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.

“The urgency of manifestos—that clear sense that they sit right on the cutting edge—leaves a palpable feeling that the ink has yet to dry, that we are…on the ‘bleeding edge’ of things. Regardless of when they were written, manifestos pulsate with newness and freshness. They pry open the eyes we would rather shut, forcing us to reckon with the scummy, dirty, awful truths we would rather not face” (Breanne Fahs— Burn It Down: Feminist Manifestos for the Revolution) This course approaches the study of argumentative writing by examining the manifesto form as a genre. Each week we will read, watch, and or listen to a variety of thematic instances of the manifesto and assess what makes their methods effective or ineffective. By thinking about writing as a deeply persuasive, claim-based practice, students will learn to be metacognitive about their own deployment of rhetorical strategies which will in turn help them develop writing skills that can be translated into multiple different writing and communicative contexts, as well as its dual nature as a literary genre that seeks to effect real social and/or political change in the world. We will mainly examine the manifesto’s rise to become a dominant mode of self-assertion reaching its height among twentieth-century artistic avant-garde movements such as Futurism and Surrealism. This course will then ask how artists, politicians, and various thinkers incorporated this genre in their practice by looking at their manifestoes and their subsequent works (paintings, novels, films, etc.). Often, the manifesto also has global ambitions, and this course will accordingly emphasize its international character and scope. We will also pay particular attention to questions of identity and representation and the ways in which racial, ethnic, gender, and class struggles have been written into the manifesto’s history. R5A satisfies the first half of the Reading and Composition requirement. This course will be writing intensive and ultimately aimed toward the cultivation of students’ writing and thinking skills. Therefore, a great deal of time will be devoted to practicing the techniques of summary, synthesis of ideas, and logical argument. Students will complete regular shorter papers in which they will explore the texts and themes of the course, which will then become the basis for peer review exercises and written reflections on the process of writing and revision.

Requisites

• Satisfaction of the Entry Level Writing Requirement.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills