Class code ITAL – UA 9285

Name: Alessandro Raveggi NYUHome Email Address: TBA Instructor Details Office Hours: TBA Villa Ulivi Office Location: TBA Villa Ulivi Office Extension: TBA

For fieldtrips refer to the email with trip instructions and trip assistant’s cell phone number

Semester: Fall 2013 Class Details Full Title of Course: Topics in Italian Literature. A Traveling Culture: Modern Italian Writers and Their Journeys Inside and Outside the Peninsula Meeting Days and Times: Thursdays, 10:30 am – 1:15 pm Classroom Location: TBA

N/A Prerequisites

A seminar in Italian literature focusing on a special topic in twentieth-century or contemporary literature. Course conducted in English; readings in translation. Class Description This course focuses on the travel experience in Modern Italian literature from the 20th Century, in authors such as Vittorini, Pavese, Levi, Calvino, Pasolini, Celati and others. We will analyze their fictional and non-fictional production depicting the Americas, the Middle and Far East, Africa, but also an underdeveloped and rural Italy. The purpose of the course is, throughout readings on relatively unknown texts and comparisons with the most acknowledged ones, to introduce new perspectives on Italian identity, its historical evolution, and the challenges it encounters in a new worldwide context. These lessons will offer the students new guidelines for reading Italian classics by emphasizing topics such as travel, exoticism, cultural clash, relativism and an incipient globalization.

On completion of this course, students should: Desired Outcomes - Have improved their ability to think critically, engage in complex reasoning and express their thoughts clearly through their written work - Have improved their understanding of the methodologies of Modern Italian Literature - Have mastered a basic understanding of how to research questions in Modern Italian Literature related to the topic of Travel. - Recognize works by the principal protagonists of the Italian Literature about travel and understand why they are significant for Modern Italian Literature.

Participation and Debate: 15% Assessment Written Assignments (two 3 page reaction papers): 15% Components Midterm Exam: 20% Research Paper (one 14 page final paper) and Presentation: 30% Final Exam: 20%

Page 1 of 7 Failure to submit or fulfill any required course component results in failure of the class.

Grade A: The student’s work demonstrates an understanding of the subject that goes beyond assigned course readings. The student writes essays/exam questions that are an original Assessment synthesis of source materials, demonstrating the ability to evaluate source material critically. Expectations Written arguments are clear, well-organized and well-presented; oral presentations are concise, incisive and supplemented by appropriate visual materials. The student has distinguished himself/herself throughout the course of the semester for his/her contributions to class discussion.

Grade B: The student’s work shows a clear understanding of assigned readings and materials covered in class. The student writes clear, well-organized and well-presented essays/exam questions; oral presentations are concise, incisive and supplemented by appropriate visual materials. The student is prepared in class and asks relevant questions.

Grade C: The student’s work shows a basic understanding of the subject treated in assigned readings and covered in class. However, written and/or oral work is deficient in one or more of the following areas: clarity, organization or content. The student’s work is generally in need of improvement

Grade D: The student’s work shows occasional understanding of the subject treated in assigned readings and covered in class. Written and/or oral work is deficient in one of more of the follow areas: clarity, organization or content. The student does not participate in class discussion and has not frequented the instructor’s office hours.

Grade F: The student’s work does not demonstrate understanding of the subject treated in assigned readings and covered in class. Written and/or oral work are either insufficient or are not submitted. The student appears unprepared in class and has not frequented the instructor’s office hours.

A=94-100 A-=90-93 Grade conversion B+=87-89 B=84-86 B-=80-83 C+=77-79 C=74-76 C-=70-73 D+=67-69 D=65-66 F=below 65

Please refer to Assessment Expectations and the policy on late submission of work Grading Policy

Attendance: Attendance Policy Attendance is expected and required of all students. Any absences will negatively impact upon your course grade

Absences: In case of absence, regardless of the reason, the student is responsible for completing missed assignments, getting notes and making up missed work in a timely manner based upon a schedule that is mutually agreed upon between the faculty member and the student

Page 2 of 7 Absence Due to Illness ● If you are sick, please see a doctor (contact the OSL for information). ● Only a medical certificate from a local medical professional will be accepted to justify an absence due to illness ● Within 24 hours of your return to class you must bring this note to the Office of Academic Support, located on the ground floor of Villa Ulivi. We will review the medical certificate and we will notify your faculty via email about your justified absence due to illness ● Absences for short term illness without a medical certificate are not justified and count as unjustified absences. We will not accept a student email or telephone call regarding an absence due to illness. We will not notify your faculty about these absences ● The Office of Student Life, when assisting you in cases of severe or extended illness, will coordinate with the Office of Academic Support to properly record your absences Due to Religious Observance ● Students observing a religious holiday during regularly scheduled class time are entitled to miss class without any penalty to their grade. This is for the holiday only and does not include the days of travel that may come before and/or after the holiday ● Students must notify their professor and the Office of Academic Support in writing via email one week in advance before being absent for this purpose Due to a class conflict with a program sponsored lecture, event, or activity ● All students are entitled to miss one class period without any penalty to their grade in order to attend a lecture, event or activity that is sponsored by NYU Florence or La Pietra Dialogues, Acton Miscellany or the Graduate Lecture series. ● Students must notify their professor and the Office of Academic Support in writing via email one week in advance before being absent for this purpose

Late Submission of ● All course work must be submitted on time, in class on the date specified on the Work syllabus. ● To request an extension on a deadline for an assignment, students must speak to the professor one week prior to the due date ● To receive an incomplete for a course at the end of the semester, two weeks before final exams, both the student and the faculty member must meet with the Assistant Director of Academic Affairs to review the request and if granted, they must both sign an Incomplete Contract detailing the terms for completing missing coursework.

PLAGIARISM WILL NOT BE TOLERATED IN ANY FORM: Plagiarism Policy The presentation of another person’s words, ideas, judgment, images or data as though they were your own, whether intentionally or unintentionally, constitutes an act of plagiarism.

In the event of suspected or confirmed cases of plagiarism, The faculty member will consult first with the Assistant Director for Academic Affairs as definitions and procedures vary from school to school. Please consult the “Academic Guidelines for Success” distributed on your USB key at Check-in and on the NYU Florence Global Wiki.

For a detailed description of some possible forms of plagiarism and cheating please consult the Community Compact that you signed at Orientation, a copy of which is on the above mentioned Wiki and USB key.

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Required Text(s) I. Calvino, Collection of Sand: Essays, Penguin Books, August 2013 or Id., Invisible Cities, Vintage Books, 1997; A. Baricco, Silk, Canongate, 1997; A. Tabucchi, Indian Nocturne, Canongate, 2013.

- For the Research Paper: a book from Modern English-language Travel Literature previously discussed with the instructor, to compare with a fictional book from the Course Reader below.

Course Reader with suggested readings below Supplemental Texts(s) (not required to purchase as copies are in NYU-L Library or available on line)

The careful use of internet resources is encouraged and a list of suggested websites will be provided for the students. Failure to cite internet and other non-traditional media sources in Internet Research your written work constitutes plagiarism. Guidelines

Additional N/A Required Equipment

INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE Session 1 The Fascination for America and the Exploration of Italy in Modern Italian Writers between the Wars: the Examples of Vittorini and Pavese among others September 5th Readings from: - Cesare Pavese, The Moon and the Bonfires - Elio Vittorini, Conversations in Sicily

Suggested readings (87 pages) : A. M. Jeannet, “If America Did Not Exist: Italian Writings on America from 1925 to 1970”, Italian Americana, Vol. 6, No. 1 (FALL/WINTER 1980), pp. 31-43, http://www.jstor.org/stable/29775989; M. Rudman, “Introduction” to C. Pavese, The Moon and the Bonfires, New York Review of Books Editions, 2002, pp. V-XVIII, E. Hemingway and A. S. Mason, “Foreword” and “Introduction”, E. Vittorini, Convesations in Sicily, New Directions, 2000, pp. V-XV, C. Thompson, “Introduction” and “Defining the Genre”, Travel writing, Routledge 2011, pp. 1 - 33, The Cambridge History of Italian Literature, eds. P. Brand and L. Pertile, Cambridge UP 1996, pp. 533-549.

ITALO CALVINO: brief introduction. Session 2 First Journeys to the American Future-land.

th Main Themes of Calvino’s Diary from the United States September 12 Suggested readings (119 pages): I. Calvino, “American Diary 1959-1960”, Hermit in Paris: Autobiographical Writings, Vintage 2004, pp. 16-120; C. Mee, “The Myopic Eye: Calvino's Travels in the USA and the USSR”, The Modern Language Review, Vol. 100, No. 4 (Oct.,

Page 4 of 7 2005), pp. 985-999; Alessandro Raveggi, “An Allegorist in America. Cultural Identity in Calvino’s Travelogues from the United States, in P. Carravetta (ed.), Theatre of the Mind, Stage of History. Italian legacies Between Europe, the Mediterranean, and North America on the 150th Anniversary of Unification, Bordighera Press, NY, forthcoming Summer 2013.

ITALO CALVINO - II - The Traveler and the City. Session 3 Introduction and readings from Calvino’s masterpiece Invisible Cities

th September 19 Suggested readings (+40 pages): I. Calvino, Invisible cities, Vintage 1997, Marco Polo and Kublai Kahn’s interludes: p. 5; pp. 18-19; pp. 23-25, pp. 32-33, pp. 37-38, p. 47, pp. 51-52, p. 61, pp. 65-66; pp. 74, pp. 77-78, pp. 88-89, pp. 93-94, pp. 104-105, pp. 109-111, pp. 118-119, pp. 123-126, pp. 147-148; The Cambridge History of Italian Literature, cit., p. 549-553.

ITALO CALVINO - III – Maps, Geographers and Wayfarers. Session 4 Readings from Collection of Sand.

th September 26 Selected chapters TBA (forthcoming Penguin book)

Suggested readings (51 pages): C. Thompson, “Travel writing from 1914 to the Present”, Travel writing, cit., pp. 56-61; K. Hume, “Grains of Sand in a Sea of Objects: Italo Calvino as Essayist”, The Modern Language Review, Vol. 87, No. 1 (Jan., 1992), pp. 72-85, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3732326; J. Clifford, “Museums as Contact Zones”, Routes. Travel and Translation in the Late Twentieth Century, Harvard University Press, 1997, pp. 188-219.

ITALO CALVINO - IV – Rites, Cannibalism and an Anthropology of the Traveler – Readings from Session 5 Under the Jaguar Sun and Mr. Palomar

rd October 3 Suggested readings (60 pages): I. Calvino, “Under the Jaguar Sun”, in Under the Jaguar Sun, Harcourt Books 1988, pp. 3-30, Mr. Palomar, Vintage, 1999, pp. 26-30, pp. 64-67, pp. 83-92, 101-113; G. P. Biasin, Italo Calvino in Mexico: Food and Lovers, Tourists and Cannibals, PMLA, Vol. 108, No. 1 (Jan., 1993), pp. 72-88: http://www.jstor.org/stable/462853

CARLO LEVI: brief introduction. Session 6 The Exploration of an Underdeveloped Italy: Christ Stopped at Eboli

th October 10 Suggested readings (45 pages): C. Levi, Christ Stopped at Eboli, Penguin Books, pp. 5-35; R. Derobertis, “Southerners, Migrants, Colonized: A Postcolonial Perspective on Carlo Levi's Cristo si è fermato a Eboli and Southern Italy Today”, in C. Lombardi-Diop, C. Romeo (eds.), Postcolonial Italy: The Colonial Past in Contemporary Italy, Palgrave Mcmillan 2012, pp. 157-171.

Film Screening and debate I: Rossellini, Viaggio in Italia

CARLO LEVI: Travelogues and Ethical Reflections on China and India Session 7 Reading Essays on India

h October 17 Suggested readings (46 pages): C. Levi, Essays on India, Hesperus Press, 2007, pp. VII-

Page 5 of 7 XIX, pp. 3-13, pp. 19-23, pp. 43-48, pp. 69-79.

Session 8 MIDTERM EXAM

October 24th

PASOLINI: brief Introduction. Session 9 The Writer-Director and the Political Value of the Transnational Third World:

th The Scent of India. November 7

Suggested readings (44 pages): The Cambridge History of Italian Literature, cit., pp. 553- 596.

Film screening and debate II: Pasolini’s Notes for a film on India.

PASOLINI: Experimental Prose and Screenplays on Africa. Session 10 Trans-medial Documentaries, The Savage Father and Petrolio

th November 14 Suggested readings (excerpts - at least 40 pages - and 16 page article by G. Trento) - Excerpts from P. P. Pasolini’s, The Savage Father and Petrolio; G. Trento, “Pier Paolo Pasolini in Eritrea: Subalternity, Grace, Nostalgia and the 'Rediscovery' of Italian Colonialism in the Horn of Africa”, in Postcolonial Italy: The Colonial Past in Contemporary Italy, cit., pp. 139-154.

 Film Screening and debate III: Pasolini’s Arabian Nights, Notes Towards an African Orestes.

The 80s: Contemporary Italy and Contemporary Italian Travelers. Session 11 GIANNI CELATI: brief introduction.

th Storytelling from the Italian to the African Plains November 21 Readings from Adventures in Africa

Suggested readings (79 pages): G. Celati, Adventures in Africa, Chicago UP, 2000, pp. V- XIII, pp. 3-20, J. Richards, “Gianni Celati and ‘Plain’ Storytelling in Contemporary Italy”, World Literature Today, Vol. 85, No. 4 (JULY/AUGUST 2011), pp. 48-51; R. J. West, Gianni Celati. The Craft of Everyday Storytelling, Toronto University Press, 2000, pp. 221-269.

Film Screenings and debate IV: Excerpts from the documentaries on Senegal by the author in Passar la vita a Diol Kadd (Feltrinelli, 2011, DVD)

The 80s: Contemporary Italy and Contemporary Italian Travelers. Session 12 Antonio Tabucchi and Alessandro Baricco: brief introduction.

th Exoticism and Orientalism in New Italian Fiction November 28 Suggested readings (42 pages): R. Rushing, “Alessandro Baricco’s Seta: Travel, Ventriloquism and the Other”, MLN, Vol. 118, No. 1, Italian Issue (Jan., 2003), pp. 209-236 http://www.jstor.org/stable/3251577; D. Borrelli, “Searching for Self through Others in Vittorini's Conversazione in Sicilia and Tabucchi's Notturno indiano”, Italica, Vol. 86, No. 4

Page 6 of 7 (Winter 2009), pp. 674-687 http://www.jstor.org/stable/20750657

Final program review Session 13 Oral presentations

December 5th

Session 14 FINAL EXAM

December 12th

Session 15 Co-curricular activity TBA

TBA

● Eating is not permitted in the classrooms. Bottled water is permitted. Classroom ● Cell phones should be turned off during class time. Etiquette ● The use of personal laptops and other electronic handheld devices are prohibited in the classroom unless otherwise specified by the professor. ● We recycle! So keep it green! Please dispose of trash in the clearly marked recycle bins located throughout the on campus buildings

Required co-curricular activities will be announced before the first day of class. Required Co- curricular Activities

Suggested optional co-curricular activities will be announced in class and/or via email by the Suggested Co- professor throughout the semester. curricular Activities

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