ITAL 301 - Senior Seminar

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

An examination of selected topics in recent Italian culture or of a single topic across several centuries. May be taken more than once for credit when topic changes. Required of all senior majors. Topic for 2013/14b. Calvino and Pasolini: Two Perspectives on the 20th Century. The course focuses on the works of Italo Calvino and Pier Paolo Pasolini, arguably the most representative Italian authors of the second half of the 20th century. A world-famous storyteller and essayist translated into 45 languages, and a poet, novelist, essayist and filmmaker whose use of language reflects the diversity of Italian dialects, Calvino and Pasolini deal with the crisis of modernity in ways that are emblematic of opposing attitudes towards literature, history and the culture industry. We study a selection of fiction, poems, essays, and film and examine the parallel and often contrasting views of the two authors as they relate to modern Italian culture and ideology; the role of intellectuals in society; the definition of literature and its relationship with tradition, and the use of a national language. Ms. Bondavalli.

Prerequisite(s): ITAL 220, ITAL 222 or ITAL 218 with permission of the instructor.

One 2-hour period, and one film screening.