200 level courses and above:
Prerequisite: ITAL 107.
You want to learn a second language, but you are afraid of being bored. Then, take this opportunity to change your opinion! Try this course! You will be engaged in the Italian language and its grammar through stories, movies, posters, cassettes, and many other activities. Do not hesitate! Choose Italian. Choose "Grammar 200".
Prerequisite:
ITAL 107.
Restrictions:
Prerequisite requires a minimum grade of B. One 200 level Italian course
may be substituted for prerequisite.
You're so close to proficiency in Italian! consolidate your hard-earned language skills in a series of conversations and oral presentations, with grammar review when appropriate. Students will discuss current events and movies shown in class.
Prerequisite: ITAL 200, ITAL 205, or ITAL 206.
Let the masters ot the Italian short story teach you to write! This course emphasizes vocabulary acquisition and written expression. Students will read and discuss short works of literature and movies shown in class. You will improve your writing skills, add to your rich stock of conversation topics in Italian, and begin your love affair with contemporary Italian authors.
Prerequisite: ITAL 107
Whether your interest is Italian fashion or finance, this course will teach you how to go about your business in Italian. We'll pick from a variety of activities to serve your fancy: writing business letters, reading and discussing newspaper/magazine articles, oral reporting, role playing, job interviews, etc. Multimedia resources and web-based activities will be an integral part of this course.
Prerequisite: ITAL 211 or ITAL 212
Even though you speak and write in Italian, you might not be comfortable among high-spirited Italians engaged in discussing, for example, their favorite topics of love, religion and politics. This course will familiarize you with the current interests of the people, and the latest forms of the language, through a multi-media presentation of present-day Italian life and culture. Oral and written assignments, including summaries, paraphrases, comments, interpretations, etc., will entitle you to become a participant in the discussion with the natives.
Prerequisite: ITAL 211 or ITAL 212.
In the collective imagination, Italy is still perceived as "the land of love". A thematic reading of literary works, from the birth of the Italian literature to the end of the Renaissance, will provide you with a direct insight into that topic. From Saint Francis' mystic love to Boccaccio's forbidden intrigues, from Petrarch's undying passion to Ariosto's amorous madness, you will explore a myriad of Italian techniques and variations on the theme. A successful completion of the course will enrich you with a mastery of the literary period as well as with an appreciation of the most protected secret of the Italian personality!
You enjoy the Italian language, you are interested in Italian culture, and Italy fascinates you. You are now ready to explore Italy's literary past and acquaint yourself with some of her great masters and masterpieces. Through the study of selected works and authors, you will also gain a better understanding of Italy's history and culture. This course will be taught by a combination of informal lectures and discussion and will be conducted entirely in Italian.
Prerequisite: ITAL 211 or ITAL 212.
Is the word Renaissance the only one that comes to mind when you think about Italian civilization? Do you know how much Etruscan and Roman cultures are still contributing to contemporary Italian life? Have you heard that Sicily was a good model of a well integrated multi-cultural society already during the Middle Ages? Would you believe that Giuseppe Verdi, thanks to his operas, had a "chorale" part in the unification of Italy? Different accounts from history, literature, art, music and cinema, will weave for you a new tapestry of the Italian civilization, more dazzling and fascinating than ever.
Prerequisites: Any two 300-level Italian courses.
Does a rule like "se"+ Congiuntivo Imperfetto, Condizionale Presente leave you exasperated? It won't at the end of ITAL 401! We'll marvel at the "Bello Stile", flirt with the "Buone Regole", and taunt the "Cattivi Esempi". A famous French writer once asked a colleague: "Where did you learn to write like this?" Answer: "I studied a lot of vocabulary." To get a comprehensive understand of the Italian language today, we'll study its lexicon and grammar in both spoken and written forms, and explore the multitude of styles in which Italians use their language... narratives, dialogues, news articles (right off the worldwide web), films, cartoons and poems, to name just a few. The time has come for you to sharpen your grammatical skills in both spoken and written Italian and express yourself like you never could before!
Let's explore the richly fascinating history of the Italian language. Would you say that Italian is based on Latin, French or the Florentine dialect? The truth is that all those languages, and several others, have shaped and influenced Italian as it is used today. Yes, amare, albicocco, albergo and analisi all start with the letter A, but did you also know that Italian imported them from Latin, Arab, Germanic and French, respectively? Throughout its history, Italian has also exported many words to other languages. Just think of villa, picturesque, sport and gondola. So come and examine the Italian language from its birth to the present. Dante, Boccaccio, Galilei, Manzoni and D'Annunzio will all make an appearance, so why don't you too?
Works of
one or more outstanding authors or on a special theme. May be repeated
for credit when topics vary.
Prerequisites: Two of- ITAL 310, 311, 355.
Reading, discussion, and analysis of selected "canti" from Dante's Divine Comedy.
If you love "adventurous journeys" don't miss the chance of a lifetime! Travel on the poetic wings of Dante's Divine Comedy. Start a journey that will literally take you from Hell to Heaven through settings and special effects so unique and extraordinary that not even Steven Spielberg could equal them! Beat inflation! Package price unchanged since 1321!
Prerequisite:
ITAL 310 and ITAL 311.
Restrictions:
Can be repeated for credit when topics vary.
This course examines contemporary Italian culture through some of the most popular and critically acclaimed novels of the twentieth century. Issued explored in class include relationships between men and women, familial dynamics, the moral stagnation of the middle class, and the emergence of a female voice. We will read novels by authors such as Sibilla Aleramo, Alberto Moravia, Cesare Pavese, Natalia Ginzburg, Italo Calvino, and Susanna Tamaro.
Like the people who crowded the movie theater in Nuovo Cinema Paradiso , you will stare, wonder, laugh, or cry, while watching different stories about the dramas, dreams and accomplishments of Italians in the last 50 years. Come to the movies to learn about Italian culture and language. In addition you will begin to read, via the grammar of the visual images created by the greatest Italian "registi," the intricate connection between reality and its representation on the screen. You will see how De Sica's little Bruno in The Bicycle Thief evolves into Tomatore's Toto in Nuovo Cinema Paradiso, or why Robert Benigni's Life is Beautiful represents an essential piece in the history of the representation of the Holocaust.
Prerequisite:
Two of ITAL 310, ITAL 311, ITAL 355
Discover the "best sellers"of the Italian Renaissance! The reading of Ariosto's Orlando Furioso and Tasso's Gerusalemme Liberata will make you a participant in the great debate of
the 16th century: who is the greatest of the two poets? Will you choose the scintillating masterpiece of Ariosto, filled with the madness of Orlando and the modernity of a liberated woman like Bradamante? or will you prefer the moving poem that sings the "gesta"of magnanimous heroes, but also the sad and alarming ending of Tancredi and Clorinda's love? An indepth analysis of selected canti will reveal the modernity of the poems. Special emphasis will be placed on the emancipation versus the constraint of female characters, as an indication of changes in epochal morality and centers of authority.