Spring 2002

This information effective for Spring 2002.
Check with instructor the first day of class for any changes.

Italian Literature

[LTIT-164]

164. Fascism and Literature in Italy

Instructor: Pina Piccolo

Note new time & place:
Tuesday & Thursday
12:00-1:45 PM, Kresge 348
(call # 61364)

Course Description

An exploration of the ideological, political, and cultural underpinnings of Italian Fascism. We will analyze literary texts, manifestos and speeches generated in Italy in the period immediately before Fascism, during the 20 year Fascist period ("il ventennio nero"), and in its aftermath, as a memory and reflection on the phenomenon. The class will examine the impact of censorship on literary production; "spectacle" as the political and aesthetic expression of Fascism versus the "silence" of anti-fascist writers; the failure of Fascism to produce a distinctively Fascist literature aside from political propaganda; virility and femininity in the Fascist imaginary.

Students will read 3 complete novels:
Elio Vittorini, Conversazione in Sicilia
Italo Calvino, Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno
Primo Levi, Se questo è un uomo
and one play:
Massimo Bontempelli, Minnie la Candida

Students will give class presentations based on selections provided in the class reader: excerpts from D'Annunzio (La nave), Giuseppe Antonio Borgese (Rubè), Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (Manifesti del futurismo), a speech by Mussolini, Beppe Fenoglio (Il partigiano Johnny), Renata Viganò (L'Agnese va a morire), Cesare Pavese (La luna e i falò). The reader will also include critical essays by Antonio Gramsci, Luisa Passerini, and Simonetta Falasca.

The class is conducted in Italian, with texts in Italian.

Besides class presentation, students will write 3 papers: the first one (3-4 pages) with a thematic emphasis, the second paper focusing on the role of intellectuals (3-4 pages), and a final paper (6-8 pages) analyzing the texts and using the critical tools acquired in class. There is no final exam.

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