31 - 40 of 100 results for: ITALIAN

Women have been historically marginalized ? when not systematically excluded ? from participation in both the social sphere and the process of cultural production since the origin of the Italian literary tradition. And yet, well-educated, creative, literary Italian women throughout history have been able to reformulate the canonical language, style, and themes of the male-centered tradition in a continuous attempt to give voice to their unique identity and redeem their historically weak social agency. Starting with the study of classical, late-antique, and medieval misogynistic works that established authoritative misconceptions on women'fres moral and biological identities (the legacy of which is still evident in modern-day society), this course intends to revise the Italian literary canon to fully include women as pivotal agents in the historical formation of the national cultural identity. As the work of these writers often emerged through a constant, fruitful dialogue with their contemporary male counterparts, our investigations will apply an integral definition of gender, which simultaneously defends the equal dignity and acknowledges the differences of the sexes. Course materials will include a wide range of cross-medial genres and works by or about Italian women (poetry, novels, short stories, drama, non-fictional narrative, visual arts and films) dealing with issues of identity, emotional life, politics, and social justice. All the readings will be in English translation; there are no prerequisites or language requirements. Students will be occasionally allowed to select their own primary readings and are expected to produce a research essay on an elective topic, as well as several informal writing assignments.

The course examines the medieval love lyric tradition, including the troubadours, trouvères, and the Italian dolce stil nuovo. Focus on how to understand this tradition in the context of other non-Western lyric and its performative and material contexts such as manuscripts. Study of female lyrics, secondary readings on voice, lyric theory, and medieval textuality. Will be taught in English. FRENCH 205 fulfills DLCL 121: Performing in the Middle Ages core course.

Italian Neorealism was a flourishing literary and film movement in post-war Italy. The first half ofthis course will deal with some of its major novels, including Italo Calvino's "The Path to the Nest of Spiders", Beppe Fenoglio's "A Private Matter", and Primo Levi's "Survival in Auschwitz". Through these novels we will seek to understand Italy's experience of World War II and the complexities of the altered social and psychological conditions of everyday life during this time. The second half of the course will focus on neorealist film as a response to the trauma of the war. We will explore how the cinematic medium both reflects on and reacts to tragedy. Movies such as "Bicycle Thief" [Vittorio de Sica], "Rome, Open City" [Roberto Rossellini], "La Dolce Vita" [Federico Fellini], and "La Terra Trema" [Luchino Visconti] will be considered.

In this course we will read the main novels and plays of Pirandello, Sartre, and Beckett, with special emphasis on the existentialist themes of their work. Readings include The Late Mattia Pascal, Six Characters in Search of an Author, Henry IV; Nausea, No Exit, "Existentialism is a Humanism"; Molloy, Endgame, Krapp's Last Tape, Waiting for Godot. Taught in English.

Romantic love, it is often claimed, is an invention of the High Middle Ages. The vocabulary of sexual desire that is still current in the twenty-first century was authored in the twelfth and thirteenth, by troubadours, court poets, writers like Dante; even by crusaders returning from the eastern Mediterranean. How did this devout society come to elevate the experience of sensual love? This course draws on primary sources such as medieval songs, folktales, the "epic rap battles" of the thirteenth century, along with the writings of Boccaccio, Saint Augustine and others, to understand the unexpected connections between love, death, and the afterlife from late antiquity to the fourteenth century. Each week, we will use a literary or artistic work as an interpretive window into cultural attitudes towards love, death or the afterlife. These readings are analyzed in tandem with major historical developments, including the rise of Christianity, the emergence of feudal society and chivalric culture, the crusading movement, and the social breakdown of the fourteenth century.

This class is an in-depth reading of the Italian epic poem L'Orlando Furioso, written by Ludovico Ariosto in the early sixteenth century. Errant knights, magic, and unpredictable adventures are just a few of the themes that characterize this unique poem. Ariosto's re-writing of classic medieval tropes will be central to our conversation. Taught in Italian.

An intensive reading of Vico's book - New Science. Emphasis will be on Vico's philosophy of history and theories of poetic wisdom, myth, and language. Vico will be put in dialogue with René Descartes, Rousseau, Auguste Compte, Claude Lévi Strauss, and Paul Feyerabend, whose ideas about myth and science converge in striking ways with Vico's.

How STS and the Humanities can together help think out the looming catastrophes that put the future of humankind in jeopardy.

Leonardo da Vinci is emblematic of creativity and innovation. His art is iconic, his inventions legendary. His understanding of nature, the human body, and machines made him a scientist and engineer as well as an artist. His fascination with drawing buildings made him an architect, at least on paper. This class explores the historical Leonardo, considering his interests and accomplishments as a product of the society of Renaissance Italy. Why did this world produce a Leonardo? Special attention will be given to interdisciplinary connections between religion, art, science, and technology.