Sergio Parussa
Professor of Italian Studies
Teaches Italian language and literature, literary theory, and writing; works as a translator.
The main focus of my research and publications is the relationship between ethics and aesthetics in 20th-century Italian literature. In particular, I have studied how authors who write from a culturally marginal perspective challenge the highly coded Italian literary tradition by opening up a discussion on the balance between ethical issues and writing in literary texts. Currently I am investigating the relationship between Judaism and writing in contemporary Italian literature. I am the author of Writing as Freedom, Writing as Testimony: Four Italian Writers and Judaism (Syracuse University Press, 2008) and Eros Onnipotente: erotismo, letteratura e impegno nell'opera di Pier Paolo Pasolini e Jean Genet (Tirrenia Stampatori, 2003). My work also includes the translations of L'orso maggiore by Ginevra Bompiani, as The Great Bear (Italica Press, November 2000), and Simonetta Perkins by L.P. Hartley (Nottetempo, 2008).
This approach to the study of Italian literature is central to the shaping of my classes. I have designed and taught a variety of courses on Italian literature and culture: a course on the cultural construction of Italian identity (ITAS 272); a seminar on Jewish Italian literature and on the various contributions made by Jewish writers to the Italian literary tradition (ITAS 209/309); a survey course on the role of the court in the shaping of Italian cultural life during the Renaissance (ITAS 312), an advanced seminar on Renaissance theater as the mirror of a complex and dynamic relationship between power and culture (ITAS 311), and a course on 20th-century Italian poetry (ITAS 320) dedicated to the ways in which Italian landscape found expression in the literary works of its major contemporary poets. I have also been teaching a first-year seminar on literary theory for the Wellesley Writing Program (WRIT125-22).
Education
- B.A., University of Turin
- M.A., Brown University
- Ph.D., Brown University
Current and upcoming courses
The Cities of Italy: An Introduction to Italian Culture (in English)
ITAS104
This seminar is dedicated to the representation of Italian cities in Italian literature, art, and cinema from the Middle Ages to the twenty-first century. By presenting cities as spatial narratives, we will introduce students to some of the most important moments in Italian history and will invite them to examine the representation of urban landscape as a privileged vantage point to understand Italian culture. The seminar is designed to introduce students to the field of Italian Studies and to provide them with a solid background in Italian history and culture.
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The Cities of Italy: An Introduction to Italian Culture (in English)
ITAS104H
This seminar is dedicated to the representation of Italian cities in Italian literature, art, and cinema from the Middle Ages to the twenty-first century. By presenting cities as spatial narratives, we will introduce students to some of the most important moments in Italian history and will invite them to examine the representation of urban landscape as a privileged vantage point to understand Italian culture. The seminar is designed to introduce students to the field of Italian Studies and to provide them with a solid background in Italian history and culture. -
The Landscape of Italian Poetry
ITAS320
This course is dedicated to the representation and exploration of landscape in the Italian poetic tradition. By studying how the varied and beautiful Italian landscape found expression in the literary works of major poets, students will be exposed to a rich body of work and the tradition it both follows and renews. In particular, the course will focus on a series of specific themes, giving special attention to language and style. These will include: the opposition between rural and urban landscapes; the tension between dialects and the national language; the complex dynamics of tradition and innovation; issues of sustainability in the representation of Italian landscape. Through initial exposure to selected classical poets, including Dante and Petrarch, students will gain in-depth knowledge of the main formal structures of Italian poetry, from the classical sonnet, going on to free verse. In addition, we will read poems by the Italian greats of the twentieth century, i.e., Ungaretti, Saba and Montale, as well as works by contemporary poets, such as Bassani, Caproni, Sereni, Cavalli and Valduga, which deal with issues of preservation of the Italian natural landscape. -
The Landscape of Italian Poetry (in English)
ITAS220
This course is dedicated to the representation and exploration of landscape in the Italian poetic tradition. By studying how the varied and beautiful Italian landscape found expression in the literary works of major poets, students will be exposed to a rich body of work and the tradition it both follows and renews. In particular, the course will focus on a series of specific themes, giving special attention to language and style. These will include: the opposition between rural and urban landscapes; the tension between dialects and the national language; the complex dynamics of tradition and innovation; issues of sustainability in the representation of Italian landscape. Through initial exposure to selected classical poets, including Dante and Petrarch, students will gain in-depth knowledge of the main formal structures of Italian poetry, from the classical sonnet, going on to free verse. In addition, we will read poems by the Italian greats of the twentieth century, i.e., Ungaretti, Saba and Montale, as well as works by contemporary poets, such as Bassani, Caproni, Sereni, Cavalli and Valduga, which deal with issues of preservation of the Italian natural landscape.The course will be taught in English.Students who wish to take the course to fulfill the major or minor in Italian should register for ITAS 320.