COLT 0811W-25446 THE MYTH OF VENICE IN LITERATURE: MEMORY, DESIRE AND DEATH Spring 2015 H hour TuTh 9-10:20am Wilson Hall 206 Ourida Mostefai Visiting Professor French Studies & Comparative Literature Office Hours: Tu-Th. 10:30-11:30 Rochambeau 311; 3.2494 [email protected] “Every time I describe a city, I am saying something about Venice.” “Ogni volta che descrivo una città dico qualcosa di Venezia.” Marco Polo to Kublai Khan, Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities (Le città invisibili, 1972) This course will explore the myth of Venice in literature: focusing on the topos of Venice in the genre of travel narratives and memoirs, we will investigate the themes of liberty and decadence associated with Venice’s theatrical and political culture. We will study the influence of these accounts on the Romantic poets (Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley, Goethe, and Musset), and on modernity and popular culture. Readings will include Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, Henry James’s The Aspern Papers, Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice, Donna Leon’s Death at La Fenice and short pieces by Rousseau, Casanova, Balzac, Dickens, Poe, Proust, and Sartre. SYLLABUS: JANUARY 22: INTRODUCTION: VENICE: HISTORY, MODERNITY AND ANACHRONISM Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Let’s murder the moonlight (Uccidiamo il chiaro di luna, 1909); Against Passéist Venice (Contro Venezia passatista) (1909) pdf JANUARY 27-29: VENICE AS TOPOS? Charles Dickens, “An Italian Dream.” Pictures from Italy (1846), Chapter VII. pdf Georg Simmel, “Venice.” (1907) pdf Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities (Le città invisibili, 1972) pdf FEBRUARY 3-5: TRAVEL NARRATIVES: VENICE AND THE EUROPEAN GRAND TOUR Excerpts from: Richard Pococke, Letters from the Continent (1734); Charles de Brosses, Travels through Italy (1739-1740); Arthur Young, Travels in France and Italy during the years 1787, 1788, and 1789 pdf ; Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Italian Journey, (Italienische Reise, 1816-1818) pdf; Mark Twain, Innocents Abroad, or the New Pilgrim’s Progress (1869) pdf; Jean- Paul Sartre, “Venice from my Window” (“Venise de ma fenêtre,” 1953) pdf FEBRUARY 10-12: LA SERENISSIMA IN THE RENAISSANCE William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice (1600) pdf FEBRUARY 19: ROMANTIC VIEWS OF VENICE Paper #1 due William Wordsworth, “On the Extinction of the Venetian Republic” (1802); Lord Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (Canto IV); “Ode on Venice” (1818); Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Lines Written among the Euganean Hills” (1818); Alfred de Musset, “In Venice the Red” (“Dans Venise la rouge”) (1828) FEBRUARY 24-26: VENICE: POLITICAL FREEDOM AND DECADENCE Carlo Goldoni, The Coffee House (La Bottega del caffè, 1750) pdf Montesquieu, The Spirit of Laws (De l’Esprit des lois, 1748) pdf and Voltaire, Candide (Candide, ou l’optimisme, 1759), Chapters 24-26 pdf MARCH 3-5: LIBERTINE VENICE Excerpts from Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Confessions (pdf); Giacomo Casanova, Memoirs (Histoire de ma vie) MARCH 10-12: VENICE AND THE FANTASTIC Honoré de Balzac, Facino Cane (1836) pdf Edgar Allan Poe, The Assignation (1845) pdf MARCH 17. VENICE IN THE POPULAR IMAGINATION Paper #2 due James Bond Films: From Russia with Love (1963) : Mooonraker (1979); Casino Royale (2006) 2 Hugo Pratt, Corto Maltese: Fable of Venice (Favola di Venezia) (1976) Video Games: Tomb Raider II, 1997; Assassin’s Creed II, 2009 Madonna, “Like a Virgin,” Music Video (1984) Siouxsie and the Banshees, “Dear Prudence,” Music Video (1984) MARCH 31-APRIL 2: AMERICANS IN VENICE Washington Irving, “The Adventure of the Mysterious Stranger,” Tales of A Traveller (1824) pdf Henry James, The Aspern Papers (1888) pdf APRIL 7-9: VENICE AND DEATH Thomas Mann, Death in Venice (Der Tod in Venedig, 1912) pdf Luchino Visconti, Morte a Venezia (Death in Venice, 1971) APRIL 14-16: THE MYSTERY OF VENICE Nicolas Roeg, Don’t look now (1973) Donna Leon, Death at La Fenice (1992) APRIL 21-23: VENICE AND MEMORY Excerpts from John Ruskin, The Stones of Venice (1851-1853) pdf & Marcel Proust, Albertine disparue, A la recherche du temps perdu (1925) pdf Conclusion Paper #3 due: Thursday, May 7 GRADING: 10% class participation and discussion, 10% oral report; 2 short papers (3-5 pages) 20% each; final paper (5-7 pages) (30%) REQUIREMENTS: • Attendance is required: unexcused absences will lower your grade. • Class participation is expected. Reading assignments are to be completed ahead of class meetings. • The 10-minute oral reports will be scheduled after the second week of September. • Three papers: please note the due dates for the papers. 3 .