Interrogating the Real: Italian Literature & Cinema from Realism to Virtual Reality

Catalog description

Have you ever visited Venice in Las Vegas? Or, rode a gondola in Long Beach? Or, played the Dantes Inferno videogame? What is it about Italy that lends itself to such extensive reproduction? This course explores the idea of the real throughout the modern Italian tradition. We chart the evolution of this Italian reality in four movements: 1) starting with literary verismo, or realism; 2) neorealism in the 1940s and 50s; 3) the fantastic in the 1960s; and 4) the hyper- and virtual reality of today. Key terms that guide our exploration include modernity, postmodernity, authenticity, and representation. Although they are our guides, we also interrogate these terms, and in doing so, test the concepts of Italy and the real itself.