Language and Option Courses in ITALIAN 2010-11 · Language and Option Courses in ITALIAN 2012-13 . For details of option courses, click on the title to read the course specification

Language and Option Courses in ITALIAN 2012-13 For details of option courses, click on the title to read the course specification document First Year IT1000 Intensive Italian for Beginners (compulsory unit for students with no knowledge of Italian) IT1050 Advanced Italian (compulsory unit for students with A Level Italian) IT1230 The Heritage of Dante and the Renaissance IT1730 Seduction, Suicide and Psychoanalysis:Visions of the Self in Modern Italian Culture IT1950 Building the Italian Nation: Heroes and anti-Heroes from Pinocchio to The Leopard. IT1980 Fascist Italy Second Year IT2000 Advanced Italian II for Post Beginners (Core course) IT2050 Advanced Italian II (compulsory unit) IT2230 Dante’s Comedy – Themes and Ideas IT2340 Postwar Italian Cinema (Term 2 only) IT2500 Renaissance and Transgressions IT2720 Opera and Operatic Culture IT2821 Fascism and the Arts in Italian Hermetic Poetry ML2301 Boccaccio – Decameron Final Year IT3000 Advanced Oral and Communication skills (compulsory IT3050 Advanced Italian III IT3070 Essay in Italian IT3230 Dante – The Divine Comedy – Purgatorio (Term 1 only) IT3430 Of Women, Knights, Weapons and Loves: the Italian chivalric tradition IT3630 Link Essay (Joint Honours only) IT3860 Shooting History: Dictatorship, Terror and Crime in Italian Film IT3980 Italian Fashion and Design (Term 2 only) IT3900 Approved Topic IT3990 The Postmodern: Pioneers and Practitioners

The information contained in this course outlines is correct at the time of publication, but may be subject to change as part of the School’s policy of continuous improvement and development. Every effort will be made to notify you of any such changes.

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Department/School: School of Modern Languages Academic Session: 2011-12

Code: IT1000 Course Value: 1

Status: OPTION

Title: INTENSIVE ITALIAN FOR BEGINNERS Availability: TERM 1 –2

Prerequisites: AS or equivalent qualification in another modern European language. No prior knowledge of Italian is required

Recommended:

Co‐ordinator: Maura Iannelli‐Chanda

Course Staff Maura Iannelli Chanda and/or native Language Assistants

Aims

To develop students’ oral, aural and writing skills up to Low Intermediate level as in accordance with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages To develop good students’ reading comprehension skills to Intermediate level (as in accordance with CEFR) To introduce students to Italian journalistic writing

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this course will: Be able to converse on everyday matters with correct pronunciation Acquire good reading comprehension skills so as to be able to read simple written texts in Italian Develop competence in commentary writing Acquire good listening comprehension skills Gain basic knowledge of Italian traditions and various other aspects of Italian life To develop good understanding of Italian grammatical structures

Course Content

This course comprises 3 sessions. The sessions are taught as follows: Written 1 ‐ two contact hours p.w. in the first and the second term Written 2 – a total of 20 hours evenly distributed in the first and the second term Oral ‐ 2 contact hours p.w. in the first and second term. In the session Written 1 students will have the opportunity to develop practical language skills in reading comprehension. Written 2 will focus on commentary writing. The third session focuses on oral communication and on the development of listening comprehension skills. Grammar will be taught in context in accordance with the students’ specific needs as they arise. They will be required to complete the first year grammar syllabus.

Teaching & Learning Methods

This course is taught over five hours, using a communicative approach and the lessons are conducted in Italian whenever possible. In the sessions Written 1 and Written 2 students will study and practise basic linguistic structures and lexicon through a variety of exercises and activities. In these sessions students will have the opportunity to study and analyze a series of short articles adapted from Italian newspapers or the internet as well as learn how to plan and write a commentary on them. In the oral sessions students will learn to carry out simple conversations on set topics through various aural and oral activities, including listening comprehension as well as role play. Students will be able to revise Italian grammar independently by carrying out a series of grammatical exercises made available on moodle. There will be a 15‐minute formative oral test at the end of term 1and a 15‐minute summative oral test in term 2.

Key Bibliography

Espresso 1 Corso di italiano, Libro dello studente ed esercizi by L. Ziglio & G.Rizzo (Alma Edizioni, Firenze) ISBN: 9788861820531 Espresso 2 Corso di italiano, Libro dello studente ed esercizi by M. Bali e G. Rizzo (Alma Edizioni, Firenze) ISBN: 9788861820555 Soluzioni, a Practical Grammar of Contemporary Italian by Denise De Rôme (Hodder Education, 2010) ISBN:9781444101256 Course material and grammar tests on moodle

In‐course Feedback:

Feedback will be given on the 15 minute formative oral test in Term 1 and the summative oral test in Term 2 and on weekly work done at home and in class.

Assessment

Written exam: reading comprehension, commentary writing, grammar exercises 3 hours) Term 3 ‐ 50% Summative oral test (15 minutes) Term 2 ‐ 10%.

Oral: reading comprehension, prepared talk and conversation on topics covered in the course (20 minutes) Term 3 ‐ 20% Coursework: written assignments as well as formative grammar tests on moodle ‐ 20%

Deadlines: as advertised on moodle

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Department/School: School of Modern Languages Academic Session: 2011‐12

Code: IT1050 Course Value: Full unit Status: Core course

Title: Advanced Italian I Availability: Term 1 ‐2

Prerequisites:

AS/A2 Italian Recommended:

Co‐ordinator: Maura Iannelli Chanda

Course Staff Maura Iannelli and /or native Language Assistants Aims:

IT 1050 is a post‐A level compulsory full unit language course which will provide students with a smooth progression from A‐level Italian and the opportunity to develop greater awareness of and fluency in Italian, both written and spoken.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the course student should have:• Developed the analytical skills required to understand Italian written texts • Extended their knowledge of the Italian lexicon • Acquired familiarity with a variety of written registers in Italian • Developed written presentation skills in Italian in the areas of analysis and commentary writing • Learnt and reinforced key aspects of Italian grammar in context • Understood as well as increased competence and fluency in spoken Italian

Course Content:

This course comprises two sections. In the sessions Written 1 and Oral class students will have the opportunity to acquire equal competency in the following areas, all of which have Italian as the target language: reading comprehension, commentary writing and oral communication. Grammatical structures will be studied in context in accordance with students’ specific needs as they arise in both sessions Students will be required to complete the first year grammar syllabus. There will be a 15‐minute formative oral test in term 1 and a 15‐minute summative oral test in term 2.


This course is taught over 2 hours per week, using a communicative approach and the lessons are conducted in Italian. In the sessions Written 1and Oral students will be reading and analysing a variety of articles adapted from Italian newspapers as well as the internet. They will carry out a variety of activities including listening comprehension exercises. They will be asked to listen to and comment upon interviews/film extracts and Italian songs. Students will have the opportunity to explore a variety of topics related to Italian culture and society through discussions and role play. They will be asked to revise Italian grammar independently by carrying out a series of grammatical exercises made available on moodle.

Key Bibliography:

La Prova Orale2 by T. Marin (Edilingua, Roma 2005.De Biasio P. & Garofalo (Edilingua, Roma 2008)ISBN9789607706256 Soluzioni, a Practical Grammar of Contemporary Italian by Denise De Rôme (Hodder Education, 2010) ISBN:9781444101256 Course material and grammar tests on moodle


Feedback will be given on the 15 minute formative oral test in Term 1 and the summative oral test in Term 2 and on weekly work done at home and in class.

Assessment:

Written exam: reading comprehension, commentary writing, grammar exercises (3 hours)Term 3 ‐ 50% Summative oral test (15 minutes) Term 2 ‐ 10%

Oral: reading comprehension, prepared talk and conversation on topics covered in the course (20 minutes) Term 3 ‐ 20% Coursework: written assignments as well as formative grammar tests on moodle ‐ 20%


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Department/School: School of Modern Languages Academic Session: 2009/10

Course Title: The Heritage of Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio: the Tre Corone

Course Value: (UG courses = unit value, PG courses = notional learning hours)

0.5

Course Code: IT1230

Course JACS Code: (Please contact Data Management for advice)

R320

Availability: (Please state which teaching terms)

Autumn and Spring Status: (i.e.: Core, Core PR, Compulsory, Optional)

Optional

Pre-requisites: None Co-requisites:

Co-ordinator: Dr. Stefano Jossa Course Staff: Professor Jane Everson; Dr. Stefano Jossa. Aims: The course aims to introduce students to the life and works of the Tre corone – Dante,

Petrarch and Boccaccio, known as the Three Crowns – the three major writers of the Middle Ages and early Renaissance in Italy. The works of these three writers have inspired many subsequent writers, artists, dramatists and film makers, and their influence from the start has extended outside Italy, across Europe and beyond. Students will also be introduced to some of the fundamental ideas about literature in the Middle Ages.

Learning Outcomes: By the end of the course students will be able to appreciate the place of the three

writers in the development of Italian literature. They will understand the influence they have had on the development of Italian culture and society. They will be able to appreciate the influence of each writer on European culture and the arts. The course will act as good preparation for the second year and final year courses on medieval and Renaissance literature.

Course Content: The first term begins with an introduction to themes and ideas in the literature of the

Middle Ages – autobiography, love, writers and readers – to provide a firm basis for the study of the three great writers of the Italian Middle Ages. The course then continues with a brief introduction to Dante’s writings, and a close, detailed reading of his earliest work, the Vita nuova in which he tells the story of his love for Beatrice. In the second term the course covers a selection of the stories from Boccaccio’s most famous work, the Decameron, and a selection of the poems Petrarch wrote for his lady, Laura, which later inspired lyric poetry all over Europe. Visual and dramatic interpretations of the work of these three authors will also be included in the course.

Teaching & Learning Methods:

20 contact hours in the session – taught as one weekly lecture across two terms. Learning methods include analysis of texts and of visual materials.

Details of teaching resources on Moodle:

Course outline, reading lists and preparatory reading for seminars

Key Bibliography:

Dante Vita nuova

Boccaccio – selections from the Decameron

Petrarch – selections from the Canzoniere

(in Italian or English as appropriate to degree programme followed)

Bemrose, S., A New Life of Dante, Exeter, University of Exeter Press, 2000

Wallace, D., Giovanni Boccaccio, Landmarks of World Literature, Cambridge, CUP, 1991.

Foster, K, Petrarch Poet and Humanist, Edinburgh, Edinburgh UP, 1984 Formative Assessment & Feedback:

Individual feedback on term time essays.

Summative Assessment:

Exam 50% 2 questions in 2 hours, 1 question from section A from list of 4-6 and 1 question from section B from list of 4-6 Coursework 10 % Essay 1 1,200 – 1,500 words 30% Essay 2 1,200 – 1,500 words 10% Class and/or moodle test Deadlines: As advertised on notice boards and in handbook

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Department/School: School of Modern Languages Academic Session:

Course Title: Seduction, Suicide and Psychoanalysis: Visions of the Self in Modern Italian Culture


0.5

Course Code: IT1730


R330


Term 1 Status: (i.e.: Core, Core PR, Compulsory, Optional)

Option. Open to all students including CLCs.


Co-ordinator: Prof. Vivienne Suvini-Hand Course Staff: Prof. Vivienne Suvini-Hand. Aims: The course will:

• Introduce students to the issue of self-representation in the modern Italian context.

• Examine the different methodological approaches for studying the issue of self-representation, in particular psychoanalytical theories.

• Further develop students’ analytical and written presentation skills.

Learning Outcomes: The ability to examine and evaluate the concept of self-representation in the

modern Italian context. The development of reading skills in Italian. The ability to understand narrative and poetic techniques and critical theory. The ability to write about literary and cultural texts and film in a structured and analytical manner.

Course Content: This course takes self-representation as its theme, a notion which is central to our

understanding of the cultural context of modern Italy. The course focuses on the representation of the self in some of the following areas: psychoanalysis, literary modernity; feminism; political identities; the self and trauma, and the self and geographical location. First-year students will be introduced to some of the key literary and cultural figures of the twentieth century in Italy and they will develop a solid understanding of the principal issues of Italian identity and the pre-eminence of self-representation which are pertinent to any serious study of modern Italy. They will work with a range of literary and cultural texts and they will learn to evaluate them critically in terms of theme, content, and style. The texts which can be studied are (the choice may vary from year to year): Italo Svevo’s La Coscienza di Zeno Sibilla Aleramo’s Una donna Cesare Pavese’s La luna e I falo’. Guido Gozzano’s I Colloqui Giovanni Pascoli’s Myricae Italo Calvino’s Marcovaldo Luchino Visconti’s Senso.


20 lectures Details of teaching resources on Moodle:

Bibliography, course outline and preparatory reading

Key Bibliography:

General R. Alter, Partial magic: the novel as a self-conscious genre (Berkeley, 1975). P. Childs, Modernism (London and New York, 2000). P. J. Eakin, Fictions in autobiography: studies in the art of self-invention (Princeton, 1985). N King, Memory, narrative, identity: remembering the self (Edinburgh, 2000). M. Clark, Modern Italy 1871-1982 (London and New York, 1984) D. Forgacs, Italian Culture in the Industrial Era 1880-1980 (Manchester, 1990). Sibilla Aleramo, Una donna S. Aleramo, Una donna (1906) (Milan: Feltrinelli, 1982). S. Wood, Introduction and Chapter 1 in Italian Women’s Writing 1860-1994 (London: Athlone Press, 1995). Chapter 6, ‘Feminist theories’, in Contemporary Literary Theory, eds P. Brooker, R. Selden, P. Widdowson (London: Prentice Hall, 4th ed, 1997). R. Pickering-Iazzi, ‘Designing Mothers: Images of Motherhood in Novels by Aleramo, Morante, Maraini and Fallaci’, in Rebecca West and Dino Cervigni (eds) Women’s Voices in Italian Literature (1989). S. Wood, ‘Gender and autobiography: The double vision of Sibilla Aleramo’, in The Italianist, 14, 1994. Italo Svevo, La coscienza di Zeno I. Svevo, La coscienza di Zeno [1923] (Milan: Oglio, 1976). C. Fonda, Svevo e Freud (Ravenna: Longo, 1978). J. Freccero, ‘Zeno’s Last Cigarette’, Modern Language Notes, 77, No. 1 (january 1962), 3 - 23. P.N. Furbank, Italo Svevo: The Man and the Writer (London: Secker and Warburg, 1966). J. Gatt-Rutter, Italo Svevo: A Double Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). B. Moloney, Italo Svevo: A Critical Introduction (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1974). T. Staley, (editor) Essays on Italo Svevo (Tulsa, Oklahoma: The University of Tulsa Monograph Series, no. 6, 1969). B. Weiss, Italo Svevo, Twayne’s World Authors Series (Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University, 1987). Carlo Levi, Cristo si è fermato a Eboli C. Levi, Cristo si è fermato a Eboli [1945] (Milan: Mondadori, 1996).

Chapter 40 in The Cambridge History of Italian Literature (Brand & Pertile, eds) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996). S. D’Amaro, Il mondo di Carlo Levi (Mancosu, 1998). G. De Donato, Le parole del reale: ricerche sulla prosa di Carlo Levi (Dedalo, 1998). Cesare Pavese, La Luna e i falò. C. Pavese, La Luna e i falò [1950] (Turin: Einaudi, 1990). J. Freccero, ‘Mythos and Logos: The Moon and the Bonfires’, Italian Quarterly, 4 (1961), 3 - 16. G.P. Biasin, ‘Myth and Death in Cesare Pavese’s Works’, in From Versimo to Experimentalism: Essays on the Modern Italian Novel, edited by S. Pacifici (Bloomington, London: Indiana University Press, 1969). D. Heiney, Three Italian Novelists: Moravia, Pavese, Vittorini (Michigan: The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 1968).

Formative Assessment & Feedback:

Formative elements will include seminar presentations related to essay and exam-type questions and topics. Students will receive detailed written feedback on the coursework essays and oral presentation and will be able to seek further

infeedback dur g office hours. Summative Assessment:

Coursework: Essay 1, 2,000-2,500 words (30%) Essay 2, 2,000-2,500 words (60%) Oral presentation (10%) Deadlines: As advertised on notice boards and in handbook

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Course Title: Modern Italian Theatre


0.5

Course Code: IT1820


R320



Option – courses in Italian and ELCS

Pre-requisites: none Co-requisites:

Co-ordinator: Dr. Stefano Jossa Course Staff: Dr. Stefano Jossa Aims:

The course aims to explore major Italian play-writers in the 20th century, such as Pirandello, De Filippo, and Fo, through a deep reading of their main masterpieces, Six Characters in Search of an Author, Filumena Marturano, Comic Mistery, and Accidental Death of an Anarchist. The course will consider the three authors in the context of contemporary Italian history. The play will be examined also through their recent adaptations in cinema and tv fiction.

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of the course students will be familiar with the principal issues of Italian contemporary theatre; have studied in depth the most important plays; have developed an understanding of theatre’s place in contemporary Italian language, literature and culture; recognize the geographical and historical differences among the three study cases.

Course Content:

With close reference to the texts the course will study themes and ideas such as: theatre in the theatre, author’s theatre, narration theatre, to have form and to be form, theatre as representation of reality and theatre as a way of changing reality, realism, political issues in contemporary Italian theatre, Italian conception of humour and melancholy.


The course is taught through lectures and seminars, including students’ presentations.


Bibliography, course outline and preparatory reading

Key Bibliography:

Pirandello, Sei personaggi in cerca d’autore, Enrico IV De Filippo, Filumena Maturano Fo, Mistero buffo, Morte accidentale di un anarchico


Individual tutorials with students (in office hours) to discuss essay and return. Written comments on the cover sheets.


Exam 50% 2 questions in 2 hours, 1 question from section A from list of 5-7 and 1 question from section B from list of 3 Coursework 10% Essay 1 1,200 – 1,500 words 30% Essay 2 1,200 – 1,500 words 10% moodle test Deadlines: As advertised on notice boards and in handbook

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Code:

IT1830 Course Value: .5 Status:

Title: THE ITALIAN SHORT STORY Availability: Terms 2

Prerequisites: Recommended:

Co-ordinator: Fabrizio De Donno*

Course Staff Fabrizio De Donno* Aims:

• To introduce students to the short story form in Italian literature • To further develop students’ independent study skills by reading primary texts and developing personal responses to them in advance of classes. • To further develop students’ analytical skills and critical approaches to literary texts. • To further develop students’ planning, research, communications and academic writing skills. • To acquire the capacity to discuss critically and in appropriate scholarly form

• To understand the literary, thematic and stylistic features of the chosen texts • To gain a knowledge of the genre of the short story within the Italian context

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this course, students should be able to: • demonstrate an understanding of the characteristics of the short story form and its tradition within Italian literature • demonstrate their ability to form critical judgments of literary works, based on carefully analysed textual features and thematic concerns. • demonstrate their ability to make appropriate use of both primary and secondary material in their critical analyses. • demonstrate independent research skills by drawing on the university library and other suitable resources to find information relevant to the aims of the course • combine techniques of textual analysis and personal judgment to form clearly expressed critical examinations of a variety of texts which exhibit a combination of critical reading, independent thought, and a capacity to construct an accurately referenced argument in appropriate scholarly form

Course Content:

The course covers the development of the modern Italian short story from the nineteenth century to the present. Students are introduced to key reading and comprehension skills, focusing on the specific requirements for Italian texts and on the understanding of narrative strategies of the genre. Students will study short stories such as Pirandello’s Novelle (1890-1930), Levi’s Natural Histories (1966) Calvino’s The Cosmicomics (1985), Difficult Loves (1958), Tabucchi’s Letter From Casablanca (1981).


Lectures, tutorials and class presentation/discussion. The course will run for 20 hours in either Term 1 or Term 2.

Key Bibliography:

Primary: Luigi Pirandello, Novelle (Turin: Einaudi, 1994) / Luigi Pirandello, Eleven Short Stories (London: Dover, 1994); Primo Levi, Storie naturali (Turin: Einaudi, 1966) / Primo Levi, The Sixth Day and Other Tales; Italo Calvino, Le cosmicomiche (Milan: Mondadori, 1993) / talo Calvino, The Complete Cosmicomics (London: Penguin, 2010) and Difficult Loves (London: Vintage, 2002); Antonio Tabucchi, Il gioco del rovescio e altri racconti (Milan: Il Saggiatore, 1981) / Antonio Tabucchi, Letter From Casablanca (New York: New Directions, 1986). Secondary: Paul March-Russell, The Short Story: An Introduction (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009); Ann Charters, The Story and its Writer (London: Bedford/St Martins, 2002); Valerie Shaw, The Short Story: A Critical Introduction (London and New York: Longman, 1983); Frank Myszor, The Modern Short Story (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001); Martin McLaughlin, Italo Calvino (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998); Robert Gordon, Pasolini: Forms of Subjectivity (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992); Robert Gordon, The Cambridge Companion to Primo Levi (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007); Louis Di Gaetani, A Companion to Pirandello Studies (New York & London: Greenwood Press, 1991)

In-course Feedback:

Written individual feedback will be provided on the coursework essays and oral feedback can be provided in office hours; general feedback will be given in class.

Assessment: Coursework 100%

30% Essay 1 1,500 – 2,000 words 60% Essay 2 1,500 – 2,000 words 10% Moodle test


Course Title: Building the Italian Nation: Heroes and anti-Heroes from Pinocchio to The Leopard.


0.5

Course Code: IT1950


R320



option - degrees in Italian and ELCS

Pre-requisites: Co-requisites:

Co-ordinator: Dr. S. Jossa Course Staff: Dr. Stefano Jossa Aims: The course aims to focus on some of the symbolic passages in the process of nation-

building in Italy in the 19th and 20th centuries, as Italy reached its unity only in 1861. Through the study of Foscolo’s Last Letters of Jacopo Ortis (1798), Collodi’s Pinocchio (1880), Calvino’s The Path to the Nest of Spiders (1947), and Tomasi di Lampedusa’s The Leopard (1958) the course aims to give students an understanding of how and why Italy was born so late as a political entity. By focussing on the different stages of the process of Nation building in Italy, the course also aims to make students aware of how Italy’s national identity developed: two books (Foscolo’s and Collodi’s) were written in the 19th century, and will help students to understand the pre-Risorgimento (the making of Italy), and the post-Risorgimento (the making of the Italians); whereas the other two books (Calvino’s and Tomasi’s) come from the 20th century, and will help students to understand the Resistenza (the making of the Republic), and the post-war (the crisis of nationhood). The course also aims to discuss the problem of the absence of a national hero in the Italian literary tradition, such as Wilhelm Tell for Switzerland or D’Artagnan for France or Robin Hood for Britain.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the course students will have an understanding of the process of nation-building in Italy in the last two centuries, through the analysis of selected literary works. Students will be able to distinguish the different phases of the recent Italian history and reflect on the impact that literature had on national identity. They will have a detailed knowledge of four key works, in which ideas of national identity and nationhood are reflected: Foscolo’s Last Letters of Jacopo Ortis, Collodi’s Pinocchio, Calvino’s The Path to the Nest of Spiders, and Tomasi di Lampedusa’s The Leopard.

Course Content:

The course will focus on close reading of the set texts, which will be studied in their content, themes, genesis and links to aspects of contemporary politics, culture and society. Particular attention will be paid to Nation-oriented issues.


Lectures and seminars to a total of 20 hours per session. Students will be expected to give one seminar presentation per term.


Bibliography, course outline, preparatory reading

Key Bibliography:

Foscolo: Le ultime lettere di Jacopo Ortis (The last Letters of Jacopo Ortis) Collodi: Pinocchio Calvino: Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno (The Path to the Nest of Spiders) Tomasi di Lampedusa: Il gattopardo (The Leopard)




Exam 50% 2 questions in 2 hours, 1 question from section A from list of 8 (2 questions for each of the texts studied) and 1 question from section B from list of 4-6 Coursework 10% Essay 1 1,200 – 1,500 words 30% Essay 2 1,200 – 1,500 words 10% moodle test Deadlines: As advised on notice boards and in handbook

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Course Title: Fascist Italy


0.5 Unit

Course Code: IT1980


R330



Optional for degrees in Italian and ELCS


Co-ordinator: Dr Giuliana Pieri Course Staff: Dr Giuliana Pieri Aims: • To explore the origins and development of Italian Fascism.

• To examine the political, cultural and social aspects of the movement and the regime to which it gave rise. • To acquire familiarity with some of the major interpretations of the Fascist experience in Italy.

Learning Outcomes: By the end of the course, students will have gained knowledge and understanding of:

• the birth of Italian Fascism

• Fascism’s impact on Italian society and culture

• Fascism’s particular appeals and effects.

Course Content: Students will learn about the causes and consequence of the Fascist rule in Italy

between 1922 and 1945, and study the political and cultural developments of the period. Topics include: ideas of Fascism, Futurism and Fascism, the Cult of Mussolini, and popular culture. Background reading include: Christopher Duggan, A Concise History of Italy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), Richard Bosworth, Mussolini (London: Arnold, 2002); Emilio Gentile, The Sacralisation of Politics (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1996); Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Fascist Modernities, 1922-1945 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001).


The course is taught through a 2-hour class over 11 weeks. Usually the first hour has the format of lecture, and the second of seminar. The second hour also is used for student presentations.



Key Bibliography:

Christopher Duggan, A Concise History of Italy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996); Richard Bosworth, Mussolini (London: Arnold, 2002); Emilio Gentile, The Sacralisation of Politics (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1996); Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Fascist Modernities, 1922-1945 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001); David Forgacs, Rethinking Italian Fascism: Capitalism, Populism and Culture (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1986); Simonetta Falasca-Zamponi, Fascist Spectacle: The Aesthetics of Power in Mussolini’s Italy (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997); Victoria De Grazia, How Fascism Ruled Women: Italy, 1922-1945 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992).




Coursework Only 30% Essay 1 1,500 – 2,000 words 60% Essay 2 1,500 – 2,000 words 10% Oral presentation Deadlines: As advertised on notice boards and handbook

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Code: IT2000 Course Value: 1 Status: CORE COURSETitle: ADVANCED ITALIAN II FOR POST BEGINNERS Availability: Term 1/2 Prerequisites: IT1000 (or equivalent in Italian) Recommended: Co‐ordinator: Maura Iannelli‐Chanda Course Staff Maura Iannelli‐Chanda and/or native Language Assistants Aims:

This course will provide students with a smooth progression to an advanced knowledge of the language in preparation for the Year Abroad. The aims of the course are:

To develop reading comprehension techniques to an advanced level To improve commentary writing skills to an advanced level To acquire competence in essay writing as well as in translating from English into

Italian To revise and improve understanding of morpho‐syntactic structures and achieve an

accurate use of them in a set context To develop and increase oral and aural skills to an advanced level

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the course students should have: Improved the analytical skills required to understand and respond to Italian written

texts Widened their vocabulary Gained the confidence to communicate with some fluency and competence their own

opinions on topics of general interest with specific reference to current affairs as well as to

Italian society and cultureRefined their listening comprehension skills Advanced their ability to use complex grammatical structures and idiomatic

expressions Acquired the ability to translate modern English literary prose into Italian accurately

Course Content:

This course comprises 4 sessions. The session Written1 focuses on practising reading comprehension. In Written 2 students will develop competence in translating short English literary passages into Italian. Written 3 focuses on refining commentary and essay writing skills. In the fourth session students will be able to improve oral communication as well as listening comprehension skills. Students will complete the Italian grammar programme as well as revise and assimilate the morfo‐syntactic structures in context as the need arises in all four sessions of this course. Students will revise and extend the grammar acquired in year 1 through completion of a series of grammar tests on moodle.


The course is taught over four contact hours per week, using a communicative approach and the lessons are conducted in Italian. It consists of practical sessions, with various writing, reading, aural and oral activities during which students are asked to work in groups. In the Written 1 session students will have the opportunity to read and analyse a series of articles related to aspects of Italian life, culture and society. During the lessons students will learn to understand the texts and assimilate the relevant vocabulary presented in them. In the Translation into Italian session (Written 2), students will be learning to translate into Italian short pieces of modern literary prose accurately. In the essay writing session (Written 3) students will focus on how to construct a well planned and coherent essay on specific topics regarding social cultural and political issues in modern Italy. In the oral lessons students will be encouraged to refine their skills in structuring oral presentations. They will be take part in debates in class and express their opinions in Italian. There will be a formative oral test in term 1 in preparation for the Summative oral test in term 2.Students sit a 2 hour written test in the induction week. The test consists of a series of grammar exercises based exclusively on the material included in the revision booklet: The Summer Study‐Pack in preparation for IT2000 which students of IT1000 will have worked on during their Summer vacation. The mark obtained in this test will be included as one of the IT 2000 coursework marks.

Key Bibliography

Una grammatica italiana per tutti, volume secondo: livello intermedio by Alessandra Latino Marida Muscolino (Edizioni Edilingua, Roma) Material available on moodle from Conoscere l’italiano, intermedio avanzato by Simona Simula (Cideb Editrice, Genova 2004) and from In pratica, attività linguistiche esercizi livello superiore by P. Pauli (Primus Edizioni, Atene 1999)

In‐course Feedback: Feedback will be given on the 15 minute formative oral test in Term 1 and summative oral test in Term 2 and on weekly work done at home and in class.

Assessment: Written exam: reading comprehension, translation into Italian or essay writing, grammar

exercises (3 hours) Term 3 ‐ 50%, Summative oral test (15 minutes) Term 2 ‐ 10%. Oral: Oral exam: reading comprehension, prepared talk and conversation on topics covered in the course (20 minutes) Term 3 ‐ 20% Coursework: written assignments as well as formative grammar tests on moodle ‐ 20% Deadlines: as advertised on moodle.

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Code: IT2050 Course Value: 1 Status: CORE COURSE

Title: ADVANCED ITALIAN II Availability: Term 1/2

Prerequisites:

IT1050 (or equivalent in Italian) Recommended:

Co‐ordinator: Maura Iannelli‐Chanda

Course Staff Maura Iannelli‐Chanda and/or native Language Assistants Aims: This course will provide students with a smooth progression to an advanced knowledge of the language

in preparation for the Year Abroad. The aims of the course are:

• To develop reading comprehension techniques to an advanced level • To improve commentary writing skills to an advanced level • To acquire competence in essay writing as well as in translating from English into Italian • To revise and improve understanding of morpho‐syntactic structures and achieve an accurate

use of them in a set context • To develop and increase oral and aural skills to an advanced level

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the course students should have: • Improved the analytical skills required to understand and respond to Italian written texts • Widened their vocabulary • Gained the confidence to communicate with some fluency and competence their own opinions

on topics of general interest with specific reference to current affairs as well as to Italian society and culture

• Refined their listening comprehension skills • Advanced their ability to use complex grammatical structures and idiomatic expressions • Acquired the ability to translate modern English literary prose into Italian accurately

Course Content:

The course comprises two sessions taught as follows: • Written (1 hour per week) • Oral class (1 hour per week)

In these sessions students will be able to develop their awareness of and fluency in Italian, both written and spoken. They will also have the opportunity to acquire and consolidate competency in the following areas, all of which have Italian as the target language: reading comprehension, translation into Italian, essay writing and oral communication. Students will complete the Italian grammar programme as well as revise and assimilate the morfo‐syntactic structures in context as the need arises in the two sessions of this course. Students will revise and extend the grammar acquired in year 1 through completion of a series of grammar tests on moodle.


The course is taught over two contact hours per week, using a communicative approach and the lessons are conducted in Italian. Written 1 will focus on reading comprehension as well as translation from English into Italian. In these sessions students will have the opportunity to analyse articles from Italian newspapers and the internet related to social cultural and political issues in contemporary Italy. Students will also be able to develop specific competency in translating accurately short pieces of modern English literary prose into Italian. In the oral class students will refine their skills in structuring oral presentations as well as take part in debates and express their opinions in Italian. Students will be asked to revise and complete the Italian grammar programme started in their first year independently by carrying out a series of exercises made available on moodle. There will be a 15‐minute formative oral test at the end of term 1and a 15‐minute summative oral test in term2. Students sit a 2 hour written test in the induction week. The test comprises a series of grammar exercises based exclusively on the material included in the revision booklet: the Summer Study‐Pack in preparation for IT2050 , which IT1050 students, who successfully completed the preceding academic session, will have worked on during their Summer vacation. The mark obtained in this test will be included as one of the IT2050 coursework mark.

Key Bibliography

Una grammatica per tutti Volume primo by A. Latino & M. Muscolino (Edilingua, Roma 2005)Una grammatica per tutti Volume secondo by A. Latino & M. Muscolino (Edilingua, Roma 2005) Course materials and grammar tests available on moodle.


Feedback will be given on the 15 minute formative oral test in Term 1 and summative oral test in Term 2 and on weekly work done at home and in class.

Assessment: Written exam: reading comprehension, translation into Italian or essay writing, grammar exercises (3

hours) Term 3 ‐ 50%, Oral: Summative oral test (15minutes) Term 2 ‐ 10% , Oral exam: reading comprehension, prepared talk and conversation on topics covered in the course (20 minutes) Term 3 ‐ 20% Coursework: written assignments as well as formative grammar tests on moodle ‐ 20%


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Course Title: Dante’s Comedy – Themes and Ideas


0.5

Course Code: IT2230


R320



Option – courses in Italian and ELCS


Co-ordinator: Prof. J.E. Everson Course Staff: Prof. J. E. Everson and other staff Aims: The course builds on the foundations laid in IT1230 but is also designed to be

accessible to students who have not previously studied Dante and to students of ELCS. The course aims to explore further themes and ideas concerning Dante and his major work, through a more extensive consideration of issues such as the developments in Dante’s life and poetry, his relationship to his environment, the cultural context, and through closer reference to sections of the text, selected in particular to illustrate these themes. The course will also continue to the study, begun in year 1, of the continuing influence of Dante and his work on later Italian and European culture.

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of the course students will be familiar with the principal themes addressed by Dante in the Divine Comedy; have studied in depth a number of sections of the poem; have developed an understanding of Dante’s place in Italian language, literature and culture; appreciate the influence of Dante on subsequent writers and on other cultures and genres.

Course Content:

With close reference to the text of the Divine Comedy the course will study themes and ideas such as: Dante and the politics of Italy, Dante and Florence, Dante and exile, friendship and love, Dante and poetry, Dante and the Church, philosophy and reason. Readings in illustration of these themes will be taken from all three cantiche, but with a special emphasis on the Inferno.


Lectures and seminars (close readings) to a total of 20 hours in the session. Lectures and close readings alternate week by week. Close readings will proceed chronologically through the text, to avoid any confusion for the students. Lectures are thematic and will draw examples from all cantos of the Inferno, with secondary references to other cantos. Cross-referencing between lectures and close readings will be constant.



Key Bibliography:

Dante – Divine Comedy (students taking degrees in Italian will be expected to read the text in Italian).




Exam 50% 2 questions in 2 hours, 1 question from sections A or B from list of 3 context/commentary questions and 1 question from section C from list of 4-6 Coursework 20% Essay 1 1,5000 – 2,000 words 20% Essay 2 1,5000 – 2,000 words 10% Class test Deadlines: As advertised on notice boards and in handbook

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Course Title: Postwar Italian Cinema: the Auteur tradition


0.5

Course Code: IT2340


R330



Optional

Pre-requisites: Progression to Year 2 Co-requisites:

Co-ordinator: Fabrizio De Donno Course Staff: Fabrizio De Donno Aims:

• To introduce students to film analysis and criticism • To explore the auteur tradition in Italian cinema and the cinematic movements of Neorealism and Modernism • To examine the ideological, cultural and political issues that shaped the films of the period

Learning Outcomes:

• To learn how to read films and how to write critically about them • To acquire knowledge about the postwar Italian film industry and the art house trends of film production • To gain an understanding of how to relate postwar Italian films to the contexts in which they were made and exhibited

Course Content: Students will study art house films released in Italy between the 1940s and the 1960s.

The films selected are key expressions of Neorealism and cinematic modernism in Italy. The issues explored in the context of Neorealism include realistic treatment, popular setting, social content, and political commitment. The part of the course dealing with the legacy of Neorealism in cinematic modernism focuses on the juxtaposition of reality and fantasy, while addressing issues such as the economic miracle, the American myth, industrialization and social alienation, and modernity. Students study films such as

Rossellini’s Roma città aperta (1946), De Santis’ Riso amaro (1949), Visconti’s Rocco e i suoi fratelli (1960), Fellini’s La dolce vita (1960) and Otto e mezzo (1963), Antonioni’s Deserto rosso (1965).


The course is taught through a 2-hour class over 10 weeks. Usually the first hour has the format of lecture, and the second of seminar. The second hour also is used for student presentations.



Key Bibliography:

P. Cook & M. Bernink, eds, The Cinema Book, London: BFI, 1999 S. Hayward, Cinema Studies. The Key Concepts, London-New York: Routledge, 2000 J. Monaco, How to Read a Film: the world of movies, media, multimedia: language, history and theory, New York: Oxford University Press, 2000 P. Bondanella, Italian Cinema: From Neorealism to the Present, 3rd rev. edn, New York: Continuum, 2001 M. Landy, Italian Film, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000 M. Marcus, Italian Film in the Light of Neorealism, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986 M. Shiel, Italian Neo-Realism. Rebuilding the Cinematic City, London, Wallflower, 2006 M. Wood, Italian Cinema, Oxford: Berg, 2005




Coursework 30% Essay 1 2,000 – 2,500 words 60% Essay 2 2,000 – 2,500 words 10 % moodle test Deadlines: As advised on notice boards and in handbook

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Course Title: Italian Opera


0.5

Course Code: IT2720


R330


Autumn-Spring Status: (i.e.: Core, Core PR, Compulsory, Optional)

option


Co-ordinator: Prof. Vivienne Suvini-Hand

http://libserv3.rhul.ac.uk/F/VB6X4FX1T5C9XUSASSB9SLP4TTJUPA8VX78HALDCIVFPDU8J4S-13871?func=item-global&doc_library=ROY01&doc_number=000093143&year=&volume=&sub_library=FNDRS

Course Staff: Prof. Vivienne Suvini-Hand Aims: The course will:

Acquaint students with an understanding of the development of the history of Italian opera from the 1600s to the present day. Examine the cultural status of opera from its origins up to and including the 21st century. Study a number of famous operas which will be assessed critically in terms of the works’ themes, content, performance histories, and musical language, structure, and style.

Learning Outcomes: An understanding and knowledge of the history, evolution, and cultural status of Italian

opera from the Seventeenth century to the present day. An in-depth knowledge of six famous Italian operas (listed in the syllabus) composed within this period. An ability to assess these operas critically in terms of their content and style, and to write about them in a structured and analytical manner.

Course Content:

The word ‘opera’ is in many ways synonymous with Italy and constitutes an essential part of its culture. This course provides an historical and cultural overview of opera from its origins in the 1600s to the present day, and emphasizes the role played by opera in contemporary life. It looks at phenomena such as the popularization of opera through its use in football, advertisements, and t.v. talent contests: Channel 4’s ‘Operatunity’ in the vein of ITV’s ‘Pop Idol’; diva worship and the commercialization of opera stars: the ‘Three Tenors’ phenomenon, and Gheorghiu and Alagna as the ‘Posh and Becks’ of opera. The course involves listening to and watching a number of famous operas which will be studied from a variety of perspectives. For example, students will examine the musical language and style of the operas; the primal emotions which drive the plot (e.g. love, anger, pride, lust, greed, envy); sexual politics (e.g. men dressing up as women, and women passing as men; sex wars, crimes of passion and adultery), the operas as social and political commentaries; and the ‘performance’ phenomenon (how the operas were received in their day, and famous performances and productions). Specific operas and libretti to be studied are (but the choice may vary from year to year): Mozart / Da Ponte Le Nozze di Figaro Rossini, La Cenerentola Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor Verdi’s Rigoletto Puccini’s Madama Butterfly N.B. Students do not need any musical knowledge in order to take this course.


20 hours (6 seminars) using audio-visual aids



Key Bibliography:

Arblaster, A., Viva la liberta’: Politics in opera (London, New York, 1992) Ashbrook, W., The operas of Puccini (London: Cassell, 1969) Budden, J., The operas of Verdi (Oxford: Clarendon, 1992) Clement, C., Opera or the undoing of women (London: Virago, 1989) Kimbell, D. Italian Opera (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994) Osbourne, C., The bel canto operas of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini (London: Methuen,

1994) Rosselli, J., Singers of Italian Opera: the History of a Profession (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992). Steptoe. A., The Mozart-Da Ponte operas (Oxford : Clarendon, 1988) Sternfeld, F.W., The birth of opera (Oxford: Clarendon, 1993)


Formative elements will include seminar presentations related to essay and exam-type questions and topics.Students will receive detailed written feedback on the coursework essays and oral presentation and will be able to obtain further detailed feedback in

ffice hours. o Summative Assessment:

Coursework Only 30% Essay 1 2,000 - 2,500 words 60% Essay 2 2,000 - 2,500 words 10% Oral Presentation Deadlines: As advertised on notice boards and in handbook

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Code: IT2821 Course Value: 0.5 Status:

option in degrees involving Italian, including ELCS

Title: Fascism and the Arts in Italian Hermetic Poetry Availability: Autumn and Spring terms.

Prerequisites: None Recommended:

Co-ordinator: Professor V. Suvini-Hand.

Course Staff Professor V. Suvini-Hand. Aims:

To provide students with a knowledge and critical understanding of the Hermetic movement, and its position and importance in Italian literary history. To introduce students to the main Hermetic poets of the twentieth century. To explore the political and cultural influences behind Hermetic poetry. To develop the students’ skills of analysis, presentation and commentary.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the course the students should have a clear understanding of the concept, evolution and development of Italian Hermeticism, and be able to apply that knowledge to the analysis of the chosen texts. They should be able to discuss the proto-Fascist tendencies of Ungaretti’s poetry, and the anti-Fascist and existential qualities inherent in Montale’s collections. They should be familiar with the broader cultural arena of the twentieth century and be able to discuss the influence exerted by twentieth-century avant-garde movements in the visual arts and the developments in European music upon the selected collections of poetry. They should be able to write detailed poetry commentaries which identify different ‘types’ of poems (sonnets, haiku imitations, prose-poems etc), and discuss such aspects as metrical patterns, rhyme schemes, figures of speech, linguistic registers, metaphors and similes, and the use of intertextuality in the poems selected for study. They should have a good knowledge of the nature and the range of the secondary literature on the poets, and be able to demonstrate that knowledge in their presentations and essays.

Course Content:

Students will be introduced to the Italian context of twentieth-century poetry, and the hermetic genre. Thereafter, students will carry out a detailed study of a selection of hermetic poets, to include Giuseppe Ungaretti (L’Allegria), Eugenio Montale (Ossi di Seppia) and / or Salvatore Quasimodo (Oboe Sommerso / Ed è subito sera). The course will examine the historical and political arenas surrounding the poetical texts, in particular the manner in which Fascism and Fascist censorship were influential in ‘creating’ the Hermetic style. A major part of the course will explore the interrelationship between the poetical texts and the new developments both in European music (in particular, Debussy) and the visual arts: Fauvism, Futurism, Metaphysical painting, Cubism, and Surrealism.


20 contact hours with regular class presentations.

Key Bibliography:

F.Flora, La poesia ermetica (Bari: Laterza e Figli, 1936) M. Petrucciani, La poetica dell’ermetismo italiano (Turin: Loescher, 1955). S. Ramat, L’ermetismo (Florence: La nuova Italia, 1969). V. Suvini-Hand, Mirage and Camouflage: Hiding behind Hermeticism (Market Harborough: Troubador, 2000). J. Carey, Three Modern Italian Poets (New York: New York University Press, 1969). F. Jones, The Modern Italian Lyric (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1986). G. Cambon, Giuseppe Ungaretti (Columbia: Columbia University Press, 1967) F. Jones, Giuseppe Ungaretti (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1977) G. Papi, Il primo Ungaretti (Rome: Lacaita, 1988). L. Rebay, Le origini della poesia di Giuseppe Ungaretti (Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 1962). G. Ungaretti, L’Allegria (Milan: Mondadori, 1966). G. Ungaretti, Life of a Man, trans by Allen Mandelbaum (London: Hamish Hamilton, New York, 1958). R. S. Borello, Per conoscere Salvatore Quasimodo (Verona: Mondadori, 1973). P. Frassica, Salvatore Quasimodo nel Vento del Mediterraneo: Atti del Convegno Internazionale (Novara: Interlinea, 2002) G. Munafo, Quasimodo, poeta del nostro tempo (Firenze: Le Monnier, 1973) S. Quasimodo, Tutte le poesie (Milan: Mondadori, 1984). S. Quasimodo, Complete Poems, intro & trans Jack Bevan (London: Anvil Press, 1983) E. Salibra, Salvatore Quasimodo (Roma: Edizione dell’Ateneo, 1985) J. Becker, Eugenio Montale (Boston: Twayne, 1986) G.P. Biasin, Il vento di Debussy: la poesia di Montale nella cultura del Novecento (Bologna: IL Mulino, 1985). C. Brook, The expression of the inexpressible in Eugenio Montale’s poetry (Oxford: Clarendon, 2002). A. Mazza (trans) Eugenio Montale: The Bones of the Cuttlefish (Canada: Mosaic, 1983) E. Montale , Ossi di seppia (Milan: Mondadori, 1966) L.C. Rossi, Montale e l’orrido repertorio operistico (Bergamo: Bergamo University Press, 2007) G. Talbot, Montale: Words in Time (Market Harborough: Troubador, 1998) R. West, Eugenio Montale. Poet on the Edge (Cambridge, Mass., London: Harvard Univ. Press, 1981) G. Zampa (ed)., Montale: il Secondo Mestiere: arte, musica, società (Milan: Mondadori, 1996) G. Finaldi, Mussolini and Italian Fascism (Harlow: Longman, 2008) H. Osborne, The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-century Art (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981)

In-course Feedback: Individual feedback on essays in office hours; general feedback in class; a feedback sheet will also be provided on assessed oral presentations.

Assessment:

Coursework (%): 1 oral presentation (10%); 2 essays: Essay 1: 2,000-2,500 words (30%) and Essay 2: 2,000-2,500 words (60%).

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Department/School: SMLLC Academic Session: 2009-10

Course Title: Boccaccio: Decameron


0.5

Course Code: ML2301


R320


Terms 1 and 2 Status: (i.e.: Core, Core PR, Compulsory, Optional)

Optional


Co-ordinator: Dr Stefano Jossa Course Staff: Dr Stefano Jossa and Prof Jane Everson Aims: The course provides for the close study of Boccaccio’s major work in Italian, the

Decameron. From the time of its completion in the mid-fourteenth century, the Decameron has been immensely popular and very influential on subsequent writers right across Europe and beyond. Through the study of Boccaccio’s aims in the Decameron, his experimentation with forms of story-telling, the themes and topics constantly addressed the course aims to give students an understanding of how and why the work has never ceased to attract readers. By focussing on the different narrative levels and the figure of the writer, the course also aims to make students aware of how modern theories of reading and interpretation can be applied to medieval texts and so extend their theoretical expertise.

Learning Outcomes: By the end of the course students will be able to appreciate Boccaccio’s place in

Italian literature and his contribution to the development of prose fiction both in Italy and more widely in Europe. They will be able to analyse individual novelle and appreciate his approach to narrative structure, characterisation and style within these. They will be able to understand the various levels on which the narrative can be read and interpreted, the complexity and novelty of the overall composition and the sophisticated narrative techniques which Boccaccio uses. They will be able to appreciate Boccaccio’s influence on subsequent writers, and will have gained some understanding of the influence of the Decameron on other forms of culture including art and the cinema.

Course Content: The course will be principally devoted to a close study of Boccaccio’s major prose

work in Italian, the Decameron. After reviewing Boccaccio’s literary output and his place in medieval Italian culture, the course will proceed to examine general themes, structure, style, relationship to reality, the figure of the writer, levels of interpretation and meaning, as well as conducting close readings on individual novelle, with a view to understanding Boccaccio’s skill as a story-teller, forms of characterisation, humour etc. Novelle from each of the 10 days will be analysed in detail, and themes such as fortune, the place of women in society, and the clergy will be addressed within each day and across the whole work. Special attention will be paid to the narrative frame and its significance. The course will conclude with a consideration of the influence of the Decameron on subsequent European writers, on the visual arts and in the cinema.


Lectures and seminars (close readings) totalling 20 hours. Lectures will be devoted to a discussion of major themes, and issues concerning the whole text. Close readings will address individual days and novelle. Cross-referencing between lectures and close readings will be constant.

Each student will be expected to introduce the discussion of a novella. Details of teaching resources on Moodle:

The course handbook, details of work set for each session, full bibliography, assessment methods and marking criteria will be available on moodle.

Key Bibliography:

Boccaccio Decameron (students taking degrees in Italian will be expected to read the text in Italian; students of ELCS and Comp Lit will read in English translation).


Individual tutorials with students (in office hours) to discuss the essays and return work to students. Detailed written comments provided on the cover sheets. Informal feedback given in class on student contributions. Feedback provided on presentations.


Coursework: Essay 1 30% 2,000-2,500 words Essay 2 60% 2,000-2,500 words Oral Presentation 10% Deadlines: As advertised on moodle and in handbooks

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Code: IT3000 Course Value: 0.5 Status: CORE

Title: Advanced Oral and Communication Skills Availability: Autumn and Spring

Prerequisites:

IT2050 Recommended:

Co‐ordinator:

Maura Iannelli‐Chanda

Course Staff Maura Iannelli‐Chanda and/ or native Language Assistants Aims:

To enhance and develop oral language and communication skills following the PRA to bring students to graduate level competence in the spoken language.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the course students will be able: • To use spoken Italian confidently and effectively and with a good accent • To be conversant with a range of registers in the spoken language • To have a high level competence in the key areas of verbal communication (speaking, listening,

summarising, comprehension) • To be able to present an argument with appropriate choice of style and diction

Course Content:

Students will have the opportunity to read and comment on passages selected from newspapers, journals and internet sources. They will have the opportunity to discuss topics and themes of current concern related to Italian culture, politics and society. They will be asked to prepare and deliver in class short oral presentations on topics of their choice as well as on those set by the course tutor. Students will revise complex morpho‐syntactic features and refine their use in a set context. They will be required to independently complete a series of grammatical exercises specifically devised for final year students of Italian. There will be a 20‐minute formative oral test at the end of term 1 and a 20‐minute summative oral test in term 2.


One hour per week practical session in small groups in combination with five hours of grammar revision and syntax. Students will be asked to watch 2 Italian films which will be screened in Term 1 and Term2. They will then have the opportunity to analyse and comment on them in class.

Key Bibliography:

Course material on moodle.


In class feedback on Oral presentations and grammar exercises. Feedback on formative and summative oral tests.

Assessment:

Summative oral test (20 minutes) Term 2 ‐ 20% Oral exam: reading comprehension, prepared talk and conversation on general topics (20 minutes) Term 3 – 60% Coursework Presentations in class Term 1 and Term2 ‐ 20% Deadlines: as advertised on moodle

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Course Title: Dante- Divine Comedy II


0.5

Course Code: IT3230


R320


Spring term Status: (i.e.: Core, Core PR, Compulsory, Optional)

Optional


Co-ordinator: Prof. Jane Everson

Course Staff: Prof. Jane Everson; Dr. Stefano Jossa Aims: The course builds on the foundations laid in previous years’ courses and focuses in

detail on the text of the Divine Comedy with an emphasis on the analysis of its literary and poetic qualities. The course involves the close reading and explication of the relevant sections of Dante’s major work and aims also to develop an understanding of Dante’s other writings, in particular for their links to the Divine Comedy. Students will study in depth EITHER the second cantica (Purgatorio) OR the third cantica (Paradiso), and will be expected to be familiar with all parts of the Divine Comedy. The course is taught in one term only, usually the Autumn term.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the course students will have a detailed knowledge of EITHER the Purgatorio OR the Paradiso and be familiar with the whole of Dante’s text. Students will understand and be able to discuss aspects of the content and style of the Divine Comedy, and will gain a detailed appreciation of Dante’s gifts as a writer and poet. They will be familiar with some of Dante’s other writings and their relationship to the Comedy.

Course Content: The course is based on a close reading of ONE of Purgatorio or Paradiso (depending

on the academic year – an alternating pattern will be adopted and normally followed). Students will be expected to read the whole cantica/cantiche, but selected canti will be set for detailed critical commentary. As supplementary reading students will be asked to read the Vita Nuova and to (re)familiarise themselves with the other sections of the Divine Comedy.


Lectures and seminars (close readings) to a total of 20 hours per session in two-hourly blocks. First hour = lecture (by tutor); second hour = seminar/close reading.


Course schedule and reading list

Key Bibliography: Dante – Divina Commedia. (Students studying Italian are expected to read the text in

the original).


Individual tutorials with students (in office hours) to discuss performance in class and assessed essays. Written comments on the cover sheets.


coursework long essay 80% 3,000 short essay 20% 1,500-2,000 Deadlines: Short essay: end of week 6; long essay – beginning of term 2: see course schedule and moodle.

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Course Title: Of Women, Knights, Weapons and Loves: the Italian chivalric tradition


0.5

Course Code: IT3430


R330



option - degrees in Italian and ELCS


Co-ordinator: Prof. J. E. Everson Course Staff: Prof. J. E. Everson, Dr. Stefano Jossa Aims: The course focuses on culture in centres outside Florence and aims to introduce

students to the culture of the northern Italian courts especially Ferrara and Mantua, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The course aims to develop further the integrated study of earlier periods of literature begun in previous years through a consideration of the characteristics of court culture and patronage in these centres. The course also includes a detailed study of the work of Ariosto, the major writer associated with the court of Ferrara.

Learning Outcomes: By the end of the course students will have gained an insight into the various aspects of

court culture in Renaissance Italy including an understanding of the complex nature of patronage at the time. They will have a detailed knowledge of one of the key literary texts of the Italian Renaissance and appreciate its subsequent influence on many different forms of culture in Europe. They will also have an appreciation of the influence of Ariosto’s text on many subsequent forms of culture across Europe.

Course Content: The course focuses on an in-depth study of Ariosto’s major work, the Orlando Furioso

which will be studied for its content, themes, genesis and links to aspects of contemporary politics, culture and society. The last quarter of the course will be devoted to studying the transmission and translation of Ariosto’s poem into other languages and into other artistic media, including especially opera and film.


Lectures and seminars to a total of 20 hours per session. Students will be expected to give one seminar presentation per term.



Key Bibliography:

Ariosto – Orlando Furioso.




Exam 50% 2 questions in 2 hours from a list of 7-10 Coursework 20% Essay 1 1,500 – 2,000 20% Essay 2 1,500 – 2,000 10% class oral presentation Deadlines: As advertised on notice boards and in handbook

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Course Title: Shooting History: Dictatorship, Terror and Crime in Italian Film


0.5

Course Code: IT3860


R330


Autumn and Spring terms Status: (i.e.: Core, Core PR, Compulsory, Optional)

Option in degrees involving Italian and ELCS. Core for Italian with Film Studies


Co-ordinator: Fabrizio De Donno Course Staff: Fabrizio De Donno Aims: These are:

• To introduce students to notions of violence with reference to questions of State

authority in twentieth and twenty-first centuries Italy; • To discuss the links between the historical phenomena of fascism, organised crime and revolutionary terrorism; • To introduce students to the aesthetic issues involved in the filmic representations of fascism, organised crime and terrorism; • to develop skills of film analysis.

Learning Outcomes: After completion of the course, students are expected to be able:

• to understand the cultural and historical contexts of fascism, organised crime and terrorism in Italy;

• to explain the problems of representing violence in film;

• to apply the key skills required to analyse critically film narratives about violence; • to examine critically filmic techniques and compare styles and aesthetic concerns between different films;

• to form well-informed critical judgements on the films studied, and to construct accurately referenced arguments in appropriate scholarly form by combining critical reading and independent thought.

Course Content: The course brings together the study of the topics of fascism, organised crime and post-

war and contemporary terrorism in Italy through film narrative. Students will be presented with the key ideological, social and political issues to be explored in films, that is, violence as a means to both assert and undermine State authority through dictatorial, criminal, and terroristic power. Students will study films such as Pontecorvo’s Kapò (1960), Bertolucci’s Il conformista (1970), Bellochio’s Buongiorno notte (2003), Giordana’s I cento passi (2000), Garrone’s Gomorra (2008), Sorrentino’s Il divo (2008)


The course consists of 20 hourly sessions over two terms, which take the form of lectures or seminars. Seminars focus on student participation and discussion, and preparation is required for each session. Students are also expected to contribute to online discussion on the Moodle forum.


Bibliography, course outline, preparatory reading, discussion forum

Key Bibliography:

Christopher Duggan, Fascism and Mafia (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989), Robert Meade, Red Brigades: The Story of Italian Terrorism (Basingstoke: MacMillan, 1990), Z. Baransky and R. Lumley (eds.), Culture and Conflict in Postwar Italy (New York: St. Martin Press, 1990), Stephen Gundle and Lucia Rinaldi (eds), Assassination and Murder in Modern Italy: Transformation in Society and Culture (New York: MacMillan, 2007), Mary Wood, Italian Cinema (London: Berg, 2005), Peter Bondanella, Italian Cinema from Neorealism to the Present (New York: Continuum, 2007).


In-class discussion and essay feedback; Individual feedback in office hours


Exam 50% 2 questions in 2 hours, 1 question from section A from list of 4-6 and 1 question from section B from list of 4-6 Coursework 20% Essay 1 1,500 – 2,000 words 20% Essay 2 1,500 – 2,000 words

10% Contribution to a forum

Deadlines: As advertised on notice boards and in handbook

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Course Title: Italian Fashion and Design


0.5

Course Code: IT3980


R330


Spring Status: (i.e.: Core, Core PR, Compulsory, Optional)

option in degrees involving Italian and ELCS


Co-ordinator: Dr. G. Pieri Course Staff: Dr. G. Pieri Aims:

The course introduces the students to Italian society and culture post 1945, exploring the role of Italian fashion and design in the creation of a new youth culture and consumer society. The course will focus on the history of Italian design from its modernist beginnings to the present day. Urban planning, architecture and interior design will be given particular attention. The analysis of Italian fashion will focus on the creation of the ‘Italian style’ and on the passage from couture to the ready-to-wear industry in the late 20th century.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the course the students will have an understanding of the main phases of development in Italian fashion and design during the second half of the 20th century and their impact on Italian mass society. They will be able to link the developments in fashion and design to wider political, cultural and social changes in Italy in the postwar period. They will also be introduced to the theoretical debate of art versus commercial art.

Course Content:

The history of Italian design from modernism to the golden age of Italian industrial design, postmodernism and minimalism. Urban planning, architecture, and interior design; the work of designers and architects such as Giò Ponti, Cassina, Magistretti, Castiglioni, Sottsass, Aldo Rossi. The origins of the Italian fashion industry; fashion and the cinema; the triumph of ready-to-wear in the 1980s. Special attention will be paid to the work of Valentino, Armani, Versace, and Dolce & Gabbana.





Key Bibliography:

Z. Baranski and R. Lumley (eds), Culture and Conflict in Postwar Italy; D. Forgacs and R. Lumley (eds), Italian Cultural Studies; D. Forgacs, Italian Culture in the Industrial Era; P. Ginsborg, History of Contemporary Italy. http://www.educational.rai.it/lezionididesign/designers/


Individual feedback on essays in office hours; general feedback in class; a feedback sheet will also be provided on assessed oral presentations.


Coursework 30% Essay 1 2,000 – 2,500 words 60% Essay 2 2,000 – 2,500 words 10% oral presentation Deadlines: As advertised on notice boards and in handbook

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Code: IT3990 Course Value: 0.5 Status:

option in degrees involving Italian, including ELCS and CLCs

Title: The Postmodern: Pioneers and Practitioners in Italian Literature. Availability: Term 2

Prerequisites: None Recommended:

Co-ordinator: Professor V. Suvini-Hand.

http://www.educational.rai.it/lezionididesign/designers/

Course Staff Professor V. Suvini-Hand. Aims:

To offer students a detailed survey of the philosophical and cultural debate surrounding Postmodernism paying particular attention to the Italian literary context. To introduce students to a selection of key texts as examples of Postmodernist concerns in Italian fiction.

Learning Outcomes:

Students will be able to understand and apply some key notions and definitions of Postmodernism in the context of contemporary culture. Students will be able to analyze and discuss the thematic, stylistic and philosophical features of a range of postmodernist texts. Students will further develop their skills of critical analysis using appropriate secondary sources.

Course Content:

The course will introduce students to the cultural debate surrounding the notion of Postmodernism. Particular attention will be paid to the Italian context through a selection of literary works by authors including Carlo Emilio Gadda (Quer pasticciaccio brutto de via Merulana, 1957), Italo Calvino (Le città invisibili, 1973), Umberto Eco (Il nome della rosa, 1980) and Andrea Zanzotto (La Beltà, 1968, and Pasque, 1973). All works studied are informed by postmodernist thinking and challenge traditional notions of culture and literature through a range of innovative practices.



Key Bibliography:

Bibliography Carlo Emilio Gadda. Essential reading Gadda C.E., Quer pasticciaccio brutto de via Merulana (Milan, Garzanti: 1982) Gadda, C.E., That Awful Mess on Via Merulana, translated into English by W. Weaver (London-Melbourne-New York: Quartet Books, 1985), with an introduction by Italo Calvino (p. v - xiv), and a translator's ‘Forword' by W. Weaver (p. xv - xxi).[ISBN 0-7043-3482-8]. Zanzotto, A., La Beltà (Milan: Mondadori, 1968), Pasque (Milan: Mondadori, 1973). Translations provided in class, and in V. Suvini-Hand’s Andrea Zanzotto (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1994) Recommended reading Feldman, R., and B. Swann, Selected Poetry of Andrea Zanzotto (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1975). Gadda website: http://www.arts.ed.ac.uk/italian/gadda. Bolla, E., Come leggere Quer Pasticciaccio brutto de via Merulana (Milano: Mursia, 1988). Bouchard, N., Céline, Gadda and Beckett (Gainesville FL; University of Florida Press, 2000.) Ceccherelli, A., ‘Gadda postmoderno’, The Edinburgh Journal of Gadda Studies, 3 (2003). See Gadda website for article. Diaconescu-Blumenfeld, R., Born Illiterate: Gender and Representation in Gadda’s Pasticciaccio (Leicester: Troubador, 1999). Dombroski, R. S., Creative Entanglements: Gadda and the Baroque (Toronto: Toronto University Press, 1999). Ferrero, E., Invito alla lettura di C. E. Gadda (Milano: Mursia, 1972). Hainsworth, P., ‘The Poetry of Andrea Zanzotto’, Italian Studies, vol. 37 (1982), 101-21.

http://www.arts.ed.ac.uk/italian/gadda

Hainsworth, P., ‘Andrea Zanzotto’, in Writers and Society in Contemporary Italy (Leamington Spa: Berg, 1984), 117-42. Hand, V., ‘God and I: “Microfilm” in Zanzotto’s Pasque’, Romance Studies, no. 16 (1990), 74-89. Hand, V., ‘Undermining Logocentric Thought in Andrea Zanzotto’s La Beltà’, Italian Studies,vol. 46 (1991), 82-101. Harrison, T., ‘Andrea Zanzotto: From the Language of the World to the World of Language’ in The Empty Set. Five Essays on Twentieth Century Italian Poetry, ed. Godorecci (New York: Queens College Press, 1985), 66-78. Ragusa, O., ‘Gadda, Pasolini, and Experimentalism: form or ideology?’ in S. Pacifici, From Verismo to Experimentalism: Essays in the Modern Italian Novel (Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1962), pp. 239-269. Roscioni, G.C., La disarmonia prestabilità: studio su Gadda (Turin: Einaudi, 1969). Sbragia, A., Carlo Emilio Gadda and the Modern Macaronic (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1996). Sbragia, A., ‘Norma Bouchard’s Céline, Gadda and Beckett’, Italica II, vol. 79 (2002), 272-73. Stellardi, G., ‘Carlo Emilio Gadda: Contemporary Perspectives’, The Modern Italian review, II, vol. 94 (2000), 571-72. Suvini-Hand, V., Andrea Zanzotto (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1994).

In-course Feedback: Individual feedback on essays in office hours; general feedback in class; a feedback heet will also be provided on assessed oral presentations. s

Assessment:

Coursework (%): 1 oral presentation (10%); 2 essays: Essay 1: 2,000-2,500 words (30%) and Essay 2: 2,000-2,500 words (60%).

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Language and Option Courses in ITALIAN 2010-11 · Language and Option Courses in ITALIAN 2012-13 . For details of option courses, click on the title to read the course specification