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.

In this course, we will explore the instructive value of reading literature in a rapidly changing world. Reading and discussing several famous episodes of learning in classical, medieval, Renaissance, and twentieth-century poems and novels, we will explore how various writers from Italy ascribe instructive or moral value to their artistic creations by dramatizing the act of learning from reading. Some of the questions we will ask as we discuss these episodes are: why is it important that reading literature should teach as well as entertain us? Why do acts of reading and interpreting appear in some of these texts more frequently than others? As readers living in a different world than the Rome of Ovid, the Florence of Dante, and the England of Shakespeare, how are we to appreciate their respective efforts to instill philosophical, practical, and moral knowledge in their creations for very different audiences? What can we learn from them even if we are not convinced of their immediate relevance or usefulness? In order to better help us to read, reflect, and write about the relationship between learning and literature, we will also read secondary sources about these learning episodes, becoming familiar with the basic terminology used to analyze them, such as allegory and mimesis.

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