Approaches to Teaching the Works of Italo Calvino

Approaches to Teaching the Works of Italo Calvino

Approaches to Teaching the Works of Italo Calvino

Approaches to Teaching the Works of Italo Calvino

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Overview

Italo Calvino, whose works reflect the major literary and cultural trends of the second half of the twentieth century, is known for his imagination, humor, and technical virtuosity. He explores topics such as neorealism, folktale, fantasy, and social and political allegory and experiments with narrative style and structure. Students take delight in Calvino's wide-ranging and inventive work, whether in Italian courses or in courses in comparative or world literature, literary criticism, cultural studies, philosophy, or even architecture.

Given the range of his writing, teaching Calvino can seem a daunting task. This volume aims to help instructors develop creative and engaging classroom strategies. Part 1, "Materials," presents an overview of Calvino's writings, nearly all of which are available in English translation, as well as critical works and online resources. The essays in part 2, "Approaches," focus on general themes and cultural contexts, address theoretical issues, and provide practical classroom applications. Contributors describe strategies for teaching Calvino that are as varied as his writings, whether having students study narrative theory through If on a winter's night a traveler, explore literary genre with Cosmicomics, improve their writing using Six Memos for the Next Millennium, or read Mr. Palomar in a general education humanities course.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781603291651
Publisher: Modern Language Association
Publication date: 01/01/2013
Series: Approaches to Teaching World Literature , #125
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 159
File size: 468 KB

About the Author

Franco Ricci is professor of Italian studies at the University of Ottawa. He is the author of Difficult Games: A Reading of I racconti and Painting with Words, Writing with Pictures: Word and Image in the Work of Italo Calvino, as well as articles on contemporary Italian fiction, and is the editor of numerous volumes on Calvino. His most recent book is The Sopranos: Born under a Bad Sign.

Table of Contents

PART ONE: MATERIALS

Franco Ricci

The Instructor’s Library 3

Works by Italo Calvino

Primary Texts 4

Translations in English 6

Calvino and the Internet Andrea Dini 7

PART TWO: APPROACHES

Introduction 17

Historical Contexts

The Figure of the Intellectual in Calvino’s Early Fiction Eugenio Bolongaro 23

Calvino’s Essays JoAnn Cannon 31

Calvino’s Scientifi c Humanism Guy P. Raffa 37

Intellectual Contexts

Open Encyclopedias: Teaching Calvino’s Works from a Comparative Perspective Anna Botta 42

From Fiction to Theories: Calvino’s Art of Narration and Literary Theories Rocco Capozzi 50

Proceed with Caution: Teaching Symbolism and Intertextuality in Calvino’s Fantasy Novels Andrew Martino 54

Autobiography, History, and Writing in Calvino: Toward an Ethics of the Subject Massimo Lollini 59

Readerly Expectations: Identifi cation and Fantasy in Calvino’s Experimental Fiction Robert Rushing 69

Reading Calvino’s Women Carol Lazzaro-Weis 74

Classroom Contexts

Why Read Calvino? What We Tell Our Italian Language and Literature Students Natasha V. Chang 83

Reading, Writing, Desire, and Closure: Teaching Calvino to Undergraduates in Italian Julia M. Cozzarelli 90

Teaching Il castello dei destini incrociati: An Intuitive Approach Rita Gagliano 95

Calvino, Translations, and Translatability Giulia Guarnieri 99

Teaching Calvino in Creative Writing Classes John Domini 106

Using Mr. Palomar to Question Received Truths in a General Education Course in the Humanities Joseph Francese 115

Through the Eyes of Another: Text as Visual Representation Susan Rogers 120

The Invisible Monster: Calvino and the Contemporary City Dean Swinford 125

“Then She Saw the Surprise†: Teaching Writing with Six Memos for the Next Millennium and Difficult Loves Douglas Basford 134

Notes on Contributors 141

Works Cited 145

Index 157
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