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CS92PROD
War, Resistance, and the Holocaust in Italy: Reflections on Conflict and Violence
FIST 230
Spring 2014 not offered
Crosslisting: ITAL 230

This course is an examination of Italian cultural production in response to the bloody conflicts of the first half of the 20th century. The texts we will explore together span the length of the Novecento and pertain to various genres, including short stories, movies, protest songs, visual art, poems, and novels. Over the course of the semester, we will examine the many forms of Italian literary/artistic representation of conflict and the plurality of Italian attitudes toward violence. Students will encounter universal and timely themes--such as war and peace, revenge and forgiveness, defiance and obedience, love and hate, memory and forgetting, family and outsiders, etc.--from a specifically Italian perspective.

Close analysis of these varied texts will help us develop answers to the following questions: What is specifically Italian about these texts? Did Italian attitudes toward violence transform over the course of time? What is the value of fictional accounts of historical events? Can they teach something that historical accounts cannot? What has been the effect on Italian culture of two world wars, a civil war, and the Holocaust? Have these conflicts left an indelible mark, or have the experiences of war and resistance receded into a remote past? What perspectives can students in 21st-century America bring to these texts?
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA RLAN
Course Format: SeminarGrading Mode: Graded
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Major Requirement for: None

Last Updated on MAR-28-2024
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