Children and Young Adult Literature in Italian

In this course students will read, analyze, and discuss selected Italian fairy tales from the 187h to the 21st century, focusing on plot structure and symbolic meaning of the narrative. Authors, such as Giovan Battista Basile, Dino Buzzati, Italo Calvino, Carlo Collodi, and Gianni Rodari will be discussed as writers of fairy tales with a particular focus on the allegorical meaning of their texts and the relevance of these stories in Italian society. The course will address issues of gender construction in historical context, with attention to the changes made to traditional stories adapted for contemporary film and television series. The objective of this analysis is to inspire students to develop their own creative narrative (fairy tales) in the Italian language. Readings, written work, and discussions will be in Italian.

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