Italian
ITALIAN Undergraduate Courses
Subject to change. Please refer to InsideND for the most up-to-date, accurate information.
FALL 2013 COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
(As of 4/16/2013)
ROIT 20300-01 LET’S TALK ITALIAN
R 3:30-4:30
TBD
This mini-course in Italian offers both informal and structured conversation practice. Conversation on Italian politics, society, and culture will be based on authentic materials. This course meets one hour per week for group discussions on contemporary issues and with guest speakers. Conducted in Italian. Recommended for students returning from Italy and for students who have completed two or three semesters of Italian.
ROIT 27500-01 INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN II
MWF 12:50-1:40
Instructor: TBD
Through guided and independent readings, students will explore how food and art have been, and still are, fundamental to the Italian identity. Students will be engaged in class discussions, individual and group presentations. A general grammar review and introduction of advanced grammar forms will continue to develop and refine each student’s written and oral proficiencies. Pre-requisites: three semesters of Italian. This course counts as a 20000-level Lang/lit/culture course toward the Italian major or minor. IBCL - IBC Liberal Arts, LANG - College Language Req, MESE - European Studies Course.
ROIT 30207 SURVEY OF ITALIAN RENAISSANCE ART (2)
TR 9:30-10:45
C. Rosenberg
This course will examine the painting, sculpture and architecture produced in Italy from the very end of the twelfth through the beginning of sixteenth century; from Giotto's Franciscan spirituality to Michelangelo's heroic vision of man and God. A wide variety of questions will be considered in the context of this chronological survey including changing conventions of representation, the social function of art, and the impact of the Renaissance ideology of individual achievement on the production of art and the role of the artist. Taught in English; counts as an Italian Studies course. Cross list with ARHI 30310.
ROIT 30300 LET’S TALK ITALIAN ADVANCED
R 3:30-4:20
Instructor: TBD
This mini-course in Italian meets one hour per week for group discussions on varied contemporary issues in Italian culture, society, and politics. Conducted in Italian. Recommended for students in their third or fourth year of Italian who have completed four or five semesters of Italian, or who have completed ROIT 20300.
ROIT 30310-01/02 PASSAGE TO ITALY
MW 11:00-12:15 / TR 12:30-1:45
A. Leone / V. Montemaggi
In this fifth-semester course you will learn to analyze and understand great works drawn from the major literary and artistic genres (lyric poetry, prose, theatre, epic, novel, film, opera, contemporary song), while sampling masterpieces from across the whole Italian tradition (including music, art, and architecture). At the same time you will review and consolidate your grasp of the Italian language at an advanced level. Taught in Italian; counts as a Lit-Culture course. Pre-requisite: ROIT 20202 or equivalent; ROIT 20201 (or equivalent) by permission. Strongly recommended for majors and supplementary majors. LANG - College Language Req, LIT - Univ.Req. Literature, MESE - European Studies Course.
ROIT 30711-01 MEDIEVAL-RENAISSANCE ITALIAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE
TR 11:00-12:15
C. Moevs
An introduction to the close reading and analysis of masterpieces from the Duecento through the Renaissance, including Lentini, Guinizzelli, Cavalcanti, Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Poliziano, Machiavelli, and Ariosto. We will trace the profile of Italian literary history in this period, setting the texts in their rich cultural and historical context (including music, art, and architecture), with special attention to the changing understanding of human nature and the physical world in these centuries. Taught in Italian. Required for majors and supplementary majors in the Literature and Culture concentration; either this course or ROIT 30721 is required for majors in the Italian Studies Concentration. Cross list with MI 30577 (2).
ROIT 40114 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 with MI 40565 (3), LLRO 40114 (20). Counts as an Italian Studies course.
LLRO 40512 / ROIT 40512-01 / FTT 30231 COMEDY, ITALIAN STYLE!
MW 11:00-12:15pm / M 5:00-7:00 Lab Screening
J. 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 LLRO 40542, FTT 30231 (Lab).
ROIT 40910-01 TALES OF ADVENTURE IN ITALIAN LITERATURE AND CINEMA
TR 2:00-3:15
S. Ferri
Adventure stories are the oldest form of storytelling. Italy has a long standing tradition in adventure fiction and yet this genre has not been analyzed in a comprehensive and systematic way. The course will explore the Italian adventure narrative through the analysis of a wide range of texts - from the Medieval short story to the Renaissance epic poem, from the picaresque novel of the eighteenth century to contemporary films and graphic novels. We will consider the texts and films against their social and cultural background and look at the development of the genre over time. What are the archetypes, conventions, and iconic symbols of the adventure narrative? What is its relationship to myth and history? Who is the hero/adventurer? What do adventure narratives and their heroes/heroines tell us about Italy and Italians? Taught in Italian.
SPRING 2013 COURSES - FALL 2012 COURSES
SPRING 2013 COURSES
ROIT 20300-01 (1.0 credit) LET’S TALK ITALIAN I R 3:00-4:00
G. Lenzi-Sandusky
This mini-course in Italian offers both informal and structured conversation practice. Conversation on Italian politics, society, and culture will be based on authentic materials. This course meets one hour per week for group discussions on contemporary issues and with guest speakers. Conducted in Italian. Recommended for students returning from Italy and for students who have completed two or three semesters of Italian.
ROIT 21205 PRE-STUDY ABROAD W 4:30-5:45
A. Blad
This one-credit course begins the week after spring break; it is designed for students planning to spend a semester or a year abroad in Notre Dame’s study abroad programs in Rome or Bologna, Italy. By means of a carefully planned program of film viewings, lectures, discussions and internet guided tours organized by Notre Dame’s Italian Studies faculty, students will be provided with an advanced introduction to the history and topography of Rome/Bologna, Italian lifestyle(s), pop music and youth cultures, service learning, sport and internship opportunities, as well as cultural events, including opera theatre and music concerts. The Italian Studies faculty will also assist students in assessing their linguistic and cultural competency in Italian, and in fashioning individualized learning goals for their study abroad experience.
ROIT 27500-01/02 INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN II MWF 9:35-10:25/11:45-12:35
A. Blad/P. Vivirito
An advanced, fourth-semester content-driven language course is designed to further the student's conversational skills as well as grasp of a wide variety of styles and registers in Italian. Spoken and written Italian will be practiced through various classroom activities and assignments. Readings include a wide array of literary and nonliterary texts (newspapers and magazines, short fiction, and so on). The context of the course will offer to students numerous possibilities for debating and negotiating their personal views which will guide the development and refinement of oral and written proficiency. The course will also include a variety of creative presentations, role-plays, and other collaborative assignments. Prerequisites: three semesters of Italian. This course counts as a 200-level course toward the Italian major or minor.
ROIT 30205 ITALIAN RENAISSANCE MW 10:40-11:30, F 9:35-10:25
M. Meserve
This course examines the political, cultural, social, and religious history of Italy from about 1350 to 1550. Starting with an extended study of Florence, its economic foundations, social and political structures, artistic monuments, and key personalities, the course then examines how the culture of the Florentine Renaissance spread to the rest of Italy, especially to the papal court of Rome and the princely courts of northern Italy, and, finally, to the new nation-states of northern Europe. Key topics will include: the growth of the Italian city-state; the appearance of new, Renaissance "characters" (the merchant, the prince, the courtier, the mercenary, the learned lady, the self-made man); Renaissance humanism and the classical revival; the relationship between art and politics; and Renaissance ideas of liberty, virtue, historical change, and the individual's relationship to God. The course will not tell a story of steady progress from medieval to modern institutions, societies, and modes of thinking; rather, we will consider the Renaissance as a period in flux, in which established traditions thrived alongside creative innovations and vigorous challenges to authority. Students will write one long paper and take a midterm and a final exam. Co-requisite HIST 32500. Cross-listed with HIST 30500. Taught in English; counts as an Italian Studies course.
ROIT 30300 (1.0 credit) LET’S TALK ITALIAN II R 3:30-4:45
C. Moevs
This mini-course in Italian meets one hour per week for group discussions on varied contemporary issues in Italian culture, society, and politics. Conducted in Italian. Recommended for students in their third or fourth year of Italian who have completed four or five semesters of Italian, or who have completed ROIT 20300.
ROIT 30310 PASSAGE TO ITALY MW 1:30-2:45
T. Cachey
In this fifth-semester course you will learn to analyze and understand great works drawn from the major literary and artistic genres (lyric poetry, prose, theatre, epic, novel, film, opera, contemporary song), while sampling masterpieces from across the whole Italian tradition (including music, art, and architecture). At the same time you will review and consolidate your grasp of the Italian language at an advanced level. Taught in Italian; counts as a Lit-Culture course. Pre-requisite: ROIT 20202 or equivalent; ROIT 20201 (or equivalent) by permission. Strongly recommended for majors and supplementary majors. LANG - College Language Req, LIT - Univ.Req. Literature, MESE - European Studies Course.
ROIT 30721 MODERN ITALIAN LITERATURE & CULTURE MW 11:45-1:00
J. Welle
Conducted in Italian, this course provides a survey of major literary authors, literary genres, as well as examples of contributions to theatre and film, from the late eighteenth century to the early twentieth century. Writers, poets and playwrights to be treated include Goldoni, Foscolo, Leopardi, Verga, Serao, D’Annunzio, Pirandello, Gozzano, Vivanti, Deledda, Marinetti, and Ungaretti. Historical and cultural issues to be treated include Italian Unification, the emergence of female readers and writers, Italian writers and modernization, the beginnings of cinema and its relations with theatre, popular culture and media, WWI and the onset of fascism. Requirements include participation in class discussions, frequent short written and oral assignments, a number of brief papers and oral reports, as well as midterm and final exams. Counts as a Lit-Culture course.
ROIT 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 LLRO 40116, ROIT 63116, MI 40553, MI 60553, and LIT 73665. Counts for the Literature requirement, and as an Italian Studies course. This course has the option of an accompanying 1-credit LAC discussion section.
ROIT 40548-01 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. Taught in English; counts as an Italian Studies course. Cross-listed with LLRO 40548, FTT 40249, FTT 60250, and ROIT 63548.
ROIT 53000 ITALIAN SEMINAR: This is Italy: Four Masterpieces in Context
C. Moevs TR 11:00-12:15
Designed as a summation and capstone of the undergraduate program of Italian, this course focuses on four masterpieces by four geniuses, in four different genres, from four different epochs (Medieval, Renaissance, Enlightenment-Romanticism, Modern-Contemporary), situating them in their full Italian cultural context (art, architecture, music, film, society, Italian cities, etc…). The course will immerse you in the full panorama of Italian language and culture, and consolidate and connect what you have learned in your previous courses, strengthening your feeling of mastery and confidence. You will have the opportunity to pursue a topic or angle that grips you and present it both orally and in a capstone paper. This year, the masterpieces we will explore are: 1) novelle from Boccaccio’s Decameron (medieval); 2) Machiavelli’s great comedy La Mandragola (Renaissance); 3) Verdi’s opera Rigoletto, which we will see at the Lyric Opera in Chicago (19th century); 4) Fellini’s great film La dolce vita, one of the landmarks of world cinema (modern). The context will include the cities that produced or are evoked in these masterworks (e.g., Florence, Venice, Mantova, and Rome), as well as history, painting, music, architecture, and film. Taught in Italian. Prerequisite: at least two courses taught in Italian at the 30000 or 40000 level. Counts as a Lit-Culture course; required for the Lit-Culture major or supplementary major.
FALL 2012 COURSES
ROIT 27500-01/02 INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN II: ART, FOOD & CULTURE
G. Lenzi-Sandusky MWF 12:50-1:40/1:55-2:45 Through guided and independent readings, students will explore how food and art have been, and still are, fundamental to the Italian identity. Students will be engaged in class discussions, individual and group presentations. A general grammar review and introduction of advanced grammar forms will continue to develop and refine each student’s written and oral proficiencies. Pre-requisites: three semesters of Italian. This course counts as a 20000-level Lang/lit/culture course toward the Italian major or minor. IBCL - IBC Liberal Arts, LANG - College Language Req, MESE - European Studies Course.
ROIT 20300-01 (1.0 credit) LET’S TALK ITALIAN I T 3:30-4:30
G. Lenzi-Sandusky
This mini-course in Italian offers both informal and structured conversation practice. Conversation on Italian politics, society, and culture will be based on authentic materials. This course meets one hour per week for group discussions on contemporary issues and with guest speakers. Conducted in Italian. Recommended for students returning from Italy and for students who have completed two or three semesters of Italian.
ROIT 30206 EARLY MODERN ROME MW 11:45-1:00
M. Meserve
This course traces the interlocking histories of the papacy and the city of Rome from the Renaissance to the birth of the modern Italian state. Topics will include the rise and fall of the papal monarchy; cultural and intellectual life at the Vatican court; the urban fabric of Rome from the Renaissance to the Baroque; the peculiar strains of Roman society; and the tumultuous relationship, both political and cultural, between Rome and the rest of Europe from the Reformation to the age of revolution. The course will proceed chronologically, but will pause frequently to examine special topics including: the Renaissance cardinal and his household; Michelangelo's Rome; the building of St. Peter's; Jesuit science; the trial of Galileo; archaeology and antiquarianism; the Roman Carnival; the Inquisition; Bernini's Rome; the Grand Tour; Rome in the Romantic imagination; and Napoleon's Rome. Crosslisted with HIST 30501. Taught in English; counts as an Italian Studies course.
ROIT 30207 SURVEY OF ITALIAN RENAISSANCE ART TR 9:30-10:45
C. Rosenberg
This course will examine the painting, sculpture and architecture produced in Italy from the very end of the twelfth through the beginning of sixteenth century; from Giotto's Franciscan spirituality to Michelangelo's heroic vision of man and God. A wide variety of questions will be considered in the context of this chronological survey including changing conventions of representation, the social function of art, and the impact of the Renaissance ideology of individual achievement on the production of art and the role of the artist. Taught in English; counts as an Italian Studies course. Crosslisted with ARHI 30310.
ROIT 30300 (1.0 credit) LET’S TALK ITALIAN II TBD
This mini-course in Italian meets one hour per week for group discussions on varied contemporary issues in Italian culture, society, and politics. Conducted in Italian. Recommended for students in their third or fourth year of Italian who have completed four or five semesters of Italian, or who have completed ROIT 20300.
ROIT 30310 PASSAGE TO ITALY TR 11:00-12:15
C. Moevs
In this fifth-semester course you will learn to analyze and understand great works drawn from the major literary and artistic genres (lyric poetry, prose, theatre, epic, novel, film, opera, contemporary song), while sampling masterpieces from across the whole Italian tradition (including music, art, and architecture). At the same time you will review and consolidate your grasp of the Italian language at an advanced level. Taught in Italian; counts as a Lit-Culture course. Pre-requisite: ROIT 20202 or equivalent; ROIT 20201 (or equivalent) by permission. Strongly recommended for majors and supplementary majors. LANG - College Language Req, LIT - Univ.Req. Literature, MESE - European Studies Course.
ROIT 30711 MEDIEVAL-RENAISSANCE ITALIAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE
C. Moevs TR 2:00-3:15 An introduction to the close reading and analysis of masterpieces from the Duecento through the Renaissance, including Lentini, Guinizzelli, Cavalcanti, Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Poliziano, Machiavelli, and Ariosto. We will trace the profile of Italian literary history in this period, setting the texts in their rich cultural and historical context (including music, art, and architecture), with special attention to the changing understanding of human nature and the physical world in these centuries. Taught in Italian. Required for majors and supplementary majors in the Literature and Culture concentration; either this course or ROIT 30721 is required for majors in the Italian Studies Concentration. Crosslisted with MI 30577.
ROIT 40114 DANTE’S DIVINE COMEDY: THE CHRISTIAN UNIVERSE AS POETRY
Z. Baranski TR 12:30-1:45Dante 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). Crosslisted with MI 40565/LLRO 40114. Counts as an Italian Studies course.
ROIT 40530 COMMEDIA ALL’ITALIANA MW 3:00-4:15
J. Welle
Conducted in Italian, this course traces Italian comedy and performance traditions in literature, theatre, and film from the end of the nineteenth century to the present. A rich vein of comic genius will be explored including: the legacy of the commedia dell’arte, the misadventures of Pinocchio, the emergence of comic film stars, the variety theatre, the experimental Futurist theatre, Pirandello and his writings on humor, film stars and the transition to sound in the 1930s, as well as film stars and comedies from post-WWII to the present. In addition to discourses of national identity as they intersect with comedy, emphasis will be given to film acting styles, to constructions of gender and social class, to intermediality and to changing forms of stardom and celebrity. In short, this course offers an interdisciplinary exploration of a living comic tradition that continues to be a vital force of aesthetic pleasure and political commentary. Requirements include participation in class discussions, a number of papers and oral reports, as well as midterm and final exams. Counts as a Lit-Culture course.
SPRING 2012 COURSES
ROIT 21205-01 PRE-STUDY ABROAD W 4:30-5:45
Alessia Blad
This one-credit course begins the week after spring break; it is designed for students planning to spend a semester or a year abroad in Notre Dame’s study abroad programs in Rome or Bologna, Italy. By means of a carefully planned program of film viewings, lectures, discussions and internet guided tours organized by Notre Dame’s Italian Studies faculty, students will be provided with an advanced introduction to the history and topography of Rome/Bologna, Italian lifestyle(s), pop music and youth cultures, service learning, sport and internship opportunities, as well as cultural events, including opera theatre and music concerts. The Italian Studies faculty will also assist students in assessing their linguistic and cultural competency in Italian, and in fashioning individualized learning goals for their study abroad experience.
ROIT 27500-02 INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN II: MEDIA & CULTURE
Alessia Blad MWF 11:45-12:35
This course will study contemporary Italian culture, the realities and the clichés: Politics (Italy, after all, gave birth to Machiavelli, the Mob and Berlusconi), TV shows, the myth of the large Italian family, soccer conspiracies and the ever popular – ‘did Caesar invent the Caesar salad’? The course will incorporate vocabulary and grammar through the use of authentic readings, newspapers, movies and the internet, while allowing students to expound their views through debates, role-playing and presentations. Pre-requisites: three semesters of Italian. This course counts as a 20000-level Lang/lit/culture course toward the Italian major or minor. IBCL - IBC Liberal Arts, LANG - College Language Req, MESE - European Studies Course.
ROIT 27500-01/03 INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN II: OPERA – ITALY’S RESPONSE TO AMERICAN IDOL MWF 10:40-11:30/1:55-2:45
Patricia Keyes
This course will offer students the opportunity to enrich their knowledge of the Italian language through the medium of music. Students will study the operas (plots, characters, themes, settings) of some of the most famous ‘i’ composers (Rossini, Puccini, Verdi) in order to gain both a greater understanding of Italian culture as well as developing linguistic skills. Students will be given many opportunities for discussion and debate, as well as creative exercises and presentations that will develop and refine their oral and written proficiency. ‘It ain’t over ‘til the fat lady sings’ – in this course students will find out what all the yelling is about. Prerequisites: three semesters of Italian. This course counts as a 20000-level Lang/lit/culture course toward the Italian major or minor. IBCL - IBC Liberal Arts, LANG - College Language Req, MESE - European Studies Course.
ROIT 20300-01 (1.0 credit) LET’S TALK ITALIAN M 3:00-4:00
Giovanna Lenzi-Sandusky
This mini-course in Italian offers both informal and structured conversation practice. Conversation on Italian politics, society, and culture will be based on authentic materials. This course meets one hour per week for group discussions on contemporary issues and with guest speakers. Conducted in Italian. Recommended for students returning from Italy. Prerequisite: ROIT 20201.
ROIT 30206 EARLY MODERN ROME TR 11:00-12:15
Margaret Meserve
This course traces the interlocking histories of the papacy and the city of Rome from the Renaissance to the birth of the modern Italian state. Topics will include the rise and fall of the papal monarchy; cultural and intellectual life at the Vatican court; the urban fabric of Rome from the Renaissance to the Baroque; the peculiar strains of Roman society; and the tumultuous relationship, both political and cultural, between Rome and the rest of Europe from the Reformation to the age of revolution. The course will proceed chronologically, but will pause frequently to examine special topics including: the Renaissance cardinal and his household; Michelangelo's Rome; the building of St. Peter's; Jesuit science; the trial of Galileo; archaeology and antiquarianism; the Roman Carnival; the Inquisition; Bernini's Rome; the Grand Tour; Rome in the Romantic imagination; and Napoleon's Rome. Taught in English; counts as an Italian Studies course. HIST - Univ.Req. History, ITLS - ROIT Italian Subject, MESE - European Studies Course. Cross-listed with HIST 30501.
ROIT 30310 PASSAGE TO ITALY TR 9:30-10:45
Christian Moevs
In this fifth-semester course you will learn to analyze and understand great works drawn from the major literary and artistic genres (lyric poetry, prose, theatre, epic, novel, film, opera, contemporary song), while sampling masterpieces from across the whole Italian tradition (including music, art, and architecture). At the same time you will review and consolidate your grasp of the Italian language at an advanced level. Taught in Italian; counts as a Lit-Culture course. Pre-requisite: ROIT 20202 or equivalent; ROIT 20201 (or equivalent) by permission. Strongly recommended for majors and supplementary majors. LANG - College Language Req, LIT - Univ.Req. Literature, MESE - European Studies Course.
ROIT 30721-01 MODERN ITALIAN LITERATURE & CULTURE
John Welle MW 3:00-4:15This course provides a survey of major literary authors, literary genres, as well as examples of contributions to theatre and film, from the late eighteenth century to the early twentieth century. Writers, poets and playwrights to be treated include Goldoni, Foscolo, Leopardi, Verga, Serao, D’Annunzio, Pirandello, Gozzano, Vivanti, Deledda, Marinetti, and Ungaretti. Historical and cultural issues to be treated include Italian Unification, the emergence of female readers and writers, Italian writers and modernization, the beginnings of cinema and its relations with theatre, popular culture and media; WWI and the onset of fascism. Requirements include participation in class discussions, frequent short writing and oral assignments, a number of brief papers and oral reports, as well as midterm and final exams. Taught in Italian; counts as a Lit-Culture course. Required for majors and supplementary majors in the Literature and Culture concentration; either this course or ROIT 30711 is required for majors in the Italian Studies concentration. IBCL - IBC Liberal Arts, LIT - Univ.Req. Literature.
ROIT 40116-01 DANTE II TR 12:30-01:45
Christian 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 Dante II are an in-depth study, over two semesters, of the entire Comedy, in its historical, philosophical and literary context. Dante I focuses on the Inferno and the works that precede the Comedy (Vita Nuova, Convivio, De vulgari eloquentia); Dante II focuses on the Purgatorio and Paradiso, along with the Monarchia. Lectures and discussion in English; the text will be read in the original with facing-page translation (acquaintance with Latin or a Romance language is therefore helpful, but not necessary). Counts as an Italian Studies course. Students may take one semester or both, in either order. Students with Italian will have the option of also enrolling in a one-credit pass/fail Languages Across the Curriculum section, which will meet one hour per week to read and discuss selected passages or cantos in Italian. NOTE: Dante I and II are distinct from the one-semester lecture course ROIT 40114, Dante’s Divine Comedy: The Christian Universe as Poetry. LIT - Univ.Req. Literature. Cross-liested with LLRO 40116.
ROIT 40548-01 ITALIAN CINEMA: THE REALITIES OF HISTORY
Zyg Barański TR 2:00-3:15Italian 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 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. This course is taught in English; counts as an Italian Studies course. Cross-listed with FTT 60250.
ROIT 40750-01 LOSERS, FOOLS, AND BORDERLINERS IN ITALIAN LITERATURE AND FILM MW 11:45-1:00
Sabrina Ferri
Between the 19th and 20th centuries, the inetto, or fool, emerges as an exemplary protagonist in Italian literature. The inetto embodies the ethical and existential crisis of modern man, who is no longer able to make sense of life in a new society dominated by mass culture, capitalism, and the forces of industrialization. We will examine the figure of the fool in the Italian literature, film, and graphic novel of the past two centuries in order to gain insight on the modern and post‐modern Italian spirit. The course is taught in Italian; counts as a Lit-Culture course. Readings include works by authors from the late 19th century to the contemporary period such as Svevo, Pirandello, Bontempelli, Calvino, Culicchia, and Nori; as well as graphic novels by Pazienza and Gipi, and films by Moretti, Virzì, and Muccino. ITLC - ROIT Italian Lit & Cult.
ROIT 40830 CARAVAGGIO TR 2:00-3:15
Robert R. Coleman
This seminar is devoted to the art of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) and his early seventeenth-century followers. We will trace Caravaggio's development from his beginnings in Lombardy to his last years in Naples. Special attention will also be given to the contemporary Roman artistic milieu (notably the Carracci and their followers), as well as the religious, social, and political climate. In addition to a study of contemporary patronage, attention will also be given to Caravaggio’s biography and the myth of the artist: as the quintessential gay artist, his antisocial behavior (including murder), apparent paranoia, and "mysterious death," all of which has given rise to a mythology that has lasted to our own day. Caravaggio was such a revolutionary that one scholar asserted, that "if one were to try to reduce Caravaggio's contribution to the history of art to a single sentence, it might be said that he was the only Italian painter of his time to rely more on his own feelings than on artistic tradition, while somehow managing to remain within the great mainstream of the Renaissance. From this point of view he is an important precursor to Rembrandt and even of modern art." Taught in English; counts as an Italian Studies course. Cross-listed with ARHI 43301.
ROIT 53000-01 SENIOR SEMINAR: PIRANDELLO MW 1:30-2:45
John Welle
Providing students with a capstone research experience in the major, this seminar will focus on the literary, theatrical, and cinematic work of Luigi Pirandello. Within the context of Italian and European culture between the 1880s and the 1930s, Pirandello's short stories, novels, and plays receive extensive treatment as an integral force of Italian and European modernism. Connections between Pirandello's work and the main tendencies of Italian literature in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century will also be emphasized: including relations with the verismo of Giovanni Verga, the decadentismo of Gabriele D'Annunzio, and the Futurismo of F.T. Marinetti. Pirandello's work for the film industry, his film novel, and films based on his literary works will also be treated. Class requirements include thorough preparation of literary, dramatic and film texts, as well as critical materials; frequent short written assignments, an oral seminar presentation, and a final research paper to be developed over the course of the semester in consultation with the professor. The class will be conducted in Italian; counts as a Lit/culture course. Required for the Lit-Culture concentration.
FALL 2011 COURSES
ROIT 20201 INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN I Various Times MWF
An advanced, third-semester college language course. Emphasis on expansion and refinement of oral and written language skills (competence) requisite for work in upper-level language and literature courses. Reading and discussion of a variety of literary and nonliterary texts of appropriate difficulty. Grammar review is a secondary component.
ROIT 20215-01 INTENSIVE INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN 11:45-12:35 MWF, 11:00-12:15 TR
P. Vivirito
Intensive Intermediate Italian is an accelerated language and culture course, combining the study of more complex language structures, communication tasks and cultural concepts in a stimulating daily classroom environment. If you have completed ROIT 10115 or ROIT 10102 successfully and are ready for a challenge, this course may be the perfect continuation for you. It completes the university language requirement and counts as two courses toward the major or minor. It is recommended for students who wish to advance their linguistic preparation significantly before study abroad.
ROIT 27500-01 INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN II: MEDIA & CULTURE 01:55-02:45 MWF
A. Blad
This course offers students a new and interesting view on Italian Contemporary Culture by putting the young generation at the center of study. The expansion of vocabulary and the study of grammar will be incorporated in the discussion of different readings, movies, music, passions and habits of the young Italian generation. The context of the course will offer to students numerous possibilities for debating and negotiating their personal views which will guide the development and refinement of oral and written proficiency. The course will include a variety of creative presentations, role-plays, and other collaborative assignments. Prerequisites: three semesters of Italian. This course counts as a 200-level course toward the Italian major or minor.
ROIT 30310-01, 02 PASSAGE TO ITALY 11:45-01:00, 01:30-02:45 MW
V. Montemaggi, T. Cachey
This course introduces the fundamental principles and techniques of literary analysis in each of the major genres (lyric poetry, short story, theatre, epic poetry, novel), while presenting a sampling of masterpieces and authors from across the whole Italian literary tradition. The course also aims to increase fluency in speaking, reading, and writing Italian, by comprehensively reviewing and exploring grammar, and by consistent practice of language skills. Requirements include grammar quizzes, short essays, brief presentations, and a final exam. Taught in Italian. Pre-requisite: ROIT 20202 or equivalent; ROIT 20201 (or equivalent) by permission. Recommended for majors and secondary majors. Satisfies university literature requirement.
ROIT 30711-01 MEDIEVAL-RENAISSANCE ITALIAN LITERATURE & CULTURE 12:30-01:45 TR
C. Moevs
An introduction to literary masterpieces from the Duecento through the Renaissance, including Lentini, Guinizzelli, Cavalcanti, Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Poliziano, Machiavelli, and Ariosto, against the rich cultural background of late medieval and Renaissance Italy. We will trace the history of Italian literature in this period, analyzing the texts closely in their cultural and historical context (including music, art, and architecture), with attention to the changing understanding of human nature and the physical world in these centuries. Requirements include class participation, short essays, short presentations, a midterm and a final. Taught in Italian. Pre-requisite: ROIT 20202 or equivalent; ROIT 30310 suggested. The course is required for majors and secondary majors. Cross List MI 30577. Satisfies the University literature requirement. Course equivalent to 30710.
ROIT 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/LLRO 40114
ROIT 40505-01 ITALIAN NATIONAL CINEMA 01:30 to 2:45 MW,
John Welle 05:00 to 07:00 T, Lab Screening 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 LLRO 40545/41545/FTT 40233
ROIT 40630-01 THE FANTASTIC IN ITALIAN LITERATURE
S. Ferri 18th -20th CENTURIES 11:00-12:15 TR
The literature of the fantastic blurs the boundaries between reality and the imagination. From vampires to doppelgängers, from automata to aliens, Italian literature has a rich and interesting tradition in the genre. This course will explore the development of fantastic fiction in Italy between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries. Through a selection of short stories, we will study the formal features and the main themes of the fantastic, both synchronically and diachronically. The close reading of the texts will be accompanied by historical contextualization and discussion of the key theories of the genre. The course is taught in Italian.
ROIT 40828-01 VENETIAN & NORTHERN ITALIAN RENAISANCE ART 11:45-01:00 MW
R. Coleman
This course investigates the century most fully identified with the Early Renaissance in Italy. Individual works by artists such as Brunelleschi, Donatello, Ghiberti, Fra Angelico, Botticelli, and Alberti are set into their social, political and religious context. Special attention is paid to topics such as the origins of art theory, art and audience, art and institutional and personal spirituality, portraiture and the definition of self, and Medician patronage. Cross List ROIT 63825/ARHI 30312/60312 2.Fulfills Fine Arts Requirement.
SPRING 2011
ROIT 20201 INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN I VARIOUS TIMES MWF
A. Blad
An advanced, third-semester college language course. Emphasis on expansion and refinement of oral and written language skills (competence) requisite for work in upper-level language and literature courses. Reading and discussion of a variety of literary and non-literary texts of appropriate difficulty. Grammar review is a secondary component.
ROIT 20215-01 INTENSIVE INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN
A. Blad, P. Vivirito 10:40-11:30 MWF, 11:00-12:15 TR
Intensive Intermediate Italian is an accelerated language and culture course, combining the study of more complex language structures, communication tasks and cultural concepts in a stimulating daily classroom environment. If you have completed ROIT 10115 or ROIT 10102 successfully and are ready for a challenge, this course may be the perfect continuation for you. It completes the university language requirement and counts as two courses toward the major or minor. It is recommended for students who wish to advance their linguistic preparation significantly before study abroad.
ROIT 21205-01 PRE-STUDY ABROAD 04:30-05:45 W
A. Blad
This course is designed for students planning to spend a semester or a year abroad in Notre Dame’s study abroad programs in Rome or Bologna, Italy. By means of a carefully planned program of film viewings, lectures, discussions and internet guided tours organized by Notre Dame’s Italian Studies faculty, students will be provided with an advanced introduction to the history and topography of Rome/Bologna, Italian lifestyle(s), pop music and youth cultures,
service learning, sport and internship opportunities, as well as cultural events, including opera theatre and music concerts. The Italian Studies faculty will also assist students in assessing their linguistic and cultural competency in Italian, and in fashioning individualized learning goals for their study abroad experience.
ROIT 27500-01, 02 INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN II: FILM & CULTURE
P.Vivirito 10:40-11:30, 11:45-12:35 MWF
This course offers students a new and interesting view on Italy and its Culture since World War II. The expansion of vocabulary and the study of grammar will be incorporated in the discussion of different movies, readings, music and habits of modern Italians. The context of the course will offer to students numerous possibilities for debating and negotiating their personal views that will guide the development and refinement of oral and written proficiency. The course will include creative presentations, role-plays, and other collaborative assignments. Prerequisites: three semesters of Italian. This course counts as a 20000-level course toward the Italian major or minor.
ROIT 27500-03 INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN II: ART & CULTURE 01:55-02:45 MWF
G. Lenzi-Sandusky
In this course students will continue to develop their skills in speaking, reading and writing Italian through selected readings in Italian art and culture. It includes the study of intermediate-advanced grammar structures while familiarizing students with new and interesting vocabulary based on the specific cultural content areas such as the patronage, the artists and the techniques that produced some of the masterpieces of western art. Students will broaden their linguistic abilities and cultural knowledge through videos, interviews, commentaries, articles, pamphlets, slides and the University's art collections. Assignments will include individual and group presentations, a midterm and a final. Prerequisites: three semesters of Italian. This course counts as a 20000-level course toward the Italian major or minor.
ROIT 30310-01 PASSAGE TO ITALY 09:30-10:45 TR
C. Moevs
This course introduces the fundamental principles and techniques of literary analysis in each of the major genres (lyric poetry, short story, theatre, epic poetry, novel), while presenting a sampling of masterpieces and authors from across the whole Italian literary tradition. The course also aims to increase fluency in speaking, reading, and writing Italian, by comprehensively reviewing and exploring grammar, and by consistent practice of language skills. Requirements include grammar quizzes, short essays, brief presentations, and a final exam. Taught in Italian. Pre-requisite: ROIT 20202 or equivalent; ROIT 20201 (or equivalent) by permission. Strongly recommended for majors and supplementary majors.
ROIT 30721-01 MODERN ITALIAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE 11:00-12:15 TR
S. Ferri
Conducted in Italian, this course provides a survey of major literary authors, literary genres, as well as examples of contributions to theatre and cinema, from the eighteenth century to the present. Writers and playwrights to be treated include Goldoni, Foscolo, Leopardi, Verga, D’Annunzio, Pirandello, Marinetti, Deledda, Ginzburg, Calvino, and Fo. A number of significant modern and contemporary films will also be analyzed. Requirements include participation in class discussions, a number of brief papers and oral reports, as well as midterm and final exams.
ROIT 30830-01ART OF THE HIGH RENAISSANCE IN FLORENCE AND ROME R. Coleman 02:00-03:15 TR
Leonardo, Michelangelo, Bramante, and Raphael provide the basis for a study of one of the most impressive periods of artistic activity in Italy—the High Renaissance in Florence and Rome. It was Leonardo da Vinci’s revolutionary example that imposed extraordinary artistic and intellectual changes on an entire generation of painters, sculptors, and architects. Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, the new Republic of Florence, and the imperial papacy of Julius II recognized that the genius of Leonardo, Bramante, Michelangelo, Raphael, and others, could be brought into the service of the State. Under Julius, the Papal States, became the supreme state in Italy, and for the first time in centuries, the papacy ranked as a great European power. With the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s (redesigned on a colossal scale by Bramante), the Vatican Palace (its city facade and Belvedere by Bramante, and papal apartments decorated by Raphael), and the Papal tomb (designed by Michelangelo), Rome, for the first time since the time of the Caesars, became the center of Western art. Fulfills Fine Arts Requirement. Cross List ARHI 40313/60313
ROIT 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 strictly necessary. Cross List LLRO 40116, ROIT 63116, MI 40553, 60553, LIT 73665
ROIT 40512-01 COMEDY, ITALIAN STYLE! 11:45-01:00 MW
J. Welle
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 LLRO 40542/FTT 30231/31231.
ROIT 40935-01 ITALIAN SHORT STORY 01:30-02:45 MW J. Welle
Taught in Italian, this course focuses on skills of interpretation involving the analysis of narrative and provides an overview of the historical development of the "novella" tradition in Italian literature. Beginning with the folktale, and an introduction to narrative, we will proceed to analyze classic short stories from the Medieval and Early Modern Period, as well as the Nineteenth and the Twentieth Centuries. Authors to be studied include Boccaccio, Machiavelli, Bandello, Verga, D’Annunzio, Pirandello, Moravia, Gozzano, Tozzi, Deledda, Serao, Ginzburg, and Calvino. 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.
ROIT 42116-01 DANTE II DISCUSSION GROUP DAY/TIME TBD
Staff
Students of the Italian language are eligible to sign up for an additional single credit discussion section as part of the Language across the Curriculum (LAC) initiative in the College of Arts and Letters. Choosing this option means that students will read a canto per week of the Comedy in Italian and meet once a week with a section leader who will guide a discussion in Italian and grade some brief writing assignments. The LAC discussion section in Italian associated with this course will be graded on a pass/fail basis and credited to the student’s transcript. Up to three LAC discussion credits can be applied toward a major, secondary major, or minor in Italian.
ROIT 53000-01 ITALIAN SEMINAR: The Hero’s Journey
Adventure Narrative in Italian Literature and Cinema 02:00-03:15 TR
S.Ferri
Adventure stories are the oldest form of storytelling. Italy has a long standing tradition in adventure fiction and yet this genre has not been analyzed in a comprehensive and systematic way. The course will explore the Italian adventure narrative through the analysis of a wide range of texts - from the Medieval short story to the Renaissance epic poem, from the picaresque novel of the eighteenth century to contemporary films and graphic novels.
We will consider the texts and films against their social and cultural background and look at the development of the genre over time. What are the archetypes, conventions, and iconic symbols of the adventure narrative? What is its relationship to myth and history? Who is the hero/adventurer? What do adventure narratives and their heroes/heroines tell us about Italy and Italians? Readings include works by: Boccaccio, Ariosto, Collodi, Calvino, Fenoglio, Pratt, Caproni, and Wu Ming. Films by Troisi, Benigni, and Salvatores. This course is taught in Italian.
ROIT 20201 INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN I Various Times MWF
A. Blad, G. Lenzi-Sandusky
An advanced, third-semester college language course. Emphasis on expansion and refinement of oral and written language skills (competence) requisite for work in upper-level language and literature courses. Reading and discussion of a variety of literary and nonliterary texts of appropriate difficulty. Grammar review is a secondary component.
ROIT 20215-01 INTENSIVE INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN 11:45-12:35 MWF,
11:00-12:15 TR
P. Vivirito
Intensive Intermediate Italian is an accelerated language and culture course, combining the study of more complex language structures, communication tasks and cultural concepts in a stimulating daily classroom environment. If you have completed ROIT 10115 or ROIT 10102 successfully and are ready for a challenge, this course may be the perfect continuation for you. It completes the university language requirement and counts as two courses toward the major or minor. It is recommended for students who wish to advance their linguistic preparation significantly before study abroad.
ROIT 27500-01 INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN II: MEDIA & CULTURE
01:55-02:45 MWF
A. Blad
Students will continue to develop and refine their oral and written proficiency through a variety of language and content-based activities, including discussions and debates on assigned topics on different periods of Italian History. We will learn how Italy has become the Country it is today by studying its historical development from Pre-Roman Civilizations to today. Students will broaden their linguistic abilities and cultural knowledge of Italian History, through short movies, television, interviews, pictures, art, articles, ads and music. There will be an emphasis on advanced grammar, vocabulary and idiomatic expressions. Assignments include individual and group presentations, role-playing, a mid-term and a final examination. Prereq: three semesters of Italian. This course counts as a 200-level course toward the Italian major or minor.
ROIT 30310-01, 02 TEXTUAL ANALYSIS/PASSAGE TO ITALY
11:45-01:00, 01:30-02:45 MW
V. Montemaggi, C. Sbordoni
This course introduces the fundamental principles and techniques of literary analysis in each of the major genres (lyric poetry, short story, theatre, epic poetry, novel), while presenting a sampling of masterpieces and authors from across the whole Italian literary tradition. The course also aims to increase fluency in speaking, reading, and writing Italian, by comprehensively reviewing and exploring grammar, and by consistent practice of language skills. Requirements include grammar quizzes, short essays, brief presentations, and a final exam. Taught in Italian. Pre-requisite: ROIT 20202 or equivalent; ROIT 20201 (or equivalent) by permission. Recommended for majors and secondary majors. Satisfies university literature requirement.
ROIT 30620-01 SURVEY OF ITALIAN BAROQUE ART: FROM CARAVAGGIO TO GUARINI
R. Coleman 11:45-01:00 MW
This course surveys Italian painting, sculpture, and architecture of the 17th and 18th centuries, a period that also witnessed the foundation and suppression of the Jesuit Order, the Counter-Reformation, absolute monarchy, and democratic nations. Thus, the course begins with the "new Rome" of Pope Sixtus V, which attracted pilgrims and artists from all over Europe, and ends with the early years of Enlightenment. From Northern Italy came Caravaggio and the Carracci, artists who were responsible for creating a new style based upon High Renaissance principles and a new kind of naturalism derived from the study of life. There was Bernini, whose architectural and sculptural monuments almost single-handedly gave Rome its Baroque character. Other artists and architects of this era under discussion include such diverse personalities as Borromini, Guarini, Algardi, Artemisia Gentileschi, and the great ceiling painters Pietro da Cortona, Baciccio, Pozzo, and Tiepolo. Fulfills Fine Arts Requirement. Cross List ARHI 30350/60350 2.
ROIT 30711-01 MEDIEVAL-RENAISSANCE ITALIAN LITERATURE & CULTURE 09:30-10:45 TR
C. Moevs
An introduction to literary masterpieces from the Duecento through the Renaissance, including Lentini, Guinizzelli, Cavalcanti, Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Poliziano, Machiavelli, and Ariosto, against the rich cultural background of late medieval and Renaissance Italy. We will trace the history of Italian literature in this period, analyzing the texts closely in their cultural and historical context (including music, art, and architecture), with attention to the changing understanding of human nature and the physical world in these centuries. Requirements include class participation, short essays, short presentations, a midterm and a final. Taught in Italian. Pre-requisite: ROIT 20202 or equivalent; ROIT 30310 suggested. The course is required for majors and secondarymajors. Cross List MI 30577 4. Satisfies the University literature requirement. Course equivalent to 30710.
ROIT 40115-01 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 LLRO 40145, MI 40552, MI 60552/LIT 73670/ *ROIT 42115 LAC Discussion Group.
ROIT 40548-01 Italian Cinema: Realities of History 11:00-12:15 TR
Zyg 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 LLRO 40548. Cross List FTT 40249-01.
ROIT 40750-01 LOSERS, FOOLS, AND BORDERLINERS IN ITALIAN LITERATURE AND FILM
S. Ferri 02:00-03:15 TR
Between the 19th and 20th centuries, the inetto, or fool, emerges as an exemplary protagonist in Italian literature. The inetto embodies the ethical and existential crisis of modern man, who is no longer able to make sense of life in a new society dominated by mass culture, capitalism, and the forces of industrialization. We will examine the figure of the fool in the Italian literature, film, and graphic novel of the past two centuries in order to gain insight on the modern and post-modern Italian spirit. The course is taught in Italian. Readings include works by authors from the late 19th century to the contemporary period such as Svevo, Pirandello, Bontempelli, Calvino, Culicchia, and Nori; as well as graphic novels by Pazienza and Gipi, and films by Parenti, Verdone, and Muccino.
ROIT 40825-01 FIFTEENTH CENTURY ITALIAN ART 02:00-03:15 TR
C. Rosenberg
This course investigates the century most fully identified with the Early Renaissance in Italy. Individual works by artists such as Brunelleschi, Donatello, Ghiberti, Fra Angelico, Botticelli, and Alberti are set into their social, political and religious context. Special attention is paid to topics such as the origins of art theory, art and audience, art and institutional and personal spirituality, portraiture and the definition of self, and Medician patronage. Cross List ROIT 63825/ARHI 30311/60311 2.Fulfills Fine Arts Requirement.
ROIT 42115-01 DANTE I: LAC DISCUSSION GROUP 11:45-12:35 W
Staff
The aim of this discussion group is to help students extend their language learning experiences in Italian to their primary interests in a particular discipline, fostering their ability to use Italian for further study and research. This LAC discussion group also seeks to prepare students to develop a more global perspective of a multilingual and cross-cultural world. Students of the Italian language are eligible to sign up for an additional single credit discussion section as part of the Language across the Curriculum (LAC) initiative in the College of Arts and Letters. Choosing this option means that students will read a canto per week of the Comedy in Italian and meet once a week with a section leader who will guide a discussion in Italian and grade some brief writing assignments. The LAC discussion section in Italian associated with this course will be graded on a pass/fail basis and credited to the student’s transcript. Up to three LAC discussion credits can be applied toward a major, secondary major, or minor in Italian.
ROIT 20201 INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN I VARIOUS TIMES MWF
A. Blad, G. Lenzi-Sandusky
An advanced, third-semester college language course. Emphasis on expansion and refinement of oral and written language skills (competence) requisite for work in upper-level language and literature courses. Reading and discussion of a variety of literary and nonliterary texts of appropriate difficulty. Grammar review is a secondary component.
ROIT 20215 INTENSIVE INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN 10:40-11:30 MWF, 11:00-12:15 T/R
A. Blad, S. Dall’Olio
Intensive Intermediate Italian is an accelerated language and culture course, combining the study of more complex language structures, communication tasks and cultural concepts in a stimulating daily classroom environment. If you have completed ROIT 10115 or ROIT 10102 successfully and are ready for a challenge, this course may be the perfect continuation for you. It completes the university language requirement and counts as two courses toward the major or minor. It is recommended for students who wish to advance their linguistic preparation significantly before study abroad.
ROIT 21205 PRE-STUDY ABROAD 4:30-5:45 W
A. Blad
This course is designed for students planning to spend a semester or a year abroad in Notre Dame’s study abroad programs in Rome or Bologna, Italy. By means of a carefully planned program of film viewings, lectures, discussions and internet guided tours organized by Notre Dame’s Italian Studies faculty, students will be provided with an advanced introduction to the history and topography of Rome/Bologna, Italian lifestyle(s), pop music and youth cultures,
service learning, sport and internship opportunities, as well as cultural events, including opera theatre and music concerts. The Italian Studies faculty will also assist students in assessing their linguistic and cultural competency in Italian, and in fashioning individualized learning goals for their study abroad experience.
ROIT 27500-01, 02 INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN II: FILM & CULTURE
P.Vivirito 10:40-11:30, 11:45-12:35 MWF
This course offers students a new and interesting view on Italy and its Culture since World War II. The expansion of vocabulary and the study of grammar will be incorporated in the discussion of different movies, readings, music and habits of modern Italians. The context of the course will offer to students numerous possibilities for debating and negotiating their personal views that will guide the development and refinement of oral and written proficiency. The course will include creative presentations, role-plays, and other collaborative assignments. Prerequisites: three semesters of Italian. This course counts as a 200-level course toward the Italian major or minor.
ROIT 27500-03 INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN II: ART & CULTURE 1:55-2:45 MWF
G. Lenzi-Sandusky
In this course students will continue to develop their skills in speaking, reading and writing Italian through selected readings in Italian art and culture. It includes the study of intermediate-advanced grammar structures while familiarizing students with new and interesting vocabulary based on the specific cultural content areas such as the patronage, the artists and the techniques that produced some of the masterpieces of western art. Students will broaden their linguistic abilities and cultural knowledge through videos, interviews, commentaries, articles, pamphlets, slides and the University's art collections. Assignments will include individual and group presentations, a midterm and a final. Prerequisites: three semesters of Italian. This course counts as a 200-level course toward the Italian major or minor.
ROIT 30205 ITALIAN RENAISSANCE 11:00-12:15 M/R/F
M. Meserve
This course examines the political, cultural, social, and religious history of Italy from about 1350 to 1550. Starting with an extended study of Florence, its economic foundations, social and political structures, artistic monuments, and key personalities, the course then examines how the culture of the Florentine Renaissance spread to the rest of Italy, especially to the papal court of Rome and the princely courts of northern Italy, and, finally, to the new nation-states of northern Europe. Key topics will include: the growth of the Italian city-state; the appearance of new, Renaissance "characters" (the merchant, the prince, the courtier, the mercenary, the learned lady, the self-made man); Renaissance humanism and the classical revival; the relationship between art and politics; and Renaissance ideas of liberty, virtue, historical change, and the individual's relationship to God. The course will not tell a story of steady progress from medieval to modern institutions, societies, and modes of thinking; rather, we will consider the Renaissance as a period in flux, in which established traditions thrived alongside creative innovations and vigorous challenges to authority. Students will write one long paper and take a midterm and a final exam. Co-req 32500 , CL HIST 30500
ROIT 30310-01, 02 PASSAGES TO ITALY 9:30-10:45 T/R , 3:00-4:15 M/W
L. Hooper, C. Moevs
This course introduces the fundamental principles and techniques of literary analysis in each of the major genres (lyric poetry, short story, theatre, epic poetry, novel), while presenting a sampling of masterpieces and authors from across the whole Italian literary tradition. The course also aims to increase fluency in speaking, reading, and writing Italian,by comprehensively reviewing and exploring grammar, and by consistent practice of language skills. Requirements include grammar quizzes, short essays, brief presentations, and a final exam. Taught in Italian. Pre-requisite: ROIT 202 or equivalent; ROIT 201 (or equivalent) by permission. Strongly recommended for majors and supplementary majors.
ROIT 30721 MODERN ITALIAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE 11:00-12:15 T/R
S. Ferri
Conducted in Italian, this course provides a survey of major literary authors, literary genres, as well as examples of contributions to theatre and cinema, from the eighteenth century to the present. Writers and playwrights to be treated include Goldoni, Foscolo, Leopardi, Verga, D’Annunzio, Pirandello, Marinetti, Deledda, Ginzburg, Calvino, and Fo. A number of significant modern and contemporary films will also be analyzed. Requirements include participation in class discussions, a number of brief papers and oral reports, as well as midterm and final exams.
ROIT 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 LLRO 40116, ROIT 63116, MI 40553, 60553, LIT 73665
ROIT 40233 MACHIAVELLI NOW
T.Cachey 11:45-1:00 M/W
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. Crosslist POLS 30651
ROIT 40910 THE HERO’S JOURNEY ADVENTURE NARRATIVE IN ITALIAN LITERATURE S. Ferri AND CINEMA 2:00-3:15 T/R
Adventure stories are the oldest form of storytelling. Italy has a long standing tradition in adventure fiction and yet this genre has not been analyzed in a comprehensive and systematic way. The course will explore the Italian adventure narrative through the analysis of a wide range of texts - from the medieval short story to the Renaissance epic poem, from the picaresque novel of the eighteenth century to contemporary films and graphic novels.
We will consider the texts and films against their social and cultural background and look at the development of the genre over time. What are the archetypes, conventions, and iconic symbols of the adventure narrative? What is its relationship to myth and history? Who is the hero/adventurer? What do adventure narratives and their heroes/heroines tell us about Italy and Italians?
ROIT 41590 ITALIAN THEATRE WORKSHOP: AMORE, ONORE, TRADIMENTO (LOVE, HONOR, BETRAYAL) 5:00-6:15 T/R
L. Hooper
Over the Spring Semester, the Italian Theater Workshop will put together a production that examines the theme of marriage and infidelity. The playbill will consist of two one-acters by well-known Italian dramatists: Carlo Goldoni's /L'osteria della posta /(1762) and Luigi Pirandello's /Bellavita/ (1928)./ /Members of the troupe will have opportunities for hands-on involvement in all aspects of the production, whether onstage as actors or backstage in design, technology and publicity. Rehearsals, design meetings and written communication will all take place in Italian, so this is an excellent way improve language skills while gaining an in-depth knowledge of works by two of Italy's most famous authors for the stage. The workshop is open to students of all levels of Italian and may also be taken for FTT (Film, Television, and Theatre) credit. Participants must have completed Italian 10101 and 10102 or Intensive Italian 10115. Exceptions may sometimes be made for students who have completed only 10101; please contact the instructor with any questions.
ROIT 42116 DANTE II DISCUSSION GROUP DAY/TIME TBD
Staff
Students of the Italian language are eligible to sign up for an additional single credit discussion section as part of the Language across the Curriculum (LAC) initiative in the College of Arts and Letters. Choosing this option means that students will read a canto per week of the Comedy in Italian and meet once a week with a section leader who will guide a discussion in Italian and grade some brief writing assignments. The LAC discussion section in Italian associated with this course will be graded on a pass/fail basis and credited to the student’s transcript. Up to three LAC discussion credits can be applied toward a major, secondary major, or minor in Italian.
ROIT 53000 ITALIAN SEMINAR: FIGURES OF MODERNITY 1:30-2:45 M/W
J. Welle
This course examines the ways in which Italian culture responds to the crisis of modernity and the processes of modernization from the aftermath of Unification in the1860s to the descent into fascism in the 1920s and 30s. What characterizes the Italian way to modernity? What is the role of various transgressive movements such as Scapigliatura, Futurism and the avant-gardes? How does the explosion of print media contribute to the formation of new reading publics, including groups of female readers and writers? Why is Italian cinema “born ancient?” In pursuing these questions, we will read novels, short stories, poems, plays, and films as well as works of visual art from different cultural strata: elite, middle-brow and popular. Authors to be analyzed include Tarchetti, D’Annunzio, Gozzano, Marinetti, Pirandello, Aleramo, Invernizio, Salgari and Gramsci. Historical phenomena include colonialism, industrialization, nationalism, socialism, emigration, WWI and fascism. Requirements include preparation of readings, oral reports and performances, two short papers, and a longer research paper and presentation.Taught in Italian
20201 INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN I Various Times MWF A. Blad, G. Lenzi-Sandusky, P. Vivirito
An advanced, third-semester college language course. Emphasis on expansion and refinement of oral and written language skills (competence) requisite for work in upper-level language and literature courses. Reading and discussion of a variety of literary and nonliterary texts of appropriate difficulty. Grammar review is a secondary component.
ROIT 20215 INTENSIVE INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN 11:45-12:35 MWF, 11:00-12:15 TR P. Vivirito
Intensive Intermediate Italian is an accelerated language and culture course, combining the study of more complex language structures, communication tasks and cultural concepts in a stimulating daily classroom environment. If you have completed ROIT 10115 or ROIT 10102 successfully and are ready for a challenge, this course may be the perfect continuation for you. It completes the university language requirement and counts as two courses toward the major or minor. It is recommended for students who wish to advance their linguistic preparation significantly before study abroad.
ROIT 22300 LAC DISCUSSION GROUP: POSTMODERN FICTION & THE LIT OF EXHAUSTION Staff 11:45-12:35 F
Students who are enrolled in LIT 20900 “Postmodern Fiction & The Lit of Exhaustion” and who have completed the Notre Dame language requirement in Italian are eligible to sign up for an additional single credit discussion section as part of the Languages Across the Curriculum (LxC) initiative of the College of Arts and Letters. Choosing this option means that students will do some additional reading in Italian language materials (approximately 20-25 pages a week), and meet once a week with a graduate student or faculty tutor from the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures who will guide a discussion in Italian and grade some brief writing assignments. The LxC discussion section in Italian associated with this course will be graded on a pass/fail basis and will be credited on the student's transcript. Up to three LxC discussion sections can be applied toward a major, secondary major or minor in Italian. Please talk to the instructor if you are interested in adding this supplemental credit.
ROIT 27500 INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN II: HISTORY & CULTURE 1:55-2:45 MWF A. Blad
Students will continue to develop and refine their oral and written proficiency through a variety of language and content-based activities, including discussions and debates on assigned topics on different periods of Italian History. We will learn how Italy has become the Country it is today by studying its historical development from Pre-Roman Civilizations to today. Students will broaden their linguistic abilities and cultural knowledge of Italian History, through short movies, television, interviews, pictures, art, articles, ads and music. There will be an emphasis on advanced grammar, vocabulary and idiomatic expressions. Assignments include individual and group presentations, role-playing, a mid-term and a final examination. Prerequisite: three semesters of Italian. This course counts as a 200-level course toward the Italian major or minor.
ROIT 30206 EARLY MODERN ROME 2:00-3:15 TR M. Meserve
This course traces the interlocking histories of the papacy and the city of Rome from the Renaissance to the birth of the modern Italian state. Topics will include the rise and fall of the papal monarchy; cultural and intellectual life at the Vatican court; the urban fabric of Rome from the Renaissance to the Baroque; the peculiar strains of Roman society; and the tumultuous relationship, both political and cultural, between Rome and the rest of Europe from the Reformation to the age of revolution. The course will proceed chronologically, but will pause frequently to examine special topics including: the Renaissance cardinal and his household; Michelangelo's Rome; the building of St. Peter's; Jesuit science; the trial of Galileo; archaeology and antiquarianism; the Roman Carnival; the Inquisition; Bernini's Rome; the Grand Tour; Rome in the Romantic imagination; and Napoleon's Rome.
ROIT 30310- 01,02 TEXTUAL ANALYSIS/PASSAGE TO ITALY 11:45-1:00, 1:30-2:45 MW L. Hooper
This course introduces the fundamental principles and techniques of literary analysis in each of the major genres (lyric poetry, short story, theatre, epic poetry, novel), while presenting a sampling of masterpieces and authors from across the whole Italian literary tradition. The course also aims to increase fluency in speaking, reading, and writing Italian, by comprehensively reviewing and exploring grammar, and by consistent practice of language skills. Requirements include grammar quizzes, short essays, brief presentations, and a final exam. Taught in Italian. Pre-requisite: ROIT 20202 or equivalent; ROIT 20201 (or equivalent) by permission. Recommended for majors and secondary majors. Satisfies university literature requirement.
ROIT 30711 MEDIEVAL–RENAISSANCE ITALIAN LITERATURE & CULTURE 9:30-10:45 TR C. Moevs
An introduction to the close reading and textual analysis of representative texts from the Duecento through the Renaissance, including Lentini, Guinizzelli, Cavalcanti, Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Poliziano, Machiavelli, and Ariosto, aganst the rich cultural background of late medieval and Renaissance Italy. We will trace the history of Italian literature in this period, setting the texts in their cultural and historical context (including music, art, and architecture), with attention to the changing understanding of human nature and the physical world in these centuries. Requirements include class participation, short essays, short presentations, a midterm and a final. Taught in Italian. Pre-requisite: ROIT 20202 or equivalent; ROIT 30310 suggested. The course is required for majors and secondary majors. This course is crosslisted with MI 30551. Satisfies the University literature requirement. Course equivalent to 30710
ROIT 40107 BETWEEN RELIGION & LIT; MEANING, VULNERABILITY & HUMAN EXISTENCE V. Montemaggi 12:30-1:45 TR
This course explores the contribution that the coming together of theological and literary reflection can make to our understanding of the nature of meaning. Focusing on the work of Augustine, Aquinas, Dante, Primo Levi, Dostoevsky and Shakespeare, students will address questions such as 'What is it we are doing when speaking, reading, using language?' 'How do the intellect and the imagination work in relation to literary texts?', 'How might all this relate to our ways of thinking about God, human nature, and the relationship between them?' Such questions will be addressed, in particular, through reflection on how the texts studied invite us to think about the nature of love, forgiveness, vulnerability and creativity.
ROIT 40115-01 DANTE I 3:00-4:15 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. The course is crosslisted with LLRO 40145, MI 40552, MI 60552
ROIT 40505 ITALIAN NATIONAL CINEMA 2:00-3:15 TR J. Welle
LAB 4:30-6:30 W
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 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. Requirements include class participation, attendance at film screenings, one short paper and one research paper of modest length, midterm and final exams. The class will be conducted in English. LLRO 4xx ROIT 4xx FTT 32X Lab for Italian National Cinema is a mandatory weekly film screening for the films taught in the course.
ROIT 40820 TOPICS IN RENAISSANCE ART 11:45-1:00 MW R. Coleman Profound and universal inquiry into all aspects of knowledge marked the history of the century of enlightenment & the Grand Tour. The rise of the collective idea of nature, the study and instrumentality of the antique, the foundations of religion, the state, morality and reason, the relationship of the arts to the state, the philosophy of aesthetic, were all critically analyzed & questioned. This course investigates various stylistic trends in eighteenth-century art in Italy, France and England with a focus on the institutionalization of art through the academies. Discussion also centers on classical art theory and its relationship to the academies in light of the social, political, and religious climate of the period. We will also consider the aesthetical, art historical, and social consequences of the writings of Kant, Burke, and Winckelmann. The course begins with the late subsequent stylistic trends as neoclassicism, Egyptian revival, and the rococo. Attention is also given to the vedute painters, and such diverse personalities as Piranesi, Mengs, Kauffmann, Tiepolo, Watteau, Chardin, and Wright of Derby. CL ARHI 43305/63305, ROIT 63820
ROIT 40828 VENETIAN & NORTHERN ITALIAN REN. ART 3:00-4:15 MW R. Coleman
This course focuses on significant artistic developments of the sixteenth century in Venice with brief excursions to Lombardy and Piedmont. Giorgione, Titian, and Palladio, the formulators of the High Renaissance style in Venice, and subsequent artists such as Tintoretto and Veronese are examined. An investigation of the art produced in important provincial and urban centers such as Brescia, Cremona, Milan, Parma, Varallo, and Vercilli also provide insight into the traditions of the local schools and their patronage. 3 credits. Open to majors only CL ROIT 63828
ROIT 40936 NOVELLANDO ITALIA: ITALY THROUGH ITS SHORT FICTION 11:45-1:00 MW J. Kriesel
The course will examine modern and contemporary Italy through the study of its short fiction (the novella and film). The syllabus will be organized according to five rubrics: writing, national politics, the love of family, immigration and the other, and geographical space. For every rubric, short stories will be studied from each period of Italian literature, from the Middle Ages to today, in addition to films. In each instance, the objective will be to understand not only how each text represents Italy’s historical past, but also how each is relevant to understanding Italy’s social and cultural present. Authors will include Boccaccio, Machiavelli, Verga, Pirandello, Primo Levi, Deledda, Ginzburg, Calvino, Maraini, and Sciascia. Weekly assignments include a combination of oral components: for example, group presentations, online debates and discussion, and leading class discussion. Semester written assignments will include a short paper in which students will analyze a text’s thematic and formal techniques, and a final research project in which students will use a variety of multimedia sources (internet, music, film and TV, newspapers, academic journals, etc.) to consider a text in relation to Italy’s contemporary culture. Conducted in Italian.
ROIT 42115 DANTE I : LAC DISCUSSION GROUP 11:45-12:35 W Staff
The aim of this discussion group is to help students extend their language learning experiences in Italian to their primary interests in a particular discipline, fostering their ability to use Italian for further study and research. This LAC discussion group also seeks to prepare students to develop a more global perspective of a multilingual and cross-cultural world. Students of the Italian language are eligible to sign up for an additional single credit discussion section as part of the Language across the Curriculum (LAC) initiative in the College of Arts and Letters. Choosing this option means that students will read a canto per week of the Comedy in Italian and meet once a week with a section leader who will guide a discussion in Italian and grade some brief writing assignments. The LAC discussion section in Italian associated with this course will be graded on a pass/fail basis and credited to the student’s transcript. Up to three LAC discussion credits can be applied toward a major, secondary major, or minor in Italian.
Fall 2008 COURSES
ROIT 20201 INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN I
Various Times MWF
A. Blad, G. Lenzi-Sandusky, K. Serafin
An advanced, third-semester college language course. Emphasis on expansion and refinement of oral and written language skills (competence) requisite for work in upper-level language and literature courses. Reading and discussion of a variety of literary and nonliterary texts of appropriate difficulty. Grammar review is a secondary component.
ROIT 20215 INTENSIVE INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN
11:45-12:35 MWF, 11:00-12:15 TR
A. Blad
Intensive Intermediate Italian is an accelerated language and culture course, combining the study of more complex language structures, communication tasks and cultural concepts in a stimulating daily classroom environment. If you have completed ROIT 10115 or ROIT 10102 successfully and are ready for a challenge, this course may be the perfect continuation for you. It completes the university language requirement and counts as two courses toward the major or minor. It is recommended for students who wish to advance their linguistic preparation significantly before study abroad.
ROIT 22300 LAC DISCUSSION GROUP: POSTMODERN FICTION & THE LIT OF EXHAUSTION
11:45-12:35 F
G. Busl
Students who are enrolled in LIT 20900 “Postmodern Fiction & The Lit of Exhaustion” and who have completed the Notre Dame language requirement in Italian are eligible to sign up for an additional single credit discussion section as part of the Languages Across the Curriculum (LxC) initiative of the College of Arts and Letters. Choosing this option means that students will do some additional reading in Italian language materials (approximately 20-25 pages a week), and meet once a week with a graduate student or faculty tutor from the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures who will guide a discussion in Italian and grade some brief writing assignments. The LxC discussion section in Italian associated with this course will be graded on a pass/fail basis and will be credited on the student's transcript. Up to three LxC discussion sections can be applied toward a major, secondary major or minor in Italian. Please talk to the instructor if you are interested in adding this supplemental credit.
ROIT 27500 INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN II: YOUTH & CULTURE
10:40-11:30 MWF
K. Serafin
This course offers students a new and interesting view on Italian Contemporary Culture by putting the young generation at the center of study. The expansion of vocabulary and the study of grammar will be incorporated in the discussion of different readings, movies, music, passions and habits of the young Italian generation. The context of the course will offer to students numerous possibilities for debating and negotiating their personal views which will guide the development and refinement of oral and written proficiency. The course will include a variety of creative presentations, role-plays, and other collaborative assignments. Prerequisites: three semesters of Italian. This course counts as a 200-level course toward the Italian major or minor.
ROIT 30205 ITALIAN RENAISSANCE, 1400-1650
10:40-11:30 MW, 10:40-11:30 F
M. Meserve
This course examines the political, cultural, social, and religious history of Italy from about 1350 to 1550. Starting with an extended study of Florence, its economic foundations, social and political structures, artistic monuments, and key personalities, the course then examines how the culture of the Florentine Renaissance spread to the rest of Italy, especially to the papal court of Rome and the princely courts of northern Italy, and, finally, to the new nation-states of northern Europe. Key topics will include: the growth of the Italian city-state; the appearance of new, Renaissance "characters" (the merchant, the prince, the courtier, the mercenary, the learned lady, the self-made man); Renaissance humanism and the classical revival; the relationship between art and politics; and Renaissance ideas of liberty, virtue, historical change, and the individual's relationship to God. The course will not tell a story of steady progress from medieval to modern institutions, societies, and modes of thinking; rather, we will consider the Renaissance as a period in flux, in which established traditions thrived alongside creative innovations and vigorous challenges to authority. Students will write one long paper and take a midterm and a final exam. Co-req 32500 , CL HIST 30500
ROIT 30310- 01,02 TEXTUAL ANALYSIS/ADV. GRAMMAR
11:00-12:15 TR, 11:45-1:00 MW
J. Kriesel, C. Sbordoni
This course introduces the fundamental principles and techniques of literary analysis in each of the major genres (lyric poetry, short story, theatre, epic poetry, novel), while presenting a sampling of masterpieces and authors from across the whole Italian literary tradition. The course also aims to increase fluency in speaking, reading, and writing Italian, by comprehensively reviewing and exploring grammar, and by consistent practice of language skills. Requirements include grammar quizzes, short essays, brief presentations, and a final exam. Taught in Italian. Pre-requisite: ROIT 20202 or equivalent; ROIT 20201 (or equivalent) by permission. Recommended for majors and secondary majors. Satisfies university literature requirement.
ROIT 30711 MEDIEVAL–RENAISSANCE ITALIAN LITERATURE & CULTURE 3:30-4:45 TR
C. Sbordoni
An introduction to the close reading and textual analysis of representative texts from the Duecento through the Renaissance, including Lentini, Guinizzelli, Cavalcanti, Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Poliziano, Machiavelli, and Ariosto, aganst the rich cultural background of late medieval and Renaissance Italy. We will trace the history of Italian literature in this period, setting the texts in their cultural and historical context (including music, art, and architecture), with attention to the changing understanding of human nature and the physical world in these centuries. Requirements include class participation, short essays, short presentations, a midterm and a final. Taught in Italian. Pre-requisite: ROIT 20202 or equivalent; ROIT 30310 suggested. The course is required for majors and secondary majors. This course is crosslisted with MI 30551. Satisfies the University literature requirement. Course equivalent to 30710
ROIT 40115-01 Dante I
3:00-4:15 MW
P. Boitani
Dante I normally covers the Inferno and Dante's minor works, but this fall, taught by Distinguished Visiting Professor Piero Boitani, it will be slightly different. After a general introduction to Dante’s works and to the structure of the Divine Comedy, the course will examine major scenes and themes specially grouped to enable us to read through the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. Such will be, for example, the themes of the “noble heart” (from Dante’s early works to the Paolo and Francesca scene in Hell, and onwards), of the dignity of the human being (from Limbo to Farinata and Cato), the episodes of Ulysses and Ugolino, the various accounts of the Donati family, the recurring versions of Creation, and the final vision of God. Text: the paperback edition of Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso published by Oxford University Press with the translation of John Sinclair. Exams: there will be a mid-semester test before the break, and a final exam before Thanksgiving. The course is crosslisted with LLRO 40145, MI 40552, MI 60552
ROIT 40505 ITALIAN NATIONAL CINEMA
9:30-10:45 TR
J. Welle
Focusing on the question of national cinema, this course examines the concept and the reality of “national” cinema in the Italian case by tracing the history of one of the world’s most renowned and beloved national cinemas during the three moments of its greatest international impact: the silent period, neorealism, and the auteur cinema of the 1960s and ‘70s. Attention will also be given to governmental film policies and attempts to produce a “national” cinema, the construction of national identity in film, and an examination of the ways in which images of the nation are understood and received by audiences both at home and abroad. Requirements include preparation of readings and participation in class discussions, attendance at mandatory film screenings, a research paper of modest length, an oral presentation, a midterm and a final exam. The class will be conducted in English. LLRO 4xx ROIT 4xx FTT 32X Lab for Italian National Cinema is a mandatory weekly film screening for the films taught in the course.
ROIT 40820 TOPICS IN RENAISSANCE ART
11:45-1:00 MW
R. Coleman
Profound and universal inquiry into all aspects of knowledge marked the history of the century of enlightenment & the Grand Tour. The rise of the collective idea of nature, the study and instrumentality of the antique, the foundations of religion, the state, morality and reason, the relationship of the arts to the state, the philosophy of aesthetic, were all critically analyzed & questioned. This course investigates various stylistic trends in eighteenth-century art in Italy, France and England with a focus on the institutionalization of art through the academies. Discussion also centers on classical art theory and its relationship to the academies in light of the social, political, and religious climate of the period. We will also consider the aesthetical, art historical, and social consequences of the writings of Kant, Burke, and Winckelmann. The course begins with the late subsequent stylistic trends as neoclassicism, Egyptian revival, and the rococo. Attention is also given to the vedute painters, and such diverse personalities as Piranesi, Mengs, Kauffmann, Tiepolo, Watteau, Chardin, and Wright of Derby. CL ARHI 43305/63305, ROIT 63820
ROIT 40828 VENETIAN & NORTHERN ITALIAN REN. ART
3:00-4:15 MW
R. Coleman
This course focuses on significant artistic developments of the sixteenth century in Venice with brief excursions to Lombardy and Piedmont. Giorgione, Titian, and Palladio, the formulators of the High Renaissance style in Venice, and subsequent artists such as Tintoretto and Veronese are examined. An investigation of the art produced in important provincial and urban centers such as Brescia, Cremona, Milan, Parma, Varallo, and Vercilli also provide insight into the traditions of the local schools and their patronage. 3 credits. Open to majors only CL ROIT 63828
ROIT 40935 ITALIAN SHORT STORY
2:00-3:15 TR
J. Welle
Taught in Italian, this course treats the historical development of the short prose narrative in Italian literature. Beginning with the folktale, and moving into selected novelle by such Medieval and Renaissance writers as Boccaccio, Bandello, Firenzuola and Machiavelli, the course also includes modern and contemporary contributors to the genre including Verga, D’Annunzio, Pirandello, Moravia, Gozzano, Tozzi, Deledda, Serao, Maraini, Calvino, and Ginzburg. Students will be required to write a number of brief papers, to give brief oral presentations and to participate in class discussions. There will be a mid-term and a final exam. Satisfies university literature requirement.
ROIT 42115 DANTE I: LAC DISCUSSION GROUP DAY/TIME TBD
C. Sbordoni
The aim of this discussion group is to help students extend their language learning experiences in Italian to their primary interests in a particular discipline, fostering their ability to use Italian for further study and research. This LAC discussion group also seeks to prepare students to develop a more global perspective of a multilingual and cross-cultural world. Students of the Italian language are eligible to sign up for an additional single credit discussion section as part of the Language across the Curriculum (LAC) initiative in the College of Arts and Letters. Choosing this option means that students will read a canto per week of the Comedy in Italian and meet once a week with a section leader who will guide a discussion in Italian and grade some brief writing assignments. The LAC discussion section in Italian associated with this course will be graded on a pass/fail basis and credited to the student’s transcript. Up to three LAC discussion credits can be applied toward a major, secondary major, or minor in Italian.
ROIT 20201 INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN I VARIOUS TIMES MWF
A. Blad, D. Yocum
An advanced, third-semester college language course. Emphasis on expansion and refinement of oral and written language skills (competence) requisite for work in upper-level language and literature courses. Reading and discussion of a variety of literary and nonliterary texts of appropriate difficulty. Grammar review is a secondary component.
ROIT 20215 INTENSIVE INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN 10:40-11:30 MWF, 11:00-12:15 T/R
A. Blad, D. Yocum
Intensive Intermediate Italian is an accelerated language and culture course, combining the study of more complex language structures, communication tasks and cultural concepts in a stimulating daily classroom environment. If you have completed ROIT 10115 or ROIT 10102 successfully and are ready for a challenge, this course may be the perfect continuation for you. It completes the university language requirement and counts as two courses toward the major or minor. It is recommended for students who wish to advance their linguistic preparation significantly before study abroad.
ROIT 20610 FASCISM AND RESISTANCE 9:30-10:45 T/R
C. Leavitt
This course will examine the cultural crises that brought about the Fascist epoch, as well as the philosophical rationale of those who fought back. We will ask the big questions. Was barbarism a necessary outgrowth of civilization? Can an individual resist the dominant tides of culture and country when they become destructive? Can imaginative literature and film really expect to change the world? We will consider the relationship between culture and power through the study of some of the most famous novels of the tumultuous era of Italian Fascism and Resistance. These will include Alberto Moravia’s Time of Indifference, Giorgio Bassani’s Garden of the Finzi-Contini, Primo Levi’s Survival in Auschwitz, Elio Vittorini’s Conversations in Sicily, Cesare Pavese’s The Moon and the Bonfires, and Italo Calvino’s The Path to the Spider’s Nest. We will also examine these themes beyond Italy, looking at the feeling of crisis that spread throughout Europe, from Paul Valéry’s The Crisis of the Spirit, to Johan Huizinga’s In the Shadow of Tomorrow, Jorge Ortega y Gasset’s The Revolution of the Masses,to T.S. Eliot’s Notes Towards the Definition of Culture. In addition, we will examine reflections of Fascism and Resistance in the cinema, with films including Alessandro Blassetti’s Vecchia guardia, Roberto Rossellini’s Rome, Open City, and Bernardo Bertolucci’s Spider’s Stratagem.
ROIT 21205 PRE-STUDY ABROAD: JOURNEY TO ITALY 4:30-5:45 W
A. Blad
This course is designed for students planning to spend a semester or a year abroad in Notre Dame’s study abroad programs in Rome or Bologna, Italy. By means of a carefully planned program of film viewings, lectures, discussions and internet guided tours organized by Notre Dame’s Italian Studies faculty, students will be provided with an advanced introduction to the history and topography of Rome/Bologna, Italian lifestyle(s), pop music and youth cultures, service learning, sport and internship opportunities, as well as cultural events, including opera theatre and music concerts. The Italian Studies faculty will also assist students in assessing their linguistic and cultural competency in Italian, and in fashioning individualized learning goals for their study abroad experience.
ROIT 22300 LAC DISCUSSION GROUP: FASCISM & RESISTANCE 3:30-4:45 T
C. Leavitt
The Languages Across the Curriculum supplement to the Fascism and Resistance course will introduce students to primary materials from Italian culture in the years 1915-1960. We will examine the cultural crises that brought about the Fascist epoch, as well as the philosophical rationale of those who fought back. Students will read many of the Fascist and anti-Fascist manifestos, important speeches by Mussolini and the Resistance leaders, and fundamental essays like Curzio Malaparte’s “La rivolta dei santi maledetti”; Cesare Pavese’s “Ritorno all’uomo” and “Di una nuova letteratura”; Elio Vittorini’s “Una nuova cultura” and “L’arte è engagement naturale”; and Primo Levi’s “I sommersi e i salvati.” They will also examine works of fiction by these authors and others, including Italo Calvino, Beppe Fenoglio, and Carlo Cassola. Key issues examined in this course will include the role of language in the culture of Fascism and of the Resistance; and the relationship between Italian fiction and history before, during, and after the Second World War. An advanced reading knowledge of Italian is a pre-requisite. Students should also be registered for the LIT portion of the course
ROIT 20655 ITALY THROUGH CINEMA 7:00-9:00 R
K. Serafin
This special discussion course, designed to further students’ written and oral communication skills is for 1 credit. Students will strengthen their language proficiency by analyzing movies created by the new generation of Italian directors. The selection of the movies (from comedies to dramas) will reveal changes during the last decade in Italian society such as: unemployment, the mafia, immigration, religion, and youth culture. Students will have the chance to express their own opinions, to investigate and compare American and Italian cultures, to discuss in class and online new trends in Italian society, and to get closer to modern Italian reality. The course will end with a final oral exam that will test students’ linguistic and analytical skills as well as cultural awareness acquired during the semester.
ROIT 27500-01 INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN II: FILM & CULTURE 11:45-12:35 MWF
P. Vivirito
This course is a combined language and culture course. To further your command of the Italian language, you will work with the final chapters of our text, Ponti, learning and using new – and significantly advanced – grammatical concepts and structures. In addition, we will be viewing Italian films, listening to music, and reading magazine and newspaper articles and selections of modern literature. We will focus on the analysis and understanding of Italian life since WWII through the lens of some of the most influential Italian filmmakers and actors, such as Federico Fellini and Marco Tullio Giordana. The scope of this course is to allow you to refine your speaking skills, helping you to use Italian spontaneously and eloquently to express yourself, while learning about several aspects of Italian culture through the medium of film. You can expect to engage in a wide variety of tasks in this class, tying all of your growing language skills together in a challenging and fun environment.
ROIT 27500-02, 03 INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN II: ART & CULTURE
G. Lenzi-Sandusky 1:55-2:45, 3:00-3:50 MWF
In this course students will continue to develop their skills in speaking, reading and writing Italian through selected readings in Italian art and culture. It includes the study of intermediate-advanced grammar structures while familiarizing students with new and interesting vocabulary based on the specific cultural content areas such as the patronage, the artists and the techniques that produced some of the masterpieces of western art. Students will broaden their linguistic abilities and cultural knowledge through videos, interviews, commentaries, articles, pamphlets, slides and the University's art collections. Assignments will include individual and group presentations, a midterm and a final. Prerequisites: three semesters of Italian. This course counts as a 200-level course toward the Italian major or minor.
ROIT 30206 EARLY MODERN ROME 1:30-2:45 M/W
M. Meserve
This course traces the interlocking histories of the papacy and the city of Rome from the Renaissance to the birth of the modern Italian state. Topics will include the rise and fall of the papal monarchy; cultural and intellectual life at the Vatican court; the urban fabric of Rome from the Renaissance to the Baroque; the peculiar strains of Roman society; and the tumultuous relationship, both political and cultural, between Rome and the rest of Europe from the Reformation to the age of revolution. The course will proceed chronologically, but will pause frequently to examine special topics including: the Renaissance cardinal and his household; Michelangelo's Rome; the building of St. Peter's; Jesuit science; the trial of Galileo; archaeology and antiquarianism; the Roman Carnival; the Inquisition; Bernini's Rome; the Grand Tour; Rome in the Romantic imagination; and Napoleon's Rome. Students will write several short papers in response to readings and visual materials, and take a midterm and a final exam.
ROIT 30310-01, 02 TEXTUAL ANALYSIS 11:45-1:00, 1:30-2:45 M/W
J. Kriesel
This course introduces the fundamental principles and techniques of literary analysis in each of the major genres (lyric poetry, short story, theatre, epic poetry, novel), while presenting a sampling of masterpieces and authors from across the whole Italian literary tradition. The course also aims to increase fluency in speaking, reading, and writing Italian, by comprehensively reviewing and exploring grammar, and by consistent practice of language skills. Requirements include grammar quizzes, short essays, brief presentations, and a final exam. Taught in Italian. Pre-requisite: ROIT 202 or equivalent; ROIT 201 (or equivalent) by permission. Strongly recommended for majors and supplementary majors.
ROIT 30620 ITALIAN BAROQUE SURVEY: CARAVAGGIO TO GUARINI
R. Coleman 2:00-3:15 T/R
This course surveys Italian painting, sculpture and architecture of the seventeenth century, a period which also witnessed the expansion of the Jesuit Order, the Counter-Reformation, and absolute monarchy. Thus, the course begins with the “new Rome” of Pope Sixtus V, which attracted pilgrims and artists from all over Europe. From Northern Italy came Caravaggio and the Carracci, artists who were responsible for creating a new style based on High Renaissance principles and a new kind of naturalism derived from the study of life. There was Bernini, whose architectural and sculptural monuments almost single-handedly gave Rome its Baroque character. Other artists and architects of this era under discussion include such diverse personalities as Borromini, Guarini, Algardi, Artemisia Gentileschi (Caravaggio’s only female follower), and the great ceiling painters Pietro da Cortona, Baciccio, Pozzo, and Maratti. 3 credits
ROIT 30721 MODERN ITALIAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE 11:45-1:00 M/W
T. Cachey
The course will provide tools and techniques of formal, stylistic and rhetorical analysis needed to understand several literary masterpieces and selections by major Italian authors of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, including Carlo Goldoni (Venezia, 1707- Parigi, 1793), Giuseppe Parini (Bosisio, 1729 - Milano, 1799), Vittorio Alfieri (Asti, 1749 - Firenze, 1803), Ugo Foscolo (Zante, 1778 – London, 1827), Alessandro Manzoni (Milano, 1785-1873), Giacomo Leopardi (Recanati, 1798- Napoli, 1837), Giovanni Verga (Catania, 1840- 1922), Gabriele D’Annunzio (Pescara, 1863 - Gardone, 1938), Italo Svevo (Trieste, 1861 – 1928), Luigi Pirandello (Girgenti, 1867 - Roma, 1936). Italo Calvino (Santiago de Las Vegas, Cuba, 1923- Siena, 1985), and Primo Levi (Torino, 1919-1987). Students will learn to assess the claims of competing interpretations through the class discussion of study questions and the consultation of secondary literature about the authors and their works. The course will involve extensive seminar style discussion and oral presentations: regular attendance and active participation are required. You will be asked to synthesize information and expound your own thoughts analytically in short writing assignments, an exam, presentations, and three short papers. The course will conclude with a final paper and presentation. Throughout the semester, emphasis will also be given to oral expression and delivery skills, to refining use of advanced grammatical structures and idiomatic expressions, and to incorporating appropriate terminology and historical/literary contexts into your discussion and analysis of literary texts.
ROIT 40116 DANTE II 12:30-1:45 T/R
L. Hooper
Dante' 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. This course will aim to equip students with the intellectual tools necessary for understanding the Comedy. We shall spend some time exploring the historical, literary and intellectual context of fourteenth-century Italy from whence the poem springs, before reading and analysing a selection of cantos from the Comedy. 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 LLRO 40116, ROIT 63116, MI 40553, 60553, LIT 73665
ROIT 40521 PASOLINI 2:00-3:15 T/R
L. Hooper
The work of Pier Paolo Pasolini spans all the major media and genres of high culture, taking in lyric poetry, prose narrative, film, theatre and essays. Pasolini’s career flourished during the three decades of tremendous upheaval in Italian society that followed the Second World War (1945-1975), during which the country underwent both an economic and industrial revolution, and a massive social and cultural shift, emerging as an advanced capitalist consumer society. These social changes are minutely reflected and analysed in Pasolini’s works, and he is never afraid to enter into debates about historical issues. At the same time, Pasolini is always at pains to carve out his own position: that of the far-sighted poet who can glimpse what others cannot. This course, which will be conducted entirely in Italian, will seek to explore Pasolini as a public intellectual, a social status that is uniquely Italian and European. We will examine in detail the intersection between history and subjectivity, between commitment and self-expression in a series of shorter texts by Pasolini: essays, novellas, poems and plays.
ROIT 41590 ITALIAN THEATRE WORKSHOP 5:00-6:15 T/R
J. Olson
Students participating in this exciting total immersion theatre workshop will work together to put on a full-scale professional-level production of a plays. Students may be involved not only as actors, but also as designers of sets, costumes, and publicity/audio. This is an exciting and challenging way to greatly improve your speaking and communication skills, while getting to know an important work of literature. The workshop is open to students of all levels of Italian and may also be taken for FTT (Film, Television, and Theatre) credit. Every rehearsal and design meeting as well as all written communication will take place entirely in Italian. Participants must have completed Italian 10101 and 10102 or Intensive Italian 10115. Exceptions may sometimes be made for students who have completed only 10101; please contact the instructor with any questions.
ROIT 42116 DANTE II DISCUSSION GROUP DAY/TIME TBD
Staff
Students of the Italian language are eligible to sign up for an additional single credit discussion section as part of the Language across the Curriculum (LAC) initiative in the College of Arts and Letters. Choosing this option means that students will read a canto per week of the Comedy in Italian and meet once a week with a section leader who will guide a discussion in Italian and grade some brief writing assignments. The LAC discussion section in Italian associated with this course will be graded on a pass/fail basis and credited to the student’s transcript. Up to three LAC discussion credits can be applied toward a major, secondary major, or minor in Italian.
ROIT 53000 AMORI INFELICI, AMORI FELICI TRA MEDIOEVO E RINASCIMENTO
C. Sbordoni 1:30-2:45 M/W
Conducted in Italian, this course explores various representations of unhappy and happy love in Medieval and Renaissance Italian literature, as they were shaped by some of the major Italian authors of those times, through a selection of texts of different genres: lyric poetry, short narrative, chivalrous epic, pastoral drama. The first part of the course will focus on stilnovistic poetic experiences in the late Duecento, Cavalcanti’s destructive love and Dante’s Vita Nuova and Rime, and on its ripest fruits: Boccaccio’s realistic “paintings” of happy and unhappy loves in days fourth and fifth of the Decameron and Petrarch’s tireless identification of love and poetry in his Canzoniere. The second part, focused on Quattrocento Florence and central Italy, will present texts by Poliziano and Boiardo. The third part will concentrate on the Cinquecento: Gaspara Stampa’s Rime, Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso, Tasso’s Aminta. The discussion of the texts will be accompanied by forays into visual arts (painting and sculpture) and music.
