Spring 2001

Italian-558  Poesia E Potere
M 2-4      Finotti
Cross Listed: COML-532

Un ampio panorama della poesia italiana dal 1500 alla modernita.  Il corso si concentrera sui rapporti tra la tradizione lirica e le forme del potere politico e culturale - con le quali essa si confronta, dall'eta delle corti alla societa di massa..  In quale misura muta l'immagine che il poeta da di se stesso, e quali sono le trasformazioni linguistiche, stilistiche, retoriche connesse al mutyamento della committenza e dell'orizzonte d'ascolto?

Poetry and Authority

A panorama of Italian poetry, from 1500 to modernity.  The course will focus on relations between the lyrical tradition and the centers of political and cultural authority, integrating political, social and economic history into the study of literature, from the Renaissance to the mass society.  A detailed examination of the self-representation of authorial persona, connecting the linguistic, stylistic and rhetorical transformation of its discourse to the historical evolution of the audience.

Italian-592  Women In Italian 20th Century Literature
   T 2-4      Brunori-Deigan
We will examine feminine characters created by Italian women writers -such as Aleramo, Deledda, Manzini, De Cespedes, Cialente, and Maraini--throughout the twentieth century.  We will also compare these characters with those created by male writers, such as Verga, D'Annunzio, Svevo, Pirandello and Moravia.  Is the feminine figure created by women writers the mouthpiece of modern feminist thought?  And how does the literary value of women's narratives compare with those of the male writers consecrated in the canon?

Italian 593  Women In Italian Film    Marcus
   M 4:30-7
   W 2-4

Including, but not limited to, films made by women, this course will explore the representation of the feminine within a wide range of film genres in Italy.  Using a combination of methodologies--feminist film theory, psychoanalysis, ideological criticism, semiotics, as well as traditional literary approaches to interpretation--we will trace a discourse of the feminine from the divas of the silent screen to the "liberated" women of postmodern media culture.  The course will be organized around weekly screenings on Mondays, followed by detailed analysis of the films in the Wednesday class.  Though knowledge of  Italian is warmly welcome, it is not required, since the films are subtitled, and primary readings will be in English.