ELEMENTARY ITALIAN
3 credits
Patterns 1-2
The courses are topically organized and designed to encourage communication and to offer insight into the culture of speakers of Italian. Information is provided on the geo-political areas in which Italian is spoken and the cultural habits and orientation of its speakers.
INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 1-2 or
These courses promote communication through a knowledge of Italian and Italian culture. They involve further study of the structural and lexical features of Italian based upon topical subjects. They enhance an understanding of the in-depth culture of Italy through presentations on its traditions of art, music, and literature.
CONVERSATION AND COMPOSITION
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 1-2 or
These courses involve conversations on topical subjects and in-depth analyses of structural, lexical and grammatical features of Italian. The conversations are drawn on the cultural activities and perspectives of the speakers of Italian (holidays, work habits, plight of ethnic minorities, church and family).
SURVEY OF ITALIAN LITERATURE
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 1-2 or
A comprehensive study of Italian literature from the Middle Ages to modern times, with comparative references to European literatures. Readings and discussions in Italian.
STUDIES IN ITALIAN CULTURE
3 credits
Concentration Option
Analysis of contemporary Italian culture: lifestyles, national characteristics, and folk tradition. Emphasis on the Italians’ view of themselves and their place in and contributions to contemporary European civilization. Focus varies from semester to semester. May be repeated for credit.
READING LIST
3 credits
Concentration Option or Patterns 1-2 or
Gives students an acquaintance with excerpts of Italian writers from Saint Francis of Assisi to the poets of knighthood (Pulci, Boiardo, Ariosto, Tasso).
HISTORY OF THE ITALIAN LANGUAGE
3 credits
Concentration Option
Deals with the Italian language in its origins in the 7th century up to modern times. By means of a very few philologic and glottologic rules, the student will acquire a knowledge of the origins and transformation of Italian from Vulgar Latin, in chronological progression.
MODERN AUTHORS
3 credits
Concentration Option
Includes a survey of Italian narrative and poetic production in the late 19th century and in the 20th century.
SEMINAR
3 credits
Topics of investigation vary from semester to semester. Readings,
reports, and discussions of a selected genre (novel, drama, short story),
with special reference to the works of Dante, Leopardi, and Manzoni. Seminar paper.
