Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Summer 2024 - ITAL 360 D100

Italian Literature as World Literature (4)

Class Number: 4475

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    May 6 – Aug 2, 2024: Thu, 11:30 a.m.–2:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Prerequisites:

    45 units or permission of the department.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Maps out Italian literature’s contributions to world cultural heritage, in the form of one of the nation’s great authorial voices, a particular period or movement, or a defining theme. Aims to tease out the ways in which these contributions are inscribed in a dynamic global matrix wherein cultures are negotiated and transformed through on-going dialogue and exchange. This course may be repeated once for credit when different topics are offered.

COURSE DETAILS:

WL 360 - National Literature as World Literature (4)
Maps out national literatures’ contributions to the world’s cultural heritage, whether in the form of one of the great authorial voices of a national tradition, a particular period or movement, or a defining theme. This exploration will tease out the ways in which these contributions are inscribed in a dynamic global matrix wherein cultures are negotiated and transformed through on-going dialogue. This course may be repeated once for credit when different topics are offered. Prerequisite: 45 units or permission of the department.

8 1/2 Italian Oscars
Why 8 1/2? The number is a riff on one of Italy’s most iconic cultural exports in the 20th century: Federico Fellini’s 1964 Oscar-winning film of the same title. The course is structured around 9 films: 8 out of Italy’s 14 Oscar wins for best foreign film plus a “half Oscar”: La dolce vita, another quintessential Fellini title, which received only a minor Academy award (for costume design) rather than one for best international feature.

Why the Oscars? The compact sample of 14 Italian Oscar wins for best feature in a foreign language (the most by any country!) lends itself well to an exploration of how Italian cultural output plays out to a global audience. Dubbed the common language of modernity thanks to its immediately accessible lexicon, film has long been recognized as a powerful tool of nation branding and cultural diplomacy. The course explores the tension between the presentation of award-wining pictures as national cultural products and the inherently transnational dimension of their international recognition and global distribution.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

— analyze the interplay between national cultural output and its global transmission and reception
— work with primary cinematic texts and accompanying critical literature
— investigate discourses of transnational cinema, festival studies and national branding through culture
— explore auteur cinema and cinematic movements such as Italian Neorealism
— learn about defining moments in national Italian culture

Grading

  • Participation (attendance and preparation for class) 15%
  • In-class weekly responses to assigned material 20%
  • Oral presentation 15%
  • Midterm 25%
  • Final Essay 25%

NOTES:

ITAL 360 (or this iteration of WL 360) may be applied towards the Italian Certificate or the Minor in Italian Studies.

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

All readings will be available through the SFU Library website and Canvas. All films are either available through the SFU Library’s Criterion Collection, or will be made available for streaming through Library Media services.


Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

SFU’s Academic Integrity website http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating. Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.

Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the university community. Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the university. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the university. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html