ITAL 226 Fascism, Racism, and War in Italian Literature
This course offers an analysis of the complex legacy of Risorgimento in the 20th century Italian nation. Immediate prospects of prosperity for the young country had to face, in fact, the reality of fascism, the rise of the figure of dictator Benito Mussolini to a public myth, racism, two wars and the period called Resistenza. By braiding the reality of historical facts and the reality of artistic artifacts, namely history and literature, students learn and examine representations of some of the most complex events leading up to the republic of 1946 and a new Constitution. Mussolini's political speeches will be analyzed and measured against the background of a young country still in dire need of a political compass, not entirely devoid, however, of the intellectual ability to reject totalitarianism as philosopher Benedetto Croce did throughout his career. Racism and resistance to the regime as evidenced by the novels by Italo Calvino and Beppe Fenoglio will constitute some of the enlightening readings of the semester along with Primo Levi's reflections on his experience in the Auschwitz Lager in If This is a Man. Taught in English. Satisfies requirements for humanities, and literature. Meets Explorations in Literature requirement.