Female Dicks: Police, Detectives, and Private Investigators in Contemporary Italian Culture
ITAL 267
Fall 2024
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01
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Through the act of detection and "solution" of a crime, classic detective stories and police procedurals often serve as consoling narratives, knitting up the unraveled social fabric and seeing that justice will either be served or promised. In solving the crime, the detective--sometimes called a "dick" in the classic American hard-boiled detective literature--often restores order to social chaos. What changes when women--female dicks--conduct the investigation? Do women investigators, as agents of detection, uphold existing (patriarchal) power structures, dynamics, and epistemologies? Challenge them? Transform them? These are some of the themes we will contemplate as we study Italian "gialli" published since 1995.
We will concentrate on three different types of female dicks: la Deferente (the deferential), la Scomoda (the disquieting, uneasy), and la Vendicatrice (the vindicator). We will read novels in several different book series privileging Bologna as a location; further, we will also explore films and television series, trying to plumb the relationship of these Italian screen texts to the phenomenon of global and transnational noir.
This course is conducted through the medium of Italian and is suitable for anyone who has already taken a fifth-semester course (or one that is more advanced) on the Middletown campus or who has participated on the ECCO Program in Bologna. If you have questions about whether this is the course for you, please contact the instructor. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA RLAN |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: ITAL112 |
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Fulfills a Major Requirement for: None |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 75% - 89% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
QUO VADIS BABY Grazia Verasani
ATLANTE FREDDO Luigi Bernardi
COME LA NEVE NON FA RUMORE Lorella Marini
ALMOST BLUE Carlo Lucarelli
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Examinations and Assignments:
Daily discussion questions, brief writing assignments including in-class assignments, student presentation, creative option for final project with final presentations during exam week |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
This course is appropriate for students who place into a course higher than ITAL 221, studied in Bologna recently, or have equivalent experience. Any questions should be directed to the instructor. |
| Instructor(s): Nerenberg,Ellen Times: ..T.R.. 02:50PM-04:10PM; Location: TBA |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 12 | | SR major: 3 | JR major: 2 | | |
| Seats Available: 5 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 3 | JR non-major: 2 | SO: 1 | FR: 1 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 2 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 2 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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