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

This course investigates literary and cinematic representations of Rome in the twentieth and twenty-first century. 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? Furthermore, how does Rome strive to produce an Italian identity, while simultaneously repressing collective memory through its own architectural sign system? What kind of modern subject walks the Roman streets and how do they interact with it? These are some of the questions this course address by way of close readings of poems, short stories, novels and films.

Course Requirements

Students are expected to attend class regularly and to participate actively in discussions of the assigned reading. Since the purpose of the course is to enhance your skills as critical readers and writers, we will work on (among other elements) developing confidence and fluency in approaching texts, close readings, understanding the writing process, and learning to ask productive questions. Short reading responses will prepare you for the formal essays, and revision of these essays will be a central component of the course.

Texts: TBA

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