This course investigates the role of literature and cinema in shaping questions of cultural, regional and national belonging. We will study the problematic process of the construction of Italian identities along with the emergence of poetic frontiers in the historical experience and geographical configuration of Italian literature. We will study in particular the role of the Mediterranean in promoting contradictory phenomena such as cultural pluralism and colonialism. On the one hand, we will consider how Mediterranean landscape has influenced Italian culture and sense of identity and belonging in specific historical contexts. On the other hand, we will see how human and historical activity has modified and adulterated the Mediterranean landscape from the formation of the Italian national state up to the present. We will examine literary landscapes from different regions of the Italian Peninsula (Liguria, Sardinia and Sicily) and Mediterranean basin, particularly those related to Italian colonial experience (Libya).

Essays and creative writings from Andrea Zanzotto, Italo Calvino, Francesco Biamonti, Tomasi di Lampedusa, Vincenzo Consolo, Salvatore Satta, Ennio Flaiano, Mario Tobino, Raffaele LaCapria and Roberto Saviano. Films by Luchino Visconti, Giuliano Montaldo and Mario Monicelli. Selected critical readings from Carlo Dionisotti, Carl Schmitt, Franco Cassano and Predrag Matvejevic.

SCHEDULE

GRADING AND REQUIREMENTS

-Participation in the working groups and in the seminar (25%) / Attendance (10%)

The students in groups of four will meet once per week outside the class and will prepare their comments to the readings of the day, for this reason the groups would meet in advance.The comments should focus on the required primary sources. Secondary sources are mandatory only for graduate students. Recommended readings are further suggestions for those students interested in exploring more in depth the theoretical questions concerning literature and testimony. For each session one group will be asked to present to the seminar a short paper (one-page single spaced).

-Course survey 15%

-Paper Statement 10%

A one-page single spaced written statement of your paper. This should include 2 paragraphs of text and a list of at least four sources you are planning to use for your essay. The first paragraph should introduce the topic of your paper and the reasons it interests you; the second paragraph should explain your methodology. The bibliography should be annotated to show how these references pertain to your essay and how you are going to use them, This assignment is due on October 26. (The source may be a book, article, feature film, video or a web site).

-Final paper (40%)

The final paper or research paper is the most important requirement for this course.The paper will be developed in stages. In the first weeks of the course the students will explore possibilities for a paper topic in consultation with the Professor. A brief written statement of the topic or topical area for the research paper is due for the eighth week. This statement should be 2-4 pages long and should indicate, as nearly as possible, the direction the student plans to take with the research paper and the primary and secondary sources selected.
A draft of the final paper will be required for the meeting before the last class in order to have it ready for the final discussion.The complete version of the final paper should 10-12 pages long for undergraduate and 12-15 pages for graduate; it is due on December 9, and should be submitted electronically.

GRADING POLICY FOR THE ESSAY

Scores:

Excellent Essay: A- (90-93) A (94-97) A+ (98-100).
Good Essay: B- (80-83) B (84-87) B+ (88-89).
Satisfactory Essay: C- (70-73) C (74-77) C+ (78-79)

Criteria for each category:

-The thesis is clear and developed logically and coherently, using vivid and concrete detail and appropriate evidence to back up the argument (20%);

-This essay makes a fluid, reasoned, well-supported argument (10%);
-It includes pertinent quotations from multiple sources (10%)
-Each paragraph is coherent and begins with a topic sentence that presents a point of your argument and relates to your thesis (10%);
-It is well-organized: it includes an introduction, a body and a conclusion, and features smooth transitions (10%)
-Evidences varied sentence structure, fresh diction, strong voice, appropriate tone, and something memorable and original (5);
-This writing interests its audience in what you have to say. It invites reading (10%);
-There are only insignificant grammatical and mechanical errors, if any (5%)

Unsatisfactory Essay (D-,D, D+). The writing detracts from the essay’s thesis and may make reading difficult. The essay will have a thesis that is insufficiently supported with specific detail. The thesis itself may not be suitable to the audience or the scope of the assignment, or the thesis and argument of the essay may not be in agreement. Organization may be sketchy or inadequate. There are such errors in grammar, mechanics, logic, sentence structure, or organization that the controlling idea of the essay is obscured rather than clarified, or the ideas themselves lack careful thought. The essay may not be the assigned length.
Unacceptable Essay (F). This essay has no discernible thesis and thus no structure stemming from it. Serious grammatical and mechanical errors abound. There is no attempt to identify or reach an audience with this writing. Unacceptable writing also includes writing that is plagiarized in part or as a whole.

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