102

The Italian peninsula is home to writers, literary movements and the birthplace of literary genres that have influenced the creative production of the Western world over several centuries.  Beginning over two thousand years ago with the Latin writers, whose ideas still form the basis for much of our contemporary cultural production, this course will traverse the many influential writers—of several genres—that have come from this part of the European continent.  Focusing on key writers and artistic expression created in Italy (for example, Commedia Dell ‘Arte and the Opera), this course will expose the students to the themes, ideas, and historical context of several authors from what is known today as Italy.  We will also link the texts read in class—all in translation—to contemporary films and writing.

This term we will be focusing on three writers and the impact their texts have had on contemporary culture.  All three of the texts we’ll be studying (Inferno by Dante Alighieri, The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio, and Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi) ask fundamental questions about what it means to be human and how we can lead a ‘good’ life.