GONZAGA-IN-FLORENCE SYLLABUS
Course:
Credits:
Instructor:
ENGL 202: Studies in Fiction
4 Credits
Dr. Marc Manganaro
Study Abroad, 502 E. Boone Ave, Spokane, WA 99258-0085 ● (800) 440-5391 ● www.gonzagainflorence.org ● [email protected]
“Feeling Italian”: Modern Italian and Italian-American Fiction and Culture
Gonzaga-in-Florence, Summer 2011
This course, in the effort to understand what “being Italian” and having an “Italian experience”
means, will focus upon Italian and Italian-American fiction; American fiction set in Italy; and writing
that in varying forms reflects upon what it means to “feel Italian” or have an “Italian experience.”
Works read, discussed, and written about will include narratives about experiencing Italy by
American writers such as Edith Wharton, Henry James, and Frances Mayes; Italian fiction by writers
such as Giovanni Verga, Nicolo Ammaniti, and Erri De Lucca (in translation); writings on Italian
history and culture by Luigi Barzini and Paul Ginsborg; Italian-American fiction by writers such as
Mario Puzo; and writings on Italian-American culture and experience by critics such as Thomas
Ferraro.
In selecting the texts for and organizing the course, I have been quite deliberate in providing and
arranging a variety of readings that are fictional as well as non-fictional (short story, novel, criticism,
and memoir are all present), and are both “literary” in the high artistic sense as well as “popular” in
the “pop cultural” or mass cultural sense—e.g., we will read the popular and contemporary Under
the Tuscan Sun as well as, and in a sense alongside, Henry James’ classic Daisy Miller. As well, we
will read not only literature but also history (Ginsborg), sociology (Barzini), literary/cultural criticism
(Ferraro), and travel writing (Mayes), and we will read about and discuss popular music (e.g.,
Sinatra, Madonna), and film (e.g., The Godfather, Moonstruck, and The Sopranos). The purpose and
hoped-for result is not to be idiosyncratic, haphazard, or “catch-all” in the choice of what we will
study; to the contrary, while the works we will read and discuss are quite different in terms of genre
or medium (method of delivery), they, or the responses they produce, have a common bond in their
preoccupation with other-cultural experience that is focused on having an “Italian” (or Italianinfluenced) experience that is conveyed primarily through narrative.
While this course is tailored to students participating in the Gonzaga-in-Florence Program, especially
in attention to issues of Italian and Italian-American literature and culture and writings on
experiencing Italy, the class also functions as Gonzaga’s English 202, Studies in Fiction course, and as
such is intended to extend student experience with the skills of critical reading, analysis, and writing
to which Gonzaga students were introduced in English 101 and 102—skills that are essential for all
college students. Like English 102, this class will require you to read and write on a regular basis, to
participate in class discussion, and to engage in group activities. Unlike English 102, this course
focuses primarily though not exclusively on the genre of fiction, with emphasis on the major
elements of narrative form, such as plot, character, and point of view.
Required Texts
 Giovanni Verga, Little Novels of Sicily
 Nicolo Ammaniti, I’m not Scared
 Erri De Lucca, God’s Mountain
 Luigi Barzini, The Italians
 Henry James, Daisy Miller
 Thomas J. Ferraro, Feeling Italian



Mario Puzo, The Fortunate Pilgrim
Frances Mayes, Under the Tuscan Sun
Short fiction or essays, copies to be distributed
Course Requirements
Reading Responses/Quizzes: to ensure that you are continually and actively thinking and writing about
the reading assignments, I will give occasional (on the average of one per week) writing exercises or
quizzes at the start of class. I will ask you to take 10-15 minutes to compose an answer of a few
paragraphs. While these responses are intended in part to ensure you are keeping up with the
reading, they also importantly will require you to interpret the literary narratives you have read (the
questions posed and responses anticipated will not be true/false, yes/no, or strictly factual, but very
much interpretive in nature). Your responses will be commented on by me and graded on a scale of 1
to 10.
Participation: Because the success of this class depends primarily on the active, enthusiastic
participation of all members, participation will play a role in assessing your ultimate performance
and your final grade for the course.
Travel Journals: Because most of the assigned narratives are set in Italian locations, and because
travel itself as an other-cultural experience is so central to the course and to your own experience in
this program this summer, I am requiring that you keep a travel journal that reflects upon your travels
both to and within Florence, Tuscany, Italy and Europe generally, and that you use the works you read
and discussions we have in class as mediums through which to reflect and amplify upon your
expressions of your travel experience. In the first week of class, I will give you more detail on what
and much is expected in your travel journal.
Short Paper: You will be expected to compose a 4-6 page (1000- to 1500-word) paper that
addresses a specific issue by focusing on a particular text or combination of texts we have read. In
the first week of class I will distribute a handout that will elaborate more fully on what is expected in
the paper, and I will provide a number of possible topics for papers. You are free to propose a topic
of your own, though if you do so, it needs to meet my approval.
Final Exam/Essay: The final exam is intended to be comprehensive in nature, and will ask you to
respond to two questions, both in the form of essays, and you may have the choice of answering
one of two questions for each of the two essays. Your essays should relevantly and insightfully draw
from the texts of assigned writings in order to draw conclusions about the over-arching issues that
have emerged out of the texts we have read and discussed throughout the class.
Percentages assigned to the course requirements to determine the final course grade are as follows:
Participation
10%
Reading Responses/Quizzes
10%
Travel Journal
25%
Short Paper
25%
Final Exam
30%
Below is a tentative schedule for the class. I reserve the right to modify the schedule as needed.
Please note that you are responsible for all changes that may occur, even if you are absent from
class.
WEEK ONE
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Introduction
“Roman Fever,” by Edith Wharton
Daisy Miller
Daisy Miller
WEEK TWO
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Selected chapters from The Italians
Selected chapters from The Italians
Little Novels of Sicily
Little Novels of Sicily
WEEK THREE
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Selections from Paul Ginsborg’s A History of Contemporary Italy
God’s Mountain
God’s Mountain
I’m not scared
WEEK FOUR
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
I’m not scared
I’m not scared
The Fortunate Pilgrim
The Fortunate Pilgrim
WEEK FIVE
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
The Fortunate Pilgrim
Selections from Feeling Italian (on Italian Americans in popular music)
Selections from Feeling Italian (on Italian Americans in popular film)
Invited Speaker on Italian-American Cinematic Narratives (The Godfather,
Moonstruck, Big Night, The Sopranos) SHORT PAPER DUE
WEEK SIX
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Under the Tuscan Sun
Under the Tuscan Sun
Under the Tuscan Sun
Final Exam