Course Description
Italian Renaissance and Baroque texts, selected from lyric poetry, the epic, the pastoral, the theater, treatises, scientific prose, family writings and letters. Works by Ariosto, Poliziano, Boiardo, Tasso, Lorenzo, Alberti, Machiavelli, Castiglione, Sannazaro, Marino, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Stampa, Firenzuola, et al. Given in Italian.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will complete longer and additional
assignments, including mandatory oral reports on primary and
secondary materials. Graduate students will be required to
read additional works, and works of greater difficulty, than
undergraduates. These readings will entail the development of
critical perspectives on the literary historical material
covered in the main reading list for the class. Graduate
students are also held to a higher grading standard on tests
and exams, where the content is more detailed and extensive,
and evaluative criteria are more rigorous. Graduate students
will be required to develop and demonstrate the skills of
professional academic research and scholarship.
Athena Title
Ital Lit Culture 1400 to 1700
Non-Traditional Format
Course will be offered approximately every three semesters.
Prerequisite
ITAL 3010 or ITAL 3030
Semester Course Offered
Not offered on a regular basis.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This course aims to place Italian Renaissance and Baroque literature in a broader cultural, social, and linguistic context. Students engage in a “close reading” and analysis of selected works by Italian Renaissance writers. They also study the literary genres, forms, and conventions that make up these works, and discuss the intellectual, historical, philosophical, and cultural background needed to understand the literature of this period. By the end of the term, students will be familiar with the major literary genres of this period, and will improve their interpretive skills through their analysis of representative texts; they will also demonstrate an understanding of literature in relation to society, the arts and sciences. Students are given study questions for the assigned readings. The class breaks-up into small groups to answer the study questions; afterwards the whole class discusses the reading assigned for that day. This is all done in the target language (Italian). Since much of the work students do for this course is reflected in their classroom performance, they get either daily or weekly grades that take into account their oral/aural skills, their ability to answer the study questions, to paraphrase and analyze the assigned readings, and their participation in classroom discussions. In addition to this, students also give several oral presentations in Italian on an assigned reading. Furthermore, students write three essays in Italian of approximately 1000 words each. For each essay the student gets two grades: one for the first draft, and one for the rewrite. Both grades carry equal weight. Finally, they take a final exam which tests not only their linguistic abilities in Italian, but also their ability to analyze literary texts of that period. Like practically every course in our department, this course examines a Romance language, literature, and culture in an integrated manner. Communication and writing skills are developed and given the same importance as analytical skills.
Topical Outline
Renaissance Italy: Humanism and the birth of modern literary scholarship. Lyric poetry and the Petrarchan mode (selected poetry by Chariteo, Tebaldeo, Serafino, Lorenzo, Tasso, Ariosto, Michelangelo, Marino, Vittoria Colonna, Gaspara Stampa, Veronica Franco, Isabella di Morra). Bembo and the "Questione della lingua." Burchiello. Neoplatonism and the figurative arts: Poliziano's Stanze per la giostra. Myth, art, and literature: Giambattista Marino's Adone. Marinismo. From sacred to profane theater: Poliziano's Fabula di Orfeo; Niccolo' Machiavelli's Mandragola; Commedia dell'arte. The return to Arcadia: Sannazaro's Arcadia, Tasso's Aminta. Love, madness, women warriors and the fantastic in epic texts: Ariosto's Orlando furioso, Boiardo's Orlando innamorato. Life at court and society: treatise of the perfect courtier and ideal love: Castiglione's Libro del Cortegiano. Selections from: political treatises (Machiavelli's Principe, Guicciardini), and treatises on feminine beauty (Firenzuola), epistolary texts, biographies, and autobiographies (Strozzi, Vasari, Cellini), family and pedagogical writings (Alberti), philosophical or philological writings (Ficino, Pico, Valla), scientific prose (Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Cristoforo Colombo, Vespucci), and novelle by Bandello, Da Porto, Giraldi).