Undergraduate Courses in Italian
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100- and 200-Level Language and Culture Courses
300-Level Courses in Language, Literature and Civilization
400-Level Courses in Language, Literature and Civilization
Courses for Graduate Reading Knowledge
M100 Elementary Italian I (4 cr.) - Introduction to contemporary Italian conversation, grammar, reading, and elementary writing. Credit given for only one of the following: M100, M110, or M115, or M491.
M110 Italian Language for Opera Lovers (4 cr.) - P: Consent of department. An analysis of the Italian language through a close reading of the librettos of the major Italian operas. Combines language lessons of M100 and M150 into one semester. Recommended for music students with previous foreign language experience. Students who complete M110 cannot also receive credit for M100, M115, or M150.
M115 Accelerated Elementary Italian (4 cr.) - P: Consent of department. An accelerated treatment of material covered in both M100 and M150 designed for superior students and students with previous language training. Credit given for only one of M115 and M100; credit given for only one of M115 or M150.
M150 Elementary Italian II (4 cr.) - P: M100. Introduction to contemporary Italian conversation, grammar, reading, and elementary writing. Credit given for only one of the following: M110, M115, M150, or M491.
M200 Intermediate Italian I (3 cr.) - P: M150 or equivalent. Intermediate study of contemporary Italian conversation, grammar, reading, and writing. Introduction to brief literary texts.
M215 Accelerated Second-Year Italian (4 cr.) - P: M115 or equivalent, or consent of insturctor. An accelerated treatment of material covered in both M200 and M250. Designed for students who have completed M115 and other highly-motivated students, students with extensive experience with another language, and/or students who aspire to study abroad. Credit given for only one of M265, M200, or M250.
M222 Topics in Italian Culture (3 cr.) - CSA - Selected readings emphasizing a particular author, genre, or theme in Italian culture. Interdisciplinary approach combining political, historical, social, and artistic methods. Subjects vary from semester to semester and are listed in the Schedule of Classes. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours. No credit in the Italian major.
M234 (FINA A234) Florence in Florence (3 cr.) - A & H, CSA - Analysis of some specific problem, theme, or author connected with Florentine history, art, literature, or culture between the age of Dante and Giotto in the thirteenth century to the era of Machiavelli and Michelangelo in the sixteenth century. Offered only through the Overseas Study summer program in Florence. No credit in Italian.
M235 Rome, the City and the Myth (3 cr.) - A & H, CSB - An interdisciplinary survey of the role of Rome and Roman mythology in the postclassical culture of Italy from the humanist movement to the present. Major Italian artists, writers, musicians, and social thinkers to be treated include Petrarch, Machiavelli, Vivaldi, Tiepolo, Canova, Piranesi, Mussolini, and Fellini.
M250 Intermediate Italian II (3 cr.) - P: M200 or equivalent. Intermediate study of contemporary Italian conversation, grammar, reading, and writing continued. Increased attention to the reading of literary texts.
300-Level Courses
M300 Italian Conversation and Diction (3cr.) - P: M250 or consent of instructor. For those who wish to acquire fluency in spoken Italian. Credit not given for both M300 and M315, or for both M300 and M316.
M301 Italian Reading and Expression (4cr.) - P: M250 or consent of instructor. Introduces students to reading and discussing literary texts in Italian. Designed to improve students' written and oral proficiency in Italian, and to prepare them for subsequent 300-level work in Italian language, literature, and culture. Conducted entirely in Italian.
M305 Civiltà italiana moderna (3 cr.) - A & H, CSB - Interdisciplinary study of modern Italian culture with a focus on one or more of the following areas: history, literature, art, music, film, theater; from any period(s) between the Italian national unification (1860s) and to the present. Conducted in Italian. Topics vary. May be repeated with a dfferent topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
M306 Italian Short Stories from the Political Unification to the Present (3 cr.) - A & H, CSB - Explores the Italian short narrative from the political unification of Italy (1861) to modernity. Analysis of short stories and tales by authors such as Banti, Primo Levi, Verga, Pirandello, Arrigo Boito, Elsa Morante, Calvino, and others. Class will be conducted in Italian.
M307 Masterpieces of Italian Literature I (3 cr.) - A & H, CSA - P: M250. To 1800.
M308 Masterpieces of Italian Literature II (3 cr.) - A & H, CSB - P: M307. From 1800 to present.
M311 Italian Film and Culture (3 cr.) - A & H, CSB - Study of Italian cinema and culture, taught as either a survey course or with a focus on a particular topic in Italian culture, such as gender, politics, sports, or other social issues. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours. Taught in English. No credit in Italian.
M333 Dante and His Times (3 cr.) - A & H, CSA - Study of the cultural history, philosophy, theology, and poetics of the thirteenth century relating to Dante's works. Lectures, readings, and discussions dealing with Provençal poetry, courtly love, the origin of the sonnet, the poets before Dante. Dante's major works, The New Life and The Divine Comedy, will be analyzed and discussed. All readings in English. No credit in Italian.
M334 Power and Imagination in Renaissance Italy (3 cr.) - A & H, CSA - Interdisciplinary approach to the interrelationship of Florentine Renaissance literature, social thought, and culture. Figures studied will include Alberti, Boccaccio, Cellini, Guicciardini, Machiavelli, Michelangelo, and Italian humanists. No credit in Italian.
M340 – Sex and Society in Boccaccio (3 cr.) A & H, CSA. Close reading
and intertextual study of Boccaccio’s Decameron in its historical, economic,
cultural, and literary contexts, with special attention to the formation of
ideals and values in human society. Taught in English. No credit for Italian
major.
M345 Literature of Italian Renaissance Art (3 cr.) - A & H, CSA - A survey of the literature dealing with art in the Italian Renaissance in a variety of literary genres, including works by Michelangelo, da Vinci, Vasari, Alberti, Cennini, and Cellini. No credit in Italian.
M390 Studies in the Italian Film (3 cr.) - A & H, CSB - In-depth analysis of a major Italian art form as Italian culture. Emphasis on specific directors (Fellini, Pasolini, Visconti, Wertmüller, Bertolucci) or problems (literature and film, neorealism, politics and ideology, film comedy). May be repeated for a maximum of 6 credit hours with different topics.
M391 Hollywood Italians (3 cr.) - A & H - The representation of Italian Americans in literature, Hollywood films, and mass media television from the silent era of Rudolph Valentino to the present of The Godfather and The Sopranos. Themes treated include: immigration; Little Italys; ethnic stereotyping; and Hollywood Italian gangsters, Romeos, and Palookas. No credit in Italian.
M396 Foreign Study in Italy (1-6 cr.) - P: Acceptance into an approved IU overseas study program. Credit for foreign study in Italian language or literature when no specific equivalent is available among departmental offerings. May be repeated for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
400-Level Courses
M307, M308, or consent of instructor is prerequisite for all 400-level courses unless otherwise indicated. 400-level courses are conducted in Italian.
M403 Italian Renaissance Literature (3 cr.) - A & H - This course will focus on various authors, subjects, and literary genres of the Italian Renaissance. It may be taught as a monographic seminar on an author or topic.
M435 Theatre Workshop (3 cr.) - P: Junior or senior standing. A general survey on the development of Italian theatre from the Renaissance to our time. Several works will be read and discussed either entirely or in part. As a special project, students will stage and act in an assigned play or drama.
M445 Risorgimento (3 cr.) - A & H, CSA - P: Junior or senior standing. A survey of nineteenth-century Italian history and culture, seen in all its varied manifestations. Particular emphasis will be given to the Risorgimento period, as portrayed in music, art, literature, and film.
M446 Nineteenth-Century Italian Literature (3 cr.) - P: Junior or senior standing. A survey of the major Italian authors of the century, focusing particularly on poetry but also discussing the most important narrative works. Special emphasis will be given to the analysis of the texts, as well as to the comprehension of the development in Italy of Neoclassicism, Romanticism, and Decadence.
M450 Seminar in Italian Literature (up to 6 cr.) - A & H - P: M308 or consent of instructor. Selected topics in Italian literature. Course content varies and is identified in the Schedule of Classes. May be repeated for up to 12 credit hours with different topics.
M453 Twentieth-Century Italian Literature and Culture (3 cr.) - A & H - Course may be taught as a survey course on twentieth-century Italian literature, or it may focus on a specific literary genre or period. Credit given for only one of M453 or M454.
M455 Readings in the Italian Cinema (3 cr.) - A & H - P: Any film course, or consent of instructor, and reading knowledge of French or Italian. Analysis of specific movements, topics, or directors in Italian cinema. Attendance of film series for M390 required. Subject may vary with each listing and is identified in the Schedule of Classes. May be repeated once for credit.
M456 Il Decadentismo Italiano (3 cr.) - An analysis of the development of Italian Decadence, focusing particularly on Pascoli and D'Annunzio but also discussing the other writers such as Pirandello and Svevo. Special emphasis will be given to the analysis of the texts, as well as to the understanding of the entire cultural movement studied in its European context.
M463 Contemporary and Popular Italian Culture (3 cr.) - A & H, CSB - P: M307/M308 or permission of instructor. A study of contemporary Italian culture and literature that includes an overview of various topics such as cinema, gender issues, theater, and music. Class conducted in Italian.
M474 Temi e versioni (2-4 cr.) - This course aims at improving the students' written and oral knowledge, as well as the students' ability to write original short essays on a variety of cultural topics. May be repeated once for credit with consent of the undergraduate advisor. Credit given for only one of M474 or M465.
M495 Individual Readings in Italian Literature (2-3 cr.) - P: M200-M250 or consent of instructor. May be repeated.
M496 Foreign Study In Italian (3-8 cr.) - P: Consent of chairperson or undergraduate advisor for Italian. Course involves planning of research project during the year preceding period of study abroad. Time spent in research abroad must amount to at least one week for each credit hour granted. Research paper must be presented by end of semester following foreign study. May be repeated with different topics up to a maximum of 8 credit hours. Does not count as M400-level course in residence for major or minor.
M499 Reading for Honors (3 cr.) - P: Consent of department. Independent reading and research in conjunction with an advanced honors paper or project.
Courses for Graduate Reading Knowledge
M491 Elementary Italian for Graduate Students (4 cr.) - Introduction to the structures of the language necessary for reading, followed by reading in graded texts of a general nature. Open with consent of the instructor to undergraduates who have already completed the language requirement for the B.A. in another language. Credit given for only one of M491 or any Italian course at the 100 level.
M492 Readings in Italian for Graduate Students (4 cr.) - P: M491 or consent of department. Continuation of language and reading development from M491. Open with consent of the instructor to undergraduates who have already completed the B.A. language requirement in another language. Credit not given for both M492 and either of the following: M150 or M200.
For more information
Please visit the rest of our website for course descriptions, faculty information, and semester office hours.
The Department of French and Italian, Ballantine Hall 642, is open Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. Please feel free to call (855-1952) or e-mail (fritdept @indiana.edu), if you have any questions.
Our Undergraduate Advisor in Italian is Professor Massimo Scalabrini, Ballantine Hall 634, or email mscalabr @indiana.edu
