Italian Studies 497LP - ST-Literary Periodicals/Italy

The 20th century in Italy is often referred to as "the century of periodicals". This is due to the lively cultural debate that took place on dozens of literary periodicals that sprung up all over the Nation. Evidently, this was the result of the urgent need felt by intellectuals, often young and highly engaged, to create new opportunities outside the formal academic context to share ideas and participate in the cultural debate of one of the most interesting and exciting eras of Italian and European history. This course will provide a synchronic view of this cultural debate as it happened in real time through the pages of some of the most representative periodical publications during the first six decades of the last century, from the pre-WWI years to the immediate WWII aftermath. Born around the tables of literary cafes in Florence, Rome, or Turin and animated by the newest literary theories, artistic avant-garde movements, and social and political turmoil, literary periodicals offered an open forum to Italian intellectuals to share ideas and to explore and interact with the other European cultures, at a time - such as the fascist ventennio - of strict cultural nationalism and censorship. The UMass and Five College libraries offer an outstanding collection of literary periodicals. Throughout the semester we will hold a number of hands-on classes in our libraries in order to familiarize ourselves with the original documents and the appropriate research techniques.