ITAL 295 - Topics in Italian Culture

Credits: 3
Planned Offering: Winter 2016 and when sufficient student interest is expressed and departmental resources permit.

Prerequisite: ITAL 261 or equivalent. A second-year topics course focusing on issues and texts related to Italian literature and culture. All discussion, writing, and exercises are in Italian. May be repeated for degree credit with permission and if the topics are different.

Winter 2016 topic:

ITAL 295: Introduction to Italian Medieval and Renaissance Literature (3). This course offers an overview of Italian literature of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, focusing on a selection of major works in poetry and prose of the major authors (Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Marco Polo, Cristofaro Colombo, Machiavelli) and minor figures of the first centuries of ltalian literature (San Francesco, Rustico, Angiolieri, and Serlio). Readings concentrate on earthly and spiritual life, comedy and tragedy, men and women, beauty and horror, with a focus on commonalities between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance;. We address historical, political, cultural, and literary issues important to an understanding of these texts and their contexts, and read the texts in modern and medieval Italian. We also use video adaptations of medieval and Renaissance literature, as well as music and artworks from the periods, and conclude with students performing selected scenes of Machiavelli’s play La Mandragola. Hardin, McCormick.