ITAL 183 - Becoming Human, Becoming Animal: Tales of Transformation and Hybridity (in Eng)

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

Fiction teems with transformations: a mischievous wooden puppet longs to be a flesh and blood boy, a hideous but sensitive monster roams the Arctic with his creator in vengeful pursuit, an iguana mysteriously metamorphoses into a woman on a tiny island off the coast of Portugal, a young salesman wakes up one morning a huge insect. What is the nature of our fascination with these in-between spaces of bodies and beings? Why does it so often find shape in fantastic stories that delight and disturb? How do such stories channel fears and curiosities about autonomy, intelligence, desire, and disgust? What do they try (or fail) to teach us about humanity? This course looks at tales of transformation in Italian fiction, placing them in dialogue with their shape-shifter counterparts across centuries, cultures, and media. Emily Antenucci.

Open only to first-year students; satisfies the college requirement for a First-Year Writing Seminar.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS