This course features advanced lessons in Italian grammar and vocabulary and an introduction to prose analysis, with the goal of improving both reading and writing in Italian. The basis of our work will be a series of readings having a common theme, the representation of childhood in Italy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. We will think about the status of children at the turn of the century, particularly with regard to family, education, and work, and also about the challenges a writer faces to portray the experience and point of view of a child believably.

In this course we'll trace the evolution of Italian from its very earliest written manifestations to its increasing internationalization in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. We'll study the natural evolution of Italian up until the sixteenth century, its codification as a literary language during the sixteenth century, the debates over the institution of a national language that coincide with the unification of Italy in the nineteenth century, the recovery of dialects as literary languages in the twentieth century, and the more recent incorporation of words and phrases originating outside of Italy. Along the way we'll come to understand the reasons why we study a particular form of Italian in school, and we'll consider the implications of these choices not only for our own learning but for Italian literature and its sense of nationhood.

Business Analysts

Diplomats

Journalists

Historians

International Relations Consultants

Lawyers

Physicians

Publishers

Teachers

Translators