Content Courses

See below for additional detail. Most courses can count toward the "Culture & Society" component of the Italian Studies and Romance Language major and minor tracks. Most courses are taught in English unless otherwise specified.

ITAL-UA 115 Readings in Medieval & Renaissance Literature

ITAL-UA 145 Love & War in Renaissance Italy

ITAL-UA 150 Visual Languages of the Renaissance: Emblems, Dreams, Hieroglyphs

ITAL-UA 160 Dante & His World

ITAL-UA 166 Contemporary Italy: Identities

ITAL-UA 260 Language, Culture, & Identity

ITAL-UA 265 Violence and Memory in Contemporary Italy

ITAL-UA 285 New Trends in 21st Cent. Italian Lit

ITAL-UA 300 The Passions of Elena Ferrante

ITAL-UA 724 Italian-American Life in Literature

ITAL-UA 861 Italian American Cinema

CORE-UA Text & Ideas: Sex & The City

 

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

ITAL-UA 115 Readings in Medieval & Renaissance Literature

12:30PM-1:45PM, Mondays & Wednesdays; Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, Room 306

Elena Ducci

Introductory-level literature course that, through a close reading of selected passages of authors such as Dante, Boccaccio, Petrarch, Machiavelli, and Ariosto, focuses on how to understand a literary text in Italian. The language will be accessible and when necessary accompanied by explanations in English. Covers Italian literature from its origins to the 16th century. The instruction will be in accessible Italian and all concepts and critical ideas will be explained and made accessible, by using a clear language and by providing original texts with English translation. 

 

ITAL-UA 145 Love & War in Renaissance Italy

11:00AM-12:15PM, Tuesdays & Thursdays; Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, Library (Room 203)

Virginia Cox

Same as COLIT-UA 173.001, ENGL-UA 59.001, EURO-UA 200.002, MEDI-UA 145

This course offers an overview of one of the great literary traditions of Renaissance Italy: that of chivalric poems narrating tales of war, love, and magic. Our readings will center on the two established masterpieces of the tradition, Lodovico Ariosto’s romance Orlando furioso and Torquato Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberata, but we will also look at a series of lesser-known works by female poets that draw on Ariosto’s and Tasso’s texts for inspiration. Thematically, the course will focus on questions of political and religious ideology, differing treatments of love and conceptions of the heroic, and the representation of sexuality and gender, which is exceptionally fluid and interesting in these works. The course is intended to be accessible to students without a background in Renaissance literature, or a reading knowledge of Italian. 

 

ITAL-UA 150 Visual Languages of the Renaissance: Emblems, Dreams, Hieroglyphs

12:30PM-1:45PM, Tuesdays & Thursdays; Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, Library (Room 203)

Nicola Cipani

Same as ENGL-UA 252.002, HIST-UA 670.002, MEDI-UA 760

Making knowledge visible was one of the great Renaissance endeavors. Some of the period's most characteristic products were born out of the conviction that concepts could be turned into images and organized into a visual language, more profound and universal than discursive logic. Egyptian hieroglyphs and dream visions were considered typical vehicles of this advanced mode of communication. The desire to emulate their symbolic density is reflected both in literature and in art, often in ways that challenge common distinctions between visual and verbal communication. In this course you will be introduced to an assortment of works representative of such interplay between text and image: emblem books, dream books and dream-centered works, hieroglyphic inventions and studies, collections of proverbs, iconology manuals, etc. Among the books examined are some widely considered as the finest examples of design in the history of printing. Early modern and recent theory of emblems will also be discussed. As a present-day counterpart of Renaissance emblems, the course will conclude with a survey of corporate logos and Russian criminal tattoos.

 

ITAL-UA 160 Dante & His World

11:00AM-12:15PM, Mondays & Wednesdays; Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, Library (Room 203)

Maria Luisa Ardizzone

Same as COLIT-UA 801.001, ENGL-UA 143.001, HIST-UA 123.001, MEDI-UA 801.001

• Texts: Dante, Inferno. A Verse translation by J. Hollander & R. Hollander. Introduction &Notes by R. Hollander. New York:Anchor Books, 2003
• Dante, Purgatorio. A Verse translation by J. Hollander & R. Hollander. Introduction &Notes by R. Hollander. New York:Anchor Books, 2003
• Dante, Paradiso. A Verse translation by J. Hollander & R. Hollander. Introduction & Notes by R. Hollander. New York: Anchor Books, 2003

This course proposes a reading of Dante’s works from Vita nuova to the Commedia, considered in light of the medieval idea of learning. The objective of the course is to familiarize students with one of the most important author of Western culture. Through Dante’s texts, students will gain a perspective on the Biblical, Christian, and Classical traditions as well as on the historical, literary, philosophical context of medieval Europe. Attention is directed to poetry and  literature, art,  music. The course emphasizes the continuity of  Western tradition and its intellectual history, especially the ancient background of medieval culture and its transmission to the modern world. Readings include  a large selections of canti from Dante’s Divine Comedy,  and the New Life. Other readings comprise fragments from the Banquet, On Vernacular Speech and the Monarchy.  Among the topics that will be discussed are: ethics, politics, environment, poetics, rhetoric, medieval notions of time, memory and imagination, passion, emotions, the sublime and the tragic. Texts to be read will be available as photocopies. Course in English

 

ITAL-UA 166 Contemporary Italy

12:30PM-1:45PM, Mondays & Wednesdays; Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, Auditorium

Stefano Albertini

The political, cultural, economic, and social history of Italy since World War II. Topics: the transition to democracy, the Cold War, social and political movements of the late 1960s and 1970s, the battle against the Mafia, postwar emigration, the rise and fall of postwar Christian Democracy and Italian communism, and the emergence of new political parties. This course will be taught in Italian.

 

ITAL-UA 260 Language, Culture, and Identity

2:00PM-3:15PM, Tuesdays; Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, Room 306

Nicola Cipani

**2 credits**

Same as LING-UA 32

What we call the Italian language today is only one variant among many languages spoken within the peninsula. Local dialects continue to have a significant cultural role in literature, music and cinema. Moreover, because of the recent increase in immigration, there is now a significant number of speakers of other languages living in Italy. An awareness of this linguistic diversity is essential to communicate effectively. This course is intended to introduce students to the linguistic history of Italy and the key socio-linguistic notions that account for language use today. As such, the course is an ideal complement to the study of Italian as second language.

 

Prerequisite: ITAL-UA 1 Elementary Italian 1, LING-UA 1 Language, LING-UA 2 Intro to Linguistics or department permission. Email elisa.fox@nyu.edu department permission.

 

ITAL-UA 265 Violence and Memory in Contemporary Italy

2:00PM-3:15PM, Tuesdays & Thursdays; Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, Library (Room 203)

David Forgacs

Same as HIST-UA 670.001

Acts of violence, against individuals or groups of people, have been recurrent in the history of modern Italy. They have also been open to conflicting interpretations. Was the mangling by a crowd of Mussolini’s corpse in Milan in April 1945 an act of legitimate retribution or a displacement of Italians’ collective guilt over their acquiescence to Fascism? Were the bullets and bombs of the so-called “anni di piombo” from 1969 to 1980 assaults on the fabric of a democratic nation or symptoms of a malfunctioning political system? Is violence by the mafia part of its "business as usual" or is it used mainly when the power of a mafia family or the whole organization is threatened? Violence also has a complicated relationship with collective memory. Did commemorations of executed partisans obscure the memory of violence against former Fascists? Why are some massacres of civilians well known and publicly commemorated and others largely removed from collective memory? This course looks at five cases where violence has given rise to intense controversy and debate over historical memory. Through close examination of materials in different media and class discussions students will learn to examine sources critically and gain an in-depth understanding of some fundamental themes and controversies in contemporary Italy. Warning: this course includes some disturbing images and accounts of violence.

 

ITAL-UA 285.001 New Trends in 21st Cent. Italian Lit

2:00-3:15, Tuesdays & Thursdays; Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, Auditorium

Chiara Marchelli

Same as ENGL-UA 59.004 and EURO-UA 200.001

This course will explore the contemporary Italian literary scene and its voices, movements, inspirations, similarities and differences. From the “regional” literature to the literature of the new diaspora, from today’s women’s voices to the delineation of new literary genres outside the borders of Italy, this class will analyze the various, rich, complex and often contradictory scene of post-20^th century Italian literature and its developing identities.

 

ITAL-UA 300 The Passions of Elena Ferrante

12:30PM-3:15PM, Mondays; Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, Library (Room 203)

Rebecca Falkoff

Same as COLIT-UA 723.001, ENGL-UA 252.001, EURO-UA 292.001

The success of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels is astounding, not only because of the record-breaking sales, but also because of the strong emotions they thematize and arouse. In this course we will read novels, interviews, and essays by Ferrante, asking why her work inspires such passionate reading, and whether there is political efficacy in all this affect. Engaging with Sianne Ngai, Elspeth Probyn, Lauren Berlant and others, we will consider the political and aesthetic implications of ugly and opaque emotions like irritation, envy, disgust, and shame. We will also study major influences—including writers Ferrante cites frequently in interviews: Adriana Cavarero, Carla Lonzi, Luisa Muraro, and Elsa Morante; as well as those she tends to refrain from naming: Christa Wolf and Ingeborg Bachmann. 

 

ITAL-UA 724 Italian American Life in Literature

11:00AM-12:15PM, Tuesday & Thursdays; Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, Room 306

Josephine Hendin

Same as ENGL-UA 724

A study of the fiction and poetry through which Italian American writers have expressed their heritage, identity, and engagement in American life. From narratives of immigration to current work by “assimilated” writers, explores changing family relationships, sexual mores, and political and social concerns.

 

ITAL-UA 861.001 Italian American Cinema

2:00PM-3:15PM, Mondays & Wednesdays; Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, Library (Room 203)

Mary Anne Carolan

View Bio

Same as CINE-UT 234

The course investigates salient aspects of Italian American cinema, including the representation of Italian Americans, works directed by Italian American directors, and roles played by Italian American actors. We will study films directed by Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Quentin Tarantino, Brian De Palma, Nancy Savoca and Anne Bancroft (nee Anna Maria Louisa Italiano) and the works of actors such as John Travolta, Robert De Niro, Marisa Tomei, Joe Pesci, and Stanley Tucci. It also examines the difference in roles and representation for men and women in this subgroup of American society, with particular consideration given to the ethnic roots of these differences. Throughout the semester we will examine the ways in which film displays Italian ethnicity in the United States. The course also analyzes the profound influence of Italian cinema on the filmmaking of Italian American screenwriters and directors. This class is conducted in English.

 

CORE-UA 400 Text & Ideas: Sex & The City

12:30PM-1:45PM, Tuesdays & Thursdays; Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, Auditorium

Alison Cornish

Our notions of romance originated in the medieval phenomenon sometimes called “courtly love,” a usually illicit and often fatal passion between unequals, such as a queen and a knight, at a feudal court. Late medieval Italian poets translated this aristocratic paradigm into the urban setting of the city-states of the Italian peninsula. In the recuperation of antiquity that started with Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, love poetry and political thought were made to overlap. Dante’s heavenly Beatrice and unhappy Francesca are tales of love in cities. Petrarch’s Laura, met in Avignon, parallels his idea of Rome. The ten young narrators of Boccaccio’s Decameron tell tales of sex, marriage and adultery in their city of Florence before it was decimated by the plague The English poet Chaucer adapts the whole of this Italian tradition in his tragic romance, Troilus and Criseyde, set in the doomed city of Troy. In the Renaissance, Machiavelli applies his political insights to a plot of seduction in his play, The Mandrake, modelled on Roman comedies.  We follow the thread of sex and the city from ancient texts—Plato’s Symposium, Aristotle’s Politics, Terence’s Andria, Ovid’s Art of Love, and Augustine’s Confessions and City of God—to the noble Parisian prostitute of Verdi’s Traviata, an urban sex-worker with a Platonic idea of self-sacrificing love.