Ital 322 - Topics

Institution:

Washington University in St Louis

Subject:

Description:

A multidisciplinary course focusing on a significant aspect of Italian culture. The topic differs from semester to semester and may draw on art, film, history, gender studies, literature, music, philosophy, politics, science. Prerequisite: previous or concurrent enrollment in Ital 307D. Section 01. The Italian Resistance. This course focuses on artistic reactions against the Fascist dictatorship in Italy. After discussing the historical and cultural context that gave rise to Fascism and the Partisan rebellion, we study what is conventionally called the neorealist "movement" (1930-1950), which developed spontaneously and without codified structures in opposition to the political and discursive controls imposed by Fascism, and which was characterized by certain literary motifs and innovations. We consider among other things the emphasis on small localized stories (storie) of individual resistance during the war through which authors sought to evoke a unified choral history (Storie) of rebellion; the uncommon heros, typically children, women, priests, and the poor, who are represented as the soul and the primary agents of political and moral renewal; and the unorthodox emphasis on the spoken, regional, and dialectal word. We conclude by considering more recent representations in literature and film of the Resistance. We read such novels as Italo Calvino's Il Sentiero Dei Nidi di Ragno (1947), Ignazio Silone's Pane e Vino (1937), Carlo Levi's Cristo Si e Fermato a Eboli (1945), and Elio Vittorini Conversazione in Sicilia (1941); and we discuss such films as Roberto Rossellini's Roma Citta Aperta. Course taught in Italian; readings in Italian. Section 02. Rome. This course explores a variety of literary texts and films in which Rome features as protagonist. A historic center of Western civilization and authority, of Christianity, of cultural resplendence and degeneration, the city of Rome is a palimpsest of history, myth, and symbolic meaning. We examine the myriad ways in which the capital city is conceived by modern Italian writers and film directors such as d'Annunzio, Moravia, Gadda, Pasolini, Fellini, De Sica, Scola, and Rossellini.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.wustl.edu

Phone Number:

(314) 935-5000

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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