IS 276 The Italian Short Story
This course, conducted entirely in English, is distinguished by a creative writing component that runs parallel to a topical exploration of the history of the Italian short story, from the Middle Ages to the present. While analyzing the transformation of the short story throughout the centuries, students will use their creative writing as a means to travel, figuratively, into foreign landscapes; to experiment, literally, with foreign concepts and forms. Students will discover key questions in Italian cultural history such as the Italian search for a common linguistic identity or the struggle for political unification. They will reflect on these questions as informed thinkers and interact with Italian culture as experimental authors. Special attention will be paid to thematic as well as formal issues in the stories of writers such as Giovanni Boccaccio, Niccolò Machiavelli, Giovanni Verga, Luigi Pirandello, Matilde Serao, Alberto Moravia, Natalia Ginzburg, and Italo Calvino. Local Swiss writers, and related questions of Ticinese identity, may also be introduced.