Flavia Brizio-Skov
 Associate Professor of Italian
 University of Tennessee

Special Topics  




home

Fascism & Resistance in Italian Literature & Cinema

The Italian Women's Movement: Divas, Directores, Writers

Spaghetti Westerns & Italian Pop Fiction


Savona, Liguria (Italy)

Italian 421/Cinema Studies 421/Spanish 461/German 420

Fascism, Nazism and Francoism in Literature & Cinema Syllabus*

M 2:30/3:30 HSS
W 2:30/5:30 Hodges Library-Audiovisual

This course will deal with the history and the culture of Italy, Germany and Spain between 1920 and 1945. The course will be divided roughly into three parts. In the first part, we will watch films made after 1945 that “revisit” Fascist Italy, while at the same time we will read literary works written during fascist time and other ones published more recently. In the second part, Dr. Lee will examine the rise of Nazism in Germany, observing the development of Hitler’s Germany vis-à-vis that of Mussolini’s Italy while underlining the similarities and differences between the two dictatorships. In the remaining part of the course, Dr. Romeiser and Dr. Cruz-Camara will analyze the Spanish Civil War, the ascent to power of Franco, his ties to Mussolini and Hitler, and the ignition of a conflict that in a few years would engulf the entire world. Both in films and in novels, these scholars will focus on the shifting perspective that writers and directors had in their assessment of one of the most turbulent and tragic moments of European history. The objective of the course is to investigate the impact that Fascism, Nazism and Francoism had on Europe in order to achieve a greater understanding of the past and of contemporary culture.

The course will meet twice a week: on Mondays for one hour, and on Wednesdays for a three hour session (in Hodges-Audiovisual) to allow for film viewing and discussion. The class will be conducted in English. The course is designed for both majors and non-majors of Italian. Italian majors and minors will read material in Italian. This course is not available for Spanish major or Spanish graduate credit. All the films are in Italian, in German or in Spanish with English subtitles; all the literary texts are available in translation and in the original language. There are no prerequisites. Requirements will include one mid-term, a final, and one class presentation. This course is valid for distribution credits in Foreign Studies - Europe. Because the content of this course changes, it may be taken twice for up to 6 credits maximum. For further information contact Flavia Brizio-Skov, Department of Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures (tel. 974-2311).
       
Week I
Jan 9
Introduction Fascism - “Rise and fall of a dictator: Mussolini” (doc., BBC, 105'); The Luneburg Variation / La variante di Luneburg (book, Paolo Maurensig, 1995); Martin Clark, “The rise of Fascism” in Modern Italy 1871-1982 , pp. 213-241, reserve desk.  
   
Week II
Jan 14
 David Forgacs, “The Fascist state and the cultural industries” in Italian Culture in the Industrial Era 1880-1980, pp. 54-102, reserve desk.  
Jan 16
 Lecture -The Conformist (film, Bertolucci, 1970, 116'); Millicent Marcus, “Bertolucci’s The Conformist” in Italian Film in the Light of Neorealism, pp. 285-312, reserve desk.  
   
Week III
Jan 21
 HOLIDAY - Martin Luther King Day  
Jan 23.
 Lecture - A Special Day (film, Scola, 1977, 105'); Paul Ginsborg, “Italy at war” in A History of Contemporary Italy, pp. 8-70, reserve desk.  
   
Week IV
Jan 28
 Men and not men / Uomini e no (book, Vittorini, 1945)  
   
Jan 30
 Lecture - The garden of the Finzi Contini (film, De Sica, 1970, 95'); M. Marcus, “De Sica's Garden of the Finzi-Contini” in Filmmaking by the Book, pp. 90-110, reserve desk.  
   
Week V
Feb. 4
Mon. Dr. Kurt Piehler - guest speaker: “Depicting the Nazi threat to an American audience”.  
Feb 6 Lecture - Rome Open City (film, Rossellini, 1945, 98') M. Marcus, “Rossellini’s Open City” in Italian Film in the Light of Neorealism, pp. 33-53, reserve desk.  
   
Week VI Feb 11 Dr. Allen Dunn - guest speaker: “Fascism and modernist aesthetics”  
Feb 13

Wed Lecture - Two Women (film, De Sica, 1960, 110'); M. Marcus, “De Sica's Two Women” in Filmmaking by the Book , pp. 67-90, reserve desk.

 
   
Feb 18 Dr.Vejas Liulevicius - guest speaker: “Nazi Germany”  
Week VII Feb 20 Dr. Lee: Nazism introd./ Triumph of the Will (film, Leni Riefenstahl, 1936, 90'); Readings: Oswald Spengler, The Decline of the West 2:96-97, 102-103, reserve desk. Leni Reifenstahl, “A Fateful Meeting,” in: Leni Reifenstahl: A Memoir 101-108, reserve desk. Gottfried Benn, Introduction and “Answer to the Literary Emigrants,” in: Primal Vision: Selected Writings of Gottfried Benn, ed. E. B. Ashton, xiv-xv, 46-53, reserve desk.  
   
Week VIII Feb 25 .Dr. Lee: Victor Klemperer, LTI (selections) or Victor Klemperer, I Will Bear Witness: a Diary of the Nazi Years, Preface and the entries for 1933, reserve desk.  
Feb 27 Dr. Lee: The Tin Drum (film, Volker Schlondorff, 1979, 142')  
   
WeekIX March 4 Dr. Lee: Susan Sontag, “Fascinating Fascism” A Susan Sontag Reader 305-325; Niklas Frank, In the Shadow of the Reich, 1-23, 331-355, reserve desk.  
March 6 Dr. Lee: The Nasty Girl (film, Michael Verhoeven, 1991, 94')  
   
Week X March 11 Dr. Romeiser: Spanish Civil War introd. Gabriele Ranzato’s book, The Spanish Civil War (Interlink Pub Group, 1999)  
March 13 MID-TERM
Dr. Romeiser: film The Heart of Spain ( Herbert Kline, 1937, 30) 		 
   
WeekXI March 18, 20 Spring Break - HOLIDAY  
   
WeekXII March 25 Dr. Romeiser Death in the Afternoon (David C. Large, Between Two Fires, pp. 245-266), reserve desk.  
March 27 Dr. Romeiser: film The Spanish Civil War (Granada Video, 1983, 90')  
   
Week XIII April 1 Mon. Dr. Romeiser: George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia Harvest Book, 1987)  
April 3 Dr. Romeiser: film The Good Fight (Noel Buckner, 1984, 98')  
   
Week XIV April 8 Dr. Cruz-Camara: Francosim Introd.: Lecture Reading assignment: Labanyi, Jo. “Censorship or the Fear of Mass Culture.” Spanish Cultural Studies: An Introduction (pp. 207-214), reserve desk.  
April 10 Dr. Cruz-Camara: Butterfly/Alas de mariposa (film, Jose Luis Cuerda, 1999, 95')  
   
Week XV April 15 Dr. Cruz-Camara: Requiem for a Spanish Peasant/ Réquiem por un campesino español (book, Ramón J. Sender, 1953)  
April 17 Dr. Cruz-Camara: Ay, Carmela! (film, Carlos Saura, 1990, 105')  
   
Week XVI April 22 Dr. Cruz-Camara: Lazarillo de Tormes (book, 1554)  
April 24 Dr. Cruz-Camara: Lazarillo de Tormes (film, César Ardavín, 1959, 108)  
   
WeekXVII May 29 Review  
   
FINAL WEEK May 7-9 to 11-12 Feel free to come to see me whenever you need help!  
   
Grade Distribution:
The final grade will be calculated as follows: 		 
  Midterm 30%  
  Final 30%  
  Paper 30%  
  Attendance 10%  
       
  Grade Scale:  
  A 90-100 C+ 76-79  
  B+ 86-89 C 70-75  
  B 80-85 D 60-69  
       
  Exams: will include the material covered in class. Please note that Attendance at the screening is mandatory -- all the films are available for extra-viewing at the Audiovisual center in Hodges Library, in order to give you the opportunity to review the films before your class presentation or exams.  
       
  Midterm and Final: will include essay questions on all the material covered in class and the material assigned to read (included books and articles at Reserve Desk).  
       
  Paper: students will choose a book or a film and they will base their essay on (at least) two critical articles. The paper has to be typed, double spaced, and (at least) 5 pages long with a biblio (MLA style) based on critical sources.  
       
  Attendance: to be active is essential in a class whose main object is critical discussion about literature and cinema. Good class participation requires regular attendance and actual involvement in all class activities and assignments.  
       
  Purpose of course: In the course we will focus on the movies that deal with the representation of Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany and Fascist Spain. We will compare and read these films in contraposition to the novels in order to acquire a more in-depth view of this historical period. The objective of the course is to investigate the impact that Fascism, Nazism, Francoism and War had on literature and cinema in order to achieve a greater understanding of contemporary culture.  
       
  Italian/German/Spanish Majors and Minors: will read some material in the target language, see syllabus for textbooks in original language. Students of Italian will also read: Giampiero Carocci, Storia dell’Italia moderna, pp. 39-63, reserve desk (from “La prima guerra mondiale e mondiale e il dopoguerra” to “La Resistenza”)  
       
 

Textbooks: Paolo Maurensig, The Luneburg Variation, 1995
Elio Vittorini, Men and not men, 1945
Gabriele Ranzato, The Spanish Civil War, 1999
George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia, 1987
Ramon J. Sender, Requiem for a Spanish peasant, 1953
Lazarillo de Tormes, 1554

 
       
  *Feel free to come to see me whenever you need help!