All Reading & Composition courses must be taken for a letter grade in order to fulfill this requirement for the Bachelor’s Degree. This course satisfies the first half or the “B” portion of the Reading and Composition requirement.

This summer, we’ll take a virtual tour of Italy’s capital as seen through the eyes of natives and foreigners alike. Drawing on fiction, film, poetry, and other cultural artifacts, we’ll approach the Eternal City not only as the static setting against which stories and histories unfold, but as a dynamic protagonist in its own right. “Rome” will therefore serve as a lens through which to consider broader questions related to Italian history, cultural identity, and our conceptualization of the city itself, as both a geographical reality and a space constructed by the imagination. Some of the questions we will address are: How is the “città eterna” appropriated as simultaneously a constant and fluctuating entity, a static emblem of history and a corrupting modern metropolis at once? What does it mean to author a city and how have writers and filmmakers taken on this role? How does Rome become a character of its own, one approached with an amalgam of loving curiosity, intolerance, even indifference? What kind of modern subject walks the Roman streets and how do they interact with it?

Since this is a Reading and Composition course, our primary goal is to develop and hone our skills as active readers and analytical writers. To this end, students will be expected to thoroughly read all assigned texts, attend class regularly, participate in class discussion, and complete a variety of written assignments.

Texts:
Corrado Augias. The Secrets of Rome: Love & Death in The Eternal City.
Joachim Du Bellay, Selected Poems
W.H. Auden. “The Fall of Rome”
Terry Eagleton. “Beginnings.”
Edith Wharton. “Roman Fever”
Alberto Moravia. Selected stories from More Roman Tales
William Wyler, Roman Holiday
Federico Fellini. Clips from Roma (1972) & La dolce vita (1960)
Pier Paolo Pasolini. Selection of Poems: The Weeping of the Excavator, Roman Evening, Toward the Caracalla Baths
Amara Lakhous. Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio
Paolo Sorrentino. The Great Beauty

Prerequisite:  Successful completion of the “A” portion of the Reading and Composition requirement or its equivalent.  Students may not enroll nor attend R1B/R5B courses without completing this prerequisite.