The course offers a yearlong introduction to the essentials of Italian language, and an opportunity for students to engage with a different culture and a new way of thinking. By the end of the course students are able to understand speech, have a simple conversation, and produce a presentation on everyday topics. They can read and write short essays on a variety of familiar topics, and they are familiar with relevant cultural practices and phenomena associated with Italy and Italian speakers. Class time is devoted to conversation, grammar explanation and practice, student presentations, games, songs, films, etc. Reading and performance of a play by a contemporary author concludes the course. Simona Bondavalli, Mario Sassi.
Yearlong course 105-ITAL 106.
Yearlong course 105-ITAL 106.
- Instructor: Mario Sassi
Fiction teems with transformations: a mischievous wooden puppet longs to be a flesh-and-blood boy; a hideous but sensitive monster roams the Arctic with his creator in vengeful pursuit; a medieval sinner finds his soul trapped within the bark of a sterile tree; a nobleman is physically split in two by a battlefield cannon. What is the nature of our fascination with these ‘in-between’ spaces of bodies and beings? How does the definition of what constitutes humanity change and reflect the hopes, desires, and fears of our society?
This course investigates the cultural and philosophical stakes of the hybrid in Italian fiction, placing it in a transhistorical dialogue with shape-shifting counterparts across centuries and media. We will trace the evolution of these supernatural realities from the medieval encyclopedias of Isidore of Seville and the epic architectures of Dante, through the Baroque grotesques of Basile, to the modern anxieties of Shelley, Collodi, and Calvino. How do these narratives channel fears and curiosities about autonomy, intelligence, desire, and disgust? What do they reveal about the limits of humanity? Students will engage in staged writing assignments, culminating in a research-driven portfolio that explores the enduring legacy of the metamorphic imagination.
This course investigates the cultural and philosophical stakes of the hybrid in Italian fiction, placing it in a transhistorical dialogue with shape-shifting counterparts across centuries and media. We will trace the evolution of these supernatural realities from the medieval encyclopedias of Isidore of Seville and the epic architectures of Dante, through the Baroque grotesques of Basile, to the modern anxieties of Shelley, Collodi, and Calvino. How do these narratives channel fears and curiosities about autonomy, intelligence, desire, and disgust? What do they reveal about the limits of humanity? Students will engage in staged writing assignments, culminating in a research-driven portfolio that explores the enduring legacy of the metamorphic imagination.
- Instructor: Mario Sassi
Italian 205 is an intermediate language course designed to reinforce and build upon the communication and cultural competencies acquired at the introductory level. Some of the goals of this course are: improving reading comprehension, writing, and conversational skills; developing critical thinking in Italian; and deepening students’ understanding of Italian culture.
A variety of texts from different genres, both written and audiovisual, form the basis for activities that facilitate grammar review and expansion, vocabulary development, and practice in written and oral expression. Short stories, essays, poems, magazine articles, comics, websites, pop songs, videos, and a feature film will provide material for analysis and discussion. Students are encouraged to work collaboratively and reflect on their position as learners and intercultural communicators.
A variety of texts from different genres, both written and audiovisual, form the basis for activities that facilitate grammar review and expansion, vocabulary development, and practice in written and oral expression. Short stories, essays, poems, magazine articles, comics, websites, pop songs, videos, and a feature film will provide material for analysis and discussion. Students are encouraged to work collaboratively and reflect on their position as learners and intercultural communicators.
- Instructor: Mario Sassi