Comparative Literature

The course focuses on twentieth century Italian literature. This course examines wide areas of twentieth-century literary history, with special emphasis on the relation between literature and historical, social, anthropological, and more broadly cultural phenomena. Study is assisted by secondary literature and face-to-face instruction and covers close reading of the text as well as problems of form, structure, composition, and reception. Specific course topics vary from year to year. There are three different sections of the course offered each year, taught by three different professors, each course with different topics, reading lists, and syllabi. UNIBO students are assigned to sections based on their last name: A-D, E-M, N-Z; however, UCEAP students are free to choose the section they prefer. Refer to the UNIBO website for the course description for each section.

This course rests on the premise that the nineteenth century matters today, for it unleashed and solidified the main forces and ideologies shaping our lives as 21st-century global citizens: Capitalism, Marxism, Feminism, White Supremacy, Anti-racism, Environmentalism, etc. Course readings enable us to grapple with the complexity of this period as well as to rethink contemporary conflicts and crises: Is Whitman’s vision of democracy applicable today? What does the #MeToo movement owe to Charlotte Perkins Gillman? Do we live and work like Bartleby? What do we learn about freedom today by reading a slave narrative published 150 years ago? 

Take a cursory glance at recent critical work on Asian American Studies, and you'll notice immediately how often the term “Asian America” appears, as if such a formation actually exists. Less a claim to take actual territory from the United States than a broad appeal to grant Asians a place at the American table of citizenship and national belonging, the literature of Asian Americans can be productively read alongside persistent yet often divergent, even contested, visions of Asian America. This course is designed to trace one such trajectory in the creation and recreation of Asian America through literature. Paying special attention to the political, economic, and social constraints during the time of their production and reception, we will examine how Asian American literary work both reflected and transformed the social protocols of their day, and in doing so helped to reimagine what it means to be “Asian,” or “American,” and everything else in between. 

The course interprets 15 American and British suspense short stories, analyzing the literary technique, theories, thematic construction, and especially psychological construction within, in order to nurture the literary appreciation of western literary works. The course also discusses the difference between literary techniques and thematic concerns between the short story and film.

While the pursuit of happiness is an ideal present in many Western cultures, for the French, happiness takes various forms: a certain joie de vivre, an appreciation of life’s simple pleasures, and an affinity for companionship. Why is it, then, that France is consistently ranked as one of the least happy countries in Europe according to the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE)? The French may be known as contentious grumblers who are prone to flights of melancholy and often embroil themselves in gloomy philosophical reflection. And yet, the deeply-ingrained cultural desire to live a full life and find happiness is undeniably a major concern for the French. This course explores representations of happiness in French cultural production, with an emphasis on the city of Paris. Through the study of socio-cultural and historical events as well as critical, literary, and cinematic texts, students explore how the concept of happiness manifests itself in unique ways throughout recent history and in diverse social worlds. From the nineteenth century to the present, happiness has taken many forms: material seduction, consumer delight, everyday bliss, personal independence. The course explores how authors and filmmakers encourage us to reflect on a deceptively simple question: What is happiness and where can we find it? Is happiness to be found in the people and things that surround us, or are we to find it within ourselves?