Department of Italian

Modern & Medieval Languages

Department of Italian

Paper It 5

Italian Identities: Place, Language, and Culture

Can we speak of an Italian culture and society (and language) if Italy de facto did not exist before 1861 as a political entity? Can we speak of a single Italian identity in Italy's history or should we rather consider several Italian identities? From the Middle Ages to the end of the nineteenth century Italy was a politically and linguistically fragmented country. To fully and more adequately understand Italy's tradition and culture through the centuries, one must then consider the variety of political and cultural centres that developed across the peninsula: from the 'comuni' and the 'signorie', to the republics, the magnificent Renaissance courts, the papal state, the dukedoms and the kingdoms, to the creation of a unified state in 1861, following the Risorgimento process. The aim of this paper is to acknowledge the richness and variety of Italy's local traditions, which often remain undifferentiated under a general umbrella of 'Italian' culture: it will offer students the possibility to gain a more detailed understanding of the country's history, language and culture by focusing on its local identities and topics that chronologically range from the Middle Ages to the present times. The texts for the topics draw on a variety of genres that chronologically range from the Middle Ages to the present times.

The topics to be taught will vary from year to year.

In 2013-2014, the following topics will be taught:

Topics

Summary of Teaching for 2013-14

There will be 6 discussion seminars, to which students will be expected to contribute, interspersed between a series of 12 lectures - 3 on each of the four topics:

Michaelmas Term:

2 introductory seminars
3 lectures and one seminar on Topic 1
3 lectures and one seminar on Topic 2

Lent Term:

3 lectures and one seminar on Topic 3
3 lectures and one seminar on Topic 4

These lectures/seminars will be supplemented by 8 supervisions, organised and run by members of the department.

Examination

One three-hour examination will be set. You will be required to answer three questions.

Preparatory reading

In addition to familiarising yourself with the primary texts listed above, students may wish to consult the following preliminary readings on Italian history, identity, regionalism, polycentrism, language:

  • Asor Rosa, A., 1989. 'Centralismo e policentrismo nella letteratura italiana unitaria', in Id. (ed.), Letteratura italiana. Storia e geografia, vol. III, L'età contemporanea. Turin: Einaudi, pp.5-74.
  • Coletti, V., 1993. Storia dell'italiano letterario: dalle origini al Novecento. Turin: Einaudi.
  • Dionisotti, C., 1967. Geografia e storia della letteratura italiana. Turin: Einaudi, pp.1-54, 89-124.
  • Duggan, C., 1994. 'The geographical determinants of disunity' in Id., A Concise History of Italy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Levy, C. (ed.), 1996. Italian Regionalism: History, Identity and Politics. Oxford: Berg.
  • Raimondi, E., 1998. Letteratura e identità nazionale. Milan: Bruno Mondadori.

Topic 1: Trieste: Svevo

Details coming soon

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Topic 2: Venice: Goldoni's theatre

This topic explores the comedies of one of the greatest Italian playwrights, Carlo Goldoni, and discusses the socio-political context in which they developed. His comedies offer a detailed representation of the changing Venetian society, with the decaying nobility facing the rising bourgeoisie and the inventive and hard-working popular classes.

Other suggested texts

Goldoni on Playwriting, by F. C. L. Van Steenderen; with an introduction by H. C. Chatfield-Taylor. New York, Printed for the Dramatic Museum of Columbia University, 1919.

Peliminary reading on Goldoni

  • Alonge, R., 2004. Goldoni: dalla commedia dell'arte al dramma borghese. Milano: Garzanti.
  • Binni, W., 1978. Settecento maggiore: Goldoni, Parini, Alfieri. Milano: Garzanti [only the chapter on Goldoni].
  • Carroll, L., 1981. Language and Dialect in Ruzante and Goldoni. Ravenna: Longo.
  • Cavallini, G., 1986. La dimensione civile e sociale del quotidiano nel teatro comico di Carlo Goldoni. Roma: Bulzoni.
  • Farrell, J. (ed.), 1997. Carlo Goldoni and Eighteenth-Century Theatre. Lewiston [N.Y.], Lampeter: Edwin Mellen Press.
  • Fido, F. 2000. Nuova guida a Goldoni: teatro e società nel Settecento. Torino: Einaudi.
  • Holme, T., 1976.A Servant of Many Masters: The Life and Times of Carlo Goldoni. London: Jupiter.
  • Jonard, N., 1990. Introduzione a Carlo Goldoni. Rome and Bari: Laterza.
  • Logan, O., 1972. Culture and Society in Venice, 1470-1790: The Renaissance and its Heritage. London: Batsford.
  • Martin, J., and Romano, D. (eds), 2000. Venice Reconsidered: The History and Civilization of an Italian City-State, 1297-1797. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
  • Steele, E., 1981. Carlo Goldoni: Life, Work and Times. Ravenna: Longo.
  • Stewart, Pamela D., 1989. Goldoni fra letteratura e teatro. Firenze: Olschki.

A full reading list will be provided at the start of the academic year.

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Topic 3: Urbino: Castiglione's Il libro del Cortegiano (1528)

This topic will focus on court culture in Renaissance Italy by analysing in particular Castiglione's Book of the Courtier (1528) and the court of Urbino. Castiglione's masterpiece, which was translated into several other languages, embodies the very essence of life at court in a fascinating period in Italy's history.

Preliminary reading on Castiglione

  • Anglo, S., 1977. 'The Courtier: The Renaissance and Changing Ideals', in A. G. Dickens (ed.), The Courts of Europe: Politics, Patronage and Royalty, 1400-1800. London: Thames and Hudson, pp. 33-53.
  • Burke, P., 1988. 'Il cortigiano', in E. Garin (ed.), L'uomo del Rinascimento. Bari: Laterza, pp. 133-65; English version 'The Courtier', in E. Garin (ed.), Renaissance Characters, trans. by L. Cochrane. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997, pp. 98-122.
  • Burke, P., 1995. The Fortunes of the Courtier: The European Reception of Castiglione's Cortegiano. Cambridge: Polity Press.
  • Burke, P., 1999. The Italian Renaissance: Culture and Society in Italy, 2nd edn. Cambridge: Polity Press.
  • Hale, J. R. (ed.), 1980. A Concise Encyclopaedia of the Italian Renaissance. London: Thames and Hudson.
  • Hanning, Robert W., and David Rosand (eds), 1983. Castiglione: The Ideal and the Real in Renaissance Culture. New Haven: Yale University Press.
  • Mackenney, R., 2004. Renaissances: The Cultures of Italy, c.1300-c.1600. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Ossola, C. (ed.) 1980. La corte e il "Cortegiano": I. La scena del testo. Centro studi 'Europa delle corti', Biblioteca del Cinquecento. Rome: Bulzoni.
  • Ossola, Carlo, 1987. Dal "Cortegiano" all' "Uomo di mondo": storia di un libro e di un modello sociale. Turin: Einaudi, 1987.
  • Woodhouse, J. R., 1978. Baldesar Castiglione: A reassessment of 'The Courtier' . Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.. London: Batsford.

A full reading list will be provided at the start of the academic year.

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Topic 4: Florence: Boccaccio's Decameron

In this topic we will investigate medieval notions of Florence andTuscany through study of Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron. We will map the social, political, and linguistic values of the various stories of the Decameron in order to discover what is understood as particularly Tuscan, and how this Tuscan identity is defined against various others, from those within Italy to those farther afield.

Preliminary reading and resources

  • Selections from Giovanni Boccaccio, Decameron (students should if possible purchase or otherwise get their hands on an edition with notes by V. Branca).
    Boccaccio can be difficult to read in the original Italian. If you're having trouble, try reading an English translation of the story in question first so that you know what to expect and then try reading the story in the original. The Brown University Decameron web site (see below) has a hyperlinked original text plus translation that will allow you to skip back and forth as needed. Inexpensive editions of English translations are also widely available.
  • Read as much of the Decameron as you can. Lectures and exams will focus on the following novelle:
  • Proemio e Introduzione
  • I,1 I,6
  • II,3 II,5 II,10
  • III,1 III,3 III,4 III,7 III,9
  • IV,1 IV,7 IV,8 IV,9
  • V,9
  • VI,1 VI,2 VI,3 VI, 4 VI, 5 VI, 7 VI,8 VI,9 VI, 10
  • VII,6 VII,8
  • VIII,3 VIII,5 VIII,6 VIII,7 VIII,9
  • IX,3 IX,7 IX,8
  • X,6 X,10
Resources:
  • http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/dweb/index.php (primary sources on the plague in Florence, maps of places referenced in the novelle, bibliography, bilingual hypertext)
  • Kirkham, Victoria. The sign of reason in Boccaccio's fiction. Florence: L.S. Olschki, 1993.
  • Levenstein, Jessica. "Out of Bounds: Passion and the Plague in Boccaccio's Decameron." Italica Vol. 73, No. 3 (Autumn, 1996), pp. 313-335 http://www.jstor.org/stable/479828
  • Mazzotta, Giuseppe. The World at Play in Boccaccio's Decameron. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1986.
  • Migiel, Marilyn. A Rhetoric of the Decameron. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003.
  • Ricketts, Jill M. Visualizing Boccaccio. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
  • Wallace, David. Boccaccio: Decameron (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991)
  • Watson, Paul F. "The Cement of Fiction: Giovanni Boccaccio and the Painters of Florence" MLN Vol. 99, No. 1, Italian Issue (Jan., 1984), pp. 43-64 http://www.jstor.org/stable/2906126
  • Supervisors will guide students to other resources according to their interests.

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Further information

If you wish to discuss any aspect of the paper further, please contact Dr Heather Webb, hmw53@cam.ac.uk.

 

 

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