F1007 Venice Signatures (Masks, Traces and Fabulations)

In this course, I propose to study Venice through attentive and on-site readings of some of the great and more recent popular literary works associated with the city. We will this come to appreciate the city in relation to its cultural and political history, and to the arts (carnival, opera, the annual art and film expositions, representations of the city in films). These aspects of Venice are firmly fixed in the world imaginary, and determine what Venice signifies today. We will read complete works or selections from the following texts, accompanied by visits, lectures, or films relating to the themes, places, questions foregrounded in these works: Verdi, Rigoletto (with attendance of the opera at la Fenice); Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, with visit to the Ghetto; Casanova, Memoirs of my Life (selections) with 2 films; Thomas Mann, Death in Venice, and film; Henry James, The Aspern Papers; Mary Mc Carthy, Venice Observed; Geoff Dyer, Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi; Donna Leon, Death at La Fenice; Bakhtin on Carnival. The course will be conducted in the form of introductory lectures to each of the works, followed by discussions organized around the readings. Students will be expected to prepare readings in advance of coming to class each session, and assessed according to the following criteria: attendance and intelligent participation in class, including presentations; a mid-term exam, a final quiz, a final paper. They will also be expected to attend all related lectures and visits. Students should come away from the course with a deep appreciation of Venice not simply as a tourist mecca or a vaguely romantic destination, but as a city having inspired some of Europe\'s greatest literature, and still a beacon to writers and artists. At the same time, they will visit Venice, many of the key site inspirations for this writing and art. In the end, they will have developed their critical and analytical reading skills, and will have improved their expository writing about texts and ideas.