Italian Literature II: The Making of Modern Italy, Texts and Contexts

3 units

This course examines key political, social, cultural, and religious aspects of Italian life from Galileo's condemnation in 1633, through the Risorgimento, Fascism, and the birth of the modern Republic, to the increasingly multicultural Italy of today. The overarching theme of this course is the pervading question of Italian identity, or italianita. We will study a variety of male and female, native born and immigrant authors, visual artists and cultural critics.