Ruin and Redemption: Narrating Twentieth-Century Italy
ITAL 222
Fall 2022
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
COL 222 |
When fugitive far-left terrorist Cesare Battisti was extradited to Italy in January 2019 to serve out a life sentence for crimes committed in the late 1970s, he provided fresh evidence for the way that 20th-century events still cast long shadows into contemporary Italy. The events, their narration and re-narration over time tell the story of unresolved conflicts and overturned verdicts in a context characterized by repression, revisionism, and rehabilitation. In this course we study three historical events of the past century that continue to haunt contemporary Italian society, culture, and politics: fascism; civil war and resistance; and the political violence of terrorism in the 1970s and 80s. We approach these events by examining the ever-changing narratives about them. For each narrative we focus on specific issues (e.g., for fascism: the rise of fascism, racism and anti-Semitism, colonialism, Mussolini's cult of personality, the exaltation of war, fascist intellectuals, the art of the regime, etc.), but we use these as an entry point to articulate contradictions and complexity. We explore these narratives through various media and forms of expression: from films to novels, from landmarks to newspaper articles, from poems to billboards. By exploring how the polarizations of these narratives flow into the 21st century, we unveil the fractures and conflicting agents at the core of contemporary Italy.
The course is conducted in Italian. Authors include: Gianni Amelio, Marco Bellocchio, Italo Calvino, Liliana Cavani, Umberto Eco, Beppe Fenoglio, Dario Fo, Natalia Ginzburg, Helena Janaczek, Primo Levi, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Luisa Passerini, Cesare Pavese, Rossana Rossanda, Roberto Rossellini. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA RLAN |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Major Requirement for: (ITST)(RMST) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 90% or above |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Gianni Amelio, Marco Bellocchio, Italo Calvino, Liliana Cavani, Umberto Eco, Beppe Fenoglio, Dario Fo, Natalia Ginzburg, Helena Janaczek, Primo Levi, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Luisa Passerini, Cesare Pavese, Rossana Rossanda, Roberto Rossellini.
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Examinations and Assignments:
Discussion questions, presentations, collaborative and group activities, 3-4 papers of increasing length throughout the semester. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
This course is intended for students who have either completed ITAL112 or placed beyond it. It is not designed for students who have already studied in Italy, though some exceptions will be made. Contact the instructor in the event of questions concerning the appropriateness of enrollment. Students who have completed the equivalent of ITAL112 in any program or institution other than the ECCO Program in Bologna should take the placement exam. Results are valid only in the semester in which the exam is taken. Students will be expected to participate actively in class. |
| Instructor(s): Nerenberg,Ellen Times: .M.W.F. 10:50AM-11:40AM; Location: FISK204; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: 3 | JR major: 3 | | |
| Seats Available: 10 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 3 | JR non-major: 2 | SO: 2 | FR: 2 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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