ENG 340: Italian Tales and Stories: Creative Writing Through Literary Models

Note: This course was formerly CWIT 340.

Course Description

This course will explore the process of transforming sensory impressions, individual feelings, personal experiences, and factual information into engaging and effective works of creative fiction and non-fiction. Students will read from a cross-section of Italian authors dealing with a wide range of topics and issues. They will also generate their own writing through a series of exercises designed to help the writer tap into new levels of awareness and creative energy. Class time will be devoted to a discussion and analysis of the assigned readings, and to the exploration of writing strategies and techniques. Students will also be involved in a series of ‘literary walks’ aimed at enhancing their ability to gather information from the exploration of Italian natural and urban landscapes.

Students will be required to produce seven compositions of two to three pages. By the end of the semester, they will also complete a special project that will be published in a literary anthology together with some of the seven compositions written throughout the semester. The course includes a workshop with Mario Pirovano, an internationally acclaimed performer and writer. Pirovano is also the English translator of Dario Fo, the most recent Italian winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Course Objectives / Learning Outcomes

• Become acquainted with the voices and visions of relevant Italian writers of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries;
• Explore the main peculiarities of literary genres such as the novel, the short story, the historic nonfiction, the investigative journalism, the newspaper and magazine article;
• Explore the writing process in general and personal strategies for generating effective work;
• Produce fresh and engaging personal essays;
• Review the mechanics of writing and hone editorial and proof-reading skills;
• Learn how to effectively present their work in a public setting.

Course Materials
The required textbooks are:
– Collodi, Carlo, The Adventures of Pinocchio, translated by Ann Lawson Lucas, London: Oxford University Press, 1996;
– Fo, Dario, Francis the Holy Jester, translated by M. Pirovano, London: Beautiful Books, 2009.

A course reader is also available at the local copy shop. See “Umbra Institute Course Materials – Textbooks and Readers” handout provided in the orientation folder for more information.
Further Readings

The reading of all the books discussed in class, available in the Course Reserve Section of the Umbra Library, is highly recommended.

Previous Student Literary Anthologies

• Spring Semester 2019: Punti di vista
• Spring Semester 2018: Six Female Writers
• Fall Semester 2017: An Anthology for the Ages
• Spring Semester 2017: Le Nostre Lotte
• Fall Semester 2016: Creative Writing Through Italian Tales and Stories
  
• Spring Semester 2016: Come Back To Me
• Fall Semester 2014: A City of Walls and Windows
• Spring Semester 2014: We Came To This City
  
• Fall Semester 2013: Imagining
  
• Fall Semester 2012: Stare

Field Trip
You will take a trip to Siena and receive a rare, private tour of one of the historic contrade and its museum, or neighborhoods, which participate in the famous Palio horse race.