Epic of Epidemics: Narration in the Plague Years

Catalog description

Seminars are designed to complement the student’s knowledge f literature by either covering material not included in other courses or by investigating in detail a major author or work. Why have people throughout the centuries narrated the atrocious realities of epidemic illness? Are these writers documenting historical facts or creating literary works of arts (or both)? This course explores the “genre” of plague narrative in the Italian literary tradition. It analyzes the multi-faceted role of narration in times of illness: narration as reaction, catharsis, prophylaxis and therapy. Some of the authors we will consider are Boccacio, Saccheti, Sereambi, Malespini, Areglati and Manzoni. Restriction/Requirement:One 300 level Italian course. Course is conducted in Italian.