Summer 2016 • Vol

SUMMER 2016 • VOL. XXX INDIANA UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF FRENCH AND ITALIAN frit

LAVENDER FIELD, PROVENCE

interdisciplinary courses and to enhance the poetic masterpiece Rerum vulgarium fragmenta, Chair’s Letter critical and intercultural skills that our courses which started in 2013 with an IU New Frontiers provide; we are also broadening our graduate Start-Up Grant, and was awarded a 3-year NEH MASSIMO SCALABRINI curriculum to ensure a rigorous training of our grant in 2014. erving the students and faculty of graduate students through bold methodologi- The news about our graduate and under- the department and helping them to cal innovations and a deeply interdisciplinary graduate students is no less exciting. We had S approach. enhance its academic mission is a true several successful dissertation defenses this French & Italian is a vibrant department year (Kelly Farmer and Jennifer Betters in French privilege, which comes with many rewards but whose long-standing national and international Linguistics, David Wagner and Kathryn Bastin is not without challenges. The first challenge is reputation is strengthened each year by the in French/Francophone Studies and David to live up to the inspiring leadership of my pre- achievements of our faculty and students. I am Winkler in Italian Studies); Lisa Dolasinski (Italian decessors, most recently Andrea Ciccarelli, who pleased to mention just a few of these achieve- Studies) and Rodica Frimu (French Linguistics) concluded his final term as chair last year, after ments. Professor Eileen Julien and a team of received highly competitive College Dissertation many years of effective and generous service, to faculty collaborators from three universities and PhD Completion Fellowships; and several focus on his new position as Dean of the Hutton including Associate Professor Oana Panaïté have of our students secured good academic jobs Honors College. received a National Endowment for the Humani- at institutions such as Ball State, Dallas, Duke, The main challenge however, as Professor ties grant of nearly $200,000 for a summer insti- Notre Dame, and Villanova. Our majors and mi- Ciccarelli pointed out in his last letter, is posed tute in 2016 entitled “Arts of Survival: Recasting by the continuing decline in interest, at the Lives in African Cities.” Another NEH grant of nors continue to participate in record numbers national level and at IU, in liberal arts educa- $240,000 was awarded to Rudy Professor Emeri- in study abroad programs, and their wonderful tion and the humanities in particular, includ- tus Albert Valdman, Associate Professor Kevin work has been recognized with prestigious IU ing world languages and cultures. With the Rottet, Research Associate Marvin Moody (PhD prizes such as the Provost’s Award for Under- unwavering support of our staff, we are working IU, 1972) and Professor Thomas Klingler (PhD IU, graduate Research and Creative Activity (Max tirelessly to respond to this challenge, by imple- 1992) from Tulane University for the develop- Andrew Nelson, BA’15) and the Kate Hevner menting creative innovations while reaffirming ment of a specialized dictionary of Louisiana Mueller Scholarship awarded to “students who our commitment to the core intellectual and French. Professor H. Wayne Storey and Associate have left the campus better than they found it” educational values of our work as teachers and Professor John Walsh (Informatics) have been se- (Erik Troske, BA’16) as well as by national organi- scholars. Our department is a leader in hybrid lected to receive the 2016 Outstanding Faculty zations such as the Italian honor society Gamma and online language teaching; we are revising Collaborative Research Award in recognition of Kappa Alpha and the French honor society Pi our undergraduate curriculum to include more The Petrarchive project to digitalize Petrarch’s Delta Phi.

50 YEARS OF IU IN BOLOGNA A BRIEF HISTORY OF FRIT BEST BOOKS & FILMS OF 2015-16 Graduation 2016: BA graduates’ plans range from railroads to fashion

ISABEL PIEDMONT-SMITH hat do you do when your want to they kept up on class notes with help from Again this year, we have a few graduates take French, but all the classes are their new French friends. who combined their French studies with a W Emily Ellis (BA, Italian and Political scientific field. Maeve Bartiss, who received full? Take Italian of course! That’s how one of Science), who reminisced about her time in degrees in both French and Human Biol- our 2016 graduates was turned on to the Ital- Bologna with her punk rocker Italian room- ogy, has been accepted to attend medical ian language early in her IU career. Rebecca mates, plans to go into the family business, school and hopes to work with Médecins Nash (BA, Italian and Linguistics) studied railroad management. Jad Labban paired sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) French in high school, so it was natural to his studies with LAMP, the Liberal Arts and one day. She completed an honors thesis this continue French in college, which she did, but Management Program, to prepare for a career spring combining her interests and entitled not before discovering a passion for Italian as in business. He will first spend 7 months in “Immigration, politics, and access to health well. Like many of our undergraduate majors, Lyon as an English teaching assistant as part care in France and in the US.” Professor Brett she studied abroad, spending 2014-15 in Bo- of the TAPIF program, like several other Bowles was her thesis advisor. Alisa Klepach logna. This spring, she completed an honors French BA graduates. When asked why he (BA, French and Biochemistry), whose IU thesis on “Origins and comparison of days didn’t enter the Kelley School of Business, study of French started with the High School of the week in Italian, French, and English” Labban said he valued the “soft skills” that a Graduation, continued on pg. 4 under the supervision of Dr. Karolina Serafin. liberal arts education provides. Nash was one of several graduates who gathered in the University Club in early May for a reception hosted by the Department in honor of commencement. “We are proud of our graduates,” said Chair Massimo Scalabrini during the brief program mid-way through the gathering, “and wish them well as they go out into the world.” Our 2016 BA graduates are a diverse and enthusiastic group, eager to delve into a variety of projects after leaving IU. Macaira O’Connell, a double-major in French and Apparel Merchandising, plans to work with small, fair trade vendors as a clothing buyer, and she thinks her French will certainly come in handy working with West African arti- sans. Christina Ortuzar (BA, French and Communication & Culture) has a long-term goal of working in human resources, but her immediate plan is to become a flight attendant, a career in which foreign language skills are certainly key. O’Connell and Ortuzar both studied in Aix-en-Provence, along with Syd- French and English major Sarah Pierre-Paul (second from right) celebrates commencement with family members from Haiti at the ney Liu (BA, French and Journalism), where Department of French and Italian’s reception May 6 in the University Club.. Photo: Lisa Huffman.

frit is published by the Department of French reetings from Aix-en-Provence, France! In 2015-16, sixteen IU students studied literature, and Italian of Indiana University-Bloomington Glinguistics, history, political science, psychology, anthropology, art history, musicology, and more to encourage alumni interest in and support for – in French, of course – as part of the IU overseas study program. The students, and myself as resident Indiana University. The newsletter is paid for by the director, were fully immersed in French university life and French and Provençal culture. Aix is a mid- Department. For information about our programs, sized, culturally vibrant university town – the traditional “capitale de la Provence” -- located between or to donate, please call (812) 855-1952 or visit frit. indiana.edu. the picturesque Luberon mountain range and the Mediterranean coast. Our students connected with the community in diverse ways: patronizing local pastry shops and crêperies, bien sûr!, but also vol- Department of French and Italian unteering with disadvantaged children, tutoring in English, serving as bilingual consultants, running Chair...... Massimo Scalabrini marathons, studying the endangered provençal language, learning about local history from natives, Editor...... Isabel Piedmont-Smith Designer...... Isabel Piedmont-Smith and leaving a light carbon footprint by walking every- where. During vacations, their quest for international College of Arts and Sciences understanding beyond France took some of them as Executive Dean ...... Larry D. Singell Jr. far away as Russia (with much advance planning) and Executive Director of Advancement...... Travis Paulin as surprisingly close as Morocco. In a year marked by terrorist attacks in both France and the US, and by the Director of Alumni Relations ...... Vanessa Cloe largest refugee crisis in recent history, students dem- IU Alumni Association onstrated great maturity, courage, and commitment to Class Notes Editor ...... Bill Elliott multicultural cooperation. We all return to Blooming- ton with new friendships and new perspectives! -- Barbara Vance

Goofing off in sunny Aix are (from front to back) Ty Debes, Amanda Mankovich, Emily Tallo, Isabel Bradley, Manuela Molina Hernández 2 ~ frit summer 2016 (Wisconsin), Grace Corry (Wisconsin), and Courtney Relyea-Spivack. Bologna Program Celebrates 50 Years

ISABEL PIEDMONT-SMITH

he Aula absidale di Santa Lucia in Bologna partnership also includes individual of Janis Russell, a BCSP alumna from IU the heart of Bologna was an appropri- exchanges for University of Bologna (Unibo) and Michael Brusha, a BCSP alumnus from ateT setting for the official ceremony marking students to study at IU. While more than Wisconsin. Alumni and former program the 50th anniversary of the IU Bologna Con- 1,500 alumni have experienced the immer- directors were clustered in groups by decade sive undergraduate program in Bologna, 280 to enjoy a buffet lunch on a beautiful spring sortial Studies Program (BCSP) on May 27. Italian undergraduate students and dozens day. Many of the student testimonials gath- IU President Michael McRobbie, University of Italian graduate students have come to ered for the occasion noted that the year in of Bologna President Francesco Ubertini, Bloomington to study in various fields. Bologna was a defining moment in their former resident directors of the program Faculty exchanges have also taken place lives. Amanda Kaiser (BCSP 1995-96) wrote: from IU and its partner institutions, and throughout the years. “It was an incredible experience that taught alumni of the program all gathered in the Former resident directors Professors me so much about Italy, Italian culture and apse of this former church, built in 1208, H. Wayne Storey and Professor Emeritus myself,” and when asked about the impact of 120 years after the University of Bologna Edoardo Lèbano from the Department of the program, Anne Christopherson (1984- was founded. The modern windows behind French and Italian were also in attendance. 85) simply replied “I am still here, aren’t I?” the podium looked out on a stone wall from Professor Massimo Scalabrini was present Whether still physically close to Bologna many centuries ago, as the relatively short both as department chair and as a Unibo or not, alumni all agree the experience has alumnus who studied at IU, and Professor stayed with them. Here’s to the next 50 years half-century anniversary of the collaboration Andrea Ciccarelli, Dean of the Hutton of the BCSP! between the two universities was marked Honors College, also took part in the cel- with both solemnity and humor. ebration. Andrea Ricci (PhD’02), resident direc- A beautiful vista overlooking Bologna Above: IU President Michael McRobbie addresses the tor of BCSP, welcomed the guests to the of- crowd in the Aula absidale di Santa Lucia (photo from provided the backdrop for the next day’s IU Communications). Below: Bologna Consortial Studies ficial celebration, along with Kathleen Sideli, luncheon at the Villa Scarani, where guests Program alumni gather at the Villa Scarani (photo by Lorena managing director of the BCSP and Associ- were treated to the rhythm and blues stylings Leoni). ate Vice President for Overseas Study at IU. Isabella and Massimo Musa, the wife and son of the program’s founder, the late Distin- guished Professor Mark Musa, were recognized, and Professor Christopher Kleinhenz (PhD’69) spoke as a former resident director from the University of Wisconsin, a BCSP partner. McRobbie bestowed upon Dr. Uber- tini the Thomas Hart Benton Medallion, given to individuals who have achieved a high level of distinction in public service and have exemplified the values of IU. “The longstanding collaboration between the University of Bologna and Indiana University has brought enormous benefits to both institutions,” McRobbie said as part of his remarks. “Our students have shared ideas and learned from each other’s perspectives. Extraordinary strong personal bonds have linked members of our faculties, who have grown in wisdom and ability through fifty years of collaboration.” Indeed, in addition to the study abroad program for American undergraduates, the frit summer 2016 ~ 3 1820 A Brief History of French & Italian at IU Indiana ISABEL PIEDMONT-SMITH University 1836 Founded French first chair of the department in 1891. This was taught recarious and full of uncertainty were the days when Professor a period of rapid growth in enrollment: “P during his first year, the department had 1860 Marquis arrived to take up his duties at 40 students, and the second year over 100. Chair of IU,” wrote Bennett P. Reed in the Bloom- Modern 1880 An Indiana Daily Student article from 1893 Italian first ington Herald-Telephone in 1955. Emanuel relays some sense of the sociable nature Languages Marquis was the first chair of Modern established taught of the department. “One very interesting Languages at Indiana University, appointed and instructive feature of the course in 1885 in 1860 shortly before the Civil War began. Modern Romance Languages is the soirées held at Languages Thus begins the history of French as a the residence of the professor in charge of moves to course of study at IU over 150 years ago. the department twice a month. All students Maxwell Hall French was the first modern language in French are invited to come and spend (renamed offered at the university, starting in 1836, the evening and no language but French is Mitchell Hall) followed by German in 1854. Marquis was spoken; the evenings are passed in singing fluent in both languages. A native of the songs and frequently some of the best stu- Modern Grand Duchy of Mecklinburg (Germany), dents give extracts from French dramas.” Languages split he came to IU from Asbury College in into Romanic By the time of Bert Young’s tenure as and Germanic Greencastle, Ind., a precursor to Wabash chair in the 1920s, Spanish had outpaced 1887 Languages & College. Professor Marquis had only one Italian as the second most popular lan- First BA degrees in Literatures colleague in Modern Languages, Profes- guage. The 1923-24 enrollment report French conferred sor Hibben, who left for service as a US showed 1,019 students in French, 646 in on 4 students army chaplain in 1861. Enrollments indeed Spanish, and 20 in Italian. This trend was 1896 languished during the Civil War period, surely a factor when the Board of Trustees Romance and one can well imagine Marquis covering decided to split the department, in June Languages moves all classes. 1934, into the Department of French and to Kirkwood Hall The year Marquis departed IU, 1864, Italian and the Department of Spanish. was when Spanish was first offered, and Professor Young continued to chair the Italian first appeared in the course catalog new department until 1945. The IU Bul- in 1880-81. In 1885, the Board of Trustees letin from 1935 listed 12 faculty members voted to split the growing Department of in French and Italian, including Grace 1934 Modern Languages into Romanic and Ger- Philputt Young and Lander MacClintock, Romance Languages manic Languages and Literatures. Roman- both featured in the pages of this newsletter split into Dept. of ic, also known as Romance, languages was in previous editions and both namesakes of French & Italian and led by Samuel Garner and included French, Dept. of Spanish & current student prizes. Portuguese Spanish, and Italian. The French linguistics specialization An annual report to the university at the graduate level was created in 1961, president (at that time, David Starr Jordan) and the first PhD granted in this program 1959 by the head of Romance Languages, John was to William Henning (1964), although Dept. of French & E. Matzke, gives a snapshot of the depart- the official distinction between a degree Italian moves to ment during this period. French was still Ballantine Hall in French literature and French linguistics very much the focus of the department, was not made in the course bulletin until with Italian and Spanish offered in alternat- 1969-70. The 1966-67 bulletin saw the first 1966 ing years. In 1890-91, the freshman class in mention of MA and PhD degrees in Italian. First mention of Italian 1969 the department was comprised of 13 men The first PhD in Italian was awarded to MA and PhD programs First mention of separate and 13 women, with considerably fewer Christopher Kleinhenz in 1969. in the IU Bulletin PhD program in French students in the upper classes. The junior Both French and Italian programs linguistics in the IU Hermani Bulletin class read Victor Hugo’s drama as thrived in the late 1970s and early 1980s. well as Corneille’s Horace, and in the sec- In Fall 1981, there were 714 students 1995 ond term studied from Thomas Frederick enrolled in first-semester French and 186 Professor Rosemary Crane’s Romantisme Français. Instruction in first-semester Italian. By the late 1980s, 1999 Lloyd becomes the in Italian was an option for juniors, which there were close to 100 graduate students. Professor Andrea first female chair of started with grammar and ambitiously Although our numbers have decreased Ciccarelli becomes FRIT the first chair from the intended to read Dante by the end of the since then, the breadth and diversity of our Italian program academic year. faculty has increased, and our reputation Professor Edouard P. Baillot became remains strong. 2015 Historical photos from the IU Archives: Mitchell Hall circa 1889 (P0045427), Kirkwood Hall in 1907 (P0020040), Ballantine Hall FRIT moves to in 1962 (P0022647). Photo of Global & International Studies Building by Isabel Piedmont-Smith. the Global and International Studies Graduation, continued from pg. 2 Building was the case for Thérèse Detablan (BA, Honors Program in Brest (Brittany), has a French, Public Policy Analysis, Internation- job lined up with Eli Lilly in pharmacologi- al Business), whose family speaks a native cal research. language of the Philippines and who spent Often, early exposure to different 4 ~ frit summer 2016 part of her childhood living in Switzerland. cultures sparks a passion for language. This She was our third departmental honors Top new books in French

Temps glaciaires by Fred Vargas. If you serenity, and tragedy infuse this lyrical and nese cityscapes, and unfulfilled desire are enjoy following the endearingly dreamy, troubling portrait of a marriage. just a few of the rewards offered by this rumpled, offbeat, and brilliant Adamsberg Mémoire de fille by Annie Ernaux. A re- prize-winning novel. Winner of France’s of Vargas’s detective fictions, her latest spected writer takes on a long-postponed premier literary prize, the Prix Goncourt. novel reaches new summits of verve, inge- project within an oeuvre she declines to La cache by Christophe Boltanski. This nuity and surprise. True to her trademark call “autofiction”: confronting her loss of first novel by a distinguished journalist for preference for historic inscription, Vargas innocence at eighteen to a fellow camp draws on Robespierre and his Reign of counselor one summer evening in her na- the Nouvel Observateur draws on family se- Terror while taking us on a side trip to tive Normandy. Ultimately scorned by her crecy and trauma surrounding the experi- Iceland in this superbly intricate, multi- young lover, Ernaux grapples with long- ence of his Jewish grandfather during the layered page-turner. Winner of the Prix buried feelings of desire, pride, bewilder- Nazi occupation of France. Simulating an Landerneau for the best detective novel of ment, resentment, and humiliation. argument with his wife, Etienne Boltan- 2015. Boussole by Mathias Enard. Redo- ski storms out of the family apartment, En attendant demain by Nathacha Ap- lent with nostalgia, longing, bittersweet to return surreptitiously in the middle of panah. In this fifth novel by a young writer humor, and erudition, Enard’s beautiful, the night—and spend 20 months hidden from the island of Mauritius, an interracial haunting and densely woven narrative is between floors of the apartment. Limpid, couple renounces artistic pursuits to raise much more than a novel. From within his poignant, haunting, this narrative is not a daughter. Stultified by their bourgeois Vienna apartment, an ailing and insomniac only the account of a family’s solidarity routine, they take in a young Mauritian musicologist thinks back on adventures refugee, who discovers that she is an un- in Turkey, Egypt, Iran and Syria, inflected in the face of isolation, fear, suspicion and witting artistic inspiration for the couple— by his impossible love for the elusive and hatred, but, on a broader scale, the record and drama ensues. Nostalgia for a faraway idealized Sarah. Reflections on music, of a dark period in French history. Winner tropical homeland, regret over broken politics, history, literature, Ottoman cul- of the Prix Femina. promises, the possibility of renewed tures and landscapes, archaeology, Vien- -- Margaret Gray and Oana Panaïté Top new books in Italian

La scuola cattolica by Edoardo Albinati. als and political figures such as Ginzburg to bue. The author is one of Italy’s most known This historical novel revolves around an infa- chart a new moral direction. and beloved singers and songwriters. His mous rape and murder perpetrated by a small La prima verità by Simona Vinci. In stories tell of the pain of love, the tedium group of well-to-do high school seniors in the the first part of this novel, a young woman and solitude of provincial life, the discov- late 1970’s in Rome, some of whom went to investigates a prison camp during the late ery of sex, and the pleasure of music as an school with Albinati. He contrasts the formal 1960’s Colonel dictatorship in Greece, where exorcism to life’s problems. His writing is education and the apparently disciplined political prisoners were incarcerated together quick and direct, with short dialogues and and quiet, almost boring, daily life of the straight answers, as if trying to render both neighborhood with the underlying violence Well over 1,200 pages, this novel seemed out the urgency of human communication as well and disrespectful social education embraced of place in the “fiction bestsellers” sections of as the inability to fully communicate human by the perpetrators. Although long, this is Italian bookstores. It looked like a distracted cus- emotions. a book worth reading because of its refined Caffè amaro by Simonetta Agnello psychological, historical and sociological tomer had put an encyclopedia or a dictionary on Hornby. Another excellent historical novel set examination of an intricate and fundamental the wrong shelf. And yet, Albinati pulled it off. in Italy in the first half of the 20th century, it part of Roman culture of the time. Winner of the prestigious Strega Prize for 2016. with mental patients, as well as with poets follows the story of Maria, who develops her Il tempo migliore della nostra vita and literary figures who did not adapt to the free spirit thanks to her personal, erotic and by Antonio Scurati. Part biography and part constitutional norm. In the second part of political choices. Maria represents an entire fiction, this novel tells the exceptional story the novel, the protagonist herself experiences generation of women and of Italians who of Leone Ginzburg, the antifascist intel- mental issues that bring her in close contact struggled to come to terms with modernity. lectual first imprisoned and then killed by with the world of the marginalized. Vinci Hornby, an Italian-British author and jurist the fascists before the end of WWII. Scurati explores the natural tendency to label as mad specializing in children’s rights, writes in captures a post-war Italy that had to develop or divergent any trend that does not conform dense prose, exploring complicated historical a new political structure, but could use the to the needs of a political regime. and psychological ideas in a changing society. stoic example and teachings of intellectu- Scusate il disordine by Luciano Liga- --Andrea Ciccarelli student this year, who wrote a thesis on “The and she had relatives from Haiti in town cel- ates eager to make their way in the world. notion of patrimoine in France and its impact ebrating her commencement with her, as well Overall, FRIT had 31 BA graduates in May on French legislation” under the direction as her parents from Indianapolis. and (scheduled for) August 2016, 10 students of Professor Laurent Dekydtspotter. Sarah As the coffee ran low and the last biscotti who earned MA degrees, and 5 students who Pierre-Paul (BA, French and English), grew was eaten, the University Club still reverber- earned PhDs. frit summer 2016 ~ 5 up with Haitian Creole spoken in her family, ated with the excited voices of young gradu- faculty notebook

Julie Auger presented some of her most recent drawings from the library’s collec- research on the Picard language at the NWAV tions. She also gave a talk at the 44 conference in Toronto (with collaborator Renaissance Society of America Anne-José Villeneuve, PhD ‘11), the LSRL 46 meeting in Boston on rethink- conference in Stony Brook, and a conference ing tolerance in Early Modern on literature and language in Amiens, France. France. This summer she is spend- She also conducted more fieldwork in Picardie ing time in Parisian libraries to during her stay. In addition, she has given conduct further research on French invited lectures on Picard at the University of theater machines (anything that Florida and on Québec French at the Utah Val- moves or makes things move on ley University. Research funds obtained from stage). Her current projects center the Department as well as the IU Institute for particularly around Montaigne and Alumna Caroline Fache (PhD’07), Professor Eileen Julien, and Professor Oana Panaïté at Advanced Studies have allowed her to create a affect and the history of French the 30th annual congress of the Conseil International d’Études Francophones. small Picard research group with three graduate theater machines. students who help with the transcription of her Over the past academic year, tive study of Welsh and English, to be published recent recordings and develop their own new along with serving as Interim Director of Un- in late 2017. and exciting research projects. dergraduate Studies, Margaret Gray much en- In Fall 2015, Colleen Ryan enjoyed co-teach- Vincent Bouchard published “L’institution joyed an invitation to speak on Sartre, Beauvoir, ing the Italian Theater Workshop with gradu- littéraire montréalaise et les Acadies” in Benoit Camus and Existentialism on the local WFHB ra- ate student Iuri Moscardi (MA’16), in which Doyon-Gosselin (dir.), Les institutions littéraires dio program Interchange. She was also honored students approached the study of language and en question dans les francophonies canadiennes, to be inaugural co-speaker, with Eric MacPhail, literature in dynamic and introspective ways, Québec: CEFAN--PUL. He presented his research for the Stegman Modern Languages and Clas- through the preparation of monologues, com- on franco-Ontarian cinema and literature at the sics Speaker Series at Ball State University, a media dell’arte inspired “mask” scenes, a poetry University of Toronto last year as well as “Cinéma series founded by Dorothy Stegman (PhD ‘99). concert, and a short one-act play by Pirandello. direct: influences, échanges et collaborations,“ at Her chapter on “Swann Fétichiste” appeared in a She also taught two Italian American literature an international colloquium in Nantes, France, collection on Proust with Cambridge University and culture courses this year and was instru- in June 2015. Bouchard spent June 2015 on a Press, and an article on contemporary French mental in planning the American Association of short-term faculty residency at the University of writer Noémi LeFebvre’s novel, L’Autoportrait Teachers of Italian’s Conferences in San Diego, bleu, was published in a Swiss collection. Bayreuth, Germany conducting research in the Naples, and Boston. She was named President Professors Oana Panaïté and Eileen Julien archives of the Institut für Afrikastudien (IAS) for of the American Association of University Su- attended the 30th annual congress of the his book manuscript The Movie Commentator in pervisors and Coordinators, and gave a talk and Conseil International d’Études Francophones Africa: Between Propaganda and Popular Appro- led a discussion session for this group at the in May, where they met Caroline Fache (PhD priation. This summer he is continuing work on ADFL Seminar West this summer. his book through a Mellon Short-Term Faculty ’07), currently Associate Professor at Davidson College. The conference took place in Saly- Wayne Storey’s Petrarchive Project (http:// Fellowship in France and Belgium. petrarchive.org) continues to add poems and During 2015-16 Brett Bowles began a new Portudal (Senegal), and was dedicated to the the topic “L’arbre à palabres”. Julien moderated a features to the edition and apparatus. This research project on illustrated French mural special roundtable on “Les enjeux de la création last year Storey met with former and current posters as a form of propaganda during the artistique au Sénégal, aujourd’hui” (with writer students Marco Aresu, Giulia Benghi (MA’13), First World War. Building on an invited lecture at Ken Bugul and film director Angèle Diabang). Isabella Magni (MA’13), and Giovanni Spani the University of Iowa and a conference paper Panaïté organized a panel entitled “Paroles (PhD‘04) at conferences at SUNY–Binghamton, on the topic, he will be conducting archival gelées, paroles muettes – raconter, montrer, ef- Toronto, and Lausanne (Switzerland), as he research in Paris this summer thanks to a travel facer la mémoire coloniale,” in which Fache also presented on his most recent work on Petrarch grant from the College Arts & Humanities participated. Institute. as well as studies on Romance philology and Kevin Rottet was awarded an NEH grant Alison Calhoun spent a few days at the Mor- manuscript studies. In May, he and his princi- in collaboration with Rudy Professor Emeritus gan Library (New York) researching theater pal collaborator, John A. Walsh, received the Albert Valdman, Tom Klingler (PhD ‘92) Outstanding Faculty Collaborative Research and Marvin Moody (PhD ’72) to work Award, sponsored by the IUB Provost and the on a comparative historical and etymo- Vice Provost for Research at Indiana University, logical dictionary of Louisiana French. for their work on the Petrarchive. This represents the culmination of their Nicolas Valazza published two articles: previous work on the lexicon of Louisi- the first on poet Arthur Rimbaud in the Revue ana French. The Dictionary of Louisiana d’Histoire Littéraire de la France, and the sec- French (University Press of Mississippi, ond, “Huysmans et Zola face à la peinture de 2009) covered the contemporary (post- 1930) language, whereas this new Gustave Moreau” in the Revue des Lettres Mod- project will add the historical dimen- ernes. He also gave a paper entitled “Presqu’un sion and comparative perspectives livre: l’édition photolithographique des Poésies de with other places in la Francophonie. Mallarmé” at the 23rd conference of the Society Doctoral student Carly Bahler (MA ’13) for the History of Authorship, Reading and and graduate Michael Kunz (MA ’11) Publishing in Montreal in July 2015, and a paper are assisting with the project. Rottet is entitled “The End of Books?”, at the 7th confer- Professors Margaret Gray (right) and Eric MacPhail (center) at Ball State also collaborating with Steve Morris of ence of the Société des Études Romantiques et University with Dorothy Stegman (PhD’99). Swansea University, Wales on a contras- Dix-neuviémistes in Paris, in January 2016.

6 ~ frit summer 2016 alumni notebook In March, Caterina A. “Cathy” Blitzer, BA’69 the South Carolina Foreign Language Teach- and the practice of law.” (French and Italian), received the prestigious ers Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award After completing a post-doc at the University 2016 Paul Simon Award from the Central during the organization’s 2015 conference. of Glasgow, Brian José, MA ’03 (French linguis- States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Byers is a professor of French and an expert tics), has started a tenure-track position as Assis- Languages. She was recognized for her lifelong in world language teaching methodology. He tant Professor of Linguistics in the Department promotion of language education and cultural has also co-authored two high school French of Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics at understanding. Blitzer, who speaks five lan- textbooks and has published several articles in Indiana State University. guages, recently retired as Global Learning and The French Review, the journal of the American Marie-Line Brunet, PhD ’13 (French litera- World Languages Specialist for the Indiana De- Association of Teachers of French. The SCFLTA ture), will be starting a tenure-track position partment of Education. The award is named for Lifetime Achievement Award is presented each as Assistant Professor of French at Ball State the late Illinois Senator Paul Simon, a dedicated year to a world language educator who has University this August. She previously taught advocate for the study of foreign languages and demonstrated excellence in, and commitment for three years as Visiting Assistant Professor at author of The Tongue-Tied American: Confronting to, teaching and leadership in world language Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania. the Foreign Language Crisis, published in 1988. education throughout his/her career. Byers lives Abigail D. Silbert, BA’13 (Italian), is a Blitzer lives in Indianapolis. in Greer, S.C. senior designer in the Chicago office of digital Joanne Sabarese Greenway, MA’71 (French), Jessica De Pinto, MA ’93 (Italian), practiced marketing agency iCrossing. She is also a 3D taught French at Manchester College (Indiana) international trade law in Chicago for close to artist. She previously worked as junior art and then pursued a career in social work in 18 years and is now an adjunct professor at director at the marketing and advertising Cincinnati, where she has lived for the past 43 Loyola University Chicago, where she teaches company TracyLocke. Silbert lives in Chicago. years. After retirement she found the time to “Law and Regulations for Organizational Lead- Opera singer and renaissance man Chris- read and write again. She has been writing free ers.” She is an alumna of the Bologna Consortial topher G. Lysack, BM/BS’00, MM’02, MA’06 verse poetry since the passing of her husband, Studies Program and a former student of pro- (French literature), DM’09, PhD’14 (French Clarence Greenway (also an IU alumnus) in gram founder Professor Mark Musa, whom she literature), has received critical acclaim for his 2004. In March 2016, Finishing Line Press remembers fondly as a “teacher’s teacher.” “I tell many operatic performances in Germany. Up- published her first poetry chapbook: Limited my students jokingly (only half-jokingly) that coming engagements include roles as Cavara- Engagement. the best business books they’ll ever really need dossi in Tosca and Hans in The Bartered Bride at In 2015, Bruce A. Byers, PhD’88 (French), to master are The Divine Comedy (Dante) and Theater Aachen, and the title role in Benjamin chair of the Division of Modern Language and The Prince (Machiavelli)” she writes, referring to Britten’s Peter Grimes at Theater Bremen. He is Literature at Bob Jones University, was awarded the latter work as “how I survived law school currently living in Aachen, Germany.

Félicitations and congratulazioni! Departmental awards 2016 We are proud of this year’s French and Italian Peter Cannings Memorial Prize Emily Ellis award winners, listed below. They are all Kelly Kasper-Cushman (PhD student) Jacqueline Hassenplug Rebecca Nash undergraduate students unless otherwise Mario & Katrina Vangeli Memorial Award indicated. We extend a warm thank-you to all Hannah Henderson Gabriella Di Palma the donors who make these prizes possible! Laura Rastl Grace P. Young Awards Jessica True Lander MacClintock Memorial Award Megan Dyer Sara Dallavalle (PhD Student) Jordan Lenchitz Pi Delta Phi French Honor Society Quentin M. Hope Memorial Award Helen Grace Shymanski Erika Eads Dana Vanderburgh Sarah Kay Hurst (PhD student) Nicole M. Ehleringer Amanda Vredenburgh (PhD student) Adam C. Kiefer Charlotte F. Gerrard Memorial Prize Jad Labban Emma Johnson John K. Hyde Award Eligh Langlais Sophia Saliby Mary V. Lèbano Memorial Prize Jordan Lenchitz Laura Rastl Kuersteiner Memorial Prize Shannon McPike Shannon McPike Anne-Therese Ryan Eneria Ruggeri Memorial Helen Grace Shymanski Awards Angela Tauber Jenica Brown Amelia Marie Weller Isabella Magni (PhD student) French Associate Instructor Awards Carol Ann Brush Hofstadter Flavien Falantin (PhD student) Memorial Scholarships Amanda Vredenburgh (MA student) Matthew Galeski Italian Associate Instructor Awards Cecilia Theberge Sara Dallavalle (PhD student) Gamma Kappa Alpha Italian Letizia Montroni (PhD student) Honor Society Trustees Teaching Award Jenica Brown Professor Alison Calhoun

New members are inducted into the Gamma Kappa Alpha Italian Honor Society (left to right): Laura Rastl, Jessica True, Gabriella Di Palma, Rebecca frit summer 2016 ~ 7 Nash, and Emily Ellis. Photo: Lisa Huffman. Indiana University, Bloomington Global & International Studies Building 355 North Jodan Avenue Bloomington, IN 47405-1105

The newly renovated royal palace of Carditello in Campania, Italy, freatured in Bella e perduta. Photo: Calamo, from carditello. wordpress.com.

Top new films in French Top new films in Italian Dheepan by Jacques Audiard, engages with the topical themes of civil Sangue del mio sangue by Marco Bellocchio. This haunting film is war, violence and immigration through the beautifully told story of its pro- comprised of two tales that have the setting of the convent of Bobbio in tagonist, a former Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger who flees to France under a new common. In the 17th century, a group of priests tries to prove that a young name, Dheepan, and his pretend family. While they try to integrate into nun is doing Satan’s work, as the convent becomes heavy with psychologi- the French society where they seek peace and a semblance of normalcy, cal tension. In the present, a Russian millionaire seeks to turn the convent another set of challenges, both past and present, await him, his new wife into a luxury hotel but must first grapple with it reigning inhabitant, the and daughter. Winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes, 2015. corrupt vampire Count Basta. Guibord s’en va-t-en guerre by Philippe Falardeau is a political comedy Bella e perduta by Pietro Marcello. The servant Pulcinella – named after from the French-Canadian director of Monsieur Lazhare (2011 Best Foreign the classic masked figure from Commedia del’arte – is sent from heaven to Language Film nominee). An ineffectual politician from the fictional region lead a buffalo calf from the former royal palace of Carditello in Campania of “la belle province” must ultimately decide whether the country will to a new owner. The calf, Sarchiapone, is anthropomorphized and narrates engage in a foreign war. A funny, satirical, and often “dérangeant” movie. the journey, which accentuates the beauty of the Italian countryside but also the physical ruin modernization leaves behind. Ma Loute by Bruno Dumont is set in the early 20th century in the community of Slack Bay. This comedy relies on the premise of a mystery (the Non essere cattivo by Claudio Caligari. Set in the 1990s, this film focuses investigation into a series of disappearances) only to draw us deeper into on the friendship between two hard-living young men and their life of the director’s favorite themes: social satire, androgyny, inbreeding, and nightclubs, luxury cars, alcohol and drugs. When Vittorio pursues a higher even cannibalism. Splendidly acted by such veterans of the French screen calling, will Cesare be left behind? Winner of the Pasinetti Award at the as Fabrice Luchini and Juliette Binoche. 2015 Venice Film Festival. Juste la fin du monde by Xavier Dolan tells the story of a writer who re- Per amor vostro drama by Giuseppe M. Gaudino. Battered wife and turns to his small home town to settle long-standing family issues prior to mother of three Anna tries to gain some measure of independence from his impending death. The cast includes a hit parade of French actors famil- her miserable home life by taking on a job writing cue cards for TV soap iar to Hollywood including Vincent Cassel, Marion Cotillard, and Gaspard opera actors. A handsome TV star seduces her, but happiness is elusive. Ulliel. Winner of the Grand Prize of the Jury at Cannes, 2016. A Bigger Splash by Luca Guadagnino. The island idyll of rock star Marianne Fatima by Philippe Faucon revolves around a single Maghrebi mother and her lover Paul is disturbed by the arrival of cynical record producer who has lived her life in France. After a serious accident that leaves her and old flame Harry, with his newly discovered beautiful young daughter impaired, she writes letters to her teenage French-born children in Arabic in tow. Tensions rise against the gorgeous background of the volcanic is- to express emotions and parts of her identity that she never before shared. land of Pantelleria. Starring Tilda Swinton, Matthias Shoenaerts, and Ralph The film is reminiscent of Mariyama Bâ’s classic “Une si longue lettre.” Fiennes. -- Vincent Bouchard, Brett Bowles, Oana Panaïté -- Antonio Vitti