Italian
American Literature
English
187 A
Spring
2003 Syllabus
Tuesdays
& Thursdays
11:00-12:15
|
|
Tuesday, January 14 | Introduction, requirements, texts |
Wednesday, January 15 | Discussion of Tina DeRosa's Paper Fish at the Fletcher Free Library (downstairs), College Street, Burlington, 7 p.m. |
Thursday, January 16 | Puzo, The Fortunate Pilgrim |
Tuesday, January 21 | Puzo, The Fortunate Pilgrim
Guest Lecture: Dr. Ken Ciongoli, Burlington Neurologist, speaking about his newly published book, Passage to Liberty |
Thursday, January 23 | Italians in America Part I: The Journey (video)
Puzo, The Fortunate Pilgrim |
Tuesday, January 28 | Italians in America Part II: Home (video)
Puzo, The Fortunate Pilgrim *Quiz #1 |
Thursday, January 30 | Di Donato, Christ in Concrete
La Storia: Chapters 1-2 |
Tuesday, February 4 | Di Donato, Christ in Concrete
La Storia: Chapters 3-5 |
Thursday, February 6 | Di Donato, Christ in Concrete
La Storia: Chapters 6-8 * Quiz #2 |
Tuesday, February 11 | Mangione, Mount Allegro
La Storia: Chapters 9-11 Discussion of paper requirement |
Thursday, February 13 | Mangione, Mount Allegro
La Storia: Chapters 12-14 |
Tuesday, February 18 | Mangione, Mount Allegro |
Thursday, February 20 | Tomasi, Like Lesser Gods
Men of Granite (video) Quiz #3 on Mount Allegro |
Tuesday, February 25 | Tomasi, Like Lesser Gods
Mari Tomasi and the Granite Workers (slide show) |
Thursday, February 27 | Tomasi, Like Lesser Gods
La Storia: Chapter 15 |
Tuesday, March 4 | Town Meeting Day—No Classes |
Thursday, March 6 | Tomasi, Like Lesser Gods
La Storia: Chapters 16-18 Guest Lecture: Edwin Granai, Barre native, former Vermont Senator and Gubernatorial candidate, author of "Letters from somewhere . . . ." |
Tuesday, March 11 | A Bronx Tale (video)
*Quiz #4 on Like Lesser Gods |
Thursday, March 13 | A Bronx Tale (video)
Interview with Chazz Palminteri |
Monday-Friday, March 17-21 | Spring Recess |
Tuesday, March 25 | La Storia: Chapters 19-23
Guest Lecture: Lorenzo Mott, Consul General of Italy in Philadelphia,speaking about his newly published book on Italian postcards |
Thursday, March 27 | La Storia: Chapters 24-27
*Quiz #5 |
Tuesday, April 1 | DeRosa, Paper Fish
Discussion of Student Group Presentations Selection of team leaders and groups |
Thursday, April 3 | DeRosa, Paper Fish
*Paper Due |
Tuesday, April 8 | DeRosa, Paper Fish |
Thursday, April 10 | TBA |
Tuesday, April 15 | Barolini, The Dream Book
Student Group Presentation |
Thursday, April 17 | Barolini, The Dream Book
Student Group Presentation |
Tuesday, April 22 | Barolini, The Dream Book
Student Group Presentation |
Thursday, April 24 | Barolini, The Dream Book
Student Group Presentation |
Tuesday, April 29 | Barolini, The Dream Book
Student Group Presentation |
Final Exam |
Texts:
La Storia: Five Centuries of the Italian-American Experience
by Jerre Mangione and Ben Morreale (1992)
Christ in Concrete by Pietro Di Donato (1939)
Mount Allegro by Jerre Mangione (1943)
Like Lesser Gods by Mari Tomasi (1949)
The Fortunate Pilgrim by Mario Puzo (1964)
Paper Fish by Tina DeRosa (1980)
The Dream Book by Helen Barolini (2001)
Attendance: The college catalog and the Cat’s Tale (student handbook) require that you be in attendance for each class meeting; therefore, I will take attendance each class day. You are allowed two absences, excused or not. After that, any absences, excused or not, will be charged off against your final grade in the course at the rate of one half-letter grade per absence. During the first two weeks of classes student athletes should give me in writing a schedule of their out-of-town obligations. Students who would like to meet special religious obligations should also make those requirements clear to me in writing during the first two weeks of classes.
Paper: One paper (no fewer than 2,000 words—use the word counter on your word processor) is required. Due date is April 3. I will explain how you should go about writing the paper fairly early in the semester, but let’s say for now that it should be a thesis-driven research paper done according to latest Modern Language Association (MLA) recommendations for documentation.
Grades: quizzes will be given on the dates announced. Please have all the reading assigned, including that day’s reading unless otherwise noted, done by the date of each quiz. The average grade of the quizzes will count for roughly 1/3, your paper will count for roughly 1/3, and your final for roughly 1/3 of your course grade. I do not look at grades as a mere mathematical calculation and, therefore, reserve some percentage of your grade for classroom participation, interest in the material, and curiosity.
Office visits: I try to make myself available to students from 1:30-3:30 on Wednesdays. I leave it to you to avail yourself of the opportunity to get help on your reading and the writing of your paper--or, to come in and chat about the course material we are studying. Please let me know ahead of time if you are planning on stopping by my office so I can plan accordingly.
Special Note: We will be tasting various Italian food products in class. Many of them contain nuts. If you are allergic to nuts or cannot eat them for any reason, please do not take any samples that contain them. If you are in doubt, simply do not eat any of the samples.
Web Page: Please regularly check this web page (address given at the upper right) for updates of this syllabus.
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Last revised: January 2003