Ombretta Frau

Associate Professor of Italian
Chair of Classics and Italian

Specialization
Luigi Pirandello; modern Italian literature; Italian women writers

Ombretta Frau brings to the College an extensive knowledge of Luigi Pirandello and interests in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Italian journals, modern philology and women writers. Frau believes that one of the most important factors in her teaching is "the classroom atmosphere, which should always be relaxed and friendly, to encourage communication." She uses many pedagogical tools, including films, music. She teaches both language and literature courses, including Sorelle di penna; Literature and Fascism; Liars, Pranksters and Jesters on the Italian Stage; and Travellers in Modern Italian Literature.

Frau has taught at Boston College, Rice University, and Harvard University, where she won excellence in teaching awards. With Cristina Gragnani (University of Illinois) she is the author of the critical edition of Luigi Pirandello's Taccuino di Harvard (Mondadori, Milano 2002). She published articles on Cerami, Mantea, Jolanda, and Pirandello. She recently published an introduced and annotated edition of Mantea’s Espatriata: da Torino a Honolulu (Salerno Editrice, Rome, 2007). At present, she is at work on an extensive project on the refusal of motherhood in nineteenth-century Italian women writers and, in collaboration with Cristina Gragnani, she is completing a book on a nineteenth-century Italian literary periodical, Flirt Illustrato.

News Links:

"Honolulu Sojourn: Sex, Lies, and Politics," Office of Communications, February 5, 2008

"New Assistant Professors Add Depth and Breadth to MHC Faculty," College Street Journal, September 5, 2003