Literature in Translation

SEMESTER: FALL 2018

LitTrans 255: In Translation: Boccaccio's Decameron - The Human Comedy

LitTrans 260: In Translation: Italy and the Invention of America: from Columbus to World War II

Focuses on the central role played by Italy in the European vision of America between Columbus’s voyages and the Second World War.

LitTrans 254: In Translation: Lit of Modern Italy-Existentialism, Fascism, Resistance

Credits: 3 Contact: Patrick Rumble

LitTrans 410: In Translation: Special Topics in Italian Literature

Credits: 3 Contact: Grazia Menechella

Food cultures of Italy. FIG section.

LitTrans 410: In Translation: Special Topics in Italian Literature

Credits: 3 Contact: Ernesto Livorni

Italian National Identity in a Global World . FIG section.

LitTrans 365: Machiavelli and His World

Credits: 3 Contact: Kristin Phillips-Court

This course introduces students to the major works of Machiavelli through the close reading and discussion of his writings in their cultural and historical contexts. Students will deepen their understanding of the controversies surrounding Machiavelli’s Prince and other works by considering literary, historical, political, and artistic points of view with the aim of articulating the complexities of his political thought.

SEMESTER: SPRING 2018

French 209: Littrans: Masterpieces of French Literature and Culture

Credits: 3 Contact: Richard Goodkin

The entire span of French literature from the Middle Ages to the present as well as selected Francophone writers. Emphasis on literary movements and their cultural settings. Major authors will include Montaigne, Voltaire, Stendhal, Proust, de Beauvoir. Section-level COM-B available.

French 360: French and Italian Renaissance Literature Online

Credits: 3-4 Contact: Loren Eadie

A web-based course comprising 15 week-long units, organized as a virtual journey through Renaissance Italian and French cities. Each unit includes a lecture and readings from main literary texts and cultural documents associated with the city or region.

Pre-Reqs: None

Italian 253: Littrans: Dante's Divine Comedy

Credits: 3 Contact: Jelena Todorović

Italian 360: French and Italian Renaissance Literature Online

Credits: 3-4 Contact: Loren Eadie

A web-based course comprising 15 week-long units, organized as a virtual journey through Renaissance Italian and French cities. Each unit includes a lecture and readings from main literary texts and cultural documents associated with the city or region.

Pre-Reqs: None

SEMESTER: FALL 2017

French Lit Trans 268: French Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Nineteenth Century

Credits: 3 Contact: Anne Vila

Representative texts of French women writers from Marie de France, the women troubadours, and Christine de Pizan to Madame de Stael and George Sand, in historical, social, and cultural context. Taught in English.

Italian Lit Trans 254: Literature of Modern Italy

Credits: 3 Contact: Patrick Rumble

This 3-credit course will offer a general introduction to the modern Italian novel (in translation) in philosophical, artistic, and historical context. Students will be introduced to several of the most significant literary authors and movements in Italy during the 20^th– 21st Century, and they will gain a broad understanding of modern Italian culture, history and society. The central themes of the course include: modernism and postmodernism, immigration and nationalism, Futurism and Italian avant-gardes, fascism and anti-fascism, Feminism and gender in Italy, terrorism and political extremism, Mafia and anti-Mafia, and the impact of globalization on contemporary Italy. Taught in English.

Italian Lit Trans 255: Boccaccio's Decameron - "Black Death and Medieval Life"

Credits: 3 Contact: Jelena Todorović

This is a COMM-B course. Have you ever wondered how it was to live during the Black Death? What was society like in the Middle Ages? How did these people lay foundation of today’s society we live in? Were they really very different from us, or do we share common everyday challenges? What can we learn from them? And, if we could, what could we teach them? We will ask and answer these questions while reading one of the world’s greatest literary classics, Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron, a text that will make us both laugh and cry. The course will investigate literature, art, pop culture, music, politics, religion, interpersonal and transcultural relations, warfare, fashion, gender roles, and everyday life of our medieval and early modern ancestors through a variety of sources (from medieval written accounts to the twentieth-century feminist response to the representation of women, from medieval frescoes to film and Internet, etc.).

Italian Lit Trans 260 : Italy and the Invention of America

Credits: 3 Contact: Stefania Buccini

This 3-credit course will explore the central role played by Italy in the Western European vision of the Americas from Columbus’ voyages to World War II. Students will have the opportunity to deepen their understanding of a broad variety of works from the late 1500s through the 1950s. Lit Trans 260 provides students with or without an Italian heritage with a unique opportunity to revisit the issue of cultural identity through literary, historical and visual texts.