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Romance Languages and Literatures Seminars

First Year Seminar - Fall 2007

Seminar in Reading Writing and Reasoning taught in English.

Rll 105f (01) - Topic: Sex and the City: Gender-Power Relations in Early Modern Europe

First-year seminar (Writing-intensive course; taught in English; FREN 120, SPAN 105, ITAL 106) Political, social, and economic life was radically changed by growth of Europe's cities between medieval and modern times. These changes were debated in sexual terms as conflicts between men and women. As we study short stories from Early Modern France (Madame de Lafayette), Italy (Giovanni Boccacio), and Spain (Miguel de Cervantes and María de Zayas), and place them in their historical contexts, we will ask questions such as: To what extent do these works challenge or reinforce dominant models of gender relations and negotiate concepts and institutions such as marriage, honor, patriarchy, and blood purity? How do those topics apply to us today?

Meets Humanities I-A requirement

N. Romero-Diaz

Prereq. fy or permission of instructor; 4 credits; enrollment limited to 16

RLL 375s - Topic: New Cinemas 1945-1970s: From Bicycle Thieves to Guerrilleros: Italian, French and Latin American New Cinemas

This interdisciplinary seminar will focus on a comparative study of Romance languages and literatures. Topics will vary from semester to semester. Seminar discussions will be conducted in English, but students are expected to read works in at least one original language. Papers will be written in the Romance language of the student's choice. (Cross-listed with FILMST 370s, FREN 331s, SPAN 361s and ITAL 360s)

In this seminar, we will study the cross-cultural influences between Italian neo-realism, the French nouvelle vague, and the New Latin American Cinemas. Both the Italian and the French movements represent models and counterpoints for those Latin American filmmakers of the 1950s and 60s who sought to redress the dominance of the realist American model in Latin America and the domination of the markets by the products of Hollywood. The New Latin American Cinemas, in turn, paved the way toward the emergence of Third Cinema. We will study films, as well as cinematic theory, from Italy, France, the Soviet Union, Japan, Cuba, Brasil, Argentina, and Mexico.

C. Gundermann

Prerequisites: Advanced level students in Romance Languages and Literatures, French, Italian, or Spanish and permission of instructor. 1 meeting (2 hours, 50 minutes). Papers will be written in English or the Romance language of the student's choice.

NOTE: Students wishing to obtain 300-level credit in Spanish, Italian or French must read texts and write papers in the Romance language for which they wish to receive advanced credit