ITAL 241 Motherhood in Italian Literature and Culture
This course offers an analysis of different representations of motherhood in Italian society and culture, with a specific focus on literature. The course is composed of four segments dealing respectively with the importance of the Virgin Mary as an archetypical and idealized figure of mother in art and popular culture; feminism and its struggles; the refusal of motherhood as a tool for empowering women; and the contemporary debates on fertility. The broad scope is to show how the maternal figure has been interpreted in different and sometimes conflicting ways in the Italian society of the past centuries. By braiding facts and fiction, history, literature, film and new media, students will learn to examine different representations of motherhood in the Italian society and culture. Students will visit the National Gallery of Art, engage with literary texts, films, and excerpts from new media. Taught in English. Satisfies requirements for Italian Studies, for Humanities and Literature.