WINTER/Spring Courses 2009
Shakespeare's Italy
Professor Enoch Brater, Department of English Literature, University of Michigan
4 credits
This course is designed to explore the profound influence Italy and Italian sources have had on the shape of Shakespeare‘s dramatic accomplishment. In order to do so, the class will focus on five central concerns:
1. The ―reinvention‖ of Rome based on Shakespeare‘s re-reading of Plutarch and Seutonius in Julius Caesar, Titus Andronicus, Antony and Cleopatra and Coriolanus.
2. The direct borrowings from Italian romance writers, such as Cinthio, from whom Shakespeare derives several narratives, especially the one he develops in Othello. The ―return‖ to Italy of such a narrative in the hands of Verdi.
3. The incorporation of additional sites and sources in comedies, tragedies and romances such as Romeo and Juliet, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Much Ado about Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Tempest.
4. The idea of the Italian ―renaissance‖ as embodied in Hamlet.
5. The development of a new lyrical language for drama and poetry (Shakespeare‘s sonnets) based on the ―dolce stile nuovo‖ of Dante and Petrarch.
Students in this course will be encouraged to visit the sites where these plays are said to have taken place (included on the program‘s trip to Rome) and consider as well other representations of the figures who appear in Shakespeare‘s writing (Brutus and Lucrezia, for example) as they have been imagined by other artists in the sculpture and painting of the period. The course will conclude with students performing scenes from the plays we have studied on the outdoor theater space on the villa lawn.
The Grand Tour and the Romantic Myth of Italy,
Professor Ernesto Livorni, Department of French and Italian, University of Wisconsin
4 credits
This course explores the idea of cultural exchange as it developed and involved all the artistic (literature, music, painting) and political forces of England, France, Germany, from the second half of the 18th century to the unification of Italy in 1860. In that period many writers and artists visited Italy; however, during their visits, those intellectuals became familiar with the contemporary situation, often joining the Italian political upheaval for the unification (this happened with Byron and Shelley) and deciding to sojourn in Italy even longer than first planned. On the other hand, some Italian writers went to live abroad (Baretti and Foscolo to England; Manzoni was in contact with Parisian circles) and developed an understanding of modern Italian culture in those countries they visited. There was by all means a sharing of experiences that shaped a somewhat mythical image of Italy, caught between a past of splendor and a present of chaos, which was nevertheless attractive.Besides the above-mentioned authors, there will
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also be a consideration of the involvement of music (Verdi‘s operas especially) and the figurative arts (the German Nazarene painters in Rome). Focus on readings from German authors (Goethe, Heine), French (Madame de Stael, Stendhal), British (Byron, Shelley, Keats) and Italian (Foscolo, Leopardi). The aim is that of exploring the intersection of the educational journey taken by the writers and their reflections on the political, social, and cultural situation of Italy, which in turn helped the development of the upheaval that goes under the name of Risorgimento and that lead to the unification of Italy.
Italian Romanticism: Foscolo Manzoni Leopardi
Professor Ernesto Livorni, Department of French and Italian, University of Wisconsin
4 credits
This course focuses on the three most important writers of Italian Romanticism, as the title clearly states. The texts that we will read are Ugo Foscolo‘s epistolary novel Last Letters of Jacopo Ortis, some of his most famous sonnets and the long poem On Sepulchres; Alessandro Manzoni‘s novel The Betrothed; a selection of Giacomo Leopardi‘s Canti as well as one of his dialogues in the Operette Morali. Although they are not Tuscan by birth, these writers recognized the centrality of that region, and in particular Florence, for Italian culture. Thus, Foscolo take his character Jacopo in a trip throughout northern Italy that has one of its finest moments in Florence; his own poem On Sepulchres is famous for the monumental depiction of the symbolic role that the church of Santa Croce in Florence plays at the beginning of the Risorgimento, the political upheaval resulting in the unification of Italy. Manzoni revises his novel in Florence in order to mold the language according to the Tuscan usage. Leopardi as well writes his Operette Morali in conformity with the Tuscan expression of the Italian language, while he experiences another extraordinary moment of lyrical production in the period he lives in Pisa and Florence.
Origins and Birth of the Renaissance Style in the Arts
Professor Josephine Rogers Mariotti, Florence Faculty, University of Michigan
4 credits
Florence offers the unique opportunity of studying ―in situ‖ the works of the great masters of the Renaissance. This course will therefore focus on the birth of the Renaissance style, strictly defined as the artistic movement originating in Florence at the beginning of the Quattrocento (1400s), tracing its development up to the initial stages of the following century, the Cinquecento (1500s). Beginning with early precedents – the so-called proto-renaissance: Nicola Pisano, Giotto di Bondone – we will see that episodes dating as early as the mid-1200s share with the later age basic figurative principles that will emerge in full in the ―new style‖ of the 15th century. How this relates to the coeval humanist movement will be one of our major considerations in the conviction that the history of artistic form is an expression of the history of the human spirit. Our goal shall be to continue in these types of cultural and contextual comparisons throughout the entire survey of the lives and works of the significant personalities in the history of the figurative arts within the 15th century. Florence‘s contacts and cultural exchanges with other major centers in Italy will necessarily be part of our interest and will, in some cases, be complemented by organized excursions to places outside Florence. In-class sessions will alternate with visits to monuments and museums in and around Florence and other nearby sites allowing students to integrate their academic studies with direct experience of artists and their creations. Required readings: Coursepack available at the Villa.
Florentine Renaissance Art: From Lorenzo il Magnifico to Cosimo I: 1469-1539
Professor Josephine Rogers Mariotti, Florence Faculty, University of Michigan
4 credits
The course proposes to survey the development of the arts in Florence from the time of Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici (the Magnificent) to the reign of Cosimo I, the second Duke and the first Grand Duke of Tuscany. We will begin with a survey of the major workshops of late 15th century Florence: Pollaiolo, Verrocchio, Botticelli, Perugino, and Ghirlandaio, whose culture and activities constitute the training ground of the masters of the High Renaissance. These include Leonardo, Raphael, Filippino Lippi, Fra Bartolomeo, Andrea del Sarto and Michelangelo, whose life-span covers the entire period under exam, and whose art will serve as a guideline throughout the course: Michelangelo’s early activity in Florence, his decorative cycles in the Vatican in Rome, and his later activity. The ‘rival’ prince of the papal court, Raphael Sanzio, will likewise be our focus, as both become paragons of a ‘golden age’ of classicism, dramatically interrupted by the ‘Sack of Rome’ of 1527.
The ‘post-peak’ era to follow begins with the experimental and expressively charged art of Pontormo, Rosso Fiorentino and other Tuscan masters who, along with the followers of Raphael and Michelangelo in Rome, are the protagonists of a transformation in style and content termed as ‘Mannerism’ or ‘Maniera,’ a label we will endeavor to define. The development of a self-conscious ‘stylish style’ in the 16th century brings us to admire the ‘court art’ of Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici, whose artists include some of the epoch greatest protagonists: Agnolo Bronzino, Benvenuto Cellini, Francesco Salviati, Parmigianino and Giambologna. More than monographic coverage of each artistic persona, our goal will be to reconstruct the stylistic and cultural interactions and environment in which the artists and patrons operated.
In-class sessions will alternate with visits to monuments and museums in and around Florence, allowing students to integrate their academic studies with direct experience of the works and artists under study.
Italian Literature and the Fantastic
Professor Frieda Ekotto
Department of Romance Languages and Lit - University of Michigan
4 credits
In this course we will consider how the notion of fantasy functions within the traditions of Italian culture and Italian society as a whole. Class will focus on exploring Italian literature of the fantastic, particularly the works of Umberto Eco and Italo Calvino. We will be doing close readings of these authors in order to understand how they represent the fantastic. Fantastic literature provides one of the most interesting vantage points for exploring human psychology and society because it is one way in which authors have been able to reinvent the ―real.‖ In this class, we will be exploring ideas such as: what makes up different realities? How does the author portray counter-realities, as utopias or dystopias? What is the function of depicting counter-realities in certain ways, and how do these representations actually reflect upon the original state of reality to begin with? How can fantastic literature allow us to reflect upon what is everyday ―common sense,‖ both in ordinary knowledge and in terms of accepted modes of thinking?
Literature and Film: Crossing Borders in Europe
Professor Frieda Ekotto
Department of Romance Languages and Lit - University of Michigan
4 credits
In the last decade, filmmakers and writers have become increasingly interested in exploring the migrant experience in Europe. Crossing Borders aims to explore the cinematic representation of these issues in films made within the last five years and to interpret the images and the narratives of the lives of the persons at the heart of this subject.
This course will explore how the figure of the alien or the foreigner is articulated in the European cinematic imaginary and literary texts at the present historical juncture. We will concentrate on several crucial issues: the transnational trafficking in humans, the dangerous conditions of clandestine sea crossings, the vulnerability of migrant women transported across borders for prostitution, the arrest of clandestine migrants by several European coastguards and their detention in overcrowded, under-equipped facilities, the establishing of deportation criteria, and the divergent responses of Europeans to the demands placed on their individual society by rapidly changing demographic realities. Reading literary texts and viewing films, the course will concentrate on opening up different types of political and ideological questions for students. What does it mean to be a European subject today? Where is ―Europe‖ located, especially because Europeans can no longer be considered purely racially ―white‖? How does the very history of European colonialism of the so-called ―Third-World‖ play into the
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configuration of the New Europe, and how exactly does the notion of the ―border‖ work to construct nation-states today?
Gender and Work in the U.S. and Western Europe
Professor Mary E. Corcoran, Department of Political Science - University of Michigan
4 credits
This course provides an overview of the major arguments and evidence about gender and work in the feminist theory, law, and social science literatures and an overview of the policies to promote gender equality in the workplace. The course is organized around five sets of questions; 1. How much do gaps in men‘s and women‘s employment outcomes vary across the U.S. and Western European nations? 2. What are possible explanations for gender-based differences in employment, occupation, and earnings? How much empirical support is there for these explanations? 3. To what extent do gendered expectations of parenting and gendered expectations of work shape men‘s and women‘s allocations of time to the family and labor market choices? How do gendered conceptions of the ideal worker shape the ways in which men and women are evaluated within the work place?
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4. What happens when women integrate formerly ―male‖ professions such as law and medicine in the U.S. and in Western Europe? Do women reach parity with men or are women resegregated into lower-paying specialties within these professions? 5. What strategies (equal opportunity legislation, comparable worth, flexible work, day care subsidies, taxes, etc.,…) have nations and firms used to promote the integration of women into the labor market? How effective are these strategies? To what extent are cross-national policy differences related to cross-national differences in gender-based labor-market inequality?
Poverty, Inequality and Public Policy in the U.S. and Western Europe
Professor Mary E. Corcoran, Department of Political Science - University of Michigan
4 credits
This seminar examines and compares the nature and extent of poverty in the U.S. and Western European countries. The first part of the course focuses on social science theory and evidence about the causes, consequences, and costs of poverty. The last part of the course examines and compares the antipoverty effects of welfare policies, family policies, employment policies, education policies, and redistributive tax policies in the U.S. and Western Europe. The sets of questions to be addressed include: 1. What is poverty? How do rates of poverty, inequality, and intergenerational mobility compare across the U.S. and Western Europe nations? Do countries with higher levels of economic inequality have higher intergenerational mobility rates? Which demographic groups are disproportionately likely to be poor? 2. What are the causes of poverty? What are the interrelationships among poverty, discrimination, family structure, education, and the labor market? 3. What are countries doing to reduce poverty and to improve poor children‘s life chances? Which policies have been effective in reducing poverty and in helping poor children? Are there tradeoffs between reducing economic inequality and promoting economic growth? 4. To what extent are cross-national differences in poverty, economic inequality, and intergenerational mobility attributable to cross-national policy differences?
Italian Cinema: Masterworks from Neorealism to the Present
Professor Stefano Socci, Theatre and Film History, Fine arts Academy of Brera, Milan, and Fine Arts Academy of Florence
4 credits
This course examines the historical, social and cultural roots of Italian Cinema, starting with the silent movies (Cabiria, 1913), and traces its development from Neorealism to the present. The course covers leading directors as Antonioni, Bertolucci, De Santis, De Sica, Fellini, Leone, Moretti, Pasolini, Rossellini, Taviani, Visconti. The course also offers an outline of main genres in Italian Cinema: drama, melodrama, comedy, spaghetti western, peplum (sandal movie). The main purposes of this course are: (1) to introduce students to major Italian movies from Neorealism to the present; (2) to examine some of the basic principles of film criticism; and (3) to show how Italian history is described by Italian directors.
Italian Language
Previous study of Italian is not required in order to apply for the program, as all non-language courses are taught in English. All program participants will be required to take one Italian language course and they are encouraged to study Italian prior to their participation in the program in order to facilitate their integration into Italian culture.
First Semester Italian
Professor Silvia Sammicheli
4 credits
Second Semester Italian
Professor Silvia Sammicheli
4 credits
Third Semester Italian
Professor Lucrezia Sarcinelli
4 credits
Fourth Semester Italian
Professor Lucrezia Sarcinelli
4 credits
Advanced Italian
Professor Lucrezia Sarcinelli
3 credits
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