TAKE A MOMENT!

LIT ITALIAN 137 ITALIAN ENVIRONMENTAL LITERATURE Pasquale Verdicchio
Office Hours: Mondays and Fridays 1-2:30 in Lit Building 3340 pverdicchio@ucsd.edu

This course, taught in Italian, will consider writings that reflect Italian culture's relationship with the natural world. Though most of the work we will read is concentrated in what can be termed the contemporary era, we will also look at the role of nature, or nature as a setting, for writers such as Petrarca. The reading list will include works by Gianni Celati, Italo Calvino, Jolanda Insana and Giuseppe Moretti. Moretti is the founder of Lato Selvatico, a group related to the bioregionalism movement that includes Gary Snyder in the US. Though mostly concerned with literature, we will also look at cross-disciplinary work by artists like Luigi Ghirri (photographer) and Studio Azzurro (multimedia artists).

Our main text will be the anthology ITALIAN ENVIRONMENTAL LITERATURE, edited by Patrick Barron and Anna Re (New York: Italica Press, 2003). The book is available at Groundwork Bookstore.

I would like to begin our consideration of this topic by initiating a general discussion on our place in the environment, what ideas or concepts might drive how we view ourselves in the environment, and consider some basic American ideas about the topic before diving into the anthology. As you’ll see, we’ll begin by looking at the prose section and then go back to the poetry section before looking at the more specifically titled “Environmental Writing” portion of the book. We will discuss why as we begin our readings.
Assignments for the course will include a 3 page write-up for each of the three sections: Prose, Poetry and Environmental Writing; and a 5 page final paper.
Breakdown is as follows:
Write-ups 3 x 15 = 45%; Final 40%; Attendance 10% and participation 5%

WEEK 1
MONDAY INTRODUCTION TO COURSE
WEDNESDAY Our Footprint/Rediscovering our Home
FRIDAY “Nature, Wild and Wilderness” Gary Snyder

WEEK 2 MONDAY CELEBRATE MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY
WEDNESDAY Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Nature http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/
FRIDAY PREFACE AND INTRODUCTION to Anthology

WEEK 3
MONDAY Nature as a Cultural Object: WALK
WEDNESDAY Corrado Alvaro (144); Ignazio Silone (154)
FRIDAY Carlo Levi (165): Anna Maria Ortese (184)

WEEK4
MONDAY Mario Rigoni Stern (203); Italo Calvino (210)
WEDNESDAY Gianni Celati (237)
FRIDAY Nature as Language: Giovanni Pascoli (3); Gabriele D’Annunzio (11)

WEEK 5
MONDAY Dino Campana (34); Giuseppe Ungaretti (49)
WEDNESDAY Eugenio Montale (63); Andrea Zanzotto (99)
FRIDAY Pasolini (115); Iolanda Insana (123); Luciana Notari (135)

WEEK 6
MONDAY Environmental Writing: Introduction (257);
WEDNESDAY Laura Conti (263); Alfredo Todisco (274); Antonio Cederna (279)
FRIDAY Danilo Dolci (283); Giorgio Nebbia (290)

WEEK 7
MONDAY Fulco Pratesi (294); Gianni Mattioli and Massimo Scalia (298)
WEDNESDAY Virginio Bettini (304); Nicola Licciardello (310)
FRIDAY Loredana Lucarini (315); Giuseppe Moretti (321) and Lato Selvatico

WEEK 8 FIELD TRIP

WEEK 9
MONDAY Lato Selvatico and the Asian/North American Connection
WEDNESDAY STUDIO AZZURRO
FRIDAY TBA

WEEK 10
MONDAY Presentation of final projects
WEDNESDAY Presentation of final projects
FRIDAY Presentation of final projects