GRADUATE COURSES
SIX-WEEK GRADUATE COURSES
6502 Advanced Italian: Studies in Language
Iuele-Colilli
Designed to develop oral and written proficiency at the advanced level, this course meets daily for two hours: one hour dedicated to the study of morphological and syntactic patterns and structures, and one hour to oral expression. Students will be required to write tests, submit essays, give oral presentations, and participate in class discussions.
Note: This course is obligatory for all first-time graduate students except those exempted on the basis of a placement examination. Students scoring low on the placement test may be required to take 3301 without graduate credit before attempting 6502. (1 Unit)
Required Texts: R. Uslenghi Maiguashca, M. Sassu Frescura, L. Polesini Karumanchiri, and J. Vizmuller-Zocco, Schede di lavoro. Vols.1-2. 2nd Edition. Toronto: University of Toronto Press (1994); L. Polesini Karumanchiri, L'italiano d'oggi. Note di grammatica per corsi universitari. Toronto: University of Toronto Press (1988).
Recommended Texts: N. Zingarelli, Vocabolario della lingua italiana. Bologna: Zanichelli (latest edition); HarperCollins Sansoni Italian Dictionary. Inglese-Italiano, Italiano-Inglese. Firenze: Sansoni (latest edition).
Additional reading materials will be provided by the instructor.
6506 Creative Writing: the Tools of the Profession or first Read, then Write
Scarpa
A more accurate title for this course could be «Creative Reading». It implies, in fact, a strong interest in literature, in the pleasure of reading stories, poems, and essays – in a word, of reading books. A direct and close contact with some entertaining texts authored by the best contemporary Italian writers will lead the student to grow conscious of her/his voice and achieve a deeper understanding of it. We will read and comment the texts of the writers and also the texts produced by the students during the course. Our attention will be focused on the structure of Italian sentences, on the meanings of Italian words. We will examine many subtle features of the Italian written and spoken language. We will speak about Italian society, history and politics – all phenomena that give birth to new words. Together we will look for a style, in the pages we read and in the pages we write. Active participation in class is warmly required.
Required texts (to be read before the course starts)
Fruttero & Lucentini, I ferri del mestiere. Manuale involontario di scrittura con esercizi svolti, Tascabili Einaudi, n. 1279, Torino 2004.
Additional reading material will be provided by the instructor, possibly including short texts by Italo Calvino, Umberto Eco, Beppe Fenoglio, Carlo Emilio Gadda, Natalia Ginzburg, Tommaso Landolfi, Primo Levi, Leo Longanesi, Goffredo Parise, and others.
6524 The Comic and Poetic Charm of Totò
Bondì
The scope of this course is to study the various roles played by Italy’s greatest comedian: Totò, born Antonio Vincenzo Stefano Clemente on February 19, 1898 in a poor district of Naples, who went on to become a living legend. After many years on the stage Totò, in the late thirties made his debut in cinema and went on to make more than one hundred films. Unfortunately, for the most part, his earlier films were not well received by the critics who maintained that Totò’s real artistic dimension belonged only to the theater. Through a series of films made with Monicelli, Rossellini, Pier Paolo Pasolini and others, this course will bring to life Totò’s unsurpassable acting and his poetic cinematic interpretations.
Required texts: Totò, l'uomo e la maschera di Franca Faldini e Goffredo Fofi ed. L'ancora del Mediterraneo, 2000 Napoli ISBN 8884401151
Liliana de Curtis, Totò mio padre. Milano: Ed Rizzoli ISBN 88-04-33680-3.
6536 Ten Poets: New Verses in Italian Contemporary Literature
Scarpa
Empty spaces are as important as written words when you engage yourself in reading a poem seriously. We will pay the same attention to the voices and to their silences while reading ten Italian poets from the twentieth century: Umberto Saba, Aldo Palazzeschi, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Eugenio Montale, Sandro Penna, Vittorio Sereni, Andrea Zanzotto, Elsa Morante, Patrizia Cavalli, Valerio Magrelli. We will read and comment in class two or three texts for each author for a total of ten poets.
Required texts:
Poeti italiani del Novecento, anthology edited by Pier Vincenzo Mengaldo, Oscar Mondadori, Milano 1990
A profile of Elsa Morante, Valerio Magrelli, and Patrizia Cavalli, who are not included in Mengaldo’s anthology, will be provided by the instructor, together with the texts to be read and commented.
6549 Mediterranean History, Arts, and Civilization from the Cyclades to Modernity
Sala
This course will begin with the study of the mysterious civilization on the Cyclades Islands 2,000 years before Christ and will cover the classical period of ancient Greece, Imperial Rome, the fall of the Roman Empire, the birth of Christianity, the Middle ages in Europe, Byzantine art in Venice and in Ravenna, the religious schism between the Western and the Eastern churches, the Venetian Empire, the Renaissance in Tuscany, Luther’s Reformation and the crisis of the arts in Northern Europe. The course will conclude with a study of the Muslim World and the Mediterranean.
*(Besides regular credit this course may also count for one credit in the M.A. in Mediterranean Studies program)
6564 Sex, Love and Betrayal in the Italian Opera Tradition
Gargiulo
This course will look at Italian Opera from Monteverdi to Puccini. Each opera will be analyzed from a purely musical aspect and within the historical context of its composition. Some of the topics discussed will be: opera seria, opera buffa, castrati, verismo, and the enormous contribution of non-Italian composers (such as Mozart) to the patrimony of Italian Opera. With the aid of a professional opera singer present at all lessons it will be possible to sing through selected arias and get a better feel for the music through live performance. Students will be encouraged to participate in the singing as much as possible. Reading and listening materials will be distributed by the professor.
6567 Italian on Stage: The Myth of Commedia dell'Arte
Bernard
The course will study the Commedia dell'Arte focusing on figures ranging from the buffoons of the Middle Ages up to Goldoni's characters. As well, representative texts, scenarios, and acting techniques of the most celebrated Italian comic theatre tradition will be analyzed. All students in this workshop are expected to act in and/or to assist in the production of the play that will be performed prior to the end of the session. (1 Unit)
Required texts: Siro Ferrone, Attori mercanti corsari, Einaudi Torino 1993 ISBN 8806131834
Roberto Alone, Goldoni dalla Commedia dell'Arte al dramma Borghese. Garzanti 2004, ISBN 8811600375
Carlo Goldoni, Il servitore di due padroni. Einaudi 2002 (Libro e DvD) ISBN 8806162853
Carlo Goldoni, Il teatro Comico - Memorie italiane. Mondadori 1983, ISBN 8804228927
Eduardo de Filippo, L'arte della Commedia. Einaudi Torino 1965 ISBN 8806065939
6577 The Textual Worlds of Medieval and Humanistic Italy
Colilli
This course examines the emergence of Italian literary culture from its earliest manifestations in the thirteenth century to Renaissance Humanism of the fifteenth century. Selected readings from major works of representative authors will illustrate the dominant intellectual trends and the development of literary forms. We will explore topics such as the interrelationship between literature, the history of ideas and the other arts, as well as the connection between literature and social forces. (1 Unit)
Required Text: M. Pazzaglia, Letteratura italiana. Testi e critica con lineamenti di storia letteraria. Vol. 1. Bologna: Zanichelli, 1992-1993.
6573 Introduction to Early Modern Italian Literature
Livorni
This course focuses on the historical development of mid- to late- sixteenth-, seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century Italian literature. We will read the works of major Italian authors in relation to their impact on both Italian and European culture, from the last days of the Renaissance to the onset of Arcadia. While discussing the representative literary and philosophical works of these two centuries, we will examine the evolution/involution of the intellectual class, the hegemony of religious and political power over science and the arts and how literature emerges from the society which it attempts to change or describe. (1 Unit) Required text: M. Pazzaglia, Letteratura italiana. Testi e critica con lineamenti di storia letteraria. Vol. II. Bologna: Zanichelli, 1992-1993.
6565 Introduction to Modern and Contemporary Italian Literature and Culture
Carletti
This course will cover Italian literature from the beginning of the nineteenth to the end of the twentieth century. Major authors will be read against the background of Italian political and cultural history. Beginning with an overview of Italian Romanticism --with particular reference to Foscolo and Leopardi, the course will then focus on the development of the novel, from Manzoni, Nievo and the authors of the United Italy (Verga, Collodi, Deledda, D'Annunzio, Pirandello) to the representative writers of the twentieth century (Svevo, Pavese, Ginzburg, C. Levi, Vittorini, Calvino). Changing attitudes in poetry will be illustrated by a selection of readings ranging from “Decadent poets” (Pascoli, Gozzano, the crepuscolari poets) to "Avanguardia" (Marinetti and Futurism), Dino Campana, the "Ermetici" (Ungaretti, Montale), and the "Transavanguardia". Selected writings by contemporary authors (Eco, Maraini, E.Rea) will also be included. (1 Unit)
Required Text: Mario Pazzaglia. Scrittori e critici della letteratura italiana. Ottocento e Novecento. Antologia con pagine critiche e un profilo di storia letteraria. Vol. 3 (vol. unico). Terza Ed. Bologna: Zanichelli (1996). Additional reading materials will be provided by the instructor.
6601 Stylistics: Techniques of Composition and Interpretation
Iuele-Colilli, Giula Tellini
The aim of this course is to help the students to find their own Italian voice while speaking and writing in Italian. This endeavor requires daily practice and a particular attention to problems of stylistics. Through the analysis of different language sectors (i.e. journalism, business, sports, contemporary jargon) in class, the students will gain a better understanding of the Italian language in its various uses. Assignments will include translations, linguistic exercises, descriptions, narrations, summaries, essay writing, book reviews and oral presentations.
Required Text: L. Craici, Parlare e Scrivere Vallardi 2007, M. Sassu Frescura, Interferenze lessicali italiano-inglese. Toronto: University of Toronto Press (1984).
Recommended Texts: N. Zingarelli, Vocabolario della lingua italiana. Bologna: Zanichelli (latest edition); Harper Collins Sansoni Italian Dictionary. Inglese-Italiano, Italiano-Inglese. Firenze: Sansoni (latest edition).
Additional reading materials will be provided by the instructor.
6611 Modes of Critical Theory
Tellini
This course focuses on a selection of modes and vocabularies of critical theory within the context of the twentieth century, but applied to the field of Italian studies. We will study aspects of structuralism, semiotics, deconstruction, hermeneutics, marxism, psychoanalysis, feminism and cultural studies. (1 Unit)
Required text: Francesco Muzzioli, Le teorie della critica letteraria. Nuova edizione. Roma: Carocci editore, 2005.
6615 Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Complex and Fascinating Creativity
Fontanella
This course will focus on the entire body of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s creativeproduction: cinema, poetry, fiction, theater, and critical essays. Pasolini’s work stood out in Italian literature from the Fifties to the Seventies as a passionate attempt to conjugate Marxism, Christian spirituality, nostalgia for the lost values of agrarian society and fascination with the vitality of the sub-proletariat Roman world. His was a voice also noted for its explicit and pitiless accusation of the social structures of the industrialized West. Special attention will be given to certain works published during the last decade of his life, which are the most significant and representative of this original and controversial Italian intellectual. The memorable documents written after his 1966 and 1969 visits to USA will also be studied.
Required Texts: P.P. PASOLINI, "Teatro", Milano: Garzanti, 2006, Euro 18.50. ISBN 88-11-66965-0
P.P. PASOLINI, "Empirismo eretico", Milano: Garzanti, 2007, Euro 13.50. ISBN 978-88-11-67544-0
P.P. PASOLINI, "Trasumanar e Organizzar", Milano: Garzanti, 2002, Euro 9.50. ISBN 978-88-11-67607-0
P.P. PASOLINI, "Pasolini rilegge Pasolini", Milano: Archinto, RCS Libri, 2005, Euro 20.00. ISBN 88-7768-448-8
6628 The Mafia through Cinematic Perspectives
Nicaso and Vitti
The course will analyze the cinematic representation of the complex phenomena called Mafia. We will study how within Italian cinema the characterization of the Mafia and mafiosi began with the archetypal figures of the bosses and the “good guy” crusader from the North sent to Sicily to fight crime. Cinematic representation went on to adopt a more sociological approach, attempting to explore the political implications of the Mafia through the political cinema genre, in particular, Rosi's Salvatore Giuliano, 1961. We will study how this genre was also brought back by Scineca and Giordana in the nineties. The course will include Cipri's and Maresco's surreal and tragicomic films mocking traditional representation of the Mafia. Special attention will be dedicated to the role of women in Torre's and Comencini's films. We will discuss the roles of gender, sexuality, personal liberty and the marital and filial relationships. Special attention will be given to films that deal with the impact of organized crime on society, institutions and on youth.
The individual film analyses will be enhanced by Antonio Nicaso, world acclaimed mafia expert, who will contextualize the cinematic representations in their socio-political and historical framework.
Some of the films:
1952 Processo alla città di Luigi Zampa (parla del processo Cuocolo).
1961 Salvatore Giuliano di F. Rosi
1972 Camorra di Pasquale Squitieri
1973 Lucky Luciano di Francesco Rosi
1986 Il Camorrista di Giuseppe Tornatore
2001 Luna Rossa di Antonio Capuano
2002 L'Imbalsamatore di Matteo Garrone'
2008 Gomorra di Matteo Garrone
2008 Il divo di Paolo Sorrentino
6638 Poetry and Play: The Parody in Italian Literature
Tellini
Parody is transgression and mockery according to codified norms, but it is also a playful and humorous rewriting of major texts, which, as one knows, is a serious matter. It invites broadening the horizon, bringing in fresh air, in other words: looking at the world from another prospective. Even if play is not part of the academic curriculum there are entire chapters of Italian literature dedicated to parody, written as a countermelody to the prevailing models. In this course students will be guided along an amusing journey to the discovery of parody, from Boccaccio to Umberto Eco.
Required text:
G. Tellini, Rifare il verso. La parodia nella letteratura italiana, Milano: Mondadori ("Oscar saggi"), 2008, pp. 390, euro 12. ISBN = 978-88-04-58173-4.
6671 Mediterranean Identity through Literature-Cinema-Poetry-Theater
Santucci
A fundamental approach to the exploration of the Mediterranean self/identity is to examine those figures that are different from the narrative self - among which the female figure is one of the most important and universal representations of otherness. One such multi-faceted character is Medea, arguably the most captivating female figure of all times who, since the dawn of Western literature, has inspired many artists in all fields. Euripides, Seneca, Corneille, Anouilh, Pasolini, Callas, Fo and Rame, NDiaye, Ba, are among the many who have breathed life into Medea’s various incarnations, on the stage and in cinematic productions, from ancient Greek drama to the present day. Unlike most mythic figures, whose defining attributes remain constant across the various versions of the myth, the essence of Medea is continually changing as her story is rethought by the various authors and new versions are created. The Medea myth often supplies the vocabulary for expressing modern political concern, such as the tensions within a mixed marriage in contemporary society. She illuminates the opposing concepts of self and other, and also suggests the disturbing possibility of otherness within the self. We shall investigate the figure of Medea in XX-century theater and film in the Mediterranean area, reconstructing its ancient meaning in literary tradition, as well as the philosophical, psychological, and cultural questions these portrayals give rise to.
(Besides regular credit this course may also count for one credit in the M.A. in Mediterranean Studies program)
6777 The Invention of a New Aesthetic: Petrarch and Petrarchism
Colilli
The aim of the course is to analyze the poet logical, philosophical and theological traits of Petrarch’s poetry making, and to explore why it was codified in the form of an aesthetic ideology during the Renaissance. The focus of the course will be Petrarch’s Canzoniere, but we will also read the Renaissance interlocutors such as Pietro Bembo, Michelangelo, Vittoria Colonna, Gaspara Stampa, Giovanni della Casa and others.
Required texts:
-Francesco Petrarca, Canzoniere. A cura di Marco Santagata. (Milano :Mondadori, 2004) ISBN 88-04-52376-X
-Lirici del Cinquecento. A cura di Luigi Baldacci. (Milano: Lampi di Stampa, 1999) ISBN 88-304-0282-6
800 Independent Study
Vitti
By permission only. (1 Unit)
DML 902 Research Paper
Vitti
THREE-WEEK GRADUATE COURSES
Students enrolled in the six-week graduate program are eligible to take one or more three-week graduate courses as part of their normal course load of three units (nine semester hours) of credit for the summer.
SESSION I: June 30 - July 23
6693 Teaching Italian: Methods, Approaches, Practice (for DML candidates)
Danesi
This course describes and discusses the main methods, approaches, and techniques that can be used to teach a second language (SL) today, including a strong practical component with practicum sessions on the Middlebury campus. The course will consist of three components. First, there is a lecture-seminar component, where various concepts in Italian SL teaching will be discussed, exemplified, and practiced. Textbook analysis, communicative practice, conceptual fluency, error analysis, the role of grammar, testing, and so on will be covered within this component. Second, there will be a practicum component, whereby each DML candidate will be hosted by a regular instructor to teach at two levels (a beginner level and an intermediate or advanced level). The performance will be evaluated and discussed both by the regular instructor and the course instructor together with the student-teacher. Finally, there will be three weekend seminars, during which the class and others in the program (including language students) will make presentations of methodology and practice in a public forum.
Course Materials: Recommended:
M. Danesi, Tecniche per la didattica delle lingue moderne. Roma: Armando, 1988.
M. Danesi, Il cervello in aula! Seconda edizione, Perugia: Guerra, 2007.
Plus: A selection of currently-used texts, ancillaries, readers, etc.
*Open only to M.A. and DML students who have completed a preliminary summer of study on the Vermont Campus
6654 Being Women and Doing Theater
Maraini
Starting with a survey of Classical, Greek and Roman theater, analyzed from a female perspective, the course will explore the reasons behind the indisputable fact, attested by Aristotle himself, that although theatrical practice began with the representation of Demetra’s cult, the practice of the Eleusinian mysteries, and the celebration in honor of Dionysius, half man and half woman-- women were banned from the stage. Why then were they excluded? To answer this question the course will study classical texts such as Medea, Phaedra, Antigone, Clytemnestra, Jocasta, Al cesti and other ancient and modern literary and critical works on the subject.
*(Besides regular credit this course may also count for one credit in the M.A. in Mediterranean Studies program)
Session II: July 23 - August 14
6651 Mangiare italiano : Historical, Cultural and Linguistic Aspects
Lebano
The course describes the history of food in Italy, throughout the centuries. The course will also analyze the formation of different regional traditions. The historical, cultural and linguistic culinary traditions will be illustrated by a series of pertinent documents. Special attention will be dedicated to the relationship that existed between the New World and Italy, and the reciprocal exchange of products and recipes. In addition, the course will examine the effects that the Italian immigration had in North America, especially on the American culinary experience. (1 Unit)
Required texts: Rebora, "La civilta' della forchetta" Ed. Laterza, Collana Economica, anno 2000, pagg. 206 - Euro 9.00
Johd Dickie, Con gusto, Ed. Laterza, anno 2007, pagg. 396 - Euro
Capatti - Montanari, La cucina italiana: storia di una cultura, Ed. Laterza, Collana Economica, 2005, - Euro 10.00
* Only open to M.A. and DML students who have completed a preliminary summer of study on the Vermont Campus
6644 Free or Controlled Press? - A History of Italian Journalism
Zucconi
This course will study the evolution of the diffusion of public information in Italy. This historical overview will begin with the “Acta Diurna” (Roman official notices comparable to Daily Public Records) and go through the first efforts of the Lombard Enlightenment to create lay publications in competition with the informative methods used by the Catholic Church. We will then move on to discuss the birth of the first major newspapers founded and financed by the major industrial enterprises and the Lombard and Piedmontese cotton industry. We will also analyze the press under the Fascist regime, media controlled by political parties, media connected to the Resistance and electronic media. The course will end with a study of Rai/Mediaset, the slow affirmation of the Rete in Italia, the so-called "citizen's journalism" and the phenomena of the "free press". By the end of the course the recurring question of whether Italian national media is the servant of the dominant powers or independent, will be answered.