Details

ONLINE LITERATURE COURSE
“Make it New”: The Invention of the Modern Italian Novel

Course Description:

“A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.” – Italo Calvino

This course will focus on the close reading and analysis of selected masterworks of the modern Italian novel tradition. The main goals will be to investigate the Italian novel’s evolution from the nineteenth-century emphasis on realism, history, and socio-familial issues, to early twentieth-century themes highlighting the role of the individual, the birth of psychology, and the trauma of modernity. We shall also consider the diverse geographic and regional linguistic contexts out of which these novels emerged. Participants will read selections from: Luigi Pirandello’s The Late Mattia Pascal (1904), Italo Svevo’s The Confessions of Zeno (1923) and Italo Calvino’s The Nonexistent Knight (1951). Narrative techniques, language, and thematics will be discussed in detail during class. All texts will be discussed in ENGLISH translation. No prior experience, or reading, is required.

Instructor:

Kristin Stasiowski, Ph.D is the Assistant Dean of International Programs and Education Abroad for the College of Arts and Sciences and is also an Assistant Professor of Italian Language and Literature in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages at Kent State University. She received her Ph.D from Yale University in Italian Language and Literature and has taught Italian language, literature, cinema, history and culture in both Florence, Italy and at Kent State. She recently published a chapter entitled A Divine Comedy for All Time: Dante’s Enduring Relevance for the Contemporary Reader in Italian Pop Culture: Media, Product, Imageries. Rome, Italy: Viella Editrice s.r.. Her current research is focused on Dante, Boccaccio, and the modern poet Clemente Rebora.

Virtual Classroom: Full access to an online educational platform with discussion forum, videos of recordings, syllabus, and reading list.

Location: LIVE INTERACTIVE ON-LINE LITERATURE LECTURES

Optional Readings:
Readings to be provided to students in website and PDF format prior to the beginning of course.

Complete syllabus will be provided upon registration.

• ALL LECTURES WILL BE RECORDED AND AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING AT YOUR CONVENIENCE IN OUR VIDEO LIBRARY FOR THE DURATION OF THE COURSE

Schedule

LECTURE 1 – Luigi Pirandello’s The Late Mattia Pascal (1904)

– Tuesday, April 12

This lesson will explore the extraordinary psychological and existential themes for which Luigi Pirandello is best known and for which famed literary critic Harold Bloom held him in esteem, comparing him to Kakfka, Proust, Joyce, and Beckett among others.

LECTURE 2 – Italo Svevo’s The Confessions of Zeno (1923)

–  Tuesday, April 19

This lesson will explore the continued theme of psychology in narrative as we discuss Svevo’s use of Freudian psychoanalysis in the life of his protagonist, Zeno. Mentored by none other than James Joyce, and lauded by Eugenio Montale, Svevo’s Zeno represents a breakthrough success in the Italian experimental novel.

LECTURE 3 – Italo Calvino’s The Nonexistent Knight (1951)

– Tuesday, April 26

This lesson will explore the post-modern aspects of one of Calvino’s most entertaining novels. Participants will also learn about the Italian Renaissance Epic, the tradition from which Calvino draws, in order to understand the literary, historical, and psychological context for this masterwork of Italian literature.

Instructor

Kristin Stasiowski, Ph.D is the Assistant Dean of International Programs and Education Abroad for the College of Arts and Sciences and is also an Assistant Professor of Italian Language and Literature in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages at Kent State University. She received her Ph.D from Yale University in Italian Language and Literature and has taught Italian language, literature, cinema, history and culture in both Florence, Italy and at Kent State. She recently published a chapter entitled A Divine Comedy for All Time: Dante’s Enduring Relevance for the Contemporary Reader in Italian Pop Culture: Media, Product, Imageries. Rome, Italy: Viella Editrice s.r.. Her current research is focused on Dante, Boccaccio, and the modern poet Clemente Rebora.