The aim of this interdisciplinary course is to analyze the Grand Tour as it took shape in Italy from the XIX century and the literary representation of Siena and Tuscany in particular, in Anglo- American literature from the XIX century to the contemporary period. The structure of the course will be of two parts. In the first part students will be introduced to the object of research and its socio-historical and cultural contexts, in addition to the literary one. Students will also be provided with literary methodology and conceptual tools (concept of culture/identity creation/narration and representation/image projection/ stereotyping processes). The second part of the course will be focusing on reading and textual analysis of entire books and excerpts from books, in chronological order, by different Anglo-American writers who have visited, lived and wrote on Siena and Tuscany, such as, among the others, Henry James, E.M. Forster, George Eliot, E.B. Browning, D.H. Lawrence, Tobias Jones, Anne Fortier, Mary McCarthy, Iris Origo, Kate Simon, Francesca Alexander. The structure and the format of the course will have the students methodologically draw the maximum advantage from the local context, and apply the holistic 3-D student learning model, with the conceptual cognitive aspects of students’ academic learning integrate into the intra-personal and inter-personal level, in order to be able to develop skills of inter-personal and inter-cultural competence.
Prerequisites:
None
Additional requirements:
Supplementary material to complement class work may be given by the instructor in order to improve and enrich students’ comprehension.
Attendance policy:
Successful progress of the program depends on the full cooperation of both students and faculty members: regular attendance and active participation in class are essential parts of the learning process. Attendance at and participation in all class meetings and field-studies are required. More than TWO unjustified absences (that are not medically excused with a written certificate of the doctor or caused by serious sudden family and/or personal occurrences, as for example death of a family member) will result in a lowering of your grade.
Learning outcomes:
By the end of the course, students are able to:
• Develop skills to critically evaluate literary works per se and in their contextual connotations.
• Identify the main themes of important Grand Tour literary works starting from its canonical age, the 19th-20th centuries, to the contemporary period.
• Identify and analyze the sequence of the different Anglo-American literary representations of Italy, Tuscany and Siena, with special regards to its relevance in terms of peoples’ imagery, cultural identity, and stereotypes, both literary and cultural ones.
• Identify, through comparative textual analysis, traits and features in various authors: similarities and differences.
• Analyze the historical and socio-political context of the course literature’s authors and of their objects portrayed.
• Recognize the evolution, if there is one, in the Grand Tour literature narratives of Italy, Tuscany,
Siena in particular, and considering it as a reflection of the historical evolution of culture and society.
Method of presentation:
Lectures (including PowerPoint projections, CD-ROMs and other visual materials), films analysis, seminar discussions, and student presentations. Guided tours to museums and exhibitions, and excursions in pertinent sites in Siena and Tuscany, weekly field-study activity. Lectures and on-site visits are led by the professor but as the course progresses, a seminar-style presentation is included, whereby students are asked to present specific objects to the class as a whole.
Note: During field-studies students are kindly advised not to carry bulky backpacks or troublesome objects. Photography is usually allowed in parks and gardens but is in general forbidden in museums.
Required work and form of assessment:
Active class participation and class discussion (15%); written mid-term exam in the form of essay-style answers (25%), written final exam in the form of essay-style answers (30%), final research project/7-10page paper +oral presentation of the project to the class (30%).
Attendance is mandatory and punctual reading of assigned material is strongly recommended and necessary for the writing/class discussions/class presentation assignments.
The written mid-term exam (2 hours in-class) will be based on the topics covered during the first half of the course and will be in the form of short compositions answering to several essay-style questions.
The written final exam (2 hours in-class) will be based on the topics covered during the second half of the course and will be in the form of short compositions answering to several essay-style questions.
Mid-term and final exams: The exams are comprised of the following sections: 1) Text analysis; 2)
topics analysis, 3) topics description and /or comparison, finalized to students’ conclusion. The expectations are in regards to students’ answers based on material considered in class and field- studies, both in lectures and class debates; assigned/required readings (from course-packets and other materials assigned by the instructor). The final exam is comprehensive, although specific questions and greater weight is given to material covered in the second half of the course.
The topic of the personal final research paper is to be chosen by students in consultation with the instructor: written essay (about 7-10 pages) and a oral presentation to the class. The amount of the paper’s pages is not including in the calculation the following items: title, footnotes, bibliography and illustrations.
All the course components are expected to show, when applicable, the application of the Holistic 3-D student development Model, with the conceptual cognitive aspects of students’ academic learning integrate into the intra-personal and inter-personal level, in order to be able to develop skills of inter- personal and inter-cultural competence.
content:
(please be aware that the sequence and therefore the objects of the content, particularly regarding field-studies, may vary and be subject to modifications depending on the local context)
Required readings:
Course-packet and integral reading of three texts included in the course.
Recommended readings:
as the course progresses, the professor will include additional readings and assignments.
Brief Biography of Instructor:
Amanda Bruttini was born in Siena in 1970. She graduated with a degree in Oriental Philosophy and Medicine, with a specialization in Indo-Tibetan Philosophy and Medicine, completed in India where she lived and did research for nine years. Following further anthropological research, she has completed and conducted several fieldwork seminars and courses in the USA (California and New York), Mexico, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Nepal, Pakistan and Europe (Italy, Spain, England, Austria, Switzertland). She then graduated, with honours, for the second time, from the Università degli Studi di Siena with a degree in Foreign Literatures (English, Anglo-American and Ispano-American) and Cultural Studies with a thesis on Shakespearian connections and the concept of identity in Marina Warner. She has a PhD from the Santa Chiara College di Siena in Literary Theory, Translation and Cultural Studies, specializing in Post-Colonial Comparative Studies and Anthropology. She currently collaborates with the Università di Siena as a tutor, researcher and lecturer and with the University of California (USA). She has taught for U.S. study abroad programs in Siena (including University of California, Lewis and Clark College, and Swarthmore College). Some of her research project, other than the publication of different scientific articles and her thesis, pay particular attention to the artistic, literary and anthropological branches of Cultural Studies referring to the fields of identity, memory, hybridization, and the oral- written relationship. She also continues her work on the practice on re-writing (Shakespeare) and of travel writing. Her main interest is to study the realms of identity formation and creation, the means of power and the strategies of stereotyping processes, analyzing how they are reflected in literary works, in the different historical periods.
The Grand Tour Of Tuscany In Literature
The aim of this interdisciplinary course is to analyze the Grand Tour as it took shape in Italy from the XIX century and the literary representation of Siena and Tuscany in particular, in Anglo- American literature from the XIX century to the contemporary period. The structure of the course will be of two parts. In the first part students will be introduced to the object of research and its socio-historical and cultural contexts, in addition to the literary one. Students will also be provided with literary methodology and conceptual tools (concept of culture/identity creation/narration and representation/image projection/ stereotyping processes). The second part of the course will be focusing on reading and textual analysis of entire books and excerpts from books, in chronological order, by different Anglo-American writers who have visited, lived and wrote on Siena and Tuscany, such as, among the others, Henry James, E.M. Forster, George Eliot, E.B. Browning, D.H. Lawrence, Tobias Jones, Anne Fortier, Mary McCarthy, Iris Origo, Kate Simon, Francesca Alexander. The structure and the format of the course will have the students methodologically draw the maximum advantage from the local context, and apply the holistic 3-D student learning model, with the conceptual cognitive aspects of students’ academic learning integrate into the intra-personal and inter-personal level, in order to be able to develop skills of inter-personal and inter-cultural competence.
None
Supplementary material to complement class work may be given by the instructor in order to improve and enrich students’ comprehension.
Successful progress of the program depends on the full cooperation of both students and faculty members: regular attendance and active participation in class are essential parts of the learning process. Attendance at and participation in all class meetings and field-studies are required. More than TWO unjustified absences (that are not medically excused with a written certificate of the doctor or caused by serious sudden family and/or personal occurrences, as for example death of a family member) will result in a lowering of your grade.
By the end of the course, students are able to:
• Develop skills to critically evaluate literary works per se and in their contextual connotations.
• Identify the main themes of important Grand Tour literary works starting from its canonical age, the 19th-20th centuries, to the contemporary period.
• Identify and analyze the sequence of the different Anglo-American literary representations of Italy, Tuscany and Siena, with special regards to its relevance in terms of peoples’ imagery, cultural identity, and stereotypes, both literary and cultural ones.
• Identify, through comparative textual analysis, traits and features in various authors: similarities and differences.
• Analyze the historical and socio-political context of the course literature’s authors and of their objects portrayed.
• Recognize the evolution, if there is one, in the Grand Tour literature narratives of Italy, Tuscany,
Siena in particular, and considering it as a reflection of the historical evolution of culture and society.
Lectures (including PowerPoint projections, CD-ROMs and other visual materials), films analysis, seminar discussions, and student presentations. Guided tours to museums and exhibitions, and excursions in pertinent sites in Siena and Tuscany, weekly field-study activity. Lectures and on-site visits are led by the professor but as the course progresses, a seminar-style presentation is included, whereby students are asked to present specific objects to the class as a whole.
Note: During field-studies students are kindly advised not to carry bulky backpacks or troublesome objects. Photography is usually allowed in parks and gardens but is in general forbidden in museums.
Active class participation and class discussion (15%); written mid-term exam in the form of essay-style answers (25%), written final exam in the form of essay-style answers (30%), final research project/7-10page paper +oral presentation of the project to the class (30%).
Attendance is mandatory and punctual reading of assigned material is strongly recommended and necessary for the writing/class discussions/class presentation assignments.
The written mid-term exam (2 hours in-class) will be based on the topics covered during the first half of the course and will be in the form of short compositions answering to several essay-style questions.
The written final exam (2 hours in-class) will be based on the topics covered during the second half of the course and will be in the form of short compositions answering to several essay-style questions.
Mid-term and final exams: The exams are comprised of the following sections: 1) Text analysis; 2)
topics analysis, 3) topics description and /or comparison, finalized to students’ conclusion. The expectations are in regards to students’ answers based on material considered in class and field- studies, both in lectures and class debates; assigned/required readings (from course-packets and other materials assigned by the instructor). The final exam is comprehensive, although specific questions and greater weight is given to material covered in the second half of the course.
The topic of the personal final research paper is to be chosen by students in consultation with the instructor: written essay (about 7-10 pages) and a oral presentation to the class. The amount of the paper’s pages is not including in the calculation the following items: title, footnotes, bibliography and illustrations.
All the course components are expected to show, when applicable, the application of the Holistic 3-D student development Model, with the conceptual cognitive aspects of students’ academic learning integrate into the intra-personal and inter-personal level, in order to be able to develop skills of inter- personal and inter-cultural competence.
(please be aware that the sequence and therefore the objects of the content, particularly regarding field-studies, may vary and be subject to modifications depending on the local context)
Course-packet and integral reading of three texts included in the course.
as the course progresses, the professor will include additional readings and assignments.
Amanda Bruttini was born in Siena in 1970. She graduated with a degree in Oriental Philosophy and Medicine, with a specialization in Indo-Tibetan Philosophy and Medicine, completed in India where she lived and did research for nine years. Following further anthropological research, she has completed and conducted several fieldwork seminars and courses in the USA (California and New York), Mexico, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Nepal, Pakistan and Europe (Italy, Spain, England, Austria, Switzertland). She then graduated, with honours, for the second time, from the Università degli Studi di Siena with a degree in Foreign Literatures (English, Anglo-American and Ispano-American) and Cultural Studies with a thesis on Shakespearian connections and the concept of identity in Marina Warner. She has a PhD from the Santa Chiara College di Siena in Literary Theory, Translation and Cultural Studies, specializing in Post-Colonial Comparative Studies and Anthropology. She currently collaborates with the Università di Siena as a tutor, researcher and lecturer and with the University of California (USA). She has taught for U.S. study abroad programs in Siena (including University of California, Lewis and Clark College, and Swarthmore College). Some of her research project, other than the publication of different scientific articles and her thesis, pay particular attention to the artistic, literary and anthropological branches of Cultural Studies referring to the fields of identity, memory, hybridization, and the oral- written relationship. She also continues her work on the practice on re-writing (Shakespeare) and of travel writing. Her main interest is to study the realms of identity formation and creation, the means of power and the strategies of stereotyping processes, analyzing how they are reflected in literary works, in the different historical periods.