Islands and Ideas of Italy
ITAL 280
Fall 2025
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01
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"No island is an island," according to historian Carlo Ginzburg's effective reformulation of John Donne's adage "no man is an island." At once remote and deeply connected, over time islands have served as sites of exile and refuge, of artistic retreat and political resistance, of utopian fantasy and dystopian reality. This course explores literary and visual representations of islands -- both fictional and real -- in Italian culture to investigate their ecological and metaphorical implications. We will begin with early modern texts from Ludovico Ariosto and Torquato Tasso, whose epics establish a framework for understanding insularity as both a geographical and a symbolic condition. From there, we will consider three key case studies: Venice, Capri, and Sicily. Through the perspectives of writers, travelers, tourists, refugees, and islanders themselves, we will ask questions such as: how do islands function as sites of both isolation, imagination, exchange, and experimentation? What do they reveal about broader cultural anxieties and desires? Are they spaces where alternative social orders might emerge or where the tensions of modernity are magnified? |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA RLAN |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: ITAL112 |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (Italian Studies)(Romance Studies) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 90% or above |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
: Ludovico Ariosto, Gesualdo Bufalino, Emanuele Crialese, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Elsa Morante, Michela Murgia, Luana Rigolli, Gianfranco Rosi, Andrea Segre, Salvatore Settis, Torquato Tasso, Lina Wertmüller.
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Examinations and Assignments:
: Weekly posts on the class forum, informal oral presentations, written assignments of varied length, final essay/creative project. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
: This course is intended primarily for the following students: those who have a) taken a course at the 200 level; b) who have studied in Italy (for one or two semesters); c) whose experience with Italian is very recent (e.g., studied in Italy during the Fall). This course may be suitable for students who have not completed a course at the 200 level but whose placement exam suggested they should take courses numbered above 112. In the event that a student with advanced reading, writing, and speaking abilities in Italian has not yet completed a course at the 200 level, they will be asked to conduct a brief oral interview with the professor during registration or drop/add. In the event that the student does not meet the prerequisites AND the professor has any doubts as to placement, he will ask the student to engage in a brief oral interview. |
| Instructor(s): Zamboni,Camilla Times: .M.W... 02:50PM-04:10PM; Location: TBA |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: 4 | JR major: 4 | | |
| Seats Available: 8 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 3 | JR non-major: 2 | SO: 1 | FR: 1 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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