the post WWII era, and 3) auteur and genre films of the 1960s and 70s. Requirements include class participation, leading class discussion, short reaction papers, attendance at film screenings, one short paper and one longer research paper, a research presentation, midterm and final exams. The class will be conducted in English. Cross List ROIT 40545/41545/FTT 40233
LLRO 40906-01 FRENCH LITERATURE GOES TO THE OPERA
11:45-01:00 MW
L. MacKenzie
In this course, the full title of which is Taking Liberties: From Book to Libretto, or French Literature Goes to the Opera and which may be taught in either French or in English, we will be looking a series of parent texts, written originally in French, and their operatic offspring. Works include The Barber of Seville (Beaumarchais/Rossini); The Marriage of Figaro (Beaumarchais/Mozart); Don Juan (Molière) and Don Giovanni (Mozart); Manon Lescaut (Prévost/Puccini), Carmen (Mérimée/Bizet).
LLRO 40956 CARNIVAL IN CINEMA & LITERATURE 12:30-01:45 TR
I. Ferreira Gould
Brazil, the largest South American country, has tantalized our imagination with the images of Samba and Carnival. As Brazilian anthropologist Roberto DaMatta asserts, "Carnival creates a festival out of the everyday social world in which there is no emphasis on the harsh rules that govern membership and identity." This course will offer an exploration of Brazilian culture by investigating the ways in which the celebrations of Carnival have been viewed, articulated and unsettled by film and literature. Along with major films, documentaries and literary works, we will examine contemporary sociological and anthropological writing that contributes to our understanding of Carnivals within and beyond Brazil. We will learn how key issues in Brazilian society (race and gender relations, national identity, rituals and symbols, values and social roles) play out in Carnival. Course offered in English. Cross List ROPO 40956/LAST 40506/AFST 40577
LLRO 61075-01 PRACTICUM IN TEACHING SPANISH 06:45-08:00 R
A. Topash-Rios
This weekly practicum is designed for graduate students who serve as Spanish Teaching Assistants in the Department of Romance Languages. The course focuses on the development of organizational and presentation skills needed to excel as a foreign language teacher. Students carry out micro-teaching projects and collaborate to develop a portfolio of their own activities based upon the principles learned in the course. Cross List LIT 61604
LLRO 61076-01 PRACTICUM IN TEACHING FRENCH 01:00-02:15 M
V. Askildson
This course will prepare students to teach elementary French courses. It will cover basic teaching techniques/methods used in the ND French curriculum, setting up and maintaining a grade book, course management, as well as test design and evaluation techniques.
Cross List 61605
LLRO 61077-01 PRACTICUM IN TEACHING ITALIAN
01:30-03:00 M
C. Sbordoni
This course is designed for graduate students in the M.A. program in Italian/PhD. Lit and is mandatory during their first year of teaching. It complements the theoretical basis for foreign language teaching methodology provided in LLRO and gives students hands-on practice with the organizational tasks and pedagogical procedures that are pertinent to their daily teaching responsibilities. Cross List Lit 61606
LLRO 63075-01 Foreign Lang. Teaching Methodology & Second Lang. Acquisition
V. Askildson 12:45-03:15 R
This course introduces language instructors to the theoretical background and debates that inform current teaching methodologies for second language learning. Language instructors will learn to develop a communicative classroom environment that blends listening, speaking, reading, and writing while building toward a proficiency goal. Students will familiarize themselves with key concepts in linguistics and research methodologies. They will gain a historical perspective on theories of second language acquisition and foreign language teaching methodologies and be encouraged to develop informed views of their own. Projects include presentations, peer observations, self-assessment, small research components, micro-teaching demos, and developing basic elements of the FL teaching portfolio. Cross List LIT 61603 3.
LLRO 63107-01 BETWEEN RELIGION & LIT: MEANING, VULNERABILITY & HUMAN XISTENCE
V. Montemaggi 01:30-02:45 MW
Taught in English, this course – which can also be taken as the Gateway Course for the Religion and Literature Minor – explores how theology and literature can combine to enrich our understanding. Focusing on the work of Augustine, Aquinas, Dante, Primo Levi, Dostoevsky and Shakespeare, students will address questions such as: ‘How does the way we use language bear upon our notions of truth?’; ‘How are the intellect and the imagination engaged by literary texts?’; ‘How does all this relate to how we think about God, human nature, and the relationship between them?’ Such questions will be addressed, in particular, by reflecting on how the texts studied invite us to think about love, forgiveness, vulnerability and creativity. Cross List RLT 40241/ ENG 40157/THEO 40837/LIT 73526/LLRO 40107
LLRO 63210-01 IMITATION AND INTERTEXTUALITY: FROM ANTIQUITY THROUGH RENAISSANCE 03:30-06:15 W
J. DellaNeva
This course will study the notion of literary imitation from Antiquity through the Renaissance in many ways. We will become conversant with theoretical texts that deal with this subject, drawing from the writings of Cicero, Seneca, Horace, Quintilian, Petrarch, Poliziano, Cortesi, Pico, Bembo, Erasmus, Calcagnini, Cinzio, Possevino, and Du Bellay (all available in English in translation); additionally, we will read modern analyses of these texts (e.g., Greene, Cave, Ferguson). At the same time, we will study modern theoretical approaches to the subject of intertextuality and influence (principally Riffaterre, Genette, and Bloom, in addition to our main general introductory text on intertextuality). Finally, by attempting sample intertextual readings of our own along with reading pertinent modern criticism, we will see how a variety of ancient, medieval, and Renaissance writers put this theory into practice. A significant portion of the course will be determined by specific student interests in this topic: that is, some secondary readings will be chosen after the composition of the class has been determined. In addition to weekly response papers and in-class presentations of secondary readings, students will be expected to present for classroom discussion the intertextual problems in which they are most interested in, during the final weeks of the course as they progress towards writing their final paper. Cross List LIT 73712/MI 63539
UNIVERSITY SEMINAR
LLRO 13186-01 NATIONS IN MOTION: U.S. LATINO/A CARIBBEAN LITERATURE
M. Moreno 09:30-10:45 TR
This course is designed to introduce students to some of the most significant U.S. Latino/a authors of Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Dominican descent. Literary analysis of Latina/o-Caribbean works will be preceded by in-depth examination of the historical and political circumstances that led to the massive displacement and settlement of these populations in the U.S. mainland. Central to our discussions will be questions of identity, migration, transnationalism, biculturalism, race, ethnicity, class, sexuality and gender. Students will read works by key figures such as pioneer Nuyorican author Piri Thomas, 2008 Pulitzer-winning Dominican novelist Junot Diaz, Julia Alvarez, Cristina Garcia, Gustavo Pérez Firmat, and Esmeralda Santiago will help students answer questions such as How do Latino/as represent themselves in their literature?; What roles do ethnicity, race, sexuality, and gender play in the construction of a Latino/a identity?; and what effect does the constant movement across borders have in the articulation of a Latino and a pan-Latino subjectivity? All readings are in English. No previous knowledge of Spanish is required, although it is suggested.
LLRO 13186-02 PRIMO LEVI: LITERATURE, ETHICS AND THE PURSUIT OF
KNOWLEDGE
V. Montemaggi 11:00-12:15 TR
This seminar explores the work of Primo Levi, focusing especially on his Holocaust writings. Students will engage with the questions that such writings raise concerning the nature of meaning, creativity, suffering and freedom. Through this, students will be invited to reflect on the relationship between literature and the study of literature, and on the ways such reflection might illuminate, and be illuminated by, reflection on human identity and community.
LLRO 13186-03 ON INTERPRETATION 09:30-10:45 TR
L. MacKenzie
In this seminar our truck will be with "texts" from various registers of art: "low" (e.g., songs by Bob Dylan); "middle" (e.g., films by Martin Scorsese) and "high" (opera, symbolist poetry, absurdist theater). This variety of sources is chosen with one purpose in mind: to encourage techniques of reading from the inside of the text outward. To this end, our interest is more on the how than on the what. In other words, how do we go about finding the seam, the portal through which to enter a text. Written work will be publicly scrutinized in the hopes of also cultivating the fine, difficult and all too often lost art of self-critique. Students under the impression that they "can't" do textual analysis are especially welcome, as, of course, are those for whom literature and the arts are already a source of joy and a engine of growth.
COLLEGE SEMINAR
CSEM 23102-01 TIME AND CREATIVE EXPRESSION 01:30-02:45 MW
P. Martin
While it is certainly true that it is useful and practical for us to think about ourselves as discrete beings restricted to a limited region in space-time, the human story is ultimately integral with that of the universe itself. That each existent, and indeed time itself, is properly understood as an expression of the originating power that brought forth the universe, impels us toward a reconfiguration of our human identity and a new sense of our creative potential. As we engage with the real through knowledge and through love, we become more fully what and who we are with regard to the possibilities for temporal existence, and allow the universe to come to itself in a special mode of conscious reflection. Our conversation this semester will be supported by reflection on theological, historical and literary sources, as well as by substantial use of film. As we explore that material, you will have the opportunity to refine your communication skills through individual and collaborative activities. You will be encouraged to read attentively, to identify important ideas and organizational strategies, to ask productive questions, to develop an argument or a line of investigation, and to respond usefully to the questions and observations of others. Written assignments will also offer you a chance to practice expressing an argument clearly, exploring it logically and supporting it by appropriate textual reference.
CSEM 23102-02 MARGINAL VOICES 03:00-04:15 MW
P. Martin
This seminar will explore the experience of marginalization through its spatial representations and associated modes of expression. Resistant to conventional configuration as places of silence and isolation, the boundary areas of desert and social margin, of shoreline and interior borderland are all regions of privileged encounter and communication. Our work together will engage with marginalization as a spiritual discipline, as an imposed social category, and as a precondition of the aesthetic life. It is the voice of the prophet, the poet, the poor and the handicapped that we hear, calling us to a life of charity, of freedom and compassion, and of celebration.
Our conversation this semester will be supported by reflection on theological, sociological and literary sources, as well as by substantial use of film. As we explore that material, you will have the opportunity to refine your communication skills through individual and collaborative activities. You will be encouraged to read attentively, to identify important ideas and organizational strategies, to ask productive questions, to develop an argument or a line of investigation, and to respond usefully to the questions and observations of others. Written assignments will also offer you a chance to practice expressing an argument clearly, exploring it logically and supporting it by appropriate textual reference.
ROMANCE LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES
LLRO 10101-01 BEGINNING QUECHUA I 12:50-01:40 MWF, 12:30-01:45 T
I.Callalli
The principle aims of this beginning-level Quechua Language course are to encourage the development of competency and proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, writing, and to generate cultural understanding through a communicative approach to second language acquisition. Songs, role-playing and other related activities will also be incorporated. This course is taught in Spanish and may be taken in conjunction with LLRO 10102 and 20201 to fulfill the language requirement. Cross-list LAST 10500
LLRO 27201-01 INTERMEDIATE QUECHUA I 03:00-04:15 MW
I.Callalli
An intermediate-level, third-semester college language course. Emphasis on and refinement of grammatical competence and oral and written language skills. Class time is dedicated to interactive discussion encouraging the development of language proficiency and generating cultural understanding. Cross List LAST 27501
LLRO 40116-01 DANTE II 12:30-01:45 TR
C. Moevs
Dante's Comedy is one of the supreme poetic achievements in Western literature. It is a probing synthesis of the entire Western cultural and philosophical tradition that produced it, a radical experiment in poetics and poetic technique, and a profound exploration of Christian spirituality. Dante I and II are a close study, over two semesters, of the entire Comedy, in its cultural (historical, literary, artistic, philosophical) context. Dante I covers the works that precede the Comedy (Vita Nuova, Convivio, De vulgari eloquentia) and the Inferno, Dante II covers the Purgatorio and Paradiso, along with the Monarchia. These are separate courses, and can be taken independently, though they do form an integrated sequence. The course and all discussion will be conducted in English. Dante's minor works will be read in English translation; all critical articles will be in English. The Comedy will be read in facing-page translation, and we will refer to it in Italian. Acquaintance with Latin or a Romance language is therefore helpful, though not strictlynecessary. Cross List, ROIT 40116/63116, MI 40553, 60553, LIT 73665, RLT 40242
LLRO 40542-01 COMEDY, ITALIAN STYLE!
J. Welle 11:45 to 01:00 MW , 06:30 to 08:30 T film screening
This course focuses on the film genre known as “comedy Italian style” analyzing its historical development in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Moreover, these films, which stem from a long line of comic genius, will be flanked by an exploration of comic traditions in selected works of Italian theatre and literature including the Commedia dell’arte, Goldoni’s comedy of manners, Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio, Futurist Treatises on Comedy, Pirandello's theory of humor, along with Italian film comedies up to the present. A vital force of aesthetic pleasure and political commentary Italian comic traditions will provide students with insights into modern and contemporary Italian culture, politics and society. Students will be required to lead and to participate in class discussions, to write short reaction papers, to compose a number of longer papers, and to prepare oral presentations. There will be a mid-term and a final exam. Requirements also include attendance at mandatory film screenings. The class will be conducted in English. Cross List FTT 30231/31231/ROIT40512
LLRO 40560-01 BRAZILIAN CINEMA AND POPULAR MUSIC 12:30-01:45 TR
I. Ferreira Gould
This course offers social, cultural, political, and historical perspectives on Brazil through film, photography, and popular music. Topics include the reception of Cinema Novo and post-Cinema Novo films, bossa nova, samba, and Tropicália. Special attention will be paid to Tropicália (a movement with key manifestations in literature, cinema and popular music) and the circumstances surrounding its creation, the repressive military regime that governed Brazil from 1964 to 1985. Offered in English (discussion group available in Portuguese). Prerequisite: none. Cross List LAST 40505/ROPO 40560/AFST40576
LLRO 63050-01 INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY CRITICISM 03:30-06:15 R
A.Toumayan
This seminar allows M.A. and PhD students to understand the most prominent 20th and 21st-century approaches to interpreting literary texts. Emphasis is on the active verb "to interpret," and not on: 1) "theory" as a monolithic mass of obscure and difficult texts; or 2) "criticism": a negative rhetoric of censure and value judgments. It will provide students with tools to attain: 1) rigor in literary analysis; 2) sharpened critical thinking; 3) knowledge of major intellectual movements of the 20th and 21st centuries (i.e. Marxism, structuralism and post-structuralism, narratology, feminism, psychoanalysis, new historicism, postmodernism, and postcolonial theory); 4) discernment to figure out where other critics (including professors at ND!) are coming from. That is, we seek to train students who are able, by listening to a lecture or reading a scholar's work, to distinguish the particular ideological, political, or esthetic perspective that he or she subscribes to, even if unconsciously. Students will thus be able to discern the strengths and limitations of others’ approaches and eventually to form their own signature style of interpretation. Our ultimate goal is for graduate students to join ongoing debates among scholars, and to be able to articulate ideas intelligibly and persuasively.
Cross list LIT 73570
FALL 2010 - SPRING 2010
UNIVERSITY SEMINAR
NOTE: THESE UNDERGRADUATE COURSES ARE TAUGHT IN ENGLISH
LLRO 13186-01 LITERATURES OF LUSOPHONE AFRICA 02:00-03:15 TR
I. Gould
This university seminar offers a comprehensive survey of postcolonial Lusophone-African literatures (in translation) produced by contemporary writers from Angola, Cape Verde, and Mozambique. The course has several goals: to acquaint English-speaking students with literatures and regions with which they are not familiar; to study comparatively the literary representations of independence, civil wars, colonial legacies, and postcolonial identities; and to learn how to employ literary concepts involved in the study of novels and short fiction. The course provides students with a variety of approaches to close reading and creative writing. Students will develop debating and other skills of oral expression.
LLRO 13186-02 IMAGINARY GEOGRAPHIES 11:00-12:15 TR
S. Ferri
This course focuses on the geography of imagined places and made-up fantasy worlds in literature and film. We will focus mainly on Italian and other Romance literatures, with references to classical sources. The seminar will be organized around thematic clusters, such as the worlds of the afterlife, utopian and dystopian lands, cities of the future, enchanted gardens and descriptions of unexplored countries. For each theme we will see how it has developed over time, we will discuss the reasons and ideas behind each author’s creation, we will examine the allegorical and symbolic meanings associated with a specific imaginary place, and we will try to understand what an imaginary place tells us about the real world. Some of the questions that we will raise are: What is the significance of geographical imagination? What are the assumptions and intentions of the authors in developing fantasy worlds? What do imaginary places reveal about the social and historical contexts against which they are set? What is the connection between literary creation and geographical invention?
LLRO 13186-03 NIHILISM AND LITERATURE 02:00-03:15 TR
O. Morel
This University seminar will focus on literary works that reveal writing as an extreme process. Students will engage with texts that test the physical and metaphysical limits of the one who writes, and will examine novels, short stories, poems, songs, and even films that illustrate to what extent writing can be an activity undertaken under extreme conditions. While these creative texts inevitably reveal the singularity of their author, they touch those who come into contact with them in various ways, influencing the attitudes and dreams of others and even potentially changing society. The course, taught in English, will draw primarily from books and films originally in French and German. This semester, we will pay a special attention to the movement and topic of “nihilism” from the late 19th, to the beginning of the 21st century literature, from Maupassant to Bataille, to the present.Students will be required to complete four short essays and a final paper in response to the “Extreme Writings” we examine in the course.
LLRO 13186-04 ON INTERPRETATION 09:30-10:45 TR
L. Mackenzie
In this seminar our truck will be with "texts" from various registers of art: "low" (e.g., songs by Bob Dylan); "middle" (e.g., films by Martin Scorsese) and "high" (opera, symbolist poetry, absurdist theater). This variety of sources is chosen with one purpose in mind: to encourage techniques of reading from the inside of the text outward. To this end, our interest is more on the how than on the what. In other words, how do we go about finding the seam, the portal through which to enter a text. Written work will be publicly scrutinized in the hopes of also cultivating the fine, difficult and all too often lost art of self-critique. Students under the impression that they "can't" do textual analysis are especially welcome, as, of course, are those for whom literature and the arts are already a source of joy and a engine of growth.
COLLEGE SEMINAR
CSEM 23101-01, 02 UNDERSTANDING TIME, CELEBRATING THE ORDINARY
P. Martin 01:30-02:45, 03:00-04:15 MW
From being in time to being on time, all that has meaning for us is known first through the body. Our engagement with questions bearing on the rhythms of our lived experience, the construction of human identity or the expression of our creative potential always takes place at the level of the particular, the local and the ordinary. Discussion of what it means to be, to know, and to make in time will be supported by reflection on course material drawn from historical, sociological and theological sources. Participants in this interdisciplinary seminar will also work with film, photography and literature. Seminar assignments will contribute to the development of a critical voice by fostering both individual and collaborative student reflection on a variety of levels. Over the course of the academic term, students will be encouraged to develop the kind of analytical skills that will allow them to respond critically to a particular reading, and to synthesize the work of more than one author without losing sight of the formal distinctiveness of each author’s vision and achievement.
ROMANCE LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES
LLRO 10101-01 Beginning Quechua I 09:35-10:25 MWF, 09:30-10:45 T
I. Callalli
The principal aims of this beginning-level Quechua Language course are to encourage the development of competency and proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, writing, and to generate cultural understanding through a communicative approach to second language acquisition. Songs, role-playing and other related activities will also be incorporated. Cross List 10500.
LLRO 27201-01 INTERMEDIATE quechua I 02:00-03:15 TR
I.Callalli
The principal aim of this two-semester language course is to encourage the development of competency and proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, writing, and to generate cultural understanding through a communicative approach to second language acquisition. This course is designed for highly motivated students and is taught in Spanish. LLRO 10101 and 10102 may be taken in conjunction with LLRO 20201 to fulfill the language requirement. Cross list LAST 27501
LLRO 40107-01 BETWEEN RELIGION & LIT: MEANING, VULNERABLE & HUMAN EXISTENCE
V. Montemaggi 01:30-02:45 MW
Taught in English, this course – which can also be taken as the Gateway Course for the Religion and Literature Minor – explores how theology and literature can combine to enrich our understanding. Focusing on the work of Augustine, Aquinas, Dante, Primo Levi, Dostoevsky and Shakespeare, students will address questions such as: ‘How does the way we use language bear upon our notions of truth?’; ‘How are the intellect and the imagination engaged by literary texts?’; ‘How does all this relate to how we think about God, human nature, and the relationship between them?’ Such questions will be addressed, in particular, by reflecting on how the texts studied invite us to think about love, forgiveness, vulnerability and creativity. Cross List RLT 40241 5 /ENG 40157/THEO 40835/LIT 73970/LLRO 63107/LIT 73526
LLRO 40145-01 Dante I 03:00-04:15 MW
T. Cachey
According to the eminent critic John Freccero "Understanding in the Inferno is a process that might be characterized as hyperbolic doubt systematically applied to the values of contemporary society." This may explain the strong revival of interest in the poem that we have witnessed of late. In this course we will read and discuss in detail the Inferno as well as important "minor" works leading up to the Divine Comedy including the Vita nuova (New Life), the Convivio (The Banquet), and the De vulgari eloquentia (On vernacular eloquence). We will especially focus on major episodes of the Inferno in the light of recent scholarship and in relation to current debates in the humanities. The course satisfies the university literature requirement, and will be offered in English (but we will read the Inferno in a facing-page translation). Undergraduate students of Italian at all levels are welcome. Midterm, final exam and brief presentations. Cross List ROIT 40115/MI 40552/ MI 60552/LIT 73670/*ROIT 42115 LAC Discussion group.
LLRO 40548-01 ITALIAN CINEMA: REALITIES OF HISTORY 11:00-12:15 TR
Z. Baranski
This course explores the construction and development of the Italian cinematic realist tradition from the silent era to the early 1970s, although its primary focus is on the period 1934-1966, which stretches from the appearance of Blasetti's openly fascist "historical" reconstruction, La vecchia guardia, to Pasolini's "eccentric" exercise in Left-wing commitment, Uccellacci e uccellini, with its mix of expressionist and hyper-realist techniques. At the centre of this period are found some of Italy's most highly regarded films made by directors, such as Vittorio DeSica, Roberto Rossellini, and Luchino Visconti, who belonged to the neo-realist movement (1945-53). These filmmakers rejected escapist cinema and tried to make films that examined the contemporary experiences of ordinary Italians. As well as analyzing the films in themselves, the course examines the formal and ideological continuities and differences between neo-realist films and their silent and fascist predecessors. In a similar way, it analyses neo-realism's impact on later film-makers, such as Federico Fellini, Pietro Germi, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Gillo Pontecorvo, Dino Risi, and Francesco Rosi, who attempted to develop new versions of cinematic realism. Finally, the course aims to locate the films in their historical and cultural contexts and to address theoretical issues arising from the concept of realism. Cross List ROIT 40548
LLRO 40997-01 PORTUGUESE COLONIALISM REVISITED 03:30-04:45 TR
I. Gould
With readings from Angola, Mozambique, Brazil and Portugal, this course examines colonialism and its aftermath in Africa in light of postcolonial fiction and contemporary sociological and anthropological writing from the Lusophone world. This course brings the Lusophone experience, with its important varieties, yet overlooked implications, into broader debates in the field of postcolonial studies. Course conducted in English with readings in Portuguese and/or English. Cross List ROPO 40997.
LLRO 61075-01 PRACTICUM IN TEACHING SPANISH 06:45-08:00 R
J. Fisher-McPeak
This weekly practicum is designed for graduate students who serve as Spanish Teaching Assistants in the Department of Romance Languages. The course focuses on the development of organizational and presentation skills needed to excel as a foreign language teacher. Students carry out micro-teaching projects and collaborate to develop a portfolio of their own activities based upon the principles learned in the course.
LLRO 61076-01 PRACTICUM IN TEACHING FRENCH 01:00-02:15 M
M. Escoda-Risto
This course will prepare students to teach elementary French courses. It will cover basic teaching techniques/methods used in the ND French curriculum, setting up and maintaining a grade book, course management, as well as test design and evaluation techniques.
LLRO 61077-01 PRACTICUM IN TEACHING ITALIAN 01:30-03:00 M
C. Sbordoni
This course is designed for graduate students in the M.A. program in Italian/PhD. Lit and is mandatory during their first year of teaching. It complements the theoretical basis for foreign language teaching methodology provided in LLRO and gives students hands-on practice with the organizational tasks and pedagogical procedures that are pertinent to their daily teaching responsibilities.
LLRO 63075-01 Foreign Lang. Teaching Methodology & Second Lang. Acquisition
C. Sbordoni 12:45-03:15 R
This course introduces language instructors to the theoretical background and debates that inform current teaching methodologies for second language learning. Language instructors will learn to develop a communicative classroom environment that blends listening, speaking, reading, and writing while building toward a proficiency goal. Students will familiarize themselves with key concepts in linguistics and research methodologies. They will gain a historical perspective on theories of second language acquisition and foreign language teaching methodologies and be encouraged to develop informed views of their own. Projects include presentations, peer observations, self-assessment, small research components, micro-teaching demos, and developing basic elements of the FL teaching portfolio. Cross List LIT 61603 3.
LLRO 63107 BETWEEN RELIGION & LIT: MEANING, VULNERABLE & HUMAN EXISTENCE
V. Montemaggi 01:30-02:45 MW
Taught in English, this course – which can also be taken as the Gateway Course for the Religion and Literature Minor – explores how theology and literature can combine to enrich our understanding. Focusing on the work of Augustine, Aquinas, Dante, Primo Levi, Dostoevsky and Shakespeare, students will address questions such as: ‘How does the way we use language bear upon our notions of truth?’; ‘How are the intellect and the imagination engaged by literary texts?’; ‘How does all this relate to how we think about God, human nature, and the relationship between them?’ Such questions will be addressed, in particular, by reflecting on how the texts studied invite us to think about love, forgiveness, vulnerability and creativity. Cross List RLT 40241 5 /ENG 40157/THEO 40835/LIT 73970/LLRO 40107
SPRING 2010
LLRO 27201 INTERMEDIATE QUECHUA I 3:00-4:15 M/W
I.Callalli
An intermediate-level, third-semester college language course. Emphasis on and refinement of grammatical competence and oral and written language skills. Class time is dedicated to interactive discussion encouraging the development of language proficiency and generating cultural understanding. Cross-list LAST 27501
LLRO 30650 RACIALIZATION IN THE US & BRAZILIAN HISTORY 4:30-5:45 M/W
J. Graham
This course will consider the processes that have caused aspects of society to be racialized, or labeled with racial meanings, symbolisms, and/or identities. The class will focus on, but will not be limited to, “black” racialization. We will examine how racialization has shaped the human experience in the largest ex-slaveholding nations of the Americas – the United States and Brazil. Our goal is to understand the ways in which not only people are racialized, but also communities, geographical regions, nations, cultural production (such as music), behavior, labor, and gender, to name a few. With these two nations as our case studies, the class will explore the dynamic nature of racialization, focusing on the impact that space and time has had on the way we identify and live race. Cr-List AFST 30286 May count for Portuguese Minor
LLRO 40041 INTRO TO APPLIED LINGUISTICS 3:00-4:15 M/W
L. Askildson
This course will introduce students to the properties of language and their systematic study via linguistic inquiry. Specifically, the origins and mechanisms of linguistics knowledge will be examined alongside the componential units of syntax, morphology, phonology and semantics. The course will further introduce students to applied linguistic study with an emphasis on second language acquisition and the integration of sociocultural knowledge within this process. Students will complete this course with a greater understanding of the nature of language and the mechanisms whereby it is acquired, conceptually represented and produced.
LLRO 40116 DANTE II 12:30-1:45 T/R
C. Moevs
Dante's Comedy is one of the supreme poetic achievements in Western literature. It is a probing synthesis of the entire Western cultural and philosophical tradition that produced it, a radical experiment in poetics and poetic technique, and a profound exploration of Christian spirituality. Dante I and II are a close study, over two semesters, of the entire Comedy, in its cultural (historical, literary, artistic, philosophical) context. Dante I covers the works that precede the Comedy (Vita Nuova, Convivio, De vulgari eloquentia) and the Inferno, Dante II covers the Purgatorio and Paradiso, along with the Monarchia. These are separate courses, and can be taken independently, though they do form an integrated sequence. The course and all discussion will be conducted in English. Dante's minor works will be read in English translation; all critical articles will be in English. The Comedy will be read in facing-page translation, and we will refer to it in Italian. Acquaintance with Latin or a Romance language is therefore helpful, though not strictly necessary. Cross list, ROIT 40116/63116, MI 40553, 60553, LIT 73665, RLT 40242
LLRO 40233 MACHIAVELLI NOW 11:45-1:00 M/W
T. Cachey
In this seminar we will approach Machiavelli through the careful study of his major works, read against the background of the political crisis of the Italian Renaissance, and with particular attention to their resonance for subsequent political analyses of the condition of modernity. Readings: Political essays and treatises, literary works and letters, including The Prince, Mandragola, Belfagor, Discourses on the First Decade of Livy, and the Dialogue on Language. The course will be offered in English. Requirements: brief presentations, midterm and final paper. POLS 30651
LLRO 40560 BRAZILIAN FILM AND POPULAR MUSIC 3:30-4:45 T/R
I. Ferreira Gould
This course offers social, cultural, political, and historical perspectives on Brazil through film, photography, and popular music. Topics include the reception of Cinema Novo and post-Cinema Novo films, bossa nova, samba, and Tropicália. Special attention will be paid to Tropicália (a movement with key manifestations in literature, cinema and popular music) and the circumstances surrounding its creation, the repressive military regime that governed Brazil from 1964 to 1985. Offered in English (discussion group available in Portuguese). Prerequisite: none. Cross list LAST 30500
LLRO 63050 INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY CRITICISM 3:30-6:15 R
J. Douthwaite
This seminar allows M.A. and PhD students to understand the most prominent 20th and 21st-century approaches to interpreting literary texts. Emphasis is on the active verb "to interpret," and not on: 1) "theory" as a monolithic mass of obscure and difficult texts; or 2) "criticism": a negative rhetoric of censure and value judgments.
It will provide students with tools to attain: 1) rigor in literary analysis; 2) sharpened critical thinking; 3) knowledge of major intellectual movements of the 20th and 21st centuries (i.e. Marxism, structuralism and post-structuralism, narratology, feminism, psychoanalysis, new historicism, postmodernism, and postcolonial theory); 4) discernment to figure out where other critics (including professors at ND!) are coming from. That is, we seek to train students who are able, by listening to a lecture or reading a scholar's work, to distinguish the particular ideological, political, or esthetic perspective that he or she subscribes to, even if unconsciously. Students will thus be able to discern the strengths and limitations of others’ approaches and eventually to form their own signature style of interpretation. Our ultimate goal is for graduate students to join ongoing debates among scholars, and to be able to articulate ideas intelligibly and persuasively.
Requirements: Assiduous attendance and study of all course materials; preparation of discussion questions as “discussant” with a partner (on two occasions); three mini-essays in response to discussion questions (3pp.); one analytical paper (6-8 pp.); and one applied interpretative paper (8-10pp.).
LLRO 63213 RELIGION AND LITERATURE IN THE LIGHT OF JOB 12:45-3:15 T
V. Montemaggi
This course explores the light that the Book of Job can shed on our understanding of the relationship between literary and theological reflection. An initial reading of the Book of Job itself will open up the questions (concerning, for example, human vulnerability and divine unknowability) that will then provide the conceptual focus for the rest of the course; in which we will examine texts by Gregory the Great, Dante, Shakespeare and Primo Levi, shaped in different but richly complementary ways by a profoundly compelling engagement with the questions raised by Job. Through such examination, and in conversation with contemporary literary and theological studies, students will be invited to reflect closely on the distinctive contribution that the coming together of literary and theological reflection can make to our thinking about meaning and truth
