Guy P Raffa

Note: This course (ITC 348) counts toward the major in Italian.

Course Description

The Divine Comedy offers a remarkable panorama of the late Middle Ages through one man's poetic vision of the afterlife. However, we continue to read and study the poem not only to learn about the thought and culture of medieval and early modern Europe but also because many of the issues confronting Dante and his age are no less important to individuals and societies today. Personal and civic responsibilities, governmental accountability, church-state relations, economics and social justice, Dante's influence on artists and other writers, benefits and limitations of interdisciplinarity—these are some of the themes that will frame our discussion of the Divine Comedy. Although you will read the poem in English, a bilingual edition will enable you to study and learn famous lines in the original Italian. The course is taught in English and contains flags for Writing and Global Cultures.

Danteworlds (http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/): In addition to detailed entries, audio recordings, and study questions, this Web site contains hundreds of images from works by Sandro Botticelli, an anonymous 16th-century artist, John Flaxman, William Blake, Gustave Dorè, and Suloni Robertson.

Through close reading, class discussion, and the use of Danteworlds, you are expected to identify and explain the significance of major characters, references, and ideas in Dante's Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise) and Vita Nuova. You will be tested on this ability in responses to study questions (a low-stakes writing assignment) and two in-class exams. An essay, which you will rewrite and expand based on my feedback, will assess your ability to support an interpretation of a specific aspect of Dante's poetry with detailed textual analysis and scholarly research. A peer-editing activity will help you to revise and edit your own work. I expect you to have read the assigned cantos and reviewed the corresponding material in Danteworlds (including the study questions) before class.

Required Texts: (you must use the editions of these texts ordered for the class)

            Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso (Trans. Allen Mandelbaum)

            Vita Nuova (Trans. Barbara Reynolds)

Recommended Text (also ordered for this class): The Complete Danteworlds: A Reader's Guide to the "Divine Comedy" (Raffa)

Canvas: We will use the CANVAS learning management system to organize and provide course content on-line. When you log in to Canvas (http://canvas.utexas.edu/) and select the course, you will have access to the syllabus, assignments, lecture presentations, grades, and a discussion forum. You will be required to submit most assignments on-line using Canvas. For assistance, consult the student tutorials (https://utexas.instructure.com/courses/633028/pages/student-tutorials) or contact support staff (https://utexas.instructure.com/courses/633028).

Assignments and Computation of Grade:

10%: 1500-word essay on the Inferno (credit for successful completion)

25%: Rewrite and expansion of this essay incorporating scholarly research (graded)

5%:   Annotated bibliography of research sources (credit for successful completion)

5%:   Peer-review (credit for successful completion)

10%: Responses to study questions in Canvas Discussion Forum (credit for successful completion)

30%: Two in-class examinations  (graded: 15% each)

15%: Classwork and participation                          

Attendance Policy: Your attendance, which obviously influences your classwork and participation grade, is expected at all class meetings. You are expected to arrive on time to class and to stay for the entire lesson. Repeated late arrivals to—or early departures from—will count as absences. For every class that you miss (for whatever reason) after the fifth absence, your classwork and participation grade (on a 100-point scale) will be reduced by 5 points.

Late Work: Late work will lose a full letter grade for each day it is late except in the case of documented emergencies (e.g., serious illness, death in the family), religious holidays (see university policy below), or university-sponsored events (with prior notification).

Grading and Plagiarism: All graded assignments will be marked on a 100 point scale and converted to letter grades consistent with university policy:

A (94-100) = 4.0, A- (90-93) = 3.67, B+ (88-89) = 3.3, B (84-87) = 3.0, B- (80-83) = 2.67, C+ (78-79) = 2.3, C (74-77) = 2.0, C- (70-73) = 1.67, D+ (68-69) = 1.3, D (64-67) = 1.0, D- (60-63) = 0.67, F (below 60) = 0.0

Course Description

Dante Alighieri may not have invented Hell but he created the most powerful and enduring vision of the underworld as a place of eternal punishment for lost souls in the afterlife. This course takes you on a journey down through the nine circles of Hell presented in Dante's Inferno. "Danteworlds," a book and award-winning Web site created here at UT, will help guide you by portraying infernal creatures and scenes and by explaining the medieval poem's vast array of references to religion, philosophy, history, politics, and other works of literature. Along the way, you will encounter adaptations and echoes of Dante's Inferno in selected literary, artistic, cinematic, and popular works, ranging from Sandro Botticelli's illustrations, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and a silent Inferno film to T. S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," Dan Brown's latest thriller, and Dante-inspired films, music, and video games.

Course themes, based on the Inferno and its resonance in modern culture, include moral values, emotional or psychological hell, religion and politics, oppression and injustice, attitudes toward gender and sexuality, and the risks and rewards of pursuing knowledge. In-class activities and a midterm examination will assess your knowledge of course readings, viewings, and lecture material. A class visit to the Blanton Museum will put Dante's achievement in dialog with early European art, and you will report on this year's UGS Lecture Series. You are required to keep an on-line class journal ("Dante Diaries") to record responses to the course material. You will work on information literacy, writing, and presentation skills to produce News from Hell (a team-based project) and to complete an individual research project on a creative work influenced by or resonating with Dante's Inferno. 

Expectations and Objectives

To read—closely and critically—literary, artistic, cinematic, and other cultural texts. You are expected to prepare the assigned texts and review the corresponding material in Danteworlds (including the study questions) before class so that you can reap the greatest benefit from lectures and participate actively and substantively in class discussion.

To explain the significance of major characters, references, and ideas in Dante's Inferno and other course texts, images, viewings, and recordings.

To interpret and compare cultural works. You will develop these skills by showing how Dante's vision of Hell inspires or resonates with the vision of a later creative mind.

To develop and refine writing, research, and oral presentation skills.

CANVAS: We will use the CANVAS learning management system to organize and provide course content on-line. When you log in to Canvas (http://canvas.utexas.edu/) and select the course, you will have access to the syllabus, assignments, lecture presentations (pdf), grades, a discussion forum (for "Dante Diaries"), and multimedia modules (text, video, image, music) for each lesson. You will be required to submit most assignments on-line using Canvas (e.g., entries in your "Dante Diaries"). For help with Canvas, consult the student tutorials (https://utexas.instructure.com/courses/633028/pages/student-tutorials) or contact support staff (https://utexas.instructure.com/courses/633028).

iClickers: You must acquire an iClicker "personal response system" unit—iClicker has been ordered for the class (under the unique numbers for this class at the COOP), but if you already have an earlier version from another class, it should work for this class, too. Be sure to register your iClicker before the first class meeting (January 16), and to bring it to each TTH lecture. You must register your iClicker through the Canvas course website (not through the iClicker website)by using the Firefox or Chrome browsers (it won't work in Safari). When you log in to Canvas and select this course, select "i>Clicker" in the menu on the left hand side of the page. You will then see instructions for locating your Remote ID and registering your iClicker. [Note that "iClicker GO" (for use of computers or mobile devices in place of the remote) will not be activated for this class: you must bring your iClicker remote to class.]

Readings and Viewings

Required Texts (you must use the editions of these texts ordered for the class):

Dante Alighieri, Inferno (Bantam, 2004. ISBN = 0553213393). Paperback.

Danteworlds: A Reader's Guide to the "Inferno" (Chicago, 2007). Paperback or e-book.

Other readings (prose excerpts, poems, song lyrics, essays) will be posted on the Canvas course site (http://canvas.utexas.edu/).

Danteworlds Web site (http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu): In addition to entries, audio recordings, and study questions, this Web site contains numerous images from works by Sandro Botticelli, John Flaxman, William Blake, Gustave Dorè, and Suloni Robertson (a UT alumna).

Films and Film-Clips include: L'Inferno (1911 silent film; Francesco Bertolini, Adolfo Padovan, Giuseppe de Liguoro); Dante's Inferno (1935; Harry Lachman); A TV Dante (1989; Peter Greenaway, Raúl Ruiz); Deconstructing Harry (1997; Woody Allen); Dante's Inferno (2008; Sean Meredith, Sandow Birk, and Paul Zaloom); Sex and the City (2008; Michael Patrick King); Inferno (2016; Ron Howard).

On Reserve in the PCL: Copies of the Required Course Texts (Dante's Infernoand Danteworlds) and the following books: Dante's Inferno (illustrated by Sandow Birk; text adapted by Sandow Birk and Marcus Sanders); Inferno(translated by Mary Jo Bang); Dante Now (edited by Theodore J. Cachey, Jr.); Dante: A Brief History (Peter Hawkins); Inferno Revealed: from Dante to Dan Brown (Deborah Parker and Mark Parker); Dante Encyclopedia (edited by Richard Lansing); Freedom Readers (Dennis Looney); Metamorphosing Dante (edited by Manuele Gragnolati); Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante (edited by Paget Toynbee) 

Dante Web Sites

Danteworlds (the course Web site): http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu

Dante Today (Dante in contemporary culture): http://research.bowdoin.edu/dante-today/

Dartmouth Dante Lab (commentaries on the Divine Comedy): http://dantelab.dartmouth.edu

World of Dante: http://www.worldofdante.org

Princeton Dante Project: http://etcweb.princeton.edu/dante/index.html

Digital Dante: http://dante.ilt.columbia.edu

Attendance and Assignments

Attendance Policy: Your attendance is required at all lectures and discussion classes, including the Blanton Museum visit and organized class time in the library. You are expected to read or view the assigned material before class and to participate—through attentive listening and informed contributions—in interactive class activities and in discussion section meetings. You are expected to arrive on time and to stay for the entire lesson. Missed classes adversely affect your classwork and participation grade.

15%: Participation in Friday Discussion Classes. Come to discussion classes prepared, and remember that effective participation consists of respectful dialog and listening as well as informed speaking. For each discussion class that you miss for whatever reason after the third absence (excused or unexcused), your discussion class participation grade will decrease by 10 points on a 100 point scale.

10%: Lecture Attendance and Performance. You are expected to read or view the assigned material before lecture classes. Based on iClicker responses during the lectures, you will receive up to two points for each class lecture, one point for participation (i.e., attendance) and one point for performance (i.e., right answers to iClicker questions). You are responsible for using your own iClicker correctly. The lowest grade will be automatically dropped.

10%: News from Hell written report (2% for a full draft, 8% for the final, graded version).

10%: News from Hell oral newscast (full credit for successful completion of this group project).

1%: Successful, on-time completion of a library worksheet on background research for News from Hell.

25%: Research Essay (graded): a paper (1000-1500 words) relating the Infernoto another literary, artistic, cinematic, or popular work. You are not limited to course texts for this assignment, though you may choose to research a work / creator discussed in class. The paper will be completed and revised based on an instructor's review of your annotated bibliography and outline (with a working thesis) and on a peer review of a full draft of the paper.

3%: Peer Review: review of another student's draft (full credit for successful, on-time completion).

1%: Research Essay Outline and Annotated Bibliography (full credit for successful, on-time completion).

5%: Oral Presentation (graded): 5-7 minute presentation of your research for the essay.

15%: Midterm Examination (graded): short-answer questions on Dante's Infernoand other assigned texts, images, viewings, and recordings.

5%: "Dante Diaries": Seven times during the semester you will submit (on-line through Canvas) an entry in the course Discussion Forum. Entries may include answers to study questions, but other responses to course works or other Dante-related material are welcome as well. In one entry you will respond to the Fall Lecture Series (see below) and in another you will discuss artwork that you have viewed during a guided tour of the Blanton Museum. Each submitted entry must contain at least 200 of your words.

All UGS signature courses contain a Lecture Series requirement: To satisfy it, you will view an on-line video of this year's University Lecture Series and write a response in your Dante Diary.

Grading and Plagiarism: Assignments and final grades will be converted to letter grades consistent with university policy:

Excellent range: A+ (98-100), A (94-97), A- (90-93)

Above average / good range: B+ (88-89), B (84-87), B- (80-83)

Average range: C+ (78-79), C (74-77), C- (70-73)

Passing: D+ (68-69), D (64-67), D- (60-63)

Failing: F (below 60)

Dante: Fall 2018

ITC 348 (36870), same as E 366D (35815)

Cross-listed with EUS 347 (36255) and CTI 345 (29505)

TTH 11-12:15 in CLA 0.122

Professor Guy Raffa, Dept. of French and Italian

Office Hours: TTH 2-3 in HRH 3.104A

E-mail: guyr@utexas.edu; Home Page: http://guyraffa.la.utexas.edu/ 

The Divine Comedy offers a remarkable panorama of the late Middle Ages through one man's poetic vision of the afterlife. However, we continue to read and study the poem not only to learn about the thought and culture of medieval and early modern Europe but also because many of the issues confronting Dante and his age are no less important to individuals and societies today. Personal and civic responsibilities, governmental accountability, church-state relations, economics and social justice, Dante's influence on artists and other writers, benefits and limitations of interdisciplinarity—these are some of the themes that will frame our discussion of the Divine Comedy. Although you will read the poem in English, a bilingual edition will enable you to study and learn famous lines in the original Italian. The course is taught in English and contains flags for Writing and Global Cultures.

Danteworlds (http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/): In addition to detailed entries, audio recordings, and study questions, this Web site contains hundreds of images from works by Sandro Botticelli, an anonymous 16th-century artist, John Flaxman, William Blake, Gustave Dorè, and Suloni Robertson.

Through close reading, class discussion, and the use of Danteworlds, you are expected to identify and explain the significance of major characters, references, and ideas in Dante's Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise) and Vita Nuova. You will be tested on this ability in responses to study questions (a low-stakes writing assignment) and two in-class exams. An essay, which you will rewrite and expand based on my feedback, will assess your ability to support an interpretation of a specific aspect of Dante's poetry with detailed textual analysis and scholarly research. A peer-editing activity will help you to revise and edit your own work. I expect you to have read the assigned cantos and reviewed the corresponding material in Danteworlds (including the study questions) before class.

Required Texts: (you must use the editions of these texts ordered for the class)

            Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso (Trans. Allen Mandelbaum)

            Vita Nuova (Trans. Barbara Reynolds)

Recommended Text (also ordered for this class): The Complete Danteworlds: A Reader's Guide to the "Divine Comedy" (Raffa)

Canvas: We will use the CANVAS learning management system to organize and provide course content on-line. When you log in to Canvas (http://canvas.utexas.edu/) and select the course, you will have access to the syllabus, assignments, lecture presentations, grades, and a discussion forum. You will be required to submit most assignments on-line using Canvas. For assistance, consult the student tutorials (https://utexas.instructure.com/courses/633028/pages/student-tutorials) or contact support staff (https://utexas.instructure.com/courses/633028).

Assignments and Computation of Grade:

10%: 1500-word essay on the Inferno (credit for successful completion)

25%: Rewrite and expansion of this essay incorporating scholarly research (graded)

5%:   Annotated bibliography of research sources (credit for successful completion)

5%:   Peer-review (credit for successful completion)

10%: Responses to study questions in Canvas Discussion Forum (credit for successful completion)

30%: Two in-class examinations  (graded: 15% each)

15%: Classwork and participation                          

Attendance Policy: Your attendance, which obviously influences your classwork and participation grade, is expected at all class meetings. You are expected to arrive on time to class and to stay for the entire lesson. Repeated late arrivals to—or early departures from—will count as absences. For every class that you miss (for whatever reason) after the fifth absence, your classwork and participation grade (on a 100-point scale) will be reduced by 5 points.

Late Work: Late work will lose a full letter grade for each day it is late except in the case of documented emergencies (e.g., serious illness, death in the family), religious holidays (see university policy below), or university-sponsored events (with prior notification).

Grading and Plagiarism: All graded assignments will be marked on a 100 point scale and converted to letter grades consistent with university policy:

A (94-100) = 4.0, A- (90-93) = 3.67, B+ (88-89) = 3.3, B (84-87) = 3.0, B- (80-83) = 2.67, C+ (78-79) = 2.3, C (74-77) = 2.0, C- (70-73) = 1.67, D+ (68-69) = 1.3, D (64-67) = 1.0, D- (60-63) = 0.67, F (below 60) = 0.0

Dante's Afterlives (Fall 2018)

ITL 390K (36760), cross-listed with CL 382 (34150)

TTH 12:30-2 in HRH 2.106C

Guy P. Raffa, HRH 3.104A; guyr@utexas.edu; 232-5492

Office Hours: TTH 2-3 in HRH 3.104A

Note: While the language of instruction is English, Italian Studies students are required to read primary Italian texts in the original language.                           

Summarizing Dante's popularity in Italy in the early twentieth century, one critic amusingly observed that the medieval poet "was cooked in every sauce, served hot and cold, grilled and in gelatin, whole and ground, alone or with sides, with critical mayonnaise and historical croutons: there was something for all tastes, for strong stomachs and for dyspeptic ones, for women and for men, for kindergartners and for doddering academics." In this course we will seek intellectual nourishment at the banquet of Dante's legacy by closely examining a broad range of responses to the poet—the man and his works—from Giovanni Boccaccio's biography in the late Middle Ages to Roberto Benigni's performances of TuttoDante and Dan Brown's Inferno. Between the Dante-inspired works of Boccaccio and Brown, we will study various, often conflicting, versions of "Dante" in literature, art, film, politics, history, and popular culture. After establishing a foundation for Dante's influence by discussing his political treatise (Monarchia) and selected cantos of his Commedia (most from Inferno), we will embark on an interpretive journey tracing Dante's evolution from a regional to a national (then nationalist) figure before he attained the global status he enjoys today. Giuseppe Mazzini famously called Dante—Ugo Foscolo's "Ghibelline fugitive"—the "Prophet of the Italian Nation": we will accordingly examine appeals to Dante's authority in promoting the liberation and unification of Italy, but we will also consider his role as a beacon of liberty in the United States. Among other areas of inquiry, we will discuss Catholic interpretations of Dante as a neo-Guelph advocate of papal political power, nationalist appropriations of the poet for territorial expansion and military interventions, and recent representations of Dante as an icon of Italian culture on the world stage.

Touchstone texts in our tour of Dante's legacy across time, space, discipline, and culture will include: writings by Boccaccio, Alfieri, Foscolo, Mazzini, Byron, Leopardi, Carducci, Cordelia Ray, Longfellow, D'Annunzio, Marinetti, T. S. Eliot, Samuel Beckett, Primo Levi, Matthew Pearl, Dan Brown, and others; artwork by Botticelli, Blake, Flaxman, Doré, and Suloni Robertson; and films (and clips) by Francesco Bertolini(1911), Harry Lachman (1935), Spencer Williams (1944), Peter Greenaway and Raúl Ruiz (1989), Woody Allen (1997), Vincent Ward (1998), Sandow Birk (2008), and Michael Patrick King (2008).

Required Texts (at COOP): Dante, Inferno (Garzanti, 2008) and Monarchy (Cambridge, 1996)

Optional: The Complete Danteworlds: A Reader's Guide to the Divine Comedy (Chicago, 2009)

[Other sources and critical works will be posted on Canvas.]

Assignments and Computation of Grade

Classwork and participation (including weekly Discussion Forum entries on Canvas): 20%

Short essay (750-1000 words) on a creative work studied this semester in relation to Dante: 15%

Discussion leader for a lesson on creative and critical works for your research paper: 15%

Research paper of 10-15 pages (2500-3750 words) with full documentation: 50%

Danteworlds Web site (http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu): In addition to entries, audio recordings, and study questions, this Web site contains numerous images from works by Sandro Botticelli, John Flaxman, William Blake, Gustave Dorè, and Suloni Robertson (a UT graduate).

Sources for Videos and Images

Canvas contains links to the following streaming videos: 1911 silent Inferno (set to music by Tangerine Dream), Harry Lachman's Dante's Inferno (1935), Spencer Williams's Go Down, Death! (1944), the 2008 Puppet Inferno based on the artwork of Sandow Birk, and A TV Dante (1989): Cantos 1 and 5 by Peter Greenaway, and Cantos 9-14 by Raúl Ruiz. In addition to containing entries with abridged commentary from The Complete Danteworlds, the Danteworlds Web site (DW: http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu) hosts galleries of artistic images (Botticelli, Vellutello commentary, Blake, Flaxman, Doré, Robertson) that you should consult as part of your preparation for the assigned Inferno cantos. I also encourage you to visit the "Dante Today" Web site for modern Dante sightings / citings as we proceed through the Inferno. Over 1000 images from Cornell University's Divine Comedy Image Archive are available on Shared Shelf Commons (http://www.sscommons.org/openlibrary/welcome.html), an open-access image library. For links to other on-line collections of Dante images, see the "World of Dante" Web site: http://www.worldofdante.org/gallery_main.html.

Other Dante Web Sites

Dante Today (Dante in contemporary culture): http://research.bowdoin.edu/dante-today/

Dartmouth Dante Project (commentaries on the Divine Comedy): http://dante.dartmouth.edu

Digital Dante (Columbia University): http://digitaldante.columbia.edu

World of Dante (University of Virginia): http://www.worldofdante.org

Princeton Dante Project: http://etcweb.princeton.edu/dante/index.html

Dante On-Line (Società Dantesca Italiana): http://www.danteonline.it/italiano/home_ita.asp

Course Objectives

1) Mastery of the course content through intensive study of a wide range of creative responses to Dante and his work. From Boccaccio to Benigni, Botticelli to Blake, Byron to Birk, Beckett to Brown (to list just the B's), we will look critically at Dante-inspired and Dante-related works across time, space, media, genres, disciplines, and cultural registers.

2) Systematic, targeted attention to research, writing, and oral communication skills to produce scholarly work fit for presentation at an academic conference and, with reasonable revision, for inclusion in a dissertation or for publication in a reputable venue.

3) To advance the reciprocity of scholarly and teaching excellence, we will explore pedagogical strategies and digital humanities projects to inform a potential undergraduate course on Dante's cultural legacy with knowledge of the material studied and researched this semester. 

Dante: Spring 2018

ITC 349, same as E 366D, crosslisted with EUS 347 and CTI 345

TTH 12:30-2 in HRH 2.112

Professor Guy Raffa, Dept. of French and Italian

Office Hours: TTH 10-11 in HRH 3.104A

E-mail: guyr@utexas.edu; Home Page: http://guyraffa.la.utexas.edu/

The Divine Comedy offers a remarkable panorama of the late Middle Ages through one man's poetic vision of the afterlife. However, we continue to read and study the poem not only to learn about the thought and culture of medieval and early modern Europe but also because many of the issues confronting Dante and his age are no less important to individuals and societies today. Personal and civic responsibilities, governmental accountability, church-state relations, economics and social justice, Dante's influence on artists and other writers, benefits and limitations of interdisciplinarity—these are some of the themes that will frame our discussion of the Divine Comedy. Although you will read the poem in English, a bilingual edition will enable you to study and learn famous lines in the original Italian. The course is taught in English and contains flags for Writing and Global Cultures.

Danteworlds (http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/): In addition to detailed entries, audio recordings, and study questions, this Web site contains hundreds of images from works by Sandro Botticelli, an anonymous 16th-century artist, John Flaxman, William Blake, Gustave Dorè, and Suloni Robertson.

Through close reading, class discussion, and the use of Danteworlds, you are expected to identify and explain the significance of major characters, references, and ideas in Dante's Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise) and Vita Nuova. You will be tested on this ability in responses to study questions (a low-stakes writing assignment) and two in-class exams. An essay, which you will rewrite and expand based on my feedback, will assess your ability to support an interpretation of a specific aspect of Dante's poetry with detailed textual analysis and scholarly research. A peer-editing activity will help you to revise and edit your own work. I expect you to have read the assigned cantos and reviewed the corresponding material in Danteworlds (including the study questions) before class.

Required Texts: (you must use the editions of these texts ordered for the class)

            Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso (Trans. Allen Mandelbaum); Vita Nuova (Trans. Barbara Reynolds)

Recommended Text (also ordered for this class): The Complete Danteworlds: A Reader's Guide to the "Divine Comedy" (Raffa)

Canvas: We will use the CANVAS learning management system to organize and provide course content on-line. When you log in to Canvas (http://canvas.utexas.edu/) and select the course, you will have access to the syllabus, assignments, lecture presentations, grades, and a discussion forum. You will be required to submit most assignments on-line using Canvas. For assistance, consult the student tutorials (https://utexas.instructure.com/courses/633028/pages/student-tutorials) or contact support staff (https://utexas.instructure.com/courses/633028).

Assignments and Computation of Grade:

10%: 1500-word essay on the Inferno (credit for successful completion)

25%: Rewrite and expansion of this essay incorporating scholarly research (graded)

5%:   Annotated bibliography of research sources (credit for successful completion)

5%:   Peer-review (credit for successful completion)

10%: Responses to study questions in Canvas Discussion Forum (credit for successful completion)

30%: Two in-class examinations  (graded: 15% each)

15%: Classwork and participation

Attendance Policy: Your attendance, which obviously influences your classwork and participation grade, is expected at all class meetings. You are expected to arrive on time to class and to stay for the entire lesson. Repeated late arrivals to—or early departures from—will count as absences. For every class that you miss (for whatever reason) after the fifth absence, your classwork and participation grade (on a 100-point scale) will be reduced by 5 points.

Late Work: Late work will lose a full letter grade for each day it is late except in the case of documented emergencies (e.g., serious illness, death in the family), religious holidays (see university policy below), or university-sponsored events (with prior notification).

Writing Flag: This course carries the Writing Flag. Writing Flag courses are designed to give students experience with writing in an academic discipline. In this class, you can expect to write regularly during the semester, complete substantial writing projects, and receive feedback from your instructor to help you improve your writing. You will also have the opportunity to revise one or more assignments, and you may be asked to read and discuss your peers’ work. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from your written work. Writing Flag classes meet the Core Communications objectives of Critical Thinking, Communication, Teamwork, and Personal Responsibility, established by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Global Cultures Flag: This course carries the Global Cultures flag. Global Cultures courses are designed to increase your familiarity with cultural groups outside the United States. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from assignments covering the practices, beliefs, and histories of at least one non-U.S. cultural group, past or present.    

Grading and Plagiarism: All graded assignments will be marked on a 100 point scale and converted to letter grades consistent with university policy:

 A (94-100) = 4.0, A- (90-93) = 3.67, B+ (88-89) = 3.3, B (84-87) = 3.0, B- (80-83) = 2.67, C+ (78-79) = 2.3, C (74-77) = 2.0, C- (70-73) = 1.67, D+ (68-69) = 1.3, D (64-67) = 1.0, D- (60-63) = 0.67, F (below 60) = 0.0

Plagiarism, intentional or not, will result in an automatic F on the assignment—the numerical grade (0-59) depending on the extent of the plagiarism and the quality of the non-plagiarized portion of the essay—as well as possible disciplinary action. For the definition of plagiarism and the University's policy on it, see: http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs/scholdis.php

Writing Center: For questions and feedback on writing, you are encouraged to meet with consultants at the Undergraduate Writing Center (PCL 2.330; for appointments and information, see http://uwc.utexas.edu/or call 471-6222).

All cell phones, tablets, laptops, and similar electronic devices must be turned off (or put in airport mode) and put away during class except if the instructor grants permission to use them for specific activities. Students who use devices in class without permission will be marked absent.

Course Description

Dante Alighieri may not have invented Hell but he created the most powerful and enduring vision of the underworld as a place of eternal punishment for lost souls in the afterlife. This course takes you on a journey down through the nine circles of Hell presented in Dante's Inferno. "Danteworlds," a book and award-winning Web site created here at UT, will help guide you by portraying infernal creatures and scenes and by explaining the medieval poem's vast array of references to religion, philosophy, history, politics, and other works of literature. Along the way, you will encounter adaptations and echoes of Dante's Inferno in selected literary, artistic, cinematic, and popular works, ranging from Sandro Botticelli's illustrations, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and a silent Inferno film to T. S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," Dan Brown's latest thriller, and Dante-inspired films, music, and video games.

Course themes, based on the Inferno and its resonance in modern culture, include moral values, emotional or psychological hell, religion and politics, oppression and injustice, attitudes toward gender and sexuality, and the risks and rewards of pursuing knowledge. In-class activities and a midterm examination will assess your knowledge of course readings, viewings, and lecture material. A class visit to the Blanton Museum will put Dante's achievement in dialog with early European art, and you will report on this year's UGS Lecture Series. You are required to keep an on-line class journal ("Dante Diaries") to record responses to the course material. You will work on information literacy, writing, and presentation skills to produce News from Hell (a team-based project) and to complete an individual research project on a creative work influenced by or resonating with Dante's Inferno. 

Expectations and Objectives

To read—closely and critically—literary, artistic, cinematic, and other cultural texts. You are expected to prepare the assigned texts and review the corresponding material in Danteworlds (including the study questions) before class so that you can reap the greatest benefit from lectures and participate actively and substantively in class discussion.

To explain the significance of major characters, references, and ideas in Dante's Inferno and other course texts, images, viewings, and recordings.

To interpret and compare cultural works. You will develop these skills by showing how Dante's vision of Hell inspires or resonates with the vision of a later creative mind.

To develop and refine writing, research, and oral presentation skills.

CANVAS: We will use the CANVAS learning management system to organize and provide course content on-line. When you log in to Canvas (http://canvas.utexas.edu/) and select the course, you will have access to the syllabus, assignments, lecture presentations (pdf), grades, a discussion forum (for "Dante Diaries"), and multimedia modules (text, video, image, music) for each lesson. You will be required to submit most assignments on-line using Canvas (e.g., entries in your "Dante Diaries"). For help with Canvas, consult the student tutorials (https://utexas.instructure.com/courses/633028/pages/student-tutorials) or contact support staff (https://utexas.instructure.com/courses/633028).

iClickers: You must acquire an iClicker "personal response system" unit—iClicker has been ordered for the class (under the unique numbers for this class at the COOP), but if you already have an earlier version from another class, it should work for this class, too. Be sure to register your iClicker before the first class meeting (January 16), and to bring it to each TTH lecture. You must register your iClicker through the Canvas course website (not through the iClicker website) by using the Firefox or Chrome browsers (it won't work in Safari). When you log in to Canvas and select this course, select "i>Clicker" in the menu on the left hand side of the page. You will then see instructions for locating your Remote ID and registering your iClicker. [Note that "iClicker GO" (for use of computers or mobile devices in place of the remote) will not be activated for this class: you must bring your iClicker remote to class.]

Readings and Viewings

Required Texts (you must use the editions of these texts ordered for the class):

Dante Alighieri, Inferno (Bantam, 2004. ISBN = 0553213393). Paperback.

Danteworlds: A Reader's Guide to the "Inferno" (Chicago, 2007). Paperback or e-book.

Other readings (prose excerpts, poems, song lyrics, essays) will be posted on the Canvas course site (http://canvas.utexas.edu/).

Danteworlds Web site (http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu): In addition to entries, audio recordings, and study questions, this Web site contains numerous images from works by Sandro Botticelli, John Flaxman, William Blake, Gustave Dorè, and Suloni Robertson (a UT alumna).

Films and Film-Clips include: L'Inferno (1911 silent film; Francesco Bertolini, Adolfo Padovan, Giuseppe de Liguoro); Dante's Inferno (1935; Harry Lachman); A TV Dante (1989; Peter Greenaway, Raúl Ruiz); Deconstructing Harry (1997; Woody Allen); Dante's Inferno (2008; Sean Meredith, Sandow Birk, and Paul Zaloom); Sex and the City (2008; Michael Patrick King); Inferno (2016; Ron Howard).

On Reserve in the PCL: Copies of the Required Course Texts (Dante's Inferno and Danteworlds) and the following books: Dante's Inferno (illustrated by Sandow Birk; text adapted by Sandow Birk and Marcus Sanders); Inferno (translated by Mary Jo Bang); Dante Now (edited by Theodore J. Cachey, Jr.); Dante: A Brief History (Peter Hawkins); Inferno Revealed: from Dante to Dan Brown (Deborah Parker and Mark Parker); Dante Encyclopedia (edited by Richard Lansing); Freedom Readers (Dennis Looney); Metamorphosing Dante (edited by Manuele Gragnolati); Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante (edited by Paget Toynbee) 

Dante Web Sites

Danteworlds (the course Web site): http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu

Dante Today (Dante in contemporary culture): http://research.bowdoin.edu/dante-today/

Dartmouth Dante Lab (commentaries on the Divine Comedy): http://dantelab.dartmouth.edu

World of Dante: http://www.worldofdante.org

Princeton Dante Project: http://etcweb.princeton.edu/dante/index.html

Digital Dante: http://dante.ilt.columbia.edu

Attendance and Assignments

Attendance Policy: Your attendance is required at all lectures and discussion classes, including the Blanton Museum visit and organized class time in the library. You are expected to read or view the assigned material before class and to participate—through attentive listening and informed contributions—in interactive class activities and in discussion section meetings. You are expected to arrive on time and to stay for the entire lesson. Missed classes adversely affect your classwork and participation grade.

15%: Participation in Friday Discussion Classes. Come to discussion classes prepared, and remember that effective participation consists of respectful dialog and listening as well as informed speaking. For each discussion class that you miss for whatever reason after the third absence (excused or unexcused), your discussion class participation grade will decrease by 10 points on a 100 point scale.

10%: Lecture Attendance and Performance. You are expected to read or view the assigned material before lecture classes. Based on iClicker responses during the lectures, you will receive up to two points for each class lecture, one point for participation (i.e., attendance) and one point for performance (i.e., right answers to iClicker questions). You are responsible for using your own iClicker correctly. The lowest grade will be automatically dropped.

10%: News from Hell written report (2% for a full draft, 8% for the final, graded version).

10%: News from Hell oral newscast (full credit for successful completion of this group project).

1%: Successful, on-time completion of a library worksheet on background research for News from Hell.

25%: Research Essay (graded): a paper (1000-1500 words) relating the Inferno to another literary, artistic, cinematic, or popular work. You are not limited to course texts for this assignment, though you may choose to research a work / creator discussed in class. The paper will be completed and revised based on an instructor's review of your annotated bibliography and outline (with a working thesis) and on a peer review of a full draft of the paper.

3%: Peer Review: review of another student's draft (full credit for successful, on-time completion).

1%: Research Essay Outline and Annotated Bibliography (full credit for successful, on-time completion).

5%: Oral Presentation (graded): 5-7 minute presentation of your research for the essay.

15%: Midterm Examination (graded): short-answer questions on Dante's Inferno and other assigned texts, images, viewings, and recordings.

5%: "Dante Diaries": Seven times during the semester you will submit (on-line through Canvas) an entry in the course Discussion Forum. Entries may include answers to study questions, but other responses to course works or other Dante-related material are welcome as well. In one entry you will respond to the Fall Lecture Series (see below) and in another you will discuss artwork that you have viewed during a guided tour of the Blanton Museum. Each submitted entry must contain at least 200 of your words.

All UGS signature courses contain a Lecture Series requirement: To satisfy it, you will view an on-line video of this year's University Lecture Series and write a response in your Dante Diary.

Grading and Plagiarism: Assignments and final grades will be converted to letter grades consistent with university policy:

Excellent range: A+ (98-100), A (94-97), A- (90-93)

Above average / good range: B+ (88-89), B (84-87), B- (80-83)

Average range: C+ (78-79), C (74-77), C- (70-73)

Passing: D+ (68-69), D (64-67), D- (60-63)

Failing: F (below 60)

Dante: Fall 2017

ITC 349, same as E 366D, crosslisted with EUS 347 and CTI 345

Professor Guy Raffa, Dept. of French and Italian

E-mail: guyr@utexas.edu; Home Page: http://guyraffa.la.utexas.edu/ 

The Divine Comedy offers a remarkable panorama of the late Middle Ages through one man's poetic vision of the afterlife. However, we continue to read and study the poem not only to learn about the thought and culture of medieval and early modern Europe but also because many of the issues confronting Dante and his age are no less important to individuals and societies today. Personal and civic responsibilities, governmental accountability, church-state relations, economics and social justice, Dante's influence on artists and other writers, benefits and limitations of interdisciplinarity—these are some of the themes that will frame our discussion of the Divine Comedy. Although you will read the poem in English, a bilingual edition will enable you to study and learn famous lines in the original Italian. The course is taught in English and contains flags for Writing and Global Cultures.

Danteworlds (http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/): In addition to detailed entries, audio recordings, and study questions, this Web site contains hundreds of images from works by Sandro Botticelli, an anonymous 16th-century artist, John Flaxman, William Blake, Gustave Dorè, and Suloni Robertson.

Through close reading, class discussion, and the use of Danteworlds, you are expected to identify and explain the significance of major characters, references, and ideas in Dante's Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise) and Vita Nuova. You will be tested on this ability in responses to study questions (a low-stakes writing assignment) and two in-class exams. An essay, which you will rewrite based on my feedback, will assess your ability to support an interpretation of a specific aspect of Dante's poetry with detailed textual analysis and scholarly research. A peer-editing activity will help you to revise and edit your own work. I expect you to have read the assigned cantos and reviewed the corresponding material in Danteworlds (including the study questions) before class.

Required Texts: (you must use the editions of these texts ordered for the class)

            Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso (Trans. Allen Mandelbaum)

            Vita Nuova (Trans. Barbara Reynolds)

Recommended Text: The Complete Danteworlds: A Reader's Guide to the "Divine Comedy" (Raffa)

Canvas: We will use the CANVAS learning management system to organize and provide course content on-line. When you log in to Canvas (http://canvas.utexas.edu/) and select the course, you will have access to the syllabus, assignments, lecture presentations (pdf), grades, and a discussion forum (for posting responses to study questions). You will be required to submit most assignments on-line using Canvas.

Assignments and Computation of Grade:

10%: 1500-word essay on the Inferno (credit for successful completion)

25%: Major rewrite of this essay incorporating scholarly research (graded)

5%:   Annotated bibliography of research sources (credit for successful completion)

5%:   Peer-review (credit for successful completion)

10%: Responses to study questions in Canvas Discussion Forum (credit for successful completion)

30%: Two in-class examinations  (graded: 15% each)

15%: Classwork and participation

Creative Chaos from Galileo to Calvino: Fall 2017 

ITL 390L, CL 386: W 12-3 in HRH 2.106C

Guy Raffa, Dept. of French and Italian

E-mail: guyr@utexas.edu; Home page: http://guyraffa.la.utexas.edu 

Note: While the language of instruction is English, Italian Studies students are required to read primary Italian texts in the original language.

"One could sketch a history of civilizations," writes Italian critic Cesare Segre, "according to the various ways in which they represent order and chaos to themselves." Italy has been a catalyst and cauldron for evolving theories and practices of chaos and order in literature, art, science, philosophy, and politics. This course examines selected works that attest to the cultural imagining of chaotic and order-driven values and their evolving relation to one another. Throughout the semester we will work inductively—at times abductively—to identify, develop, and refine models of chaos and order that arise from the works under consideration, to place these models into dialogue with contemporary theoretical ideas, and to assess their implications and significance.

Lessons for the first ten weeks of the course revolve around major works by Umberto Eco, Italo Calvino, and Primo Levi. After an introductory lesson establishing the conceptual foundation of the course, the following nine weeks are organized around three major novels—Umberto Eco's Il nome della rosa, Italo Calvino's Le città invisibili, and Primo Levi's Il sistema periodico—in conjunction with selected theoretical and critical works approaching the topic of chaos and order from various intellectual and disciplinary perspectives: mythology (Doob), astronomy (Galileo), anthropology (Turner), semiotics (Eco), philosophy of science (Serres; Calvino), chemistry (Primo Levi), cultural studies (Deleuze and Guattari), medicine (Rita Levi Montalcini), and literary theory (Hayles).

Course texts for the final five weeks will be determined and provided by students based on the direction of their research for the final paper. Individual research may explore in greater depth material introduced in the first part of the course or it may focus on other works, traditions, or disciplines that illuminate the imagining of chaos and order.

Required Texts: to ensure that we are on the same page, please use the editions ordered for the course.

Umberto Eco, Il nome della rosa (Bompiani; I grandi tascabili; 2013); The Name of the Rose

Primo Levi, Il sistema periodico (Einaudi tascabili; 2005); The Periodic Table

Italo Calvino, Le città invisibili (Mondadori; 1996); Invisible Cities

Critical and Theoretical Works (on Canvas) include selections from N. Katherine Hayles (Chaos Bound: Orderly Disorder in Contemporary Literature and Science), Penelope Reed Doob (The Idea of the Labyrinth from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages), Umberto Eco ("Abduction in Uqbar"; Postscript to The Name of the Rose), Italo Calvino ("Two Interviews on Science and Literature"; "Esattezza"), Michel Serres ("Lucretius: Science and Religion"), Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari ("Rhizome"), Rita Levi Montalcini (Elogio dell'imperfezione), and Victor Turner ("Passages, Margins, and Poverty: Religious Symbols of Communitas").      

Assignments

20%: Classwork and participation

10%: Discussion Forum entries (credit for on-time completion)

15%: Essay (750-1000 words) on a theoretical or critical text in dialogue with a primary work

15%: Discussion leader for a lesson on texts for your research paper

10%: Research paper draft and peer review (credit for on-time completion)

30%: Research paper of 10-15 pages (2500-3750 words) with full documentation

Course Objectives

1) Mastery of the course content through close analysis of a wide range of primary, critical, and theoretical works across temporal and disciplinary boundaries.

2) Systematic, targeted attention to research, writing, and oral communication skills to produce scholarly work fit for presentation at an academic conference and, with expansion and revision, for inclusion in a dissertation or for publication in a reputable scholarly venue.

3) Advance the reciprocity of scholarly and teaching excellence by exploring pedagogical strategies to inform a potential undergraduate course on chaos and order with knowledge of the material studied and researched this semester.

4) Partial preparation for the modern portion of the Comprehensive Exams through the study of major works by Umberto Eco, Italo Calvino, and Primo Levi.

5) Develop familiarity with significant critical and theoretical concepts—including postmodernism(s) and "chaos studies"—in relation to these texts.

Dante: Fall 2016

ITC 349, same as E 366D, crosslisted with EUS 347 and CTI 345

Professor Guy Raffa, Dept. of French and Italian

E-mail: guyr@utexas.edu; Home Page: http://guyraffa.la.utexas.edu

The Divine Comedy offers a remarkable panorama of the late Middle Ages through one man's poetic vision of the afterlife. However, we continue to read and study the poem not only to learn about the thought and culture of medieval and early modern Europe but also because many of the issues confronting Dante and his age are no less important to individuals and societies today. Personal and civic responsibilities, governmental accountability, church-state relations, economics and social justice, Dante's influence on artists and other writers, benefits and limitations of interdisciplinarity—these are some of the themes that will frame our discussion of the Divine Comedy. Although you will read the poem in English, a bilingual edition will enable you to study and learn famous lines in the original Italian. The course is taught in English and contains flags for Writing and Global Cultures.

Danteworlds (http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/): In addition to detailed entries, audio recordings, and study questions, this Web site contains hundreds of images from works by Sandro Botticelli, an anonymous 16th-century artist, John Flaxman, William Blake, Gustave Dorè, and Suloni Robertson.

Through close reading, class discussion, and the use of Danteworlds, you are expected to identify and explain the significance of major characters, references, and ideas in Dante's Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise) and Vita Nuova. You will be tested on this ability in responses to study questions (a low-stakes writing assignment) and two in-class exams. An essay, which you will rewrite based on my feedback, will assess your ability to support an interpretation of a specific aspect of Dante's poetry with detailed textual analysis and scholarly research. A peer-editing activity will help you to revise and edit your own work. I expect you to have read the assigned cantos and reviewed the corresponding material in Danteworlds (including the study questions) before class.

Required Texts: (you must use the editions of these texts ordered for the class)

            Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso (Trans. Allen Mandelbaum)

            Vita Nuova (Trans. Barbara Reynolds)

Recommended Text: The Complete Danteworlds: A Reader's Guide to the "Divine Comedy" (Raffa)

Canvas: We will use the CANVAS learning management system to organize and provide course content on-line. When you log in to Canvas (http://canvas.utexas.edu/) and select the course, you will have access to the syllabus, assignments, lecture presentations (pdf), grades, and a discussion forum (for posting responses to study questions). You will be required to submit most assignments on-line using Canvas.

Assignments and Computation of Grade:

10%: 1500-word essay on the Inferno (credit for successful completion)

25%: Major rewrite of this essay incorporating scholarly research (graded)

5%:   Annotated bibliography of research sources (credit for successful completion)

5%:   Peer-review (credit for successful completion)

10%: Responses to study questions in Canvas Discussion Forum (credit for successful completion)

30%: Two in-class examinations  (graded: 15% each)

15%: Classwork and participation

Dante II

ITL 390K (36850), crosslisted with MDV 392M (41020)

W 12-3 in HRH 2.106C

Guy Raffa, Dept. of French and Italian

HRH 3.104A; 232-5492

E-mail: guyr@utexas.edu

Home page: http://guyraffa.la.utexas.edu

Note: While the language of instruction is English, students are encouraged—and Italian Studies students are required—to read primary Italian texts in the original language.    

This course focuses on Dante's Commedia—the Purgatorio and Paradiso above all—within late medieval literary, intellectual, and historical contexts by attending to his engagement with works by classical authors and medieval poets, philosophers, and theologians. The Danteworlds commentary and website will provide much of this background material and help guide your reading of the Commedia. We will supplement and complement this focus with discussion of Dante's earlier life and poetry (Vita nuova), his treatise on the vernacular (De Vulgari Eloquentia), and selections from the poet's other works (Inferno, Convivio, De Monarchia).

Given Dante's vital importance for teaching and research across disciplinary and temporal boundaries, the course is designed to work for motivated graduate students in various departments, programs, and schools, including Comparative Literature, Medieval Studies, English, History, Art History, Religious Studies, Music, and other language and literature programs in addition to Italian Studies. The class makeup will therefore help determine final decisions on course readings. However, all students are encouraged to (re)read or review the Inferno before the beginning of the semester.

Since a goal of the course is to become familiar with major voices in Dante Studies, our discussion of Dante's works will be informed by selected works of criticism (available on Canvas). Twice during the semester you are required to write a short response essay—both descriptive and analytical—to one of these critical works in relation to Dante's text(s). For the final project, you will present your research to the class and write a polished draft (12-15 pages minimum, with full documentation) of a full-blown research essay.

Required Texts: Inferno (Garzanti, 2008); Purgatorio (Garzanti, 2008); Paradiso (Garzanti, 2006); Vita nuova (Garzanti, 2009); De vulgari eloquentia (Cambridge, 1996).

Recommended: The Complete Danteworlds: A Reader's Guide to the Divine Comedy (Chicago, 2009)

Assignments

Classwork and participation (including weekly Discussion Forum entries on Canvas): 30%

Two short essays (750-1000 words) on a critical text in dialogue with a primary work: 20%. Each student will write on one work from the first half of the course (Purgatorio) and one work from the second half of the course (Paradiso)

Research presentation and paper of 10-15 pages (2500-3750 words) with full documentation: 50% 

Dante: Spring 2016

ITC 349, same as E 366D, crosslisted with EUS 347 and CTI 345

TTH 2-3:15 in BEN 1.106

Professor Guy Raffa, Dept. of French and Italian

E-mail: guyr@utexas.edu; Home Page: http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~guyr

The Divine Comedy offers a remarkable panorama of the late Middle Ages through one man's poetic vision of the afterlife. However, we continue to read and study the poem not only to learn about the thought and culture of medieval and early modern Europe but also because many of the issues confronting Dante and his age are no less important to individuals and societies today. Personal and civic responsibilities, governmental accountability, church-state relations, economics and social justice, Dante's influence on artists and other writers, benefits and limitations of interdisciplinarity—these are some of the themes that will frame our discussion of the Divine Comedy. Although you will read the poem in English, a bilingual edition will enable you to study and learn famous lines in the original Italian. The course is taught in English and contains flags for Writing and Global Cultures.

Danteworlds (http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/): In addition to detailed entries, audio recordings, and study questions, this Web site contains hundreds of images from works by Sandro Botticelli, an anonymous 16th-century artist, John Flaxman, William Blake, Gustave Dorè, and Suloni Robertson.

Through close reading, class discussion, and the use of Danteworlds, you are expected to identify and explain the significance of major characters, references, and ideas in Dante's Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise) and Vita Nuova. You will be tested on this ability in responses to study questions (a low-stakes writing assignment) and two in-class exams. An essay, which you will rewrite based on my feedback, will assess your ability to support an interpretation of a specific aspect of Dante's poetry with detailed textual analysis and scholarly research. A peer-editing activity will help you to revise and edit your own work. I expect you to have read the assigned cantos and reviewed the corresponding material in Danteworlds (including the study questions) before class.   

Required Texts: (you must use the editions of these texts ordered for the class)

            Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso (Trans. Allen Mandelbaum)

            Vita Nuova (Trans. Barbara Reynolds)

Optional Text: The Complete Danteworlds: A Reader's Guide to the "Divine Comedy" (Raffa)

Canvas: We will use the CANVAS learning management system to organize and provide course content on-line. When you log in to Canvas (http://canvas.utexas.edu/) and select the course, you will have access to the syllabus, assignments, lecture presentations (pdf), grades, and a discussion forum (for posting responses to study questions). You will be required to submit most assignments on-line using Canvas. For help with Canvas, consult the student tutorials (http://edutech.ctl.utexas.edu/students/) or contact support staff (https://utexas.instructure.com/courses/633028).

Assignments and Computation of Grade:

10%: 1500-word essay on the Inferno (credit for successful completion)

25%: Major rewrite of this essay incorporating scholarly research (graded)

5%:   Annotated bibliography of research sources (credit for successful completion)

5%:   Peer-review (credit for successful completion)

10%: Responses to study questions in Canvas Discussion Forum (credit for successful completion)

30%: Two in-class examinations  (graded: 15% each)

15%: Classwork and participation

FLAGS:  GC | Wr

Dante: Fall 2015

ITC 349, same as E 366D, crosslisted with EUS 347 and CTI 345

TTH 11-12:15 in GAR 3.116

Guy Raffa, Dept. of French and Italian

Office Hours: TH 12:45-1:45, W 11-12, and by appointment in HRH 3.104A; phone: 232-5492

E-mail: guyr@utexas.edu; Home Page: http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~guyr

The Divine Comedy offers a remarkable panorama of the late Middle Ages through one man's poetic vision of the afterlife. However, we continue to read and study the poem not only to learn about the thought and culture of medieval and early modern Europe but also because many of the issues confronting Dante and his age are no less important to individuals and societies today. Personal and civic responsibilities, governmental accountability, church-state relations, economics and social justice, Dante's influence on artists and other writers, benefits and limitations of interdisciplinarity—these are some of the themes that will frame our discussion of the Divine Comedy. Although you will read the poem in English, a bilingual edition will enable you to study and learn famous lines in the original Italian. The course is taught in English and contains flags for Writing and Global Cultures.

Danteworlds (http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/): In addition to detailed entries, audio recordings, and study questions, this Web site contains hundreds of images from works by Sandro Botticelli, an anonymous 16th-century artist, John Flaxman, William Blake, Gustave Dorè, and Suloni Robertson.

Through close reading, class discussion, and the use of Danteworlds, you are expected to identify and explain the significance of major characters, references, and ideas in Dante's Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise) and Vita Nuova. You will be tested on this ability in responses to study questions (a low-stakes writing assignment) and two in-class exams. An essay, which you will rewrite based on my feedback, will assess your ability to support an interpretation of a specific aspect of Dante's poetry with detailed textual analysis and scholarly research. A peer-editing activity will help you to revise and edit your own work. I expect you to have read the assigned cantos and reviewed the corresponding material in Danteworlds (including the study questions) before class.

Required Texts: (you must use the editions of these texts ordered for the class)

            Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso (Trans. Allen Mandelbaum)

            Vita Nuova (Trans. Barbara Reynolds)

Optional Text: The Complete Danteworlds: A Reader's Guide to the "Divine Comedy" (Raffa)

Assignments and Computation of Grade: 

10%: 1500-word essay on the Inferno (credit for successful completion)

25%: Major rewrite of this essay incorporating scholarly research (graded)

5%:   Annotated bibliography of research sources (credit for successful completion)

5%:   Peer-review (credit for successful completion)

10%: Responses to study questions in Canvas Discussion Forum (credit for successful completion)

30%: Two in-class examinations  (graded: 15% each)

15%: Classwork and participation

Attendance Policy: Your attendance, which obviously influences your classwork and participation grade, is expected at all class meetings. You are expected to arrive on time to class and to stay for the entire lesson. Repeated late arrivals to—or early departures from—will count as absences. For every class that you miss (for whatever reason) after the fifth absence your final course grade (on a 100-point scale) will be reduced by 3 points up to a maximum of 15 points.

Late Work: Late work will lose a full letter grade for each day it is late except in the case of documented emergencies (e.g., serious illness, death in the family), religious holidays (see university policy below), or university-sponsored events (with prior notification).

Canvas: We will use the CANVAS learning management system to organize and provide course content on-line. When you log in to Canvas (http://canvas.utexas.edu/) and select the course, you will have access to the syllabus, assignments, lecture presentations (pdf), grades, and a discussion forum (for posting responses to study questions). You will be required to submit most assignments on-line using Canvas. For help with Canvas, consult the student tutorials (http://edutech.ctl.utexas.edu/students/) or contact support staff (https://utexas.instructure.com/courses/633028).

Writing Flag: This course carries the Writing Flag. Writing Flag courses are designed to give students experience with writing in an academic discipline. In this class, you can expect to write regularly during the semester, complete substantial writing projects, and receive feedback from your instructor to help you improve your writing. You will also have the opportunity to revise one or more assignments, and you may be asked to read and discuss your peers’ work. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from your written work. Writing Flag classes meet the Core Communications objectives of Critical Thinking, Communication, Teamwork, and Personal Responsibility, established by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Global Cultures Flag: This course carries the Global Cultures flag. Global Cultures courses are designed to increase your familiarity with cultural groups outside the United States. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from assignments covering the practices, beliefs, and histories of at least one non-U.S. cultural group, past or present.        

Dante's Afterlives (Fall 2015)

ITL 390K (39449), crosslisted with CL 382 and MDV 392M: W 12:30-3:15 in HRH 2.106C

Guy P. Raffa, HRH 3.104A; guyr@utexas.edu; 232-5492

Office Hours: TH 12:45-1:45, W 11-12, and by appointment

Course Conducted in English; Reading Knowledge of Italian Required

       Summarizing Dante's popularity in Italy in the early twentieth century, one critic amusingly observed that the medieval "was cooked in every sauce, served hot and cold, grilled and in gelatin, whole and ground, alone or with sides, with critical mayonnaise and historical croutons: there was something for all tastes, for strong stomachs and for dyspeptic ones, for women and for men, for kindergartners and for doddering academics." In this course we will seek intellectual nourishment at the banquet of Dante's legacy by closely examining a broad range of responses to the poet—the man and his works—from Giovanni Boccaccio's biography in the late Middle Ages to Roberto Benigni's performances of TuttoDante and Dan Brown's Inferno. Between the Dante-inspired works of Boccaccio and Brown, we will study various, often conflicting, versions of "Dante" in literature, art, film, politics, history, and popular culture. After establishing a foundation for Dante's influence by discussing his political treatise (Monarchia) and selected cantos of his Commedia (most from Inferno), we will embark on an interpretive journey tracing Dante's evolution from a regional to a national (then nationalist) figure before he attained the global status he enjoys today. Giuseppe Mazzini famously called Dante—Ugo Foscolo's "Ghibelline fugitive"—the "Prophet of the Italian Nation": we will accordingly examine appeals to Dante's authority in promoting the liberation and unification of Italy, but we will also consider his role as a beacon of liberty in the United States. Among other areas of inquiry, we will discuss Catholic interpretations of Dante as a neo-Guelph advocate of papal political power, nationalist appropriations of the poet for territorial expansion and military interventions, and recent representations of Dante as an icon of Italian culture on the world stage.

Touchstone texts in our tour of Dante's legacy across time, space, discipline, and culture will include: writings by Boccaccio, Alfieri, Foscolo, Mazzini, Byron, Leopardi, Carducci, Cordelia Ray, Longfellow, D'Annunzio, Marinetti, T. S. Eliot, Samuel Beckett, Primo Levi, Matthew Pearl, Dan Brown, and others; artwork by Botticelli, Blake, Flaxman, Doré, and Suloni Robertson; and films (and clips) by FrancescoBertolini(1911), Harry Lachman (1935), Spencer Williams (1944), Peter Greenaway and Raúl Ruiz (1989), Woody Allen (1997), Vincent Ward (1998), Sandow Birk (2008), and Michael Patrick King (2008).        

Required Texts (at COOP): Dante, Inferno (Garzanti, 2008) and Monarchy (Cambridge, 1996)

Optional: The Complete Danteworlds: A Reader's Guide to the Divine Comedy (Chicago, 2009)

[Other sources and critical works will be posted on Canvas.]

Assignments and Computation of Grade

Class preparation and participation: 15%

Two brief papers (3-5 pages) on assigned material: 20%

Oral research presentation (the basis for a conference presentation): 10%

Research paper of 18-25 pages with full documentation (the basis for a scholarly article): 50%

Sample syllabus for an undergraduate course on Dante's legacy: 5%

Danteworlds Web site (http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu): In addition to entries, audio recordings, and study questions, this Web site contains numerous images from works by Sandro Botticelli, John Flaxman, William Blake, Gustave Dorè, and Suloni Robertson (a UT graduate).

Sources for Videos and Images

Canvas contains links to the following streaming videos: 1911 silent Inferno (set to music by Tangerine Dream), Harry Lachman's Dante's Inferno (1935), Spencer Williams's Go Down, Death! (1944), the 2008 Puppet Inferno based on the artwork of Sandow Birk, and A TV Dante (1989): Cantos 1 and 5 by Peter Greenaway, and Cantos 9-14 by Raúl Ruiz. In addition to containing entries with abridged commentary from The Complete Danteworlds, the Danteworlds Web site (DW: http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu) hosts galleries of artistic images (Botticelli, Vellutello commentary, Blake, Flaxman, Doré, Robertson) that you should consult as part of your preparation for the assigned Inferno cantos. I also encourage you to visit the "Dante Today" Web site for modern Dante sightings / citings as we proceed through the Inferno. Over 1000 images from Cornell University's Divine Comedy Image Archive are available on Shared Shelf Commons (http://www.sscommons.org/openlibrary/welcome.html), an open-access image library. For links to other on-line collections of Dante images, see the "World of Dante" Web site: http://www.worldofdante.org/gallery_main.html.

Other Dante Web Sites

Dante Today (Dante in contemporary culture): http://learn.bowdoin.edu/italian/dante

Dartmouth Dante Project (commentaries on the Divine Comedy): http://dante.dartmouth.edu

World of Dante: http://www.worldofdante.org

Princeton Dante Project: http://etcweb.princeton.edu/dante/index.html

Dante On-Line (Società Dantesca Italiana): http://www.danteonline.it/italiano/home_ita.asp

Course Objectives

1) Mastery of the course content through intensive study of a wide range of creative responses to Dante and his work. From Boccaccio to Benigni, Botticelli to Blake, Byron to Birk, Beckett to Brown (to list just the B's), we will look critically at Dante-inspired and Dante-related works across time, space, media, genres, disciplines, and cultural registers.

2) Systematic, targeted attention to research, writing, and oral communication skills to produce scholarly work fit for presentation at an academic conference and, with reasonable revision, for inclusion in a dissertation or for publication in a reputable venue.

3) To advance the reciprocity of scholarly and teaching excellence, we will explore pedagogical strategies to inform a potential undergraduate course on Dante's cultural legacy with knowledge of the material studied and researched this semester.

Dante: Spring 2015

ITC 349, same as E 322, crosslisted with EUS 347 and CTI 345

TTH 2-3:30 in Ben 1.106

Professor Guy Raffa, Dept. of French and Italian

E-mail: guyr@utexas.edu; Home Page: http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~guyr

The Divine Comedy offers a remarkable panorama of the late Middle Ages through one man's poetic vision of the afterlife. However, we continue to read and study the poem not only to learn about the thought and culture of medieval and early modern Europe but also because many of the issues confronting Dante and his age are no less important to individuals and societies today. Personal and civic responsibilities, governmental accountability, church-state relations, economics and social justice, Dante's influence on artists and other writers, benefits and limitations of interdisciplinarity—these are some of the themes that will frame our discussion of the Divine Comedy. Although you will read the poem in English, a bilingual edition will enable you to study and learn famous lines in the original Italian. The course is taught in English and contains flags for Writing and Global Cultures.

Danteworlds (http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/): In addition to detailed entries, audio recordings, and study questions, this Web site contains hundreds of images from works by Sandro Botticelli, an anonymous 16th-century artist, John Flaxman, William Blake, Gustave Dorè, and Suloni Robertson.

Through close reading, class discussion, and the use of Danteworlds, you are expected to identify and explain the significance of major characters, references, and ideas in Dante's Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise) and Vita Nuova. You will be tested on this ability in responses to study questions (a low-stakes writing assignment) and two in-class exams. An essay, which you will rewrite based on my feedback, will assess your ability to support an interpretation of a specific aspect of Dante's poetry with detailed textual analysis and scholarly research. A peer-editing activity will help you to revise and edit your own work. I expect you to have read the assigned cantos and reviewed the corresponding material in Danteworlds (including the study questions) before class.

Required Texts: (you must use the editions of these texts ordered for the class)

            Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso (Trans. Allen Mandelbaum)

            Vita Nuova (Trans. Barbara Reynolds)

Optional Text: The Complete Danteworlds: A Reader's Guide to the "Divine Comedy" (Raffa)

Assignments and Computation of Grade:

10%: 1500-word essay on the Inferno (credit for successful completion)

25%: Major rewrite of this essay incorporating scholarly research (graded)

5%:   Annotated bibliography of research sources (credit for successful completion)

5%:   Peer-review (credit for successful completion)

10%: Responses to study questions in Canvas Discussion Forum (credit for successful completion)

30%: Two in-class examinations  (graded: 15% each)

15%: Classwork and participation

Attendance Policy: Your attendance, which obviously influences your classwork and participation grade, is expected at all class meetings. You are expected to arrive on time to class and to stay for the entire lesson. Repeated late arrivals to—or early departures from—will count as absences. For every class that you miss (for whatever reason) after the fifth absence your final course grade (on a 100-point scale) will be reduced by 3 points up to a maximum of 15 points.

Late Work: Late work will lose a full letter grade for each day it is late except in the case of documented emergencies (e.g., serious illness, death in the family), religious holidays (see university policy below), or university-sponsored events (with prior notification).

Canvas: We will use the CANVAS learning management system to organize and provide course content on-line. When you log in to Canvas (http://canvas.utexas.edu/) and select the course, you will have access to the syllabus, assignments, lecture presentations (pdf), grades, and a discussion forum (for posting responses to study questions). You will be required to submit most assignments on-line using Canvas. For help with Canvas, consult the student tutorials (http://edutech.ctl.utexas.edu/students/) or contact support staff (https://utexas.instructure.com/courses/633028).

Writing Flag: This course carries the Writing Flag. Writing Flag courses are designed to give students experience with writing in an academic discipline. In this class, you can expect to write regularly during the semester, complete substantial writing projects, and receive feedback from your instructor to help you improve your writing. You will also have the opportunity to revise one or more assignments, and you may be asked to read and discuss your peers’ work. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from your written work. Writing Flag classes meet the Core Communications objectives of Critical Thinking, Communication, Teamwork, and Personal Responsibility, established by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Global Cultures Flag: This course carries the Global Cultures flag. Global Cultures courses are designed to increase your familiarity with cultural groups outside the United States. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from assignments covering the practices, beliefs, and histories of at least one non-U.S. cultural group, past or present.        

Grading and Plagiarism: All graded assignments will be marked on a 100 point scale and converted to letter grades consistent with university policy:

A (94-100) = 4.0, A- (90-93) = 3.67, B+ (88-89) = 3.3, B (84-87) = 3.0, B- (80-83) = 2.67, C+ (78-79) = 2.3, C (77) = 2.0, C- (70-73) = 1.67, D+ (68-69) = 1.3, D (64-67) = 1.0, D- (60-63) = 0.67, F (below 60) = 0.0

Plagiarism, intentional or not, will result in an automatic F on the assignment—the numerical grade (0-59) depending on the extent of the plagiarism and the quality of the non-plagiarized portion of the essay—as well as possible disciplinary action. For the definition of plagiarism and the University's policy on it, see: http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs/scholdis.php

Writing Center: For questions and feedback on writing, you are encouraged to meet with consultants at the Undergraduate Writing Center (FAC 211; for appointments and information, see http://uwc.utexas.edu/or call 471-6222).

All cell phones, tablets, laptops, and similar electronic devices must be turned off (or put in airport mode) and put away during class except if the instructor grants permission to use them for specific activities. Students who use devices in class without permission will be marked absent. 

Dante: Fall 2014

ITC 349 (37360) and E 322 (35700), cross-listed with EUS 347 and CTI 345

TTH 11-12:15 in MEZ 1.118

Professor Guy Raffa, Dept. of French and Italian

Office Hours: TTH 1:30-2:30 and by appointment in HRH 3.104A; phone: 232-5492

E-mail: guyr@utexas.edu; Home Page: http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~guyr

The Divine Comedy offers a remarkable panorama of the late Middle Ages through one man's poetic vision of the afterlife. However, we continue to read and study the poem not only to learn about the thought and culture of medieval and early modern Europe but also because many of the issues confronting Dante and his age are no less important to individuals and societies today. Personal and civic responsibilities, governmental accountability, church-state relations, economics and social justice, Dante's influence on artists and other writers, benefits and limitations of interdisciplinarity—these are some of the themes that will frame our discussion of the Divine Comedy. Although you will read the poem in English, a bilingual edition will enable you to study and learn famous lines in the original Italian. The course is taught in English and carries the writing flag and the global cultures flag.

Danteworlds (http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/): In addition to detailed entries, audio recordings, and study questions, this Web site contains hundreds of images from works by Sandro Botticelli, an anonymous 16th-century artist, John Flaxman, William Blake, Gustave Dorè, and Suloni Robertson.

Through close reading, class discussion, and the use of Danteworlds, you are expected to identify and explain the significance of major characters, references, and ideas in Dante's Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise) and Vita Nuova. You will be tested on this material in discussion postings (a low-stakes writing assignment) and two in-class exams. An essay, which you will revise and expand based on feedback, will assess your ability to engage scholarly research and support an interpretation of a specific aspect of Dante's poem with detailed textual analysis. A peer-editing activity will help you to revise and edit your own work. You are expected to have read the assigned cantos and reviewed the corresponding material in Danteworlds (including the study questions) before class meetings.

Required Texts: Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso (Trans. Allen Mandelbaum); Vita Nuova (Trans. Barbara Reynolds). Please note: you must use these translations.

Optional Text: The Complete Danteworlds: A Reader's Guide to the "Divine Comedy" (Raffa)

Assignments and Computation of Grade:

5%: Five times during the semester you will post an entry to a discussion forum on Canvas. Entries may include answers to study questions, but other responses to Dante's poem are welcome as well. Each submitted entry must contain at least 200 of your own words. Entries, worth 1 point each, will receive full credit for successful, on-time completion.

15%: 1000-word essay on the Inferno

25%: Significant revision and expansion of this essay (based on teacher feedback) that incorporates material from Purgatorio and / or Paradiso and scholarly research. 1500-2000 words. 

5% Peer-editing (full credit for successful, on-time completion)

30%: Two short-answer examinations (15% each)

20%: Classwork and participation. You are expected to read the assigned material before class meetings and to participate—through attentive listening and informed contributions—in class activities and discussion.

Attendance Policy: Your attendance, which obviously influences your classwork and participation grade, is required at all class meetings. You are expected to arrive on time and to stay for the entire lesson. Repeated late arrivals to—or early departures from—will count as absences. For every class that you miss (for whatever reason) after the fourth absence, your final course grade (on a 100-point scale) will be reduced by 3 points up to a maximum of 15 points.

Late Work: There are no make-up exams—and other graded assignments will lose a full letter grade for each day they are late—except in the case of documented emergencies (e.g., illness, death in the family), religious holidays, or university-sponsored events (with prior notification).

Canvas: We will use the CANVAS learning management system to organize and provide course content on-line. When you log in to Canvas (http://canvas.utexas.edu/) and select the course, you will have access to the syllabus, assignments, lecture presentations, grades, and a discussion forum. You will be required to submit most assignments on-line using Canvas. For help with Canvas, consult the student tutorials (http://edutech.ctl.utexas.edu/students/) or contact support staff (https://utexas.instructure.com/courses/633028).

Writing Flag: Writing Flag courses are designed to give students experience with writing in an academic discipline—in this case, literary criticism and humanities research. You will write regularly during the semester, complete substantial writing projects, and receive feedback from your instructor to help you improve your writing. You will have the opportunity to revise and expand an essay, and you will read and discuss your peers’ work. A substantial portion of your grade will therefore come from your written work. Writing Flag classes meet the Core Communications objectives of Critical Thinking, Communication, Teamwork, and Personal Responsibility, established by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Global Cultures Flag: Global Cultures courses are designed to increase your familiarity with cultural groups outside the United States. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from assignments covering the practices, beliefs, and histories of at least one non-U.S. cultural group, past or present—in this case Europe (Italy in particular) in the late Middle Ages as represented in Dante's Divine Comedy.

Grading: All assignments will be graded on a 100 point scale and converted to letter grades consistent with university policy:

A (94-100) = 4.0, A- (90-93) = 3.67, B+ (88-89) = 3.3, B (84-87) = 3.0, B- (80-83) = 2.67, C+ (78-79) = 2.3, C (74-77) = 2.0, C- (70-73) = 1.67, D+ (68-69) = 1.3, D (64-67) = 1.0, D- (60-63) = 0.67, F (below 60) = 0.0

Plagiarism, intentional or not, will result in an automatic F on the assignment as well as possible disciplinary action. For the definition of plagiarism and the University's policy on it, see: http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs/scholdis.php

Dante Web Sites

Danteworlds (the course Web site): http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu

Dante Today (Dante in contemporary culture): http://learn.bowdoin.edu/italian/dante

Dartmouth Dante Project (commentaries on the Commedia): http://dante.dartmouth.edu

World of Dante: http://www.worldofdante.org

Princeton Dante Project: http://etcweb.princeton.edu/dante/index.html

Digital Dante: http://dante.ilt.columbia.edu

Creative Chaos from Galileo to Calvino

Note: While the language of instruction is English, students are expected to read the primary Italian texts in the original language.

"One could sketch a history of civilizations," writes Italian critic Cesare Segre, "according to the various ways in which they represent order and chaos to themselves.” Italy itself has been a catalyst and cauldron for evolving theories and practices of chaos and order in literature, art, science, philosophy, and politics. This course examines selected works across time and disciplines—from Galileo's reflections on heavenly bodies to Primo Levi's responses to Nazi-Fascism and the Shoah—that attest to the imagining of chaotic and order-driven values and their relation to one another in Italian cultural production. Throughout the semester we will work inductively—at times abductively—to identify, develop, and refine models of chaos and order that arise from the works under consideration, to place these models into dialogue with contemporary theoretical ideas, and to assess their implications and significance.

The course is divided into two parts. In most of the semester, weeks 1-10, the class will work together on a sequence of five interrelated units: 1) "Classical and Medieval Catalysts" (weeks one and two) identifies paradigms of chaos and order in foundational texts by Plato, Aristotle, Lucretius, Cicero, Augustine, Boethius, and Bernardus Silvestris; 2) "Ordering Heaven and Hell" (week three) looks at how Dante and Galileo complicate the traditional privileging of order over chaos in their otherworldly visions; 3) we leap several centuries in "A Semiotics of Chaos and Order" (weeks four through six) but maintain (postmodern) contact with the Middle Ages through a close reading of Umberto Eco's Il nome della rosa; 4) Primo Levi's Il sistema periodico, on the other hand, combines scientific elements to create the "Ethics of Chaos and Order" that we discuss in weeks seven and eight; 5) Italo Calvino's Le città invisibili (weeks nine and ten) perhaps best embodies the "Dialectic of Chaos and Order" at the heart of this course, including the postmodern reconsideration of such traditionally chaotic notions as dissonance, imperfection, turbulence, and unpredictability.
Course texts for the final five weeks will be determined and provided by students based on the direction of their research for the final paper. Individual research may explore in greater depth material introduced in first part of the course or it may focus on other works, traditions, or disciplines that illuminate the imagining of chaos and order in Italian studies.

Required Texts: Umberto Eco, Il nome della rosa (Bompiani; I grandi tascabili; 2013); Primo Levi, Il sistema periodico (Einaudi tascabili; 2005); Italo Calvino, Le città invisibili (Mondadori; 1996). Selections (on Canvas) from Plato, Aristotle, Lucretius, Cicero, Augustine, Boethius, Bernardus Silvestris, Dante, and Galileo.

Critical and Theoretical Works (on Canvas) include selections from N. Katherine Hayles, Chaos Bound: Orderly Disorder in Contemporary Literature and Science; Penelope Reed Doob, The Idea of the Labyrinth from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages; Ilya Prigogine and Isabelle Stengers, Order out of Chaos; Edward Lorenz, The Essence of Chaos; Benoit Mandelbrot, The Fractal Geometry of Nature; and essays by Umberto Eco ("Abduction in Uqbar"), Michel Serres (“Lucretius: Science and Religion”), Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari ("Rhizome"), Rita Levi Montalcini (from Elogio dell'imperfezione), Victor Turner ("Passages, Margins, and Poverty: Religious Symbols of Communitas"), and Luisa Muraro and Adriana Cavarero (from Diotima: Il pensiero della differenza sessuale).

Assignments
Classwork and participation (including weekly Discussion Forum entries on Canvas): 20%
Short essay (3-5 pages) on a theoretical or critical text in dialogue with a primary work: 15%
Discussion leader for a lesson on texts for your research paper: 15%
Research paper of 15-20 pages with full documentation (the basis for a scholarly article): 50%

Course Objectives

1) Mastery of the course content through close analysis of a wide range of primary, critical, and theoretical works across temporal and disciplinary boundaries.

2) Systematic, targeted attention to research, writing, and oral communication skills to produce scholarly work fit for presentation at an academic conference and, with reasonable revision, for inclusion in a dissertation or for publication in a reputable scholarly venue.

3) To advance the reciprocity of scholarly and teaching excellence, we will explore pedagogical strategies to inform a potential undergraduate course on chaos and order with knowledge of the material studied and researched this semester.

Spring 2014                                       Dante II

ITL 390K (37580), crosslisted with MDV 392M (41745): TTH 2-3:30 in BEN 1.106

Guy Raffa, Dept. of French and Italian, HRH 3.104A; 232-5492

E-mail: guyr@utexas.edu; Home page: http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~guyr

Course Conducted in English; Reading Knowledge of Italian Required

This course is the second half of a two-semester sequence focused on Dante’s Commedia and his other works. This semester we will read the second half of the Purgatorio (cantos 18-33), the Paradiso, books 2 and 4 of the Convivio, the De vulgari eloquentia, and the Eclogues. Placing our close reading of these texts within a series of literary, intellectual, and historical contexts, we will attend to Dante's engagement with works by classical authors (Virgil, Ovid, Lucan, Statius, Cicero) and other medieval poets, philosophers, and theologians. The Danteworlds commentary and the complementary Web site (http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu) will provide much of this background material and help guide your reading of the Commedia. Since a goal of the course is to become familiar with major voices in Dante Studies, our discussion of Dante's works will be informed by selected works of criticism (available on Canvas).

Twice during the semester you are required to write a short response essay—both descriptive and analytical—to one of these critical works. For your final research paper (25-30 pages, with full documentation) you are encouraged to revise and expand your paper from Dante I. You are expected to attend class regularly, to be well prepared, and to participate actively in class discussion.

Required Texts: Purgatorio (Garzanti, 2008); Paradiso (Garzanti, 2006); Convivio (Garzanti, 2005); De vulgari eloquentia (Cambridge, 1996).

Optional: The Complete Danteworlds: A Reader's Guide to the Divine Comedy (Chicago, 2009)

Assignments and Computation of Grade

Two 750-1000 word critical responses (10% each): 20%

Research project (paper and presentation): 50%

Class preparation and participation: 30%

Dante: Fall 2013

ITC 349 (37585), Same as E 322 (35687)

TTH 12:30-1:45 in Parlin 201

Professor Guy Raffa, Dept. of French and Italian

Office Hours: TTH 1:45-3:15 in HRH 3.104A; phone: 232-5492

E-mail: guyr@utexas.edu; Home Page: http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~guyr

The Divine Comedy offers a remarkable panorama of the late Middle Ages through one man's poetic vision of the afterlife. However, we continue to read and study the poem not only to learn about the thought and culture of medieval and early modern Europe but also because many of the issues confronting Dante and his age are no less important to individuals and societies today. Personal and civic responsibilities, governmental accountability, church-state relations, economics and social justice, Dante's influence on artists and other writers, benefits and limitations of interdisciplinarity—these are some of the themes that will frame our discussion of the Divine Comedy. Although you will read the poem in English, a bilingual edition will enable you to study and learn famous lines in the original Italian. The course is taught in English.

Danteworlds (http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/): In addition to detailed entries, audio recordings, and study questions, this Web site contains hundreds of images from works by Sandro Botticelli, an anonymous 16th-century artist, John Flaxman, William Blake, Gustave Dorè, and Suloni Robertson.

Through close reading, class discussion, and the use of Danteworlds, you are expected to identify and explain the significance of major characters, references, and ideas in Dante's Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise) and Vita Nuova. You will be tested on this ability in two exams. Take-home essays will assess your ability to support an interpretation of a specific aspect of Dante's poetry with detailed textual analysis. I expect you to have read the assigned cantos and reviewed the corresponding material in Danteworlds (including the study questions) before class.

Assignments and Computation of Grade:

Two in-class examinations (30% each): 60%

Two take-home essays (15% each): 30%

Class work (including journal entries and / or quizzes): 10%

Regular attendance is required: No student who misses more than 6 classes (3 weeks) for any reason can complete the course with a passing grade.

REQUIRED TEXTS: Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso (Trans. Allen Mandelbaum)

Vita Nuova (Trans. Barbara Reynolds)

OPTIONAL TEXT: The Complete Danteworlds: A Reader's Guide to the "Divine Comedy" (Raffa)

Grading and Plagiarism: All assignments will be graded on a 100 point scale and converted to letter grades consistent with university policy:

A (94-100) = 4.0, A- (90-93) = 3.67, B+ (88-89) = 3.3, B (84-87) = 3.0, B- (80-83) = 2.67, C+ (78-79) = 2.3, C (74-77) = 2.0, C- (70-73) = 1.67, D+ (68-69) = 1.3, D (64-67) = 1.0, D- (60-63) = 0.67, F (below 60) = 0.0

Plagiarism, intentional or not, will result in an automatic F on the assignment as well as possible disciplinary action. For the definition of plagiarism and the University's policy on it, see: http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs/scholdis.php

Dante I (Fall 2013)

ITL 390K, crosslisted with MDV 392M: T 330-630 in BEN 1.108

Guy Raffa, Dept. of French and Italian, HRH 3.104A; 232-5492

E-mail: guyr@utexas.edu; Home page: http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~guyr

Course Conducted in English; Reading Knowledge of Italian Required

This course is the first half of a two-semester sequence focused on Dante’s Commedia and his other works. This semester we will read the Inferno, the Vita nuova, two books of the Convivio (1 and 3), the Monarchia, and the first half of Purgatorio. Placing our close reading of these texts within a series of literary, intellectual, and historical contexts, we will attend to Dante's engagement with works by classical authors (Virgil, Ovid, Lucan, Statius, Cicero) and medieval poets, philosophers, and theologians. The Danteworlds commentary and the complementary Web site (http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu) will provide much of this background material and help guide your reading of the Commedia. 

Since a goal of the course is to become familiar with major voices in Dante Studies, our discussion of Dante's works will be informed by selected works of criticism (available on Blackboard or in a course packet). Twice during the semester you are required to write a brief response—both descriptive and analytical—to one of these critical works. Other graded assignments include a take-home exam and a substantial research project consisting of a paper and a formal presentation to the class. For the paper, you are required to write a significant draft (15+ pages, with full documentation) that you will likely expand and revise in the spring semester. You are expected to attend class regularly, to be well prepared, and to participate actively in class discussion.

Required Texts: Inferno (Garzanti, 2008); Purgatorio (Garzanti, 2008); Vita nuova (Garzanti, 2009); Convivio (Garzanti, 2005); Monarchy (Cambridge, 1996)

 Optional: The Complete Danteworlds: A Reader's Guide to the Divine Comedy (Chicago, 2009)

Assignments and Computation of Grade

Two 500-1000 word critical responses (10% each): 20%

Take-Home Exam: 20%

Research project (paper and presentation): 30%

Class preparation and participation: 30%

Dante's Afterlives (Spring 2013)

Course Conducted in English; Reading Knowledge of Italian Required

     Summarizing Dante's popularity in Italy in the early twentieth century, one critic amusingly observed that the medieval poet "was cooked in every sauce, served hot and cold, grilled and in gelatin, whole and ground, alone or with sides, with critical mayonnaise and historical croutons: there was something for all tastes, for strong stomachs and for dyspeptic ones, for women and for men, for kindergartners and for doddering academics." In this course we will seek intellectual nourishment at the banquet of Dante's legacy by closely examining a broad range of responses to the poet—the man and his works—from Giovanni Boccaccio's biography in the late Middle Ages to Roberto Benigni's recent performances of TuttoDante. Between the Dante-inspired works of Boccaccio and Benigni, we will study various, often conflicting, versions of "Dante" in literature, art, film, politics, history, and popular culture. After establishing a foundation for Dante's influence by discussing his political treatise (Monarchia) and selected cantos of his Commedia (most from Inferno), we will embark on an interpretive journey tracing Dante's evolution from a regional to a national (then nationalist) figure before he attained the global status he enjoys today. Giuseppe Mazzini famously called Dante—Ugo Foscolo's "Ghibelline fugitive"—the "Prophet of the Italian Nation": we will accordingly examine appeals to Dante's authority in promoting the liberation and unification of Italy, but we will also consider his role as a beacon of liberty in the United States. Among other areas of inquiry, we will discuss Catholic interpretations of Dante as a neo-Guelph advocate of papal political power, nationalist appropriations of the poet for territorial expansion and military interventions, and recent representations of Dante as an icon of Italian culture on the world stage.

Touchstone texts in our tour of Dante's legacy across time, space, discipline, and culture will include: writings by Alfieri, Foscolo, Mazzini, Byron, Leopardi, Carducci, Cordelia Ray, Longfellow, D'Annunzio, Marinetti, T. S. Eliot, Samuel Beckett, Mussolini, Primo Levi, Matthew Pearl, Karen Russell, and others; artwork by Botticelli, Blake, Flaxman, Dorè, and Suloni Robertson; and films (and clips) by FrancescoBertolini(1911), Harry Lachman (1935), Spencer Williams (1944), Peter Greenaway and Raúl Ruiz (1989), Woody Allen (1997), Vincent Ward (1998), Sandow Birk (2008), and Michael Patrick King (2008).

Required Texts (at COOP): Dante, Inferno (Garzanti, 2008) and Monarchy (Cambridge, 1996)

Optional: The Complete Danteworlds: A Reader's Guide to the Divine Comedy (Chicago, 2009)

[Other sources and critical works will be posted on Blackboard or gathered in a packet.]

Assignments and Computation of Grade

Class preparation and participation: 25%

Three 500-1000 word critical response essays: 15%

Oral research presentation (the basis for a conference presentation): 10%

Term paper of 15-25 pages with full documentation (the basis for a scholarly article): 50%

Introduction to Italian Literature (Middle Ages - 18th Century): Spring 2011

ITL 326K: TTH 2-3:15 in HRH 2.112

Prof. Guy Raffa, Dept. of French and Italian

Office Hours: TTH 10-11 in HRH 3.104A; phone: 471-6390

E-mail: guyr@uts.cc.utexas.edu; Home Page: http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~guyr

In this course we will read and discuss selected works from the Middle Ages and early modern period. All reading, writing and discussion will be in Italian. Since love is a central, unifying theme of many course texts, we shall consider several of its nuances and representations: spiritual love; adult sexual and emotional intimacy; family relationships; friendships; group solidarity; and love of one's homeland. In addition to selections from Dante's Inferno and Boccaccio's Decameron, we will read and discuss works by Francesco d'Assisi, Angela da Foligno, Caterina da Siena, Giacomo da Lentini, Guido Guinizzelli, Guido Cavalcanti, Cecco Angiolieri, Compiuta Donzella, Francesco Petrarca, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Vittoria Colonna, Niccolò Machiavelli, Gaspara Stampa, Galileo and Virginia Galilei. We will strategically use materials from contemporary Italian culture—including popular music (Ferro, Nek, Giorgia, Alexia, Jovanotti) and Pasolini’s film adaptation of the Decameron—to put these works of early Italian literature into dialogue with more recent representations and issues.

Grading Policy

Two exams: 50%

Two essays: 25%

Preparation and participation (including quizzes): 25%

Regular attendance is required: No student who misses more than 6 classes (3 weeks) for any reason can complete the course with a passing grade.

Required Texts

Dante Alighieri, Inferno (Garzanti, 2008)

Francesco Petrarca, Poesie (Bonacci, 1996)

Course packet (I.T. Copy, 512 W. MLK Blvd; phone: 476-6662)

Instructor: Raffa

Prerequisite:  Graduate standing is required.

Calvino and Eco:  Fiction, Theory, and Criticism

The responses of Umberto Eco and Italo Calvino to the interrelations of author, reader, and text, and the future of literature and literary studies show that in a cultural moment favorable toward multi-disciplinarity at least two general directions coexist: an encounter with multiple discourses of knowledge in order to mark more clearly their boundaries, and a belief that new epistemological configurations arise from the interplay--and even contamination--of different lines of inquiry.  We shall explore the important contribution of these two Italian writers to contemporary literary and intellectual debate by examining selected creative, critical, and theoretical texts.  Not satisfied only to show how their theory and fiction "reflect" one another, we shall also attend to the ideological assumptions and implications of Eco’s and Calvino’s works.  

In addition to the texts in the bookstores, there will be a number of works on reserve in the PCL, including secondary sources essential for your research paper of substantial proportions (15-25 pp. with full documentation).  This paper will account for 60% of your grade, with the remaining 40% evenly divided between class participation and two short response essays (2-4 pp.).  Although class discussion will be in English, texts will be available in both Italian and English.      

Required Texts

Calvino: Lezioni americane (Mondadori, ISBN = 9788804485995), Tutte le cosmicomiche (Mondadori,  ISBN = 9788804520467), Se una notte d'inverno un viaggiatore (Mondadori, ISBN =  9788804482000), Visconte dimezzato (Mondadori, ISBN = 9788804370871)

Eco: Nome della rosa (Bompiani, ISBN = 9788845246340), Isola del giorno prima (Bompiani, ISBN = 9788845246449), Interpretation and Overinterpretation (Cambridge, ISBN = 9780521425544), Six Walks in the Fictional Woods (Harvard, ISBN = 9780674810518)

On Reserve / Blackboard: selections from Uses of Literature, Limits of Interpretation, Role of the Reader, Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language

ITL 326K (attached)

ITL 390K (attached)

Please check back for updates.

Please check back for updates.

Please check back for updates.

ITL 326K

In this course we will read and discuss selected works from the Middle Ages and early modern period. All reading, writing and discussion will be in Italian. Since love is a central, unifying theme of many course texts, we shall consider several of its nuances and representations: spiritual love; adult sexual and emotional intimacy; family relationships; friendships; group solidarity; and love of one's homeland. In addition to selections from Dante's Inferno and Boccaccio's Decameron, we will read and discuss works by Francesco d'Assisi, Angela da Foligno, Caterina da Siena, Giacomo da Lentini, Guido Guinizzelli, Guido Cavalcanti, Cecco Angiolieri, Compiuta Donzella, Francesco Petrarca, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Vittoria Colonna, Niccolò Machiavelli, Gaspara Stampa, Galileo and Virginia Galilei. We will  use materials from contemporary Italian culture, including popular music and film, to put these works of early Italian literature into dialogue with more recent representations and issues.

Required Texts:
Dante Alighieri, Inferno (Rizzoli edition, 2001)
Giovanni Boccaccio, Dieci novelle dal Decameron (Guerra Edizioni Guru, 1997)
Course packet


Grading Policy:
2 Exams: 50%
2 Papers: 25%
Participation: 25%

Please check back for updates.

Please check back for updates.

ITL 326K

In this course we will read and discuss selected works from the Middle Ages and early modern period. All reading, writing and discussion will be in Italian. Since love is a central, unifying theme of many course texts, we shall consider several of its nuances and representations: spiritual love; adult sexual and emotional intimacy; family relationships; friendships; group solidarity; and love of one's homeland. In addition to selections from Dante's Inferno and Boccaccio's Decameron, we will read and discuss works by Francesco d'Assisi, Angela da Foligno, Caterina da Siena, Giacomo da Lentini, Guido Guinizzelli, Guido Cavalcanti, Cecco Angiolieri, Compiuta Donzella, Francesco Petrarca, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Vittoria Colonna, Niccolò Machiavelli, Gaspara Stampa, Galileo and Virginia Galilei. We will  use materials from contemporary Italian culture, including popular music and film, to put these works of early Italian literature into dialogue with more recent representations and issues.

Required Texts:
Dante Alighieri, Inferno (Rizzoli edition, 2001)
Giovanni Boccaccio, Dieci novelle dal Decameron (Guerra Edizioni Guru, 1997)
Course packet


Grading Policy:
2 Exams: 50%
2 Papers: 25%
Participation: 25%

Please check back for updates.

Please check back for updates.

ITL 326K

In this course we will read and discuss selected works from the Middle Ages and early modern period. All reading, writing and discussion will be in Italian. Since love is a central, unifying theme of many course texts, we shall consider several of its nuances and representations: spiritual love; adult sexual and emotional intimacy; family relationships; friendships; group solidarity; and love of one's homeland. In addition to selections from Dante's Inferno and Boccaccio's Decameron, we will read and discuss works by Francesco d'Assisi, Angela da Foligno, Caterina da Siena, Giacomo da Lentini, Guido Guinizzelli, Guido Cavalcanti, Cecco Angiolieri, Compiuta Donzella, Francesco Petrarca, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Vittoria Colonna, Niccolò Machiavelli, Gaspara Stampa, Galileo and Virginia Galilei. We will  use materials from contemporary Italian culture, including popular music and film, to put these works of early Italian literature into dialogue with more recent representations and issues.

Required Texts:
Dante Alighieri, Inferno (Rizzoli edition, 2001)
Giovanni Boccaccio, Dieci novelle dal Decameron (Guerra Edizioni Guru, 1997)
Course packet


Grading Policy:
2 Exams: 50%
2 Papers: 25%
Participation: 25%

Please check back for updates.

Please check back for updates.

Please check back for updates.

Please check back for updates.

Please check back for updates.

Please check back for updates.

Italian Literature in Translation. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.

Please check back for updates.

Italian Literature in Translation. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.