Readings, textual analysis, and writing on a broad selection of texts from different genres and periods. Emphasis on study of Italian literature in its cultural context. Close reading approach and introduction to literary vocabulary.

Lecture and discussion in Italian. Development of genre and movements. Selected readings across these periods plus reading of complete texts of epics, essays, novels, and plays.

Lecture and discussion in Italian. Philosophical and literary movements of the modern period. Selected readings across the period plus the reading of complete texts of novels and drama.

Close examination of critical methods and vocabulary used in literary study as applied to Italian Literature. Attention to linguistic and stylistic difficulties in textual analysis.

Dynamics of Italian-speaking societies and their cultures studied through literature, art, or film. Topics vary. Readings and lectures in English.

The dynamics of the Italian American experience from its origins to the present day; what it is to be American, how ethnic identity should be expressed, and who has the power to control a group’s representation.

Study of Italian films, directors, and styles, with films examined as aesthetic objects in their own right and in relation to the wider social and cultural environment. The verbal and visual language necessary for decoding and describing film.

Contemporary Italian culture viewed through an examination of Italian cinema of the twenty-first century; diversity, immigration and integration; gender and sexuality; and the changes brought about by economic upheaval and the changing role of work.

The medieval Italian context in which the Inferno was written; cultural and political developments that directly affected the author; key issues raised, from the nature and causes of political conflict to the role of morality in society; the history of the Inferno’s reception and its continuing importance in Italian political and cultural life.

Study of Boccaccio’s Decameron as a foundational text in the Italian literary canon and key work in Western cultural imaginary; historic and cultural context of the author’s presentation of his social world, including issues of class structures, gender and family relations, religious and civic rituals, and dress.

Italy’s dual role as the home of legendary travelers and the destination for an endless stream of tourists. The reality and metaphor of travel viewed through travel diaries, ship logs, letters to patrons, maps, travel guides, poetry, and film.

Works by Dante, Petrarca, and Boccaccio. Emphasis on structure, rhetorical features, and problems of narrative organization. Specific attention to historical and ideological aspects of the works as well as to cultural influence.