Loyola University Chicago

Day & Time:  Thursday, 930am-12pm

Location:  Room 126

Prof. Elizabeth Geoghegan

Email:  egeoghegan@luc.edu

Office & Office Hours:  Room 102; TBA

Course Description:

In this course students will examine the relationship between literature and society by studying diverse representations of society and examining how culture and gender impact the way writers “construct” their own vision of Italy.  This exploration will lead to a better understanding of the way that both Italy and the Mediterranean have inspired and informed narrative, reflecting and shaping social experience, as well as the structure, style, and content of works by non-Italian writers. Through the close reading of various literary genres including reportage, memoir, travel narrative, and literary fiction we will cover a range of perspectives on Italian culture and aesthetics, as well as the impact of gender and nationality on literature.  In addition, we will look at the contemporary socio-political climate and issues surrounding what it means to be an expatriate, an outsider, or to simply be “foreign” and how these definitions might change based on the author’s gender and cultural expectations.

Outcome: 

Students will be able to recognize the diverse ways that gender and form influence different narrative representations of society in contemporary literature; students will be able to place that literature within a cultural and historical context. La f

Learning Objectives

1. Students will acquire and be able to use the technical vocabulary necessary for understanding literature (e.g. narrator, plot, metaphor) and will employ that vocabulary in critical analyses and written responses, so that they can better formulate critical arguments about literary productions.

2.  Students will learn to identify the impact of the authors’ formal choices (such as structure, point of view or imagery), as well as genre (e.g. historical fiction, memoir.) Students will explore the different ways these literary forms alter and inform narratives about social conditions, issues, gender, and relationships.

3.  Students will discuss and contrast the way(s) various literary genres represent society (e.g. ‘Italian’ vs. ‘foreign’, insider vs. outsider, male vs. female, heterosexual vs. homosexual.) Students will learn to use textual evidence to support their interpretations of literary texts.  They will articulate, both orally and textually, the impact of literature as a means to reflect and shape social experience and values, and discuss the importance of context when determining the meaning(s) or variability of interpretation(s).

4. Students will examine the various works to better understand the role of gender in society and literature and exploring both the role of the author’s gender, the portrayal of gender in the various narratives, and the impact that gender has upon narrative. They will also discuss how gender impacts their own “construction” of Italy in their journals.

5. Students will read literature that addresses societal and cultural issues. Although all the authors are classified as  “contemporary” and “American”, the texts use diverse literary devices to explore Italian history, politics, culture, and aesthetics.  Students will compare the variations of different viewpoints resulting from time frame, geography, gender, and so forth.

Skills:  Critical Thinking & Dispositions

1. Students will learn to produce a "close reading" of a literary text, identifying literary devices and exhibiting how they affect the construction of textual meaning(s). Students will acquire skills in summarizing a plot or a critical essay on a piece of literature and in extracting the main themes or arguments in a variety of texts.

2. Students will be expected to investigate and analyze the relationships between statements, concepts, descriptions, opinions or other textual representations of experience. Students will learn to analyze the belief systems (e.g. cultural biases and/or ideologies) informing the selected narratives.  Students will learn to identify the difference between statements supported by textual evidence and those requiring knowledge of a particular belief system or socio-historical moment.

3. Students will learn to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of varying points of view, genres, styles, and so forth, and compare varied interpretations of a particular works of literature.

4. Students will generate their own opinions, theories, questions, and ideas, as well as be expected to analyze the texts and  produce their own narrative interpretation of ‘Italy’ and the subjects discussed.

5.  Students will learn to identify common subjects, themes, concerns, and/or formal structures in literature written in response to Italy and Italian culture. Students will engage in critical thinking by being able to identify any conceptual problems in the various texts, particularly as they relate to the concept of being an insider versus an outsider or to nationality and landscape.

Skills:  Communication Skills (Written & Oral)

1.  Students will learn and employ the forms of Standard English usage, sentence structure, and punctuation. Students will learn to make their ideas clear by writing thesis statements and topic sentences when generating written feedback. Students will learn that claims must be supported by evidence.

2.  Students will demonstrate their abilities through written and oral assignments (i.e. assignments, journal entries, in-class writing, quizzes, essays, exams, oral presentation) as well as class discussion.

3.  Students will learn how to find critical essays in databases, summarize a critical argument, and formulate their own interpretation in response to a critical assessment. Students will learn how to, and be expected to, document their sources in MLA style (including proper MLA format, in-text citations, etc.).

4. Students will learn why literary and non-literary forms require different strategies of interpretation. Students will learn to support their interpretations of literature with textual evidence.

5.  Students will be expected to give an oral presentation in response to one of the assigned readings. Depending on the course size, oral presentations may be done as a group project or singly.

Learning Activities

1.  The texts, additional critical readings (in the form of handouts), and lectures will provide information regarding the texts, placing them in an historical context and providing avenues for critical analysis.

2. General class discussions and small group work will actively involve students in the oral analysis of texts.  Students will be expected to read the materials in advance and be prepared to both ask and answer questions about the texts.

3. Learning activities may take the form of a midterm exam (essay and short answer), formal papers, in-class writing, a journal (to include homework assignments, written responses to readings, out-of-class writing), an oral presentation, and midterm exam to assess literary knowledge and writing skills.

Evaluation Methods: 

Evaluation will include attendance, participation (including small group work done in class), papers, a journal, homework, an oral presentation, and a midterm exam.

Grade Breakdown:               

Participation & Homework                              10%

Midterm Exam                                                 15%

Oral Presentation                                             15%

Final Paper (5 pages)                                       20%

Journal             (to include 10 assignments)                 40%

Total:                                                              100%

Attendance Policy:

Attendance is mandatory. Three (3) unexcused absences will result in the lowering of your final letter grade by one complete grade. (For example, an A will drop to a B, an A- to a B-, etc.) Four or more unexcused absences may result in failure for the course.  Please see the Dean’s office to have your absences officially excused.

Required Texts:

• Alison, Jane, The Love Artist, Picador, 2002
• Brodsky, Joseph, Watermark, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1993.
• Cahill, Susan, ed., Desiring Italy
• Hoffman, Paul, That Fine Italian Hand, Holt Paperbacks, 1991.
• Hofstadter, Dan, Falling Palace, Vintage, 2006.
• McCarthy, Mary, The Stones of Florence, Harcourt, 1963.

Course Schedule:  To be distributed in class