IT3001 Italian Language 1

This is the core language module for all students of Italian in the first year of the Honours programme. It builds on the work covered in the first and second level Italian Language modules. The module will include translation from and into Italian; analysis of advanced texts; practice in reading and discussing texts; and advanced Italian conversation.

IT3002 Italian Language 2

This module is intended to build on the achievement of IT3001, and to further increase the student's command of written and spoken Italian as well as reading and listening skills. The module will include translation from and into Italian; analysis and interpretation of advanced texts; practice in reading and discussing texts; and advanced Italian conversation.

IT3009 History of the Italian Language

The module begins by exploring how, why and when Italian evolved from its parent language, Latin (no prior knowledge of Latin is assumed). Italian will be located in its linguistic and historical context, and concepts such as language families and language change will be introduced. The processes shaping the vocabulary of Italian will then be examined, as will the emergence of Florentine in the Renaissance as Italy's language of literature and the impact of this on Italian 'dialects'. The module concludes by considering the evolution of the linguistic situation between 1860 and 2007.

IT3012 Fourteenth-Century Literature

This module offers an introduction to Italian literature and language of the Trecento, primarily through three major authors: Dante, Boccaccio and Petrarch. Extracts of other texts will be read for the purpose of comparison. The literary, political, religious and philosophical background will be introduced through close study of selected parts of the texts.

IT3014 The Language & Literature of Renaissance Italy

This module provides an introduction to Italian literature and language of the Cinquecento, primarily through selected works of Bembo, Michelangelo, Ariosto and Tasso. Extracts of other works will be read in relation to the Questione della lingua, and the development of literary paradigms in Renaissance Italy. The literary, social and political background will be introduced through close study of the texts.

IT3019 Contemporary Italian Narrative & Poetry

The module offers an insight into the works of contemporary Italian writers, with a particular focus on the 1980s and 1990s. The texts that will be studied are selected from a variety of writers and will be analysed in the original language. Through the reading of selected authors (from Pier Vittorio Tondelli to pulp-fiction writers such as Silvia Ballestra and Aldo Nove) students will be exposed to the different ways in which contemporary writers represent themselves in the reality of contemporary Italy. An element of contemporary Italian history will inform the module. Students will be encouraged to develop their own critical approach to the analysis of literature.

IT3022 Nineteenth-Century Literature

This module studies literature and thought of the nineteenth century, considered in its historical context. It focuses on works by Manzoni and Verga, and on topics such as the writer's relationship to society and the nature of literary representation.

IT3035 Italian Detective Fiction

Detective stories are enormously popular in Italy but the genre has generally been regarded as primarily Anglo-Saxon. The prominence of a number of Italian crime writers in the 1990's prompted talk of a giallo nazionale and a reconsideration of the history of the genre dating Italian crime fiction back to the nineteenth century. This module studies the history of the detective novel in Italy, considers critical approaches to the genre, and examines the treatment of common features and themes by writers such as Leonardo Sciascia, Giorgio Scerbanenco, Umberto Eco, Carlo Lucarelli, Loriano Macchiavelli, and Andrea Camilleri.

IT3101 Italian Integrated Year Abroad

The objective of the module is language learning and cultural familiarisation through work or study placement in Italy. Placements will be as language assistants in a secondary school, as students at an Italian university or on a work placement approved by the Department. Formal learning and assessment is through a supervised project chosen in consultation with the module co-ordinator, who will provide more detailed guidelines. The project essay will be 5000 words in Italian to be received in the department by May 5th.

IT3103 Self-access Residence in Italy

The credits will be awarded for completion of a period of residence in Italy of a minimum of four weeks during the summer vacation immediately before or following the first Honours year. The period may be spent on an approved course or work placement, or for such other purposes as may be approved by the Head of School.

IT4003 Communication Skills 1

This is the first part of the core language module for all students of Italian in the second year of the Honours programme. Its aim is to develop advanced communication skills, both oral and written, in Italian, and it comprises (1) weekly oral skills classes in which students follow a programme of contemporary topics, using written and audio-visual materials, and (2) fortnightly written expression workshops developing the productive skills of essay and report writing.

IT4004 Communication Skills 2

This is the second part of the core language module for all students of Italian in the second year of the Honours programme. Its aim is to continue to develop advanced communication skills, both oral and written, in Italian, and comprises (1) weekly oral skills classes in which students follow a programme of contemporary topics, using written and audio-visual materials, and (2) fortnightly written expression workshops developing the productive skills of essay and report writing.

IT4005 Translation Methodology

The module focuses on translation as process and as product, on cultural issues in translation and the formal properties of texts, on translation and language variety, and on aspects of contrastive linguistics. It is distinctive in its emphases on translation into English, on rigorous analysis, on practical problem-solving and small-group work, and in the range of texts studied (including literary texts).

IT4012 Dante Alighieri

It is no exaggeration to say that, for a variety of reasons, Dante Alighieri is the single most important figure in the history of Italian literature. This module completes the study of Dante by looking at his work before and after the Inferno. Before the Inferno, Dante was best known as the author of the Vita nuova. This is our first text for study. Less read and more difficult, according to Dante himself, the Paradiso concludes the Commedia and is our other text for study. To complete our examination of Dante's ideas, reference will also be made to the Convivio, the Monarchia, and the De vulgari eloquentia, as well as to the Purgatorio and Inferno.

IT4013 Modern Italy through Cinema

This module offers a perspective on historical as well as present views/conceptions of Italy, through the study of films by Italian directors such as: Luchino Visconti, Roberto Rossellini, Nanni Moretti and Gianni Amelio. There are about twenty screenings of selected cinematic texts in Italian with English subtitles. There is a greater in-depth analysis of between seven and nine films in classes. Students will be encouraged to develop their own critical approach through seminars and discussion. An element of Italian history will inform the module.

IT4015 Literary Transvestism in Italian Literature

The module looks at literary texts that have been written or re-narrated from the point of view of the opposite sex to that of the author. This phenomenon has recently been described as literary transvestism. This creates a variety of effects in the resulting texts, ranging from mere masquerade, to issues dealing with sexuality and gender, and even fetishism and pathology. The module will study texts such as Cesare Pavese's La bella estate and Tra donne sole, Alberto Moravia's La romana and La ciociara, and Elena Ferrante's L'amore molesto. In addition a number of films will be studied which are relevant to the texts and the theme of transvestism.

IT4016 Twentieth-Century Italian Canonical & Anti-Canonical Poetry

This module looks at voices and texts that have created contrasting discourses within the Italian Poetic tradition during the 20th century. Poets that have been recognised and promptly accepted and included within the Italian Canon, and poets who have been excluded or censored by it due to formal or political reasons. The module will study poets such as Gabriele D'Annunzio, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Eugenio Montale and Umberto Saba as representatives of the Canon, and Aldo Palazzeschi and other Futurist poets, as well as Cesare Pavese, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Elio Pagliariani, and Nanni Belestrinin as voices of the Anti-Canon.

IT4024 Authority & Subversion in Renaissance Italy

This module studies literary experimentation in the Italian Renaissance and the more general rethinking of literature and poetry integral to this period. This is done through the study of burlesque, satirical and popular writing as well as more accepted forms of literature, by both mainstream and marginalized authors, such as Aretino, Basile, Berni, Cellini Folengo, Gelli, Michelangelo. Sudents will thus acquire a comprehensive understanding of the variety of Renaissance literary production, of the modernity and multiplicity of its forms, and of its subversive potential.

IT4097 20-Credit Dissertation in Italian

The dissertation offers students the possibility of personal advanced study on an Italian topic on which they already have adequate basic knowledge and for which a suitable Supervisor can be found. Guidance will be offered on research methods and on presentation. The Dissertation can be either a) a study of a given body of primary material in a given perspective, or b) a critical review of a range of secondary material on a given subject. It should be 7,000 - 8,000 words in length, be submitted in accordance with guidelines and deadlines, and normally be written in English. The topic must be formally agreed in advance with the potential supervisor and the Head of the Italian Department.

IT4098 Dissertation on an Italian Topic

The dissertation offers students the possibility of personal advanced study on an Italian topic on which they already have adequate basic knowledge and for which a suitable Supervisor can be found. Guidance will be offered on research methods and on presentation. The Dissertation can be either a) a study of a given body of primary material in a given perspective, or b) a critical review of a range of secondary material on a given subject. It should be 5,000 - 6,000 words in length, be submitted in accordance with guidelines and deadlines, and normally be written in English. The topic must be formally agreed in advance with the potential supervisor and the Head of the Italian Department.

IT4099 Long Dissertation on an Italian Topic

The dissertation offers students the possibility of personal advanced study on a topic in Italian on which they already have adequate basic knowledge and for which a suitable Supervisor can be found. Guidance will be offered on research methods and on presentation. The Dissertation will, as a rule, consist of a study of a body of primary material in a given perspective. Its length should be 10,000 words maximum, and it should be submitted in accordance with guidelines and deadlines, and normally be written in English. The topic must be formally agreed in advance with the potential supervisor and the Head of the Italian Department.