Graduate Studies
Seminars
Graduate seminars for graduate students of French and Italian
Graduate seminars are offered on a variety of topics. Students read key texts in the field, write research papers and lead discussions in the classroom with guidance from the professor. Recent topics have included:
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Colonial memories in Francophone literature--examining the work of Francophone novelists such as Assia Djebar, Kim Lefèvre, and Tahar Ben Jelloun to explore Orientalism, torture, desire and cultural hybridity
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L'Orient merveilleux-a travelogue via medieval French narratives around the greater Mediterranean, focusing on fantasies of the East and its wealth, foreign women, and the concept of the "marvelous." Texts include the Roman de Troie, the neglected Partonopeus de Blois and the Roman d'Alexandre
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Architecture, work, crowds and provincial manners in major 19th century realist/naturalist texts--narrative discourse is linked to the new science of ethnology in works by Gustave Flaubert, the Goncourt brothers, and Emile Zola
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A two-course sequence on the unique history of the Italian language and the languages and sociolinguistic varieties spoken today
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Foundation texts of the Enlightenment's Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau--examined with an eye towards studying the contrasts and conflicts between the two most influential thinkers of the century
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Cynics and the libertine tradition in 18th century France--as demonstrated in the novels of the period, including Choderlos de Laclos' Les Liaisons dangereuses
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French (and, to some extent, German) traditions in social theory: Marxism, psychoanalysis and cultural anthropology-to provide conceptual tools useful in decoding socially constructed schemes of perception and of cultural appreciation
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Murder in 20th century French fiction and culture-an examination in literature and the media of French attitudes towards murder and related phenomena (crimes of passion, capital punishment, violence involving women)
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A two-course sequence on the unique history of the Italian language and the languages and sociolinguistic varieties spoken today
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The Vichy Syndrome and the Cinema-- covering key post-war films (Silence de la mer; Le Chagrin et la pitié; Lacombe, Lucien; Story of Women) considered in light of Henry Rousso's groundbreaking study about how World War II haunts culture and politics in France
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Mafia Movies: unraveling a knot in Italian and Italian-American cultural history includes identifying protagonists of mafia movie folklore. The mafia in Italy is referred to as a "piovra" or "octopus" as the phenomenon has pervaded almost every factor of Italian cultural life.
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Trieste: Problems of Boundaries, Cultures and Identity, offered in conjunction with an international symposium considering readings by Ara and Magris, Slataper, Svevo, Saba, Giotti, Tomizza, and Del Giudice.
