Donato Santeramo
Italian School Faculty
Email: dsantera@middlebury.edu
Phone: work802.443.5727
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Donato Santeramo is Professor and Acting-Head of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at Queen's University. He earned his “laurea” in lingue e letterature straniere moderne from the University of Rome, La Sapienza and received his Ph.D. in Italian Studies from the University of Toronto. His research has been primarily in the areas of 20th-century European theatre and literature, literary studies and semiotics.
His most recent publications are: Luigi Pirandello: la parola, la scena ed il mito, (2007); “Gordon Craig and the Futurists: A Hate Story” in Futurist Dramaturgy and Performance. (2011); La poetica del malincomico. Da Baudelaire a Benigni), Lezioni di dottorato 2011, Università di Cassino.; “Pirandello, uno, due e tre” (2008). He co-edited with Domenico De Gaetano, Luca Massimo Barbero RED CARS: An original screenplay by David Cronenberg. (2006).
Dr. Santeramo has also translated and directed several plays and staged them in Kingston, Toronto and New York. (Dario Fo, Paolo Puppa and Michele Perriera). He is a member of several editorial boards of academic journals dedicated to the fields of literature, theatre and film.
Courses
Courses offered in the past four years.
▲ indicates offered in the current term
▹ indicates offered in the upcoming term[s]
ITAL 6502 - Advanced Italian
ITAL 6609 - Semiotic Theory and Practice ▹
Semiotic Theory and Practice in Italy
This course will present a critical study of the interpretative acts underlying the understanding of signs. It will trace the development of semiotics from a historical/social perspective though the works of various theoreticians. Particular attention will be paid to the function of verbal and non-verbal signs in the literary, linguistic fields as well as communication through theater, cinema art and the media. The course will be both theoretical and practical as together with tests and essays students will be asked to work on applied semiotic projects.
Required Texts:
U. Eco, Trattato di semiotica generale. Milano: Bompiani, 1975.
Bonfantini Massimo, Breve corso di semiotica. Laterza 2005. (Settima edizione)
Eco, Umberto, Interpretazione e sovrainterpretazione. Bompiani, 2002.
Marcel Danesi, Brands. Il mondo delle marche. Carocci, 2009.
Summer 2012
ITAL 6611 - Modes of Critical Theory
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.
Required Text: Gino Tellini, Metodi e protagonisti della critica letteraria, Firenze, Le Monnier, 2010
Language & StylisticsSummer 2008, Summer 2009
ITAL 6614 - Pirandello
Pirandello: The Word, the Mise-en-scene and the Myth Santeramo
The course will offer an in-depth study of Luigi Pirandello's most important dramatic works, together with analyses of his theoretical essays on theatre. His three-year directorship of the Teatro d'Arte in Rome will also be examined. Pirandello's plays and theory will be studied in a European context. Particular attention will be paid to the following plays: Six Characters in Search of an Author, Each in his Own Way, Henry IV, The Feast of Our Lord of the Ships, The New Colony, Lazarus; I'm Dreaming, But Am I?; Tonight We Improvise and The Mountain Giants.
Required Texts: Donato Santeramo, Luigi Pirandello: la parola, la scena e il mito. Roma: Nuova Editrice Universitaria, 2007. ISBN: 978-88-95155-09-8
Additional reading materials will be provided by the instructor.
Pirandello's plays and essays can be found at: http://www.classicitaliani.it/index070.htm"
LiteratureSummer 2011
ITAL 6708 - Ital Political Novels &Thought ▹
From Antonio Gramsci to Roberto Saviano: Italian Political Novels and Thought
This course will not only look at the political content of the books to be studied but it will also analyze the social context in which the works were written. Particular attention will be paid to the post-Fascist period. The novels will be studied in a historical context and emphasis will be put on how they reflect a certain understanding of society which is often at odds with the ruling classes. A close reading of the works will also allow for a better understanding of the social function of literature in contemporary society.
Required Text:
Romano Luperini, La scrittura e l’interpretazione, Edizione Rossa, Volume 6 - Modernità e Contemporaneità (Dal 1925 ai nostri giorni). Palumbo Editore.
Novels:
Cesare Pavese, La luna e i falò/. Torino Einaudi, any edition.
Leonardo Sciascia, /Il giorno della civetta. Adelphi, any edition.
P.P. Pasolini Una vita violenta, on line @ http://www.altrestorie.net/libri/Pasolini.Una%20Vita%20Violenta%20Pier.pdf
Roberto Saviano, Gomorra. Milano: Mondadori 2006.
Dacia Maraini, La ragazza di via Maqueda, Rizzoli, 2009.
Summer 2012
