Italian [In Venice] S4490. Venice and Modernity. 5 poin

Columbia Summer Program in Venice: Summer 2012
Department of Italian
“ Italian [In Venice] S4490. Venice and Modernity. 5 points.”
June 5th – July 13th
TW 9:00am – 1:00pm
F 9:30 – 12:30pm
Workshop Meeting Dates:
Every Wednesday
3:00pm – 5:00pm
Course Description
Prerequisites: Two years of college-level Italian or equivalent.
Instructor: Paolo Valesio
The city of Venice is justly celebrated for its ancient culture and beauty, going back to the VI
century of the Vulgar Era. The superficial observer may sometimes have the impression that
Venice is a city living in the past. This course underscores instead that Venice, among its many
other splendors, has the distinction of being since the end of the nineteenth century a key city for
the emergence of modern culture in all its aspects, rivalling the role of cosmopolitan centers like
Paris, London, New York, Rome. Venice’s strategic role in modernity is aptly symbolized by
events like the Biennale di Venezia which from 1895 on is the most prestigious art exhibit event
on the international scene, and the Venice Film Festival, the oldest (1932) and still the most
significant review of world cinema.
The course explores modern experimentation in, on, and around Venice especially in the fields of
fiction, creative non-fiction, drama and film. The course readings (some in Italian, some in
English) include novellas by Camillo Boito, Henry James and Thomas Mann, novels or novel
excerpts by Gabriele d’Annunzio and Italo Calvino, personal essays by Filippo Tommaso
Marinetti (the founder of Futurism), Régis Debray and Iosif Brodskij, short stories by Daphne
Du Maurier and Vernon Lee, and a drama by Massimo Bontempelli. Screenings of films related
to these works, by Luchino Visconti, Tinto Brass, Nicolas Roeg, Joseph Losey, Dino Risi and
Enrico Maria Salerno, integrate the course.
In addition to the regular class meetings of the course, all students in the advanced track
participate in six cultural workshops conducted in Italian, mandatory for all participants. An
integral part of the program, the workshops take place on Wednesday afternoons (3-5pm) with
the aim to provide a space to discuss topics in a broader, interdisciplinary context related to the
literature course “Venice and Modernity,” the art history course “Art in Venice,” and actual
events in Venetian and Italian contemporary life.
1 Requirements
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Every student keeps a daily “reading notebook” which will be read in class at the end of
each week, and will be submitted to the instructor at the end of the course.
The course is held in Italian, the notebook and papers are written in Italian, all classes and
workshops are in Italian.
There will be a midterm examination and a final take-home paper (minimum: 6 pages).
The final grade will be a combination of the grade for the notebook with the grade for the
midterm and the grade for the final paper.
Syllabus
June
Week 1
5th Tuesday
General Introduction: Venice and Late Romanticism
Antonio Fogazzaro, “Màlgari”
Ezra Pound, “Night Litany”
6th Wednesday
Camillo Boito, “Il colore a Venezia”, “Quattr’ore al Lido”
Workshop: 3pm – 5pm
8th Friday
Screening of Luchino Visconti, Senso (Paolo Valesio)
Camillo Boito, Senso
Week 2
12th Tuesday
Screening of Tinto Brass, Senso ’45
Discussion of the film and the novella
13th Wednesday Henry James, The Aspern Papers
Workshop: 3pm – 5pm
15th Friday
“L’arte di vivere a Venezia” (Johanna Fassl)
Gabriele d’Annunzio, Il fuoco: “L’impero del silenzio”, pp 127-158
Week 3
19th Tuesday
Gabriele d’Annunzio, Il fuoco: “L’impero del silenzio”, pp 227-270
20th Wednesday Thomas Mann, “Disillusionment”, and Death in Venice
Workshop: 3pm – 5pm
22nd Friday
Screening of Luchino Visconti, Morte a Venezia (PV)
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, “Uccidiamo il chiaro di luna!”, “Contro
Venezia passatista”, “Discorso di Marinetti ai Veneziani”
2 Week 4
26th Tuesday
Régis Debray, “Against Venice”
27th Wednesday Iosif Brodskij, Fondamenta degli incurabili
Workshop: 3pm – 5pm
29th Friday
“Arte contemporanea a Venezia” (JF)
Midterm Examination
July
Week 5
3rd Tuesday
Massimo Bontempelli, Venezia salva
4th Wednesday
Daphne du Maurier “Don’t Look Now”
Vernon Lee, “The Wicked Voice”
Workshop: 3pm – 5pm
6th Friday
Screening of Nicolas Roeg, Don’t Look Now (PV)
Screening of Dino Risi, Anima persa; Discussion
Week 6
10th Tuesday
Screening of Joseph Losey, Eva; Discussion
11th Wednesday Italo Calvino, La città invisibili
Workshop: 3pm – 5pm
13th Friday
“Venezia: città sostenibile?” (JF)
Screening of Enrico Maria Salerno, Anonimo Veneziano [from
Giuseppe Berto]
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