A FRIT Welcome

Fall 2008 • Vol. XXII Indiana University Department of French and Italian frit

Fontaine Stravinsky, Paris, by Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tingueley, 1983. Photo by Sonya Stephens A FRIT welcome

sonya stephens, chair elcome to your new-look newsletter. Our continually changing, diverse faculty receive fellowships made possible by funding WWhatever your interest in the department, will take students to new places in the coming from the College and from alumni and friends. we hope you will find news and features that will year, whether here on campus or through one The Department of French and Italian continues keep you in touch both with friends and develop- of IU’s many study abroad programs. Margaret to be a stimulating place through the mix of ments in FRIT and the disciplines it represents. Gray has come to an end of her stint in Aix-en- ideas, the sense of tradition and of exciting future As professors Patrick Bray and Rebecca Provence, and in this issue, we hear her stories of possibilities, and the many opportunities we have Wilkin leave to take up positions at the Univer- the year just gone. As French and Italian majors to enjoy and share the rich cultures of Italy and sity of Illinois and at Pacific Lutheran University, return to campus, others prepare for yearlong the French-speaking world with the campus and respectively, the department is benefiting from adventures immersed in foreign cultures. We also wider community. the new perspectives of Marco Arnaudo and wanted to share with you, then, news of IU’s Bolo- As I come to end of my first year as chair, I Colleen Ryan-Scheutz, who joined the faculty gna and Florence programs, as well as of our High am immensely grateful for these opportunities, in recent years and are both featured in this School Honors Program in Foreign Languages, for those who make it all possible through gen- issue. In addition, we will welcome three visiting now in its 46th year, with two centers in Brittany. erous gifts to our programs, and to my faculty professors in French this coming year, as well as Fourteen bright new graduate students will colleagues, the staff, and the students of FRIT, two new faculty members in Italian. join our programs this fall, some of whom will who make it all happen.

Membership Matters. This publication is paid for in part by dues-paying members of the IU Alumni Association.

the Pieces of the puzzle a tumultuous year in provence destination: firenze FRIT creates fund in honor of professor

julie auger

has challenged established dogmas in the “Without Dr. Albert Valdman, I would never fields of French linguistics and language have had a career in academics.” pedagogy. Rather than study “good” French Sally Magnan, PhD’81, professor of like most of his colleagues, he specialized in French at the University of Wisconsin, re- the study of colloquial French, and he aimed members the first paper she published in the to better prepare learners to interact with real Modern Language Journal. “Later as editor of native speakers. Going against the prevalent that journal for 14 years, I thought of that ar- view that only the French of France is worth ticle often,” Magnan wrote, “and how [Albert u studying, he turned his attention to varieties Valdman’s] tutorship to writing it had framed of French spoken in other francophone coun- thinking I later used in editing that journal as s nadea i tries and published the first comprehensive well as my future writing for other venues.” o Ç book on this topic. Finally, at the urging of his His commitment to graduate students

Fran future wife Hilde, Valdman has devoted an continues into retirement, as he still directs important part of his research and teaching dissertations and serves on doctoral commit- ne cannot talk of French linguis- programs to the language spoken in Haiti, tees. Thanks to a Mellon Emeritus Fellowship Otics at Indiana University without developing teaching materials for Haitian grant from the National Science Foundation; mentioning the founder and, for Creole and publishing a dictionary of this his commitment to the teaching of Haitian language, which had never been done before. Creole; and his ongoing work as editor of almost 50 years now, the soul of this Throughout his IU career, Valdman has Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Vald- program: Albert Valdman. been a mentor to countless graduate students. man provides financial support to four gradu- While his many achievements could fill In addition to directing 45 dissertations and ate students in French linguistics in 2008–09. several pages, I would like to focus on two serving on numerous dissertation commit- In light of his contributions to the Depart- aspects of my colleague that best summa- tees, he has contributed to developing the re- ment of French and Italian and his uniquely rize the career path he has chosen and the search, teaching, and editorial skills of many patient, thoughtful, and nurturing approach impact he has had on the field: his willing- more students. Former students testify to the to research, the department created the ness to challenge received wisdom and his impact that he has had on their lives. Joel C. Albert Valdman Graduate Student Research profound commitment to his students. Waltz, MA’71, PhD’75, professor emeritus of and Travel Fund in French linguistics. This There are many ways in which Valdman French at the University of Georgia, writes, endowed prize has been initiated by contributions from several friends and colleagues as our small gesture of thanks. Visit www.indiana.edu/~frithome to learn how you can show your appreciation for Best recent Professor Valdman by making a contribution to the Valdman Graduate Student Research works from and Travel Fund.

France frit is published by the Indiana University Alumni Association in cooperation with the Department of French and Italian to encourage alumni interest in and support for Indiana University. The newslet- Films Books ter is paid for in part by dues-paying members of • Indigènes (Days of Glory), by Rachid Bouchareb, • La stratégie des antilopes, by Jean Hatzfeld (Prix the IU Alumni Association. For information about re-creates the journey of four North African soldiers Médicis 2007), is the last installment in a gripping membership or activities, call (800) 824-3044 or who join the French army to help liberate France from fictional trilogy about the 1994 Rwanda genocide and e-mail [email protected]. Information can also Nazi occupation during World War II. its long-lasting consequences. be found online at www.alumni.indiana.edu. • Les amitiés maléfiques (Poison Friends), by Em- • Baisers de cinéma, by Eric Fottorino (Prix Femina Department of French and Italian manuel Bourdieu, tells the story of a group of literature 2007), follows a man seeking answers about his past. www.indiana.edu/~frithome graduate students at the Sorbonne dominated by He knows little more than that this photographer Chair...... Sonya Stephens André, a fascinating anti-hero. father claimed his birth was the result of a “baiser de Editor...... Isabel Piedmont • Molière, by Laurent Tirard, depicts Molière’s life as cinéma,” a phrase that can have multiple meanings. College of Arts and Sciences an aspiring young artist at odds with political author- • Alabama Song, by Gilles Leroy (Prix Goncourt Dean...... Bennett Bertenthal ity and social rules of his time, while mirroring some of 2007), presents a reimagining of the relationship be- Executive Director of Development the situations and plot-twists from his plays. tween American literary “enfants terribles” F. Scott and and Alumni Programs...... David Ellies • Lady Chatterley, by Pascale Ferran, is an adaptation Zelda Fitzgerald through Zelda’s eyes. of the second version of D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatter- • Dans le café de la jeunesse perdue, by Patrick IU Alumni Association ley’s Lover. This film has won severalC ésar awards. Modiano, is a deeply melancholy and fascinating President/CEO...... Tom Martz • Le Scaphandre et le papillon (The Diving Bell and portrayal of 1960s Paris through its cafés, streets, and Director of Alumni the Butterfly), by Julian Schnabel, was inspired by the stories of love and loss. Programs...... Rachael Crouch real-life experience of Elle magazine editor Jean-Domi- • No et moi, by Delphine De Vigan, tells the tale of a Editor for Constituent nique Bauby, who is left mute and paralyzed after a brilliant young adolescent from a dysfunctional family Periodicals...... Sarah J. Preuschl stroke and dictates ~ frit his fall autobiography 2008 by blinking. who befriends a homeless girl named No. Class Notes Editor Raymond Fleischmann — Oana Panaïté — Oana Panaïté and Margaret Gray Designer...... Julie Dales The pieces of the puzzle

sonya stephens ssistant Professor Marco Arnaudo spends a lot of Atime looking at puzzles. Apart from having a stunning visual collection of them all around his office, his work in Italian literature examines interconnections and ways of looking at the world that help us make sense of how the pieces of any puzzle — visual or literary — fit together. The book he has recently completed examines optical illusions in literature in the period 1580 to 1680, helping us to better understand cultural references in the texts in question. He is particularly interested in references to visual perspective, since these references disclose contemporary understanding of concepts of visuality and thus reveal something about the history of art. His work focuses particularly on anamorphosis, or deformed images that appear in their true shape or form when viewed in what might be deemed an unconventional way. His attraction to the puzzle as object explains his passion. First, he is attracted to the aesthetics of the object — text or puzzle; secondly, to its inherent logic. The moves the creator anticipated are embedded in the object’s construc- tion, including a counteraction of the logical and predictable. For Arnaudo, studying the puzzles in literature is similar to making music. It’s about rhythm, proportions, and the correspondence between the moves that have to be made. It’s about ambiguity and negotiation, too. “In our work of literary criticism and interpretation, there are almost no right solutions,” he explains as his hands manipulate the soft blocks of a wooden cube. “Like complex puzzles, literary texts are constructed in ways that are very ingenious and intellectually refined — and to these there are multiple solutions, all of which are absolutely right.” The puzzle, then, is a metaphor for a utopian version of literary and artistic criticism. sonya stephens This theory also informs his interest in 20th-century detective Marco Arnaudo draws parallels between physical and literary puzzles. fiction and comic books. In the former, he explains, “the plot is a puzzle, only here there’s only one solution and the text provides all the clues you need. You have to work at that meaning very actively, ten through direct or ludic reference. Wonder Woman engaging with the ludic text.” His interest in comics is related to is called Diana. And Captain Marvel’s magic word is the idea of sources. Getting back to his own childhood passion for “SHAZAM,” an acronym for the wisdom of Solomon, this form, Arnaudo explains that comic books speak to teenagers the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the about the issues they struggle with — responsibility, the handling power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles, and the speed of power, questions of what one can and shouldn’t do — at a time of Mercury. With great powers come great respon- when the teenager is sibility, so doubting the value of “Like complex puzzles, literary texts are constructed in what also in- formal education. terests Arnaudo He sees all forms ways that are very ingenious and intellectually refined.” is the way in which of art, low and high, heroic decisions are checked in as springing from the these comic tales. How far can same creative impulse, susceptible to interpretation by the same such superheroes go for the common good? What are the political range of critical tools. And the more advanced a student of litera- ramifications of these epics, and the revisionist versions of them in ture he became, the more this “low” art form of the comic book the contemporary moment? appealed to his literary senses, appearing clearly to him as a modern Through both his research and his teaching of the above subjects, version of the Italian epic, even if, he says with a wry smile, “the idea and through his new project on emblems and books of emblems in of a superhero in Milan is impossible.” baroque theater, Marco Arnaudo is always looking for and expos- For Arnaudo, the superhero is a particularly inviting figure ing the source (often an unconventional one). He unpacks layers of because of his epic proportions; an archetype that is larger than life, cultural production, which are not always immediately visible, but yet one that is also intimately connected with myth and legend, of- are always, somehow, logically connected. frit fall 2008 ~ Bologna program continues to enrich students’ lives

Andrea Ricci and Isabel Piedmont s the month of June drew to Aa close, the seven IU students and fellow American students in the 2007–08 Bologna Consortial Studies Program had mixed feelings about returning home. “Students are reluctant to let go of this period of their lives,” Resident Director An- drea Ricci, PhD’02, said. “They have forged new friendships, successfully met unexpected challenges, and discovered a new purpose in studying Italian.” For nearly three decades, the Bologna Program has enriched the lives of countless students, many of whom develop a lifelong i cc

fondness for the city. The BCSP is an intense i study-abroad program offered for a full academic year or for the spring semester. It requires participants to integrate themselves andrea r fully into the academic and cultural life of Two students on the IU Bologna program enjoy an excursion to Pienza, Tuscany: Haley Leder Italy, sharing apartments with Italian stu- (Mt. Holyoke Collge), left, and Anna Hesser (IU), right. dents and enrolling directly in the University of Bologna, where they take the same exams as their Italian peers. They also take courses that are taught by Bologna University professors but follow a more “American” format. Bologna is an ideal place for studying Best recent abroad. Not a center of tourism like Flor- ence or Rome, it is a city of approximately works from 373,000 people, the capital of the Emilia- Romagna region, and home to the oldest university in the western world. Students Italy have the opportunity to explore much of northern Italy through excursions organized by the program, to destinations such as Films Books Ravenna, Urbino, Padova, and a two-day trip • Gomorra, by Matteo Garrone, earned the • La casta (The Caste), non-fiction, by to Tuscany (Val d’Orcia). Cannes Festival 2008 Grand Prize. Based on the Sergio Rizzo and Gianantonio Stella, describes Each year, one or more IU students book by Roberto Saviano, the film describes how Italian politicians are the best-paid in receive financial support to participate in the struggle, violence, and corruption of the Europe, have lavish perks and privileges, and the program through the Carol Ann Brush Neapolitan mob. quickly become untouchable. Hofstadter Memorial Scholarship. Carol • Il Divo, by Paolo Sorrentino, tells the story • Mille anni che sto qui, by Mariolina Vene- Hofstadter traveled as an exchange student of former Italian Prime Minister and life senator zia, winner of the 2007 “Premio Campiello,” is to Bologna in 1977, and after her untimely Giulio Andreotti, who has been elected to Par- an historical novel that takes place in provin- death in 1993, her family created a scholar- liament seven times since 1946. The film won cial southern Italy and relates the history of ship fund to enable others to fall in love with the Jury Prize at the Cannes Festival 2008. the Falcone family from the Italian unification the city as she did. • Io non ho paura (I Am Not Scared), by (1861) to the present time. Gabriele Salvatores, won the David di • Gomorra, by Roberto Saviano, winner of In 2007–08, the Hofstadter scholarship Donatello Award (Italian National Film Award). the Premio Viareggio, non-fiction, is a best- went to Juliana Dumas and Anna Inspired by the novel by Ammaniti, this film selling exposé describing the clandestine Hesser, and in 2008–09 Gabriela Cepeda tells the story of a child’s loss of innocence. workings of the Camorra business, the and Carol’s own son Daniel Hofstadter will • La meglio gioventu (The Best of Youth), Neapolitan mafia. benefit from her family’s generosity. by Marco Tullio Giordana, spans four decades, • Caos calmo, by Sandro Veronesi, won the For more information on the IU BCSP, from the 1960s to the present, following two Premio Strega. After his wife’s death, the main visit www.bcsp.unibo.it. Italian brothers through some of the most character in this fascinating novel is able to tumultuous events of recent Italian history. recover his existential bearings only after re- Love it or hate it? • Buongiorno notte (Goodmorning, Night), examing life from its metaphorical underbelly. Send feedback on our new newsletter by Marco Bellocchio, won the Grand Jury • Io non ho paura (I Am Not Scared), by Nic- Award at the 2003 Venice Film Festival. This colò Ammaniti, won the Viareggio-Repaci Prize to [email protected]. movie revisits the tragic drama of the kidnap- for Fiction. This international best-seller tells ping and killing of Italian politician Aldo Moro the story of the strong friendship between two ~ frit fall 2008 (1978) by the terrorist group the Red Brigade. children and the loss of a child’s innocence. — Andrea Ciccarelli and Vito Zagarrio — Andrea Ciccarelli Brittany welcomes high school honors students

Sonya Stephens

hey say it always rains in cherish the continuing contact they have Side excursions take the students as far with their American “sons,” “daughters,” afield as the Mont St. Michel and the Nor- T Brittany, but the 78 students studying in Brest and in Saint Brieuc “sisters,” and “brothers.” mandy beaches, to Saint Malo and Dinan, The program in France is well established, Quimper, and the Pointe du Raz. The six- last summer enjoyed many days of and the communities of Brest and Saint week stage ends with a glorious three-day cloudless skies and warm sunshine Brieuc look forward each year to the arrival visit to Versailles and Paris. The students are for this year’s IU High School Honors of the stagiaires from Indiana. While in the well prepared for these visits, having taken two cities, students follow a program of a culture course that introduces them to the Program in French. intensive study conducted entirely in French. history and significance of these sites, and Inaugurated in 1962, the program sends Qualified teachers — often advanced gradu- linguistic preparation that they can apply students abroad for an exceptional immer- ate students from our department — teach when out and about. sion experience in the language and culture them in small groups. The emphasis is on What keeps these young Americans of France, Germany, Spain, or Mexico. improving speaking, listening, reading, and from lapsing into English? Each student There is intense competition to participate: writing skills. signs an honor pledge that he or she won’t from hundreds of applicants, only about 30 There are classes every day until about speak English during the program and will students are selected for each of the seven- 2 p.m., followed by additional activities such continue the study of the language after week programs. as singing, acting, sports, or even time on the returning to the U.S. They take this pledge The students live with a French family, beach or on field trips to surrounding regions. extremely seriously, committing to the selected by local coordinators based on Students also take part in learning support honor code with vehemence. The results are willingness to support a young American groups, which provide a forum for sharing a testimony to their efforts. They return with student and to introduce them to as much experiences and feelings about their intercul- more confidence in the language and them- DegemerFrench culture and cooking as possible tural adaptation. Some students also take the selves, and with the inimitable experience of during their brief stay. Many participants opportunity to engage with local culture, with living in France. maintain a warm friendship with their host opportunities to try Breton dancing in Brest For more information about the program, families for many years, and many families and the groupe folklorique in Saint Brieuc. see the Web site www.indiana.edu/~iuhpfl. sonya stephens mat Participating in a theater class in St. Brieuc are, from left, Lizzy Stone, Ashley Norris, Tobi Haslett, instructor Bénédicte Sohier, MA’08, and Aubrey Merrell.

frit fall 2008 ~ Returning to the source

sonya stephens

hen he’s not in the library read- — who notices something strange about the W ing accounts of miracles in behavior of an animal. The oxen or sheep begin to scratch the earth in a particular place, Latin or Middle French, Professor Jacques then kneel at the site. The peasant also falls to Merceron pores over topographic maps, his knees, before digging to discover a statue especially in and around French towns and of the Holy Virgin. The local priest takes pos- villages whose place names are suggestive. “To- session of the statue and carries it safely to the ponymy,” he says excitedly, “is very revealing; village church. During the night, however, the it’s a repository of memory.” He tracks those Virgin returns to her original location. She sources around the French countryside. is brought back to the church but, for three What’s he looking for? Legends and nights in a row, the same thing happens. The miracles concerning the Virgin Mary, from priest then pronounces that it is the “volonté the Middle Ages to the present. Ask him, for de la Vierge” [the Virgin’s will], and orders that example, why dozens of “ceintures” — said a church be built at the site of the miracle. to have belonged to the Holy Virgin and to Evidence suggests that such pagan sites promote fertility — exist. “She had quite an (whether a spring or a hallowed tree) are extensive wardrobe,” Merceron quips. often at the origin of sacred foundations. The first of Merceron’s new research proj- Merceron’s second new project explores ects builds on his internationally success- these legends and ful Dictionnaire des Saints imaginaires et examines the rela- facétieux (Seuil 2002). The book is a rigorous tionship of popular and hilarious journey into the world of para- religion in the Middle religious folklore; it concerns the collation Ages to official reli- and classification of legends about the Vir- gion — a relationship gin, stories that often explain the founding that often involves Statue of the Virgin Mary of a sanctuary in a particular place (“on ne parody, tension, and in a procession as part of les met pas n’importe où,” says Merceron). erceron irony as a spirited M etsy merceron

la Grande Tromenie de Locronan, Often the tale concerns a simple peasant b

es form of resistance to a 12-kilometer pilgrimage in Brittany u — a shepherd or woodcutter, for example clerical power. Jacques Merceron

that takes place every six years. Jacq

Department receives funds for graduate student support

isabel piedmont

hrough the generosity of benefactors, several new fellowships have graduate fellowships for students who show both need and merit. The Tbeen established to support students in the Department of French graduate award is specifically for the study of literature in the period and Italian. Gilda Epstein endowed the Charlotte F. Gerrard Fellow- prior to 1789. Since its inception in 2001, the Trapnells’ kind gifts have ship in honor of her late sister, Charlotte Gerrard, who was professor made possible three graduate fellowships, one graduate travel award, of French in the department for more than three decades. The fund is and two undergraduate scholarships. part of Indiana University’s Matching the Promise program. Through For our Italian program, Olga Ragusa, the Lorenzo Da Ponte Profes- Epstein’s generosity and Gerrard’s bequest, the department was able to sor Emeritus of Italian at Columbia University, endowed a fund to fund French literature students Diana Cervone (2006–07) and Erin Sipe support the study of modern Italian culture. This substantial donation (2007–08 and 2008–09) as Gerrard Fellows. of Ragusa, one of the most highly regarded scholars of 19th- and 20th- We have also been fortunate to gain fellowship support for our French century Italian culture, will fund fellowships or grants for graduate stu- linguistics graduate program. Marvin Moody, PhD’72 French linguistics, dents who work in the relevant field, as well as scholarly and cultural endowed the Marvin D. Moody Fellowship events related to post-1600s Italian studies. Recent guest speakers Fund, also part of the Matching the Promise financed by the Ragusa Fund include award-winning Italian writer program, which enabled the recruitment of Claudio Magris, Commedia dell’Arte actor and teacher Mace Perlman, excellent graduate students to our depart- and Professor Arnaldo Di Benedetto (University of Turin). ment, including Jason Siegel (2006–07), Our most recently endowed fund for student support is the Kayleigh Lebak (2007–08), and Lina Parrado Marjorie and Francis Gravit Scholarship/Fellowship. This award was (2008–09). Moody is also giving generously of created through the estate of Marjorie Gravit, widow of Francis West his time, contributing computing expertise to x Gravit, who was professor of French in our department 1948–1975. This Professor Emeritus Albert Valdman’s Louisi- generous bequest of funds will support one or more scholarships per ana French-English dictionary project. kelly sa year for excellent undergraduate or graduate students to pursue the Professor Emeritus William Trapnell and Marvin Moody study of French on campus or abroad. his wife, Maryse, established the William and Maryse Trapnell Scholar- We are tremendously grateful to all our donors for their generosity ~ frit fall 2008 ship/Fellowship Fund, which supports undergraduate scholarships and and thoughtfulness. A tumultuous year in Provence

margaret gray hen I first signed on to be W director of the Aix-en-Provence academic year abroad program, I looked forward to it with pleasure. A year under the sunshine of Provence, in the shadow of Cézanne’s craggy Sainte-Victoire moun- tain, walking the beautiful Cours Mirabeau shaded by majestic plane trees, enjoying the Roman spa settlement turned lively university town. Who wouldn’t jump at the chance? I did, as did 60 undergraduates, and none of us predicted the adventure to come. When I arrived in France in August 2007, the new French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, had begun imposing promised reforms — among them, a new law essen- tially granting French university presidents far more authority and autonomy than they had enjoyed in the past in France’s central- ized university system. This autonomy included the right to raise tuition fees. By oor late October, French university students had P organized and begun to agitate. Campus achel after campus began to shut down, blockaded R by great tangles of piled-up desks and chairs, Students on strike cleared by the administration only to go up again the next day. Our response to the shutdown, which the entire first semester, the academic jour- Our students, after the initial “snow-day” lasted from Nov. 1 to Dec. 14, was to contact nals could be used to negotiate some sort of euphoria, began to wonder when things all faculty members with program students credit at each consortium institution. might return to normal. We couldn’t answer. in their classes. We asked for suggestions Fortunately, the semester was salvaged, Why weren’t the police simply called in? in view of the circumstances and offered to thanks to delayed final exams to allow This is only the most extreme measure in help secure alternative venues if they should for make-up classes. The spring semester France, where university autonomy is abso- choose to continue holding their classes. proceeded more smoothly, bringing only lute; the university manages its own affairs, We resorted to marshaling a small army the more predictable stream of mini-crises and doesn’t descend to the vulgarity of police of tutors, from graduate students to retired involved in overseeing a lively, eager group intervention. May 1968, of course, brought faculty, to help our students continue to of American students living in a foreign a significant exception, as student protests make progress in their courses: progress culture. Yet, writing these lines on the eve triggered massive social revolt. And last fall, they were asked to document in an academic of my return to the U.S., I realize that just as as the strikes dragged on, several universi- journal submitted weekly. The journal was the challenges faced over the course of my ties — including our own Faculté de Lettres not popular, but I was hedging my bets year in Provence were more extreme than — ultimately resorted to having the premises — hoping that in a worst-case scenario, if expected, so also were the rewards. Coping evacuated by “les forces de l’ordre.” the Faculté de Lettres ended up canceling with all the ups and downs obliged the students and myself to develop extra reserves of resilience, self-confidence, independence, and assertiveness. Moreover, the unexpected difficulties only served to intensify the plea- sures of living in Provence.

The 2007–08 Aix-en-Provence Study Abroad students gather for a farewell dinner. Front row, from left: Julie Rawe, Syndey Stegall, Rachel Poor, and Professor Margaret Gray. Middle row: Rosie Shestak, Eliot Benman, Daniel Violet, Sarah El-Hattab, Paula Diaz, and Philip Haskew. Back row: Christopher Donaldson, Elizabeth Hathaway, Elizabeth Hadley, Adam Hesse (IUPUI), Seth Bowers, and David Pavkovitch.

frit fall 2008 ~ ross G l i h P faculty notebook

Faculty updates Guillaume Ansart has continued his work on the political culture of the late 18th century, particularly Raynal and Diderot’s Histoire des deux Indes, and Condorcet. Last summer, Julie Auger directed the study-abroad program in Québec City for Guillaume Ansart Julie Auger L. Dekydtspotter Margaret Gray the final time. She co-edited a volume on language and gender and presented her latest research at a conference in Germany. Along with colleagues in linguistics, she helped organize SociolingFest, a weeklong event held in June 2008 that featured lectures on socio- linguistics by world-renowned researchers. Laurent Dekydtspotter is pursuing his research on sentence processing and semantics of second-language French. He is investigating learners’ representation of ne … que, which expresses the meaning of only. Emanuel Mickel Oana Panaïté Kevin Rottet Kelly Sax Margaret Gray spent 2007–08 directing the Aix-en-Provence overseas study program, with a brief escape to a conference in London. She also visited Italy, including trips to Rome, the Cinque Terre villages, and Tuscany. Eileen Julien has just completed a co- edited volume, The Locations of African Literature: A Dialogue Between Humanists and Social Scientists. A brief memoir on

Massimo Scalabrini Sonya Stephens Wayne Storey Barbara Vance Vito Zagarrio visiting New Orleans is in press, and she is working from Welsh and French into Breton. professor in spring ’08 to rebuild the city, both literally (her family In March, Kelly Sax, PhD’03, was thrilled he department was honored to host accom- home) and culturally (through an African film to travel to the Democratic Republic of Tplished film director and film scholarVito festival). She is also collaborating with friends Congo for 10 days. While there, she worked Zagarrio as a visiting professor in spring 2008. in Dakar, Senegal, to prepare an exhibit of as a translator and consultant for an NGO A professor at the Third University of Rome, he works of her late husband, Kalidou Sy. service-learning project with the Université has published several books on both Italian and In March 2008, Emanuel Mickel gave Protestante au Congo. American cinema and directed three feature films a lecture on Marie de France’s Lais at the Massimo Scalabrini continues to as well as several documentaries and TV shorts. Sorbonne, and in May he attended the annual serve as Italian undergraduate adviser. In Zagarrio’s recent publications include “Prima- medieval conference at Kalamazoo, Mich., 2007–08, he attended conferences including to,” in Arte, cultura, cinema del fascismo attraverso where he had the pleasure of spending time “I Folengo e il mondo benedettino,” the 16th- una rivista esemplare (2007); Overlooking Kubrick with several former IU students, including Century Society and Conference, and the (2006); and John Waters (2005). His work as a film Janina Planer Trachsler, Lisa Bansen Harp, Renaissance Society of America. His recently director includes Tre giorni d’anarchia – Three Molly Lynde Recchia, and Lynn Tarte Ramey. completed articles are on Folengo, Renais- Days of Anarchy (2006), which was shown to a full Oana Panaïté has recently written arti- sance comedy, and the pastoral tradition in house on the IU Bloomington campus on April cles on the portrayal of characters in French literature and the visual arts. 18. Zagarrio is very active in the cinematic com- and Francophone novels and the political Sonya Stephens continued as editor munity in Italy, where he founded film festivals in use of formalism in contemporary fiction. of XIX Journal of the Society of Dix-Neu- Rome and Ragusa (Sicily), and is one of the main She received a College Arts and Humani- viemistes, whose national conference she organizers of the Pesaro film festival. ties Institute Faculty Fellowship for spring attended in Manchester, England, in March — Isabel Piedmont 2009, and she is planning to dedicate the 2008. She presented papers in Mobile, Paris, next academic year to the completion of her and Cambridge and published an article on Vito Zagarrio at IUB’s Sample Gates book on geo-political and artistic borders in poetry and cultural studies and on Rodin as contemporary French-language fiction. a national institution. Stephens continues Kevin Rottet, PhD’95, is the associate her work on Baudelaire, illustrated editions editor of the Dictionary of Louisiana French, of Les Fleurs du Mal, and Jules Claretie. which is nearing completion and should be Along with Teodolinda Barolini (Colum- in print later this year. Other recent projects bia), H. Wayne Storey published Petrarch

i have included the feminization of names of and the Textual Origins of Interpretation an i occupations in Welsh and lexical borrowing (continued on page 9) n i

~ frit fall 2008 em G a vi l Si Alumna Ryan-Scheutz joins FRIT faculty Faculty updates isabel piedmont (continued from page 8) as well as an essay on Petrarchism titled ometimes it’s good to come back home. Matthias Scheutz, “Canzoniere e Petrarchismo: un paradigma SThat’s the experience of Colleen and two children di orientamento formale e materiale” in the Ryan-Scheutz, PhD’97, who returned to IU in summer 2007. volume Il Petrarchismo. Un modello di poesia Bloomington as associate professor of Italian She has created per l’Europa. He was appointed series editor and director of the Italian Language Program a new teaching of Textual Cultures: Theory and Praxis at the in August 2007. Her return to IU is her second practicum for IU Press and continues his work as editor-in- academic homecoming, having returned to Italian associate tz chief of the journal Textual Cultures. the University of Notre Dame, her undergrad- instructors, with u Barbara Vance was on research leave uate alma mater, as a professor from whom she meets as sche during spring 2008, working on word-order 1999 to 2007. twice weekly to i issues in Medieval Occitan. In March she Ryan-Scheutz is the rare scholar whose develop tests and atth traveled to the beautiful medieval lakeside expertise in foreign-language pedagogy is class materials M city of Konstanz, Germany, to participate in complemented by a strong research portfolio and to discuss pedagogical issues. The course a workshop with other scholars of Romance in another field, namely that of women and Methods of Italian Language Teaching, which language morphosyntax. gender representations in contemporary Ital- the department had not been able to offer in ian literature and film. She has published two many years due to faculty teaching con- New and visiting faculty books with distinguished university presses, straints, has been dusted off and revamped. one in each of her areas of specialization: Sex, In 2008–09, she will offer a new accelerated Italian the Self, and the Sacred: Women in the Cinema intermediate Italian course as well as her In January 2009, Antonio Vitti (PhD, Univer- of Pier Paolo Pasolini (Toronto, 2007) and Set signature Italian theater workshop. sity of Michigan) will join the Italian faculty the Stage! Italian Language, Literature, and “I’m excited to be back at Indiana Univer- as full professor in Italian cinema. Vitti comes Culture Through Theater (Yale, 2008). sity,” Ryan-Scheutz says, “This past year I’ve en- to us from Wake Forest University and fills a The department hired Ryan-Scheutz pri- joyed working with such diverse students and niche left vacant by the retirement of Peter marily to direct the Italian language program. engaging graduate student teacher-scholars. Bondanella in 2007. Vitti’s publications She has undertaken that task with gusto since I welcome the opportunity to take curricular include Giuseppe De Santis and Postwar moving back to Bloomington with her hus- and co-curricular initiatives that will help Ital- Italian Cinema (Toronto 1996), Amerigo band, Cognitive Science Professor ian continue to flourish and grow at IU.” Esercizi (Editions Soleil 2000), and The Films of Gianni Amelio (2008). Vitti directs the Middlebury College summer Italian program and has wide-ranging teaching experience in Associate instructors honored for performance the language, literature, and culture of Italy. We are fortunate to also welcome Alicia his year the department was pleased to ments, such as songs and videos excerpted Vitti as a permanent lecturer in Italian. Tonce again celebrate our exceptionally from French news, into her classroom. She She holds a PhD from Middlebury College talented, dedicated, and generous team of found that the news-based activities encour- and has diverse teaching experience at high teachers who work together to create peda- aged her students to build confidence in school and college levels. She will join 2008– gogically sound yet creative and engaging their French skills, especially as they were 09 Visiting Lecturer Giuseppina De Masi language lessons. Each spring, we recognize able to understand current events in France. (UCLA) in the Italian language program. the outstanding classroom performance of “Whether or not Brunet’s students were in three French and Italian associate instruc- the mood for drills, games, or role-playing,” French tors, and this year awards went to Anthony Sax said, “it was clear that every one of them The French literature program will host two Nussmeier (Italian), Marie-Line Brunet was happy to be there learning in her class.” distinguished visiting professors in 2008–09. (French), and Diana Cervone (French). Sax describes Cervone as “professional, In the fall, Professor Colin Davis of the Uni- These awards are made possible by generous perfectly balanced, and personable.” She versity of London–Royal Holloway will teach donations from alumni and friends of the says that Cervone exemplifies a positive and two courses on French cinema and society. department. encouraging classroom demeanor, resulting Davis’s research centers on 20th-century Colleen Ryan-Scheutz, director of Italian in strong student participation, even from literature and culture. His particular focus language instruction, describes Nussmeier’s reluctant students. Cervone describes her is on ethical criticism and the links between classroom style as engaged, experimental, students as “the best part of teaching at our philosophy, literature, and film. In the spring, and effective, noting that “he manages to use university.” Each day she looks forward to Professor Eric Méchoulan from the Univer- native-style speech and maintain an all-Ital- watching the growing interaction and sense sité de Montréal, a specialist in 17th-century ian environment, even at 9 a.m.” With both of community developing in her classroom. French literature and philosophy, will teach a his students and his colleagues, he consis- All of our award winners, in various ways, graduate seminar on the Ancien Régime and tently demonstrates his wit, kindness, and have benefited from strong departmental an undergraduate civilization course. disponibile spirit. As a teacher, Nussmeier support and leadership and an emphasis on Our students will also benefit from the finds the opportunity to integrate his pas- pedagogical development. Cervone sum- fresh perspective of Devin Bryson, who is sion for Italian language, history and culture marized this philosophy, stating, “One of the moving to Bloomington from the University particularly rewarding. strongest features of our department is the of Pennsylvania to take up a one-year visiting Director of French Language Instruction wide net of activities and lesson plans that assistant professorship and will teach third- Kelly Sax highlights Brunet’s strengths with we keep improving and adding to in order to year literature, language, and cinema classes. technology in the classroom and student enhance our program.” — Isabel Piedmont engagement. Brunet introduced cultural ele- — Dana Whippo frit fall 2008 ~ alumni notebook Missouri. Most recently he was associate manager at Maregatti Interiors. She lives and vice president for alumni relations at Saint works in Indianapolis. Before 1960 Louis University. Petersen and his wife, Prudence Twigg, BA’77, MSN’94, is a vis- Joann, live in Wildwood, Mo., and have four iting lecturer at the IU School of Nursing at Bill D. Romey, BA’52, is editor of Ash Lad grown children — Robert, Melisa, Kristin, IUPUI. She is co-author of A Personal Guide Press and professor emeritus at St. Lawrence and David. He can be contacted at to Living with Progressive Memory Loss, pub- University in Canton, N.Y. In 2007 he pub- [email protected]. lished by Jessica Kingsley Publishers in 2007. lished a new e-book, The Norman Conquest: Jane Stuart, MA’67, MA’69, PhD’71, Twigg lives in Carmel, Ind. How Normandy Conquered Us, available at lives in Greenup, Ky. In 2007 her son, Erik www.libri-terrarum.com. Romey lives in Juergensmeyer, received a PhD in rhetoric, 1980s East Orleans, Mass., with his wife, Lucretia composition, and the teaching of English Diana L. Mercer, BA’85, JD’88, is the (Leonard), BA’55. from the University of Arizona. founder of Peace Talks Mediation Services Sue Tankersley Sweterlitsch, BA’59, in Los Angeles. The company mediates MFA’64, MA’71, PhD’74, and her husband, 1970s personal disputes ranging from divorces and Richard, PhD’76, write that they are “superfi- Sarah Roach Lahey, BA’72, is editorial prenuptial agreements to estate planning cially” retired and live near Asheville, N.C. director and co-author of the Frommer’s and family business conflicts. Mercer is the In 2007 they lived in Rome for three months Born to Shop travel guides. When not on an author of Your Divorce Advisor: A Lawyer and pursued leisurely research on the city as airplane, she lives in Tiburon, Calif., with her and a Psychologist Guide You Through the well as the artist Caravaggio. husband, Tom, BS’68. Legal and Emotional Landscape of Divorce, 1960s Faye E. Tippy, BA’75, MBA’77, is president printed by Simon & Schuster. She lives in of The Braintrust, a management-consulting Playa del Rey, Calif. Stephen H. Petersen, BA’67, MS’69, company in Schererville, Ind. Her company Guy P. Raffa, MA’86, PhD’91, is an asso- EdD’77, is assistant vice chancellor and serves clients in Chicago and northwest Indi- ciate professor of Italian at the University of director of alumni relations at Washington ana. A former member of the IUAA’s Execu- Texas in Austin. In May 2007, the University University in St. Louis. He previously served tive Council, Tippy lives in Schererville. of Chicago Press published his book, Dante- for 24 years as vice president for student and Jacquelyn Wall Finney, BA’76, is office worlds: A Reader’s Guide to the Inferno. Raffa alumni affairs at the University of Central lives in Austin.

Departmental annual awards and honors 2008

Grace P. Young Awards Lander MacClintock Memorial Award Associate Instructor Awards Diana Cervone, MA’08 Andrea Scapolo, MA’07 Marie-Line Brunet Kathleen Gifford Diana Cervone, MA’08 John K. Hyde Award Karen (Kemmie) Mitzell Anthony Nussmeier, MA’08 Laura Birkenbeul Mario and Katrina Vangeli Award Trustees Teaching Award Quentin M. Hope Memorial Award Arwen Myers Professor Marco Arnaudo Elizabeth Hathaway Carol Ann Hofstadter Memorial Mary V. Lèbano Memorial Award Scholarships Samantha Schinder, BA’08 Gabriela Cepeda Albert and Agnes Kuersteiner Daniel Hofstadter Memorial Prize Gamma Kappa Alpha Anna M. Cox Italian Honor Society Peter Cannings Memorial Prize Teresa Bellono Francisco (Paco) Montaño, MA’06 Lauren Claps Trevor Reinholt Charlotte F. Gerrard Memorial Prize Samantha Schinder, BA’08 Erica Satterthwaite, BA’08 Nicholas Spagnolo, BA’08

At far left — Professor of Cognitive Science Douglas Hofstadter, left, presented his son kelly sax Daniel with the Carol Ann Hofstadter Memorial Scholarship, an award named for Daniel’s late mother. The funds will help support his studies in Bologna in 2008–09.

At left — Professor Emanuel Mickel, left, with 10 ~ frit fall 2008 Charlotte Gerrard Memorial Prize winner Erica Satterthwaite. Don Deaton, MA’89, is a CNC machin- pates in academic conferences each year and an associate for the law firm Leydig Voit & ist with D&H Machine and Tool in Wichita, recently published several articles on French Mayer in Chicago. Previously, he was an Kan., a subcontractor for the aircraft industry. cinema and Marie Cardinal. In December associate at the law firm Davis McGrath. In his spare time, he enjoys permaculture 2007, Dennis-Bay traveled to the University Umansky lives in Chicago. gardening and hand-tool woodworking, with of Vienna in Austria and participated in a Rebecca A. Boostrom, Cert’99, BA’04, a focus on Japanese Tansu cabinetmaking. workshop on African literature, where she writes that she is a student in the Tulane Deaton lives in Augusta, Kan. also shared some of her work on Cardinal. University School of Law in New Orleans, She has three children — two girls and a boy where she is studying admiralty law. 1990s — all of whom were adopted from India. Nancy S. Labiner, BA’91, is vice president Dennis-Bay lives in Williamsburg. 2000s for human resources in the investment-re- In July 2007, Tisha K. Stima, BA’96, Alyssa Marcus Klein, BA’01, teaches French search division of Goldman Sachs in New wrote that she was planning a reunion for and Spanish for Northern York County (Pa.) York City. In March 2008, she married Robin IU students who spent a year abroad in School District. She and her husband, Gary Gray, an electrical engineer for Consolidated Strasbourg, France, from 1995 to 1996. She Klein, a dentist, whom she married on Nov. Edison Inc. in New York City. They live in was planning the reunion for August 2008. 24, 2007, live in Harrisburg, Pa. Brooklyn, N.Y. Stima lives in Arlington, Mass., and can be Kristina D. Rohrer, BS/BA’05, married Saralyn Harrell Desmet, MA’93, is an as- contacted at [email protected]. Stephen D. Law, BS’05, on Aug. 12, 2006. sistant professor of French and Spanish and Lisanne Carothers Jensen, BAJ’97, of The Laws live in Folsom, Calif. the Modern Language Department chair- Stuyvesant, N.Y., freelances feature stories Jean M. Candido, MA’06, is a French woman for Wesleyan College in Macon, Ga. and graphic-design work for the Hudson text writer/editor for TV Guide in Radnor, On April 19, 2007, she received the college’s River Sampler in Columbia County, N.Y. She Pa. She writes, translates, and edits movie 2007 Vulcan Materials Co. Teaching Excel- also copyedits for Alpha Books in India- descriptions and other texts that appear lence Award. Desmet lives in Macon. napolis. She and her husband, Jeffery, BA’98, online and on television stations in Quebec.

Laura L. Dennis-Bay, MA’95, PhD’00, is MPA’00, had a daughter, Meredith Elise, on Candido also teaches night classes at the an associate professor of French and Spanish Oct. 31, 2006. The Jensens can be reached at Philadelphia Chapter of the Alliance at the University of the Cumberlands in Wil- [email protected]. Française. She lives in Wallingford, Pa. , Cert/BA’97, JD’00, is liamsburg, Ky. She writes that she partici- Boris Umansky ✄

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Destination: FIRENZE

sonya stephens

If you see a group of students gathered around a fresco in the Basilica of Santa Croce, a professor talking about perspective in hushed tones at their center, or another group sketching in the streets or in visu- ally perfect cloisters, you’ve probably stumbled upon Indiana University’s summer program in Florence, Italy. This program, often considered a jewel among IU study-abroad offerings, took 36 students to the heart of Renaissance Italy for six weeks of intensive study this summer. Led by professors Andrea Ciccarelli (Italian) and Martha MacLeish (fine arts); associate instructors of ItalianAndrea Polegato, MA’07, and Valerio Cappozzo, MA’07; and Michael Liery and Michael McCaffrey of fine arts, students took courses inR enaissance Italian culture, drawing, and Italian language. Participants come from many different academic disciplines and majors, and many do not speak Italian. Yet, all of the 2007–08 students were deeply committed to their summer studies in Florence and beyond and were inspired by the teaching and by the environment abroad. And what an environment! Housed in a small, family-run hotel, the students all agreed that the location is unbeatable: right in the heart of Florence and just a short walk from the classrooms and many museums they visited. The students all spoke freely and openly with their hosts at the hotel, practicing Italian whenever possible, and they enjoyed the home- cooked Italian meals prepared for them. Through these experiences, the students acquired significant intercultural awareness and cross-cultural capability in a very short time. They adapted well to the host culture and were well equipped to analyze cultural differences.T here is no doubt that they were helped in this by a strong sense of community and support from their instructors, by an awareness of the role of the self in interaction, and by the opportunities and ability to learn from such interaction. In this way, IU’s Florence program fosters students’ personal, as well as academic, development. Clockwise, from top — view of the Duomo from the Hotel Villani; Andrea Ciccarelli with Florence program students, summer 2008; Florence: espresso; Ponte Vecchio, Florence; and ice cream cones at a Florence gelateria.

Photography by sonya stephens