ITALST Course Descriptions

Italian Studies (2009-2010)

The course studies the themes of family, sex and tradition as well as violence and identity as they are addressed in the art, the cinema, and the literature of Italian women.

This course is a chronological survey of Italian literature from the thirteenth century to the twentieth century. It will introduce the student to the most representative works in Italian literature. Special emphasis will be given to literary and cultural backgrounds of the authors and their works.

An examination of the evolution of modern Italy from 1789 to the present. The events which transformed Italy from a "geographic expression" into a modern unified state, including economic, social, political, and cultural developments, will be studied.

An examination of Canada's fourth largest ethno-cultural group, from the early colonial period to the present. Emphasis will be placed on the changing nature of immigration and the evolution of the Italian community since the late nineteenth century.

A survey of developments in Italian culture -- history, literature and the arts -- up to and including the Renaissance.

A survey of developments in Italian culture -- history, literature, painting, and music -- in the post-Renaissance period, with emphasis on modern Italy.

An introduction to the Italian literature of the Middle Ages, with special reference to selections from the major works by Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio.

An introduction to the Italian literary production of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, focusing on selections from the major works of the period, including some by Machiavelli, Ariosto and Tasso.

This course examines the various strands of what is one of the greatest works in Western literature, Dante's Divine Comedy. The course will engage students in a critical reading of the text's various layers of meaning, which emphasize perennial issues of our human condition.

A survey of some of the principal novels of the twentieth century in Italy in association with their cinematic versions by eminent Italian film directors.

This course studies the works of major Italian poets and playwrights, modern and contemporary, paying special attention to works by women authors.

Italian literature, art, culture and history studied abroad in Italy.

This course gives the student an opportunity to study authors and works of special interest which are not covered in other courses.

Winter term of ITAL/ITALST 396.