ITALIAN 204

Italian Fiction and Cinema


Please note: this is archived course information from 2018 for ITALIAN 204.

Description

A study of Italian novels, short stories and their adaptation into feature films. Texts are in Italian.

All too often fidelity to an original literary text is used as a criterion for judging the value of its film adaptation. This course questions the value of fidelity as criterion by examining the process of transformation of some modern Italian literary texts into feature films. We will consider how adaptation allows a film to successfully present the otherness and distinctiveness of its original text, bearing in mind the different narrative functions and codes of novels and film. The intellectual and social milieus in which these literary works and films were produced will also be considered.

The texts to be examined are the latest film by director Michelangelo Antonioni, Al di là delle nuvole (Beyond the clouds), derived from a series of short stories he himself wrote in the 1980s; Paolo and Vittorio Taviani’s film Kaos, derived from short stories by early twentieth century playwright and novelist Luigi Pirandello; and Niccolò Ammaniti’s novel Io non ho paura (I am not scared), and its film adaptation by Gabriele Salvadores.

View the course syllabus

Availability 2018

Semester 1

Lecturer(s)

Coordinator(s) Dr Franco Manai

Reading/Texts

The literary texts will be available online except for the novel Io non ho paura (I am not scared), which can be purchased at the University bookstore.

Films can be viewed in the AV Library.

Assessment

Coursework only

Points

ITALIAN 204: 15 points

Prerequisites

ITALIAN 107

Corequisites

ITALIAN 200

Restrictions

ITALIAN 232, 336