Cultures and Contexts: Modern Italy NYU Core Curriculum, Fall 2013 Prof

Home , Christopher Duggan, Ernesto de Martino, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Years of Lead (Italy)

Cultures and Contexts: Modern Italy NYU Core Curriculum, Fall 2013 Prof. Merjian, Tues/Thurs 11-12:15

This course examines the culture of modern Italy: a nation younger than the United States, yet steeped in all manner of millennial traditions, linguistic dialects, and regional artistic and economic customs. “We have made Italy; we must now make Italians.” Thus declared the politician and writer Massimo d’Azeglio following the country’s belated unification in 1861. How has Italy attempted to “make Italians” over the last century? What forms of culture could unify a people so diverse in origins and aspirations? Has the country managed to transform itself from a “geographic idea” to a cultural reality? Aside from commonplaces – rolling hills, historical landmarks, beloved cuisine, fashion runways – what are the bel paese’s most salient cultural characteristics, and why do they matter?

The course proceeds chronologically, and thus provides a basic overview of modern Italy’s historical and cultural trajectory: the optimism and disillusionment of the Giolitti period following national unification; the heady trial-by-fire of World War One and Futurist interventions; the revolutionary flowerings of Fascism and its hardening into an increasingly repressive regime; tensions between Fascist radicalism and reaction, autarchy and imperialism; the values of the Resistance and the realist aesthetic that formed their chief vehicle; the afterlife of Gramscian cultural theory; the cultural politics of the Cold War and the Economic Miracle; the lure of consumerism and Italy’s embattled anthropological “others”; the countercultural currents of the “long 1968” movements; the Years of Lead and dueling terrorisms; the Second Republic and Berlusconi’s Videocracy; the prospect of a multicultural Italy.

Along the way, we will examine cultural manifestations in various visual, verbal, and material forms: manifestos, cinema, literature, popular music, poetry, architecture, painting, television, exhibitions, and journalism. At the heart of the course is what the historian Christopher Duggan has called Italy’s “long dialectic with modernity”: the fraught effort to make and remake the country in the image of its century. We will attend to the tensions between materialism and idealism, antiquity and innovation, industry and agrarianism, mass media and regional identity, high and low cultural forms and their increasing intersection in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. We will study in close detail the cultural politics of the Fascist period and its aftermath – decades that still shape aspects of Italy’s identity – and will interrogate phenomena such as leisure, consent, opposition, and resistance, as well as their relevance to contemporary life.

The course is taught in English. All readings are provided in English, and, when possible, in Italian (for those who wish to read materials in original language).

Prof. Ara H. Merjian / [email protected] / Casa Italiana, 406 / / 212 998 8789 Office hrs: Tues., 12:30-1:30; Thurs. 1:30-3:30, Casa Italiana, 406; or by appt. Tchg. Assts: Rachel Love: [email protected] Kristin Szostek Chertoff: [email protected]

Recitations

Fr 8:00AM - 9:15AM; 25W4 Room:C-9 [Szostek Chertoff] Fr 9:30AM - 10:45AM; 25W4 Room:C-9 [Szostek Chertoff] Fr 8:00AM - 9:15AM; SILV Room:500 [Love] Fr 9:30AM - 10:45AM; SILV Room:500 [Love]

Requirements and Evaluation

Attendance and participation are vital to the successful completion of this course. Attendance is required and taken. Unexcused absences will negatively impact your final grade; students with more than four unexcused absences (lecture or recitation) are liable to automatic failure. All relevant images will be posted on Classes well in advance of exams. Details/reminders regarding papers will be distributed in advance of deadlines. In order to pass this course, all requirements must be completed satisfactorily. Class/section attendance, participation, and contribution to discussion…….20% Short Manifesto……………………………………………………………….5% First Paper……………………………………………………………………10% Midterm exam……………………………………………………………….20% 7-page paper…………………………………………………………………25% Final exam…………………………………………………………………...20%

Important Notes

*You are expected to complete listed readings in advance of lecture and recitation; participation in class discussions forms a vital part of the course *There will be no excuses for late papers or missed examinations with the exception of a doctor’s letter or a documented family emergency. Late papers will be downgraded a half- mark for each day late (i.e. B+ to B; A- to B+…). *Make-up exams can only be taken with a verified medical or similarly serious excuse approved by Prof. Merjian *Papers must include a bibliography and footnotes or parenthetical citation to any author cited or used as a source of argument and/or information. Please review the university’s policy on plagiarism as it will be strictly enforced. *The internet at large, and Google in particular, are valuable tools for quick facts, bibliographic checks, image reference, etc., but should not be used for the research or recycling of scholarly materials. *For each lecture’s readings, prepare 3 questions that you would yourself ask on a pop quiz, were you to write one. *Please feel free to come see Prof. Merjian or your TA in office hours *If you have any problems accessing “NYU Classes,” you may call ITS Client Services Center (www.nyu.edu/its/helpdesk) at 212-998-3333.

Course Meetings and Deadlines

Tues, Sept. 3: Introduction and Overview Thurs, Sept 5: Making Italians Tues. Sept 10: Futurism, Politics, and Culture Thursd, Sept 12: World War I and Futurism Tuesd, Sept 17: The Red and the Black *[Manifesto Due] Thursd. Sept 19: Fascism and Culture 1 Tuesd. Sept. 24: Fascism and Culture 2 Thursd. Sept. 26: Fascism and Culture 3 Tuesday Oct. 1: Fascism and Culture 4 *[First Paper due; 4 pages] Thursday Oct. 3: Fascism and Culture 5 Tues. Oct. 8: Fascism and Culture 6 Thurs. Oct 10: Midterm Examination Tues Oct. 15: No Class / Fall Recess Thurs. Oct. 17: Realism and the Resistance Tues. Oct. 22: Neorealism 1 Thurs. Oct. 24: Neorealism 2 Tues. Oct. 29: Neorealism 3 Thurs. Oct. 31: The Other Italy Tues. Nov. 5: Pasolini/Gramsci *[Final Paper Topic Due; abstract and prelim. bibliog.] Thurs. Nov. 7: Pasolini Tues. Nov. 12: Boom! Thurs. Nov. 14: Years of Lead Tues. Nov. 19: Italy’s ‘70s Counterculture *[Final Paper Draft Due] Thurs. Nov. 21: Italy’s ‘70s Counterculture Tues. Nov. 26: Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi Thursd. Nov. 28: No Class Meeting / Thanksgiving Tues. Dec. 3: Berlusconi and The Second Republic Thurs. Dec. 5: A Multicultural Italy? *[Final Paper Due; 7-8 pages] Tues. Dec. 10: Back to the Future Thurs. Dec. 12: Conclusion and Review Final Exam TBA

LECTURES and ASSIGNMENTS

( Key: [R] = Required, [Rec] = Recommended, [O] = Optional/Further background )

Tues, Sept. 3: Introductions and Overview

Thurs, Sept 5: “Making Italians”

- [R] Adrian Lyttelton, “Society and Culture in the Italy of Giolitti,” pp. 23-31 - [R] John Dickie, “Imagined Italies,” from Italian Cultural Studies, pp. 19-33 - [O] Christopher Duggan, A Concise History of Italy, pp. 117-204

Tues. Sept 10: Futurism, Politics, and Culture

- [R] F.T. Marinetti, “The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism” (1909), Futurist Manifestos, pp. 19-24; “First Futurist Political Manifesto” (1909), Critical Writings pp. 49-50 - [R] Umberto Boccioni et. al., “Manifesto of the Futurist Painters,” Futurist Manifestos, pp. 24-26 - [R] Jeffrey Schnapp, “Forwarding Address,” from Fascism and Culture, pp. 53-80 - [Rec] Mary Ann Caws, “The Poetics of the Manifesto: Nowness and Newness,” from Manifesto: A Century of Isms, pp. ix-xxxi - [O] Marjorie Perloff, “Violence and Precision: The Manifesto as an Art Form,” pp. 80-115 - [O] F.T. Marinetti, “The Necessity and Beauty of Violence” (1910), Critical Writing pp. 60-72 - [O] Giovanni Lista, “The Activist Model,” South Central Review, pp. 13-34 - [O] Christopher Duggan, A Concise History of Italy, pp. 171-204 - [O] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC1wBf-LJ20

Thursd, Sept 12: World War I and Futurism

- [R] F.T. Marinetti, “War, Sole Cleanser of the World,” in Critical Writings pp. 53-54 - [R] Flavio Fergonzi, “Carlo Carrà, Interventionist Demonstration,” from Masterpieces of the Mattioli Collection, pp. 205-209. - [R] Tisdall and Bozzolla, “Art of the War Years and After,” from Futurism, pp. 177-199. - [R] Giacomo Balla and Fortunato Depero, “The Futurist Reconstruction of the Universe” (1915) - [O] Carlo Carra: “Warpainting” (extracts) (1915), Futurist Manifestos, pp. 202- 205 - [O] Christine Poggi, “Futurist Collage in the Service of War,” In Defiance of Painting, pp. 228-251 - [O] Jeffrey T. Schnapp, “Politics and Poetics in Marinetti's Zang Tumb Tuuum,” 75-92 - [O] Cinzia Blum, “The Futurist Refashioning of the Universe,” South Central Review - [O] Christopher Duggan, A Concise History of Italy, pp. 117-204 - [O] http://www.unknown.nu/futurism/

Tuesd, Sept 17: The Red and the Black: The Red Biennium to the March on Rome

- [R] Emily Braun, “Mario Sironi’s Urban Landscapes: The Futurist/Fascist Nexus,” i Fascist Visions, pp. 101-127 - [R] Benito Mussolini, “The Political and Social Doctrine of Fascism,” in Fascism: An Anthology, pp. 39-45 - [Rec] F.T. Marinetti, “The Founding of the Fasci di Combattimento,” pp. 287-289; “Fascism and the Milan Speech,” in Critical Writings, pp. 289-290; - [O] George Orwell, “What is Fascism?” (1944), pp. 1-3 - [O] Christopher Duggan, A Concise History of Italy, pp. 195-204

*Manifesto Due in Class

Thursd. Sept 19: The Cult of the Duce

- Piero Melograni,“The Cult of the Duce in Mussolini's Italy,” Journal of Contemporary History, pp. 221-237 - [R] F.T. Marinetti, “Portrait of Mussolini” (1929), Selected Writings, 158-159 - [O] Christopher Duggan, A Concise History of Italy, pp. 205-214

Tuesd. Sept. 24: Fascist Culture or Culture under Fascism?

- [R] Giuseppe Bottai, “Outcome of the Fascist Art Inquiry” (1927), pp. 266-272 - [R] Jeffrey Schnapp, “The People's Glass House,” South Central Review, pp. 45- 56 - [O] Emily Braun, “Mario Sironi and a Fascist Art,” Italian Art of the 20th Century, pp. 173-180 - [O] Christopher Duggan, A Concise History of Italy, pp. 214-232

Thursd. Sept. 26: The 1932 Exhibition of the Fascist Revolution

- [R] Jeffrey Schnapp, “Epic Demonstrations: Fascist Modernity and the 1932 Exhibition of the Fascist Revolution,” in Fascism, Aesthetics, and Culture, pp. 2-32 - [Rec] Vanessa Rocco, “Room O of the Exhibition of the Fascist Revolution,” in Pub Photographic Spaces, pp. 220-255 [Excellent images] - [O] Marla Stone, “Fascist Mass Culture and the Exhibition of the Fascist Revolution The Patron State, pp. 128-176 - [O] Diane Ghirardo, “Architects, Exhibitions, and the Politics of Culture in Fascist Italy,” Journal of Architectural Education, pp. 67-75

Tuesday Oct. 1: The Cult of Rome

- [R] Peter Bondanella, “Mussolini’s Fascism and the Imperial Vision of Rome,” The Eternal City: Roman Images in the Modern World, pp. 172-206 - [Rec] Ann Thomas Wilkins, “Augustus, Mussolini, and the Parallel Image of Empire Donatello Among the Blackshirts, pp. 53-65 - [O] Jobst Welge, “Fascism Triumphans: On the Architectural Translatin of Rome,” Donatello Among the Blackshirts, pp. 83-94

*[First Paper due in class]

Thursday Oct. 3: Rome in New York: The 1939 Worlds Fair

- [R] Sergio Cortesini, “Rome versus New York: Italy at the New York World’s Fair 1939,” pp. 1-42 - [O] Jeffrey Schnapp, “Flash Memories,” Donatello Among the Blackshirts, pp. 223-240 - [O] Simonetta Fraquelli, “All Roads Lead to Rome,” in Art and Power, pp. 130-136

Tues. Oct. 8: From the Colonies to the Racial Laws

- [R] Mia Fuller, Wherever You Go, There You Are: Fascist Plans for the Colonial City of Addis Ababa and the Colonizing Suburb of EUR '42, Journal of Contemporary History, pp. 397-418 - [O] Mia Fuller, “Italy's Colonial Architecture and Urbanism, 1923-1940,” Cultural Anthropology, pp. 455-487 - [O] Alexander De Grand, “Mussolini's Follies: Fascism in Its Imperial and Racist Phase, 1935-1940,” Contemporary European History, pp. 127-147 - [O] Paul Baxa, “Capturing the Fascist Moment: Hitler's Visit to Italy in 1938 and the Radicalization of Fascist Italy,” Journal of Contemporary History, pp. 227- 242 - [O] Christopher Duggan, A Concise History of Italy, pp. 232-239

Thurs. Oct 10: Midterm Examination

Tues Oct. 15: No Class / Fall Recess

Thurs. Oct. 17: Realism and the Resistance

- [R] Mario De Michelli, “Realism and the Post-war Debate,” in Italian Art of the 20t Century, pp. 281-287 - [Rec] Peter Bondanella, “The Making of Roma città aperta: The Legacy of Fascism and the Birth of Neorealism,” in Roberto Rossellini’s Rome Open City, pp. 43-66 - [O] Brent J. Piepergerdes, “Re-envisioning the Nation: Film Neorealism and the Postwar Italian Condition,” ACME Editorial Collective, pp. 231-251 - [O] Roy Armes, “The Problem of Realism,” pp. 17-28 - [O] Christopher Duggan, A Concise History of Italy, pp. 240-244

* In Class: Rome Open City (1945)

Tues. Oct. 22: Neorealism 1

- [R] Peter Brunette, “Open City,” pp. 41-60 - [O] André Bazin, “An Aesthetic of Reality: Neorealism,” pp. 16-40 - [O] Brent J. Piepergerdes, “Re-envisioning the Nation: Film Neorealism and the Postwar Italian Condition,” ACME Editorial Collective, pp. 231-251 - [O] Roy Armes, “The Problem of Realism,” pp. 17-28 - [O] David Forgacs, “Space, Rhetoric, and the Divided City in Roma Città Aperta, in Rossellini’s Roma Città Aperta

* In Class: Rome Open City (1945)

Thurs. Oct. 24: Neorealism 2

- [R] Italo Calvino, The Path to the Nest of Spiders, selection - [O] Lucia Re, “The Politics of the Path,” Italo Calvino and the Age of Neorealism, pp. 223-387 - [O] Ann Hallamore Caesar, “Post-War Italian Narrative: An Alternative Account,” pp. 248-260 - [O] Christopher Duggan, A Concise History of Italy, pp. 244-255

*In Class: Michelangelo Antonioni, N.U., Vittorio De Sica, Bicycle Thieves

Tues. Oct. 29: Neorealism 3

- [O] P. Adams Sitney, “Ladri di biciclette,” pp. 88-97 - [O] André Bazin, “Bicycle Thief,” What is Cinema, pp. 47-60 - [O] Millicent Marcus, “De Sica’s Bicycle Thief,” pp. 54-75 - [O] Christopher Wagstaff, “Analysis: Ladri di biciclette,” pp. 261-265 - [O] Brent J. Piepergerdes, “Re-envisioning the Nation: Film Neorealism and the Postwar Italian Condition,” ACME Editorial Collective, pp. 231-251

*In Class: Michelangelo Antonioni, N.U., Vittorio De Sica, Bicycle Thieves

Thurs. Oct. 31: The Other Italy: the Resonances of Ernesto De Martino and Progressive Folklore

- [R] Ernesto De Martino, “Il Folklore Progressivo (Note Lucane)” (1976), Il Dibattito Sul Folklore in Italia, ed., Pietro Clemente, Maria Luisa Meoni and Massimo Squillacciotti, pp. 123-124 (Milan: Edizioni di Cultura Popolare) - [R] Antonio Gramsci, “Notes on folklore." The Gramsci Reader : Selected Writings, 1916-1935. Ed. David Forgacs. New York: New York University Press. - [R] Alberto Mario Cirese, “The People as Protagonist,” Avanti! May 8th, 1951. - [O] Filippucci, Paola. "Anthropological Perspectives on Culture in Italy." Italian Cultural Studies: An Introduction. Ed. Forgacs and Lumley. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1996. Pg. 52-71. - [O] Magrini, Tulia. "The Contribution of Ernesto de Martino to the Anthropology of Italian Music." Yearbook for Traditional Music. Vol. 26 (1994). Pg. 66-80.

Tues. Nov. 5: Pier Paolo Pasolini and the Legacies of Antonio Gramsci

- [R] Pier Paolo Pasolini, from The Ashes of Gramsci - [R] Antonio Gramsci, “Communism and Art,” and “Questions of Culture,” from Cultural Writings, pp. 37-38, 41-43 - [O] Christopher Duggan, A Concise History of Italy, pp. 255-261

*[Final Paper Topic Due]

Thurs. Nov. 7: Pasolini’s Rome

- Readings/Film TBD

Tues. Nov. 12: Boom!: The Economic Miracle and Postwar Politics

- [R] Ruth Ben-Ghiat, "The Italian Cinema and the Italian Working Class." International Labor and Working-Class History 59 (2001): 36-51. - [R] Christopher Duggan. "The Economic Miracle, 1958-75." The Force of Destiny: A History of Italy Since 1796. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2008. 548-67. - [O] Clare Boothe Luce, “Italy After One Hundred Years." Foreign Affairs 39.2 (1961): 221-39. - [O] Paolo Scrivano, "Signs of Americanization in Italian Domestic Life: Italy's Postwar Conversion to Consumerism." Journal of Contemporary History 40.2 (2005): 317-340. - [O] Christopher Duggan, A Concise History of Italy, pp. 261-269

Thurs. Nov. 14: Years of Lead: Piazza Fontana and After

- Robert Lumley, States of Emergency, pp. TBA - [Rec] Tobias Jones, “The Mother of All Slaughters,” pp. - [O] Giorgio Galli, “The Political History of Italy from the Fall of Fascism to the Student Revolts,” The Italian Metamorphosis, pp. 650-655

Tues. Nov. 19: The Long 1968: Italy’s ‘70s Counterculture, I

- [R] Dario Fo, “Accidental Death of an Anarchist,” pp. vii-37 - [O] Joylynn Wing, “The Performance of Power and the Power of Performance: Rewriting the Police State in Dario Fo's Accidental Death of an Anarchist,” Modern Drama, pp. 139-149 - [O] Christopher Duggan, A Concise History of Italy, pp. 269-274

*[Final Paper Draft Due]

Thurs. Nov. 21: The Long 1968: Italy’s ‘70s Counterculture, II

- [R] Dario Fo, “Accidental Death of an Anarchist,” pp. pp. 38-80. - [O] Joylynn Wing, “The Performance of Power and the Power of Performance: Rewriting the Police State in Dario Fo's Accidental Death of an Anarchist,” Modern Drama, pp. 139-149 - [O] Christopher Duggan, A Concise History of Italy, pp. 274-286 - [O] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqKfwC70YZI - [O] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k4HXaIaaps

Tues. Nov. 26: Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi and the Politics of Memory

- [R] Robert Lumley, “Amnesia and Remembering: Dal Polo All’equatore, a Film by Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi, “Italian Studies, pp. 134-143 - [R] View YouTube Clip (11 minutes), From the Pole to the Equator (excerpt): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfJPm2ZHojE - [O] Ara H. Merjian, “Bloody News from Friends” - [O] Further optional films on YouTube: Oh Uomo!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FTBIKi1LH8 Uomini, Anni, Vita: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCIl5XIFl9A

*In Class: From the Pole to the Equator

Thursd. Nov. 28: No Class Meeting / Thanksgiving

- Please begin reading: [R] Amara Lakhous, Clash of civilizations over an elevator in Piazza Vittorio, pp. 1-45

Tues. Dec. 3: The Second Republic Will Be Televised: The Berlusconi Era

- [R] Alexander Stille, from The Sack of Rome - [R] Amara Lakhous, Clash of civilizations over an elevator in Piazza Vittorio, pp. 1-45 - [O] Tobias Jones, “Forzismo,” from The Dark Heart of Italy

Thurs. Dec. 5: A Multicultural Italy?

- [R] Finish Amara Lakhous, Clash of civilizations over an elevator in Piazza Vittorio

*Final Paper Due In Class

Tues. Dec. 10: Back to the Future: Luca Buvoli’s Post-Modern Post-Utopia

- [R] Ara H. Merjian, “Futurism at 100,” Modern Painters, 2009 - [R] Christine Poggi, A Very Beautiful Day After Tomorrow (Un Bellissimo Dopodomani, ICA, Philadelphia, brochure of the exhibition, 2007 - [O] Ara H. Merjian, “‘‘Those ars all bellical’’: Luca Buvoli’s Velocity Zero (2007–2009) and a post/modernist poetics of aphasia,” Word and Image - [O] View YouTube clips: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OdkWpW-TCs

Thurs. Dec. 12: Conclusion and Review

Final examination TBA