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CS92PROD
Advanced Italian Practice in Context II
ITAL 222
Spring 2018
Section: 01  
This course may be repeated for credit.

This course is the counterpart to ITAL221. Whereas that course addresses specific themes in Italian texts (e.g., of love, death, and the other) from Dante until the end of the 20th century, this course focuses instead on key events in Italian culture and history. Each event narrates a particular moment in Italian history and will be examined from a variety of perspectives and in a variety of genres, including prose fiction, prose nonfiction, poetry, cinema, and history. Combinations of events will change from one academic year to the next, which is why students are allowed to repeat.

Typically, the course will use three to four events as anchors for its teaching units. Some of the possible thematic events that will structure the three or four units making up the course include the return of Marco Polo (1295), the kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara (1858), Marconi invents the radio (1895), the battle of Caporetto (1917), the retreat from the Russian front in World War II, the deportation of the Jews beginning in 1943, introduction of the Fiat 500 (1957), the 1966 flood of the Arno River, the ratification of the divorce law in 1974, the 1977 killing of Francesco Lo Russo by the Bologna police, the 1978 assassination of Aldo Moro by the left-wing terrorist group the Red Brigades, the 1992 Mafia assassinations of Judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, the Tangentopoli corruption scandals of the 1990s, the election of Denny Mendez as Miss Italia (1997), the economic phenomenon of "Made in Italy" in the 1990s and Berlusconi's terms as prime minister in 1994--1995 and again in the 2000s, and the earthquake in Aquila in 2009.

How does each event resonate through the varied genres, and how do the fictional representations treat the facts of the events and the themes that emerge from them? These are two of the questions we will reflect on as we go along.
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA RLAN
Course Format: Lecture / DiscussionGrading Mode: Graded
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: ITAL112
Fulfills a Requirement for: (ARHA)(ITST)(RMST)
Past Enrollment Probability: 90% or above

Last Updated on NOV-11-2024
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