Reading and composition course based on works by Italians and foreigners about Italy and its culture and by Italians about their distinctive experiences of other cultures as tourists and emigrants. Works studied will be primarily chosen from among fiction and non fiction narratives, both originally in English and translated into it. R5A satisfies the first half of the Reading and Composition Requirement and R5B satisfies the second half.

Among the most fertile and resource-rich regions of the Italian peninsula, the former Kingdom of Naples (the modern regions of Campania, Basilicata, Calabria, and Apulia) and Sicily have long been the sites of conquest and rebellion. Over the centuries, the cities of Naples and Palermo have served as the seats of independent regional powers, as governing outposts for the Kingdoms of Spain and Aragon, and as hotspots of political and social unrest. As important centers for the maintenance of political hegemony that were also hubs for intellectual and popular resistance, the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily were crucial yet problematic cornerstones to economic and military primacy in the Mediterranean. This course explores the roles played by Naples and Sicily in the European and, eventually, global exchange of goods and power by considering the literary, visual, and material culture of Southern Italy. In doing so, it will explore how the arts of this region shaped and were shaped by the complex shifting regional and international dynamics that characterized Southern Italy from the 12th to 19th centuries. This course is a writing-intensive class which fulfills Part B of the university’s requirement for Reading and Composition and teaches students to read and reflect critically about literary texts and works of art and to express their own, original ideas in an argumentative academic essay. Assignments will focus on visual analysis, close reading, and written composition. Students will also learn to develop their own ideas and respond to those of their classmates through class discussion and peer review. COURSE READINGS Primary Texts include (readings will be in English; subject to change): Antonio Beccadelli, Hermaphroditus, 1425 Giovanni Pontano, De Principe, 1493 Jacopo Sannazaro, Arcadia, 1504 Benedetto Croce, Storia del Regno di Napoli, 1925 Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Il Gattopardo, 1958 Secondary Texts include (readings will be in English; subject to change): David Abulafia, Sicily and the Mediterranean in the Late Middle Ages Henry Kamen, Empire: How Spain Became a World Power 1492-1763 Jennifer D. Selwyn: A Paradise Inhabited by Devils. The Jesuit’s Civilizing Mission in Early Modern Naples, Aldershot 2004. Thomas Dandalet and John A. Marino, Spain in Italy: Politics, Society, and Religion 1500-1700, 2007 Francesco Benigno, Mirrors of Revolution: Conflict and Political Identity in Early Modern Europe, 2010 Tommaso Astarita, A Companion to Early Modern Naples, 2013 Frank Fehrenbach, Nature and the Arts in Early Modern Naples, 2020 Selected Artworks (subject to change): Cappella Palatina, 12th century, Palermo, Sicily Tino da Camaino, Anjou tombs, 14th century, marble, Santa Chiara, Naples Antonello da Messina, Virgin Annunciate, 1476, oil on wood, Palermo, Sicily Caravaggio, Seven Works of Mercy, 1606-1607, Pio Monte della Misericordia, Naples Chapel of San Gennaro, Naples, 17th century Giuseppe Sanmartino, Veiled Christ, 1753, Sansevero Chapel, Naples

Requisites

• Previously passed an R_A course with a letter grade of C- or better. Previously passed an articulated R_A course with a letter grade of C- or better. Score a 4 on the Advanced Placement Exam in English Literature. Score a 4 or 5 on the Advanced Placement Exam in English Language and Composition. Score of 5, 6, or 7 on the International Baccalaureate Higher Level Examination in English.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills