ITAL2061: NARRATIVES OF FASCIST AND POST-WAR ITALY

• Italian Language 1B (ITAL1102) OR Italian Language 1A (ITAL1071) or an equivalent to the satisfaction of the Chairman/woman of the Board of Studies of MLAC or his/her representative.

• Modern Languages, Combined Honours and Joint and 'with' programmes: Italian Language 2B (ITAL2031) OR Italian Language 2A (ITAL2111). Others: see Chairman/woman of the Board of Studies or his/her representative.

• N/A

• To introduce students to a corpus of Italian literature and film representing the period immediately before, during and after World War II.
• to study fascism and antifascism through historical documents, film, literary texts and various visual media.
• The course will offer a modern alternative/complement to the other second year course on offer (Dante's Inferno and its Reflections in Literature, Art and Film).
• It is also designed in relation to the final-year option which focuses on Modernism and Existentialism in Italian Literature and Film.
• The course is designed for students with an intermediate knowledge of Italian language and intermediate reading skills in Italian.

• The programme will vary according to the availability of material.
• In term one the core texts will include the Futurist manifesto by Filippo Marinetti and the manifesto of futurist painters.
• films of fascist propaganda such as Camice nere and Acciaio, postfascist films Una giornata particolare and II conformista and the antifascist novel Fontamara by Ignazio Silone.
• The core texts for term two will be Giorgio Bassani's Gli occhiali d'oro (which will also be viewed in film), Italo Calvino's II sentiero dei nidi di ragno.
• Films studied will include Roma citta aperta and Ladri di biciclette.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• Students should:
• gain a sense of the historical/artistic background of fascism,
• become familiar with fascist aesthetics and the cultural production of the period,
• understand how cultural media were used both by and against the regime,
• examine the literary/artistic reaction to fascism as evidenced by the literature and film of the postwar years.

Subject-specific Skills:

• Develop further skills in the formulation of critical observations on Italian texts and other media.

Key Skills:

• The expression of ideas in written form and critical reading.
• The ability to seek out and identify appropriate sources of evidence and information.

• By the end of term two students should have acquired a broader view of the complexities of fascism and its effects on Italian culture thanks to the course of lectures: Lectures in the first term will look at the historical background of fascism, the twenty years of the regime and antifascism.
• We shall study Futurism and Futurist aesthetics, move on to films of fascist propaganda and conclude with an examination of antifascist literature and film.
• Term two focuses on literature and film produced in the aftermath of fascism.
• After a study of the Jewish experience of fascism in Italy we look at the Resistance movement and end with an examination of neorealism.
• Fortnightly seminars will be used to read, examine and analyse texts and visual media chosen for their relevance to the historical/cultural/artistic topic of the week.
• Seminars will also involve continued development of presentation skills.
• Independent learning will be encouraged by preparation for seminars and by research for the summative essay.

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