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The Johns Hopkins University
Department of German and Romance Languages and Literature
The Other Great Beauty: Milan, Culture and Style
Summer 2016 – AS.211.323.11 – 2 credits
Room: TBA. MWF 10.00-11.50 AM
Instructor: Francesco Brenna
Office hours by appointment ()
Note: The syllabus is subject to change. Please make sure to check Blackboard regularly for the most recent version of the syllabus and for announcements on its variations, as well as for the assignments for each class.
(Update: 28 March 2016).
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The Oscar-winning movie The Great Beauty (2013) portrayed a corrupt and decadent Italy living off of its cultural heritage, from Roman antiquity to the Renaissance. This course studies the other face of Italy as incarnated by Milan: a modern, international city looking to the future. You will study the role of Milan as a capital of fashion, contemporary art, and culture, along with the importance of such institutions as the La Scala theater and such events as the 2015 EXPO. Through the work of Milanese figures like Giuseppe Verdi, Alessandro Manzoni, and Futurist artists you will learn how Milan played a leading role in the reception of modern international phenomena (from the Enlightenment, to the Romanticism, to the Avant-gardes), as well as in Italy’s unification. Finally, the work of contemporary Milanese poets will illustrate how it is possible to find beauty in the landscape of a modern city.
LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION
The course is taught in English. No knowledge of Italian is required, but this will be a chance to read Italian texts for those who can. Everyone will learn some Italian words and expressions.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
- Understand the role played by Milan in Italy’s unification and in the Italian reception of modern cultural phenomena.
- Understand the relationship between Italy’s cultural unity and Italy’s political unity.
- Acquire a firm grasp of Milan’s role in contemporary Italy.
- Develop the ability to analyze literature, art, music, and movies produced in or related to Milan in order to detect how this city has been on the front line in the reception or elaboration of avant-gardes movements.
- Understand the different types of artistic representation of a modern metropolis, especially in relation to traditions of the past.
- Learn some basic Italian words and expressions.
REQUIREMENTS
- Students must participate actively in class discussion and must read and understand the texts, songs, movies, and artworks assigned for each session on Blackboard. Active participation will be evaluated (including late arrivals).
- Each student will present orally on part of the readings assigned for one class.
The final project will consist of a short paper (1500 to 1800 words) or, should the number of students allow, a short presentation (15 minutes) on a topic related to our class discussions to be chosen in consultation with the instructor. Alternative types of final projects will be taken in consideration depending on the needs of the class and the development of the course.
EVALUATION
This course is S/U only. Students will receive three grades out of 100 for their participation, presentation, and final project. The final composite grade will be calculated as follows:
30% Active participation
20% Presentation
50% Final project
A final composite grade of minimum 70/100 (C-) is required in order to pass the course.
TEXTBOOKS
No textbook is required. The instructor will upload texts and materials for each session on Blackboard.
ATTENDANCE POLICY
Attendance is mandatory. Students are permitted two unexcused absences. For each absence beyond the first two, written documentation to excuse the absence (i.e., a physician’s note, a note from the Office of the Dean of Student Life if you are experiencing a difficult situation, etc.) will be necessary. There is no need to justify the first two absences. A 10% penalty will be applied to the final grade for each unexcused absence.
ETHICS
The strength of the university depends on academic integrity. In this course, you must be honest and truthful. Ethical violations include cheating on exams, plagiarism, reuse of assignments, improper use of the Internet and electronic devices, unauthorized collaboration, alteration of graded assignments, forgery and falsification, lying, and unfair competition. Report any violations you witness to the instructor. You may consult the associate Dean of Students and/or the Chair of the Ethics Board beforehand.
Please pay particular attention to the use of sources in presentations and final projects. The use of any uncredited source is considered academic dishonesty. Cite every source, whether an article, a book, a webpage, or any other media. Students cannot work with classmates on the presentation or on the Final Project.
DO NOT USE WIKIPEDIA! It is not a scholarly source.
DISABILITIES AND ACCOMODATIONS
Should you have a disability and need special accommodations, please contact the Office of the Student Disability Services (; 410-516-4720; 385 Garland Hall).
COURSE SCHEDULE
1. Introductions
- Introduction to the course: objectives, syllabus, readings, requirements, and various policies.
- A short history of Milan.
2. Italy, Rome, and the Past
Sign up for your oral presentation.
Movies:
- Federico Fellini, La dolce vita.
- Paolo Sorrentino, The Great Beauty [La grande bellezza].
- The decadence of Italy and Rome, from La dolce vita to The Great Beauty.
- The cultural heritage of Roman antiquity and of the Renaissance.
3. Milan Today: Fashion, Beauty, and Excellence
Readings
- Marco Bertacche, Sergio Di Pasquale, and Giovanni Salzano, “These Are the Diverging Fates of Italy’s Two Greatest Cities,” Bloomberg.com.
- Miuccia Prada, interview by Rachel Cooke, The Guardian.com.
- Miuccia Prada, “73 Minutes with Miuccia Prada,” interview by Amy Larocca, nymag.com.
Movies
- Martin Scorsese, Made in Milan [Interview to Giorgio Armani].
- Milan vs Rome and the 2015 EXPO.
- The Milanese ethic and aesthetic of Giorgio Armani.
- Is fashion art?
- The case of the Fondazione Prada.
- Massigmo Vignelli and Milanese design.
4. Milanese Enlightenment
Readings:
- Germaine de Staël, The Spirit of Translation [Sulla maniera e l’utilità delle traduzioni].
- Pietro Verri, Refusal to the Crusca Dictionary [Rinunzia avanti notaio . . . al Vocabolario della Crusca].
- Cesare Beccaria, selections from On Crimes and Punishments [Dei delitti e delle pene].
- Giuseppe Parini, selections from The Salubrity of the Air [La salubrità dell’aria] and The Day [Il giorno].
- The waning centrality of Italian culture after the Renaissance.
- Milan as an international and modern center: the reception of the European Enlightenment in Verri and Beccaria.
- The questione della lingua (the question of the language): Milan vs Tuscany.
- Parini’s civic poetry and the portrayal of the modern Milan.
5. Milanese Romanticism: Alessandro Manzoni and the Risorgimento
Readings:
- Alessandro Manzoni, The Fifth of May [Il cinque maggio], “Chorus” from Adelchis [Adelchi].
- Alessandro Manzoni, selections from the Letter to monsieur Chauvet.
- Francesco Petrarca, O, my own Italy... [Italia mia...] (RVF 128).
- Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince [Il principe], chapter 12 and 26.
- Introduction to Alessandro Manzoni.
- Manzoni’s civic and religious vocation.
- The value of literature between history and politics.
- Italian literature and Italy’s unity, from Florence and the Renaissance to Milan and the Risorgimento.
6. Manzoni: Milan, Lombardy, and Italy’s linguistic unity
Readings:
- Alessandro Manzoni, The Betrothed [I promessi sposi]: selections from chapters 1, 8, 11-14, 34-35
- Introduction to the Promessi sposi.
- The different editions of the Promessi sposi and the questione della lingua.
- Milan’s uprising: between Hell and Bildungsroman.
- The plague and the Providence.
- Lombard surroundings: the addio ai monti [farewell to the mountains] and nostalgia for the Alps.
7. Giuseppe Verdi between Romanticism and the Risorgimento
Music:
- Giuseppe Verdi, Nabucco: “Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves” (“Va pensiero”).
- Giusepp Verdi, La Battaglia di Legnano: “Digli ch’è sangue italico;” chorus “Viva l’italia! sacro un patto.”
- Giuseppe Verdi, selections from the “popular trilogy:” Rigoletto, Il trovatore, La traviata.
- Italy’s struggle for independence and Verdi’s operas.
- Viva V.E.R.D.I. (Vittorio Emanuele Re D’Italia): Verdi as a symbol of the Risorgimento.
- Verdi and the reception of European Romanticism in Italian opera.
8. Bohemian artists and the Avant-gardes in Milan: from the Scapigliatura to Futurism
Readings:
- Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, “The Founding Manifesto of Futurism.”
- Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, “Against Traditionalist Rome” [“Contro Roma passatista”].
- Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, selections from Great Traditional and Futurist Milan [La grande Milano tradizionale e futurista].
Art:
- Tranquillo Cremona, The Ivy [L’edera], Attraction [L’attrazione].
- Giuseppe Grandi, Monument to the Five Days of Milan [Monumento alle Cinque giornate di Milano].
- Medardo Rosso, The Concierge [La portinaia].
- Pellizza da Volpedo, The Fourth Estate [Il quarto stato].
- Umberto Boccioni, The City Rises [La città che sale]; Simultaneous Visions [Visioni simultanee]; The Street Enters the House [La strada entra che nella casa]; Riot in the Galleria [Rissa in galleria].
- Carlo Carrà, Leaving the Theater [Uscita da teatro]; Duomo Square in Milan [Piazza del Duomo a Milano]; Railway Station in Milan [Stazione a Milano].
Music
- Luigi Russolo, Awakening of a City [Risveglio di una città].
9. The poets of the linea lombarda
Readings:
- Vittorio Sereni, Winter [Inverno], In Sleep [Nel sonno], The Alibi and the Benefit [L’alibi e il beneficio].
- Luciano Erba, The Yellow Orris [Gli ireos gialli]; Quartiere Solari [Quartiere Solari], La Vida Es... [La vida es...].
- Giovanni Raboni, Renewal [Risanamento], Movie Theater in the Afternoon [Cinema di pomeriggio], In the time, now of ashes... [Nell’ora, ormai, della cenere...].
- The poets of the linea lombarda between Lombard lakes and Milan.
- The inclusive and civic poetry of Vittorio Sereni.
- Milan and the Manzonian perspective of Giovanni Raboni.
- Milan, Lombard landscapes, and Parini in the poetry of Luciano Erba.
10. Rare books / A Workshop on the Unpoetic and the Artistic Tradition (Class meets in the Special Collections in BLC)
Review:
- Giuseppe Parini, selections from The Salubrity of the Air [La salubrità dell’aria].
- Luciano Erba, Quartiere Solari [Quartiere Solari].
- Pellizza da Volpedo, The Fourth Estate [Il quarto stato].
Materials for the workshop:
- Francesco Petrarca, She’d let her gold hair flow free in the breeze... [Erano i capei d’oro a l’aura sparsi...] (RVF 90).
- Dante Alighieri, selections from Inferno XVIII.
- Michelangelo Buonarroti, I’ve already grown a goiter at this drudgery... [I’ ho già fatto un gozzo in questo stento] (poem n. 5).
- Charles Baudelaire, selections form the Tableaux parisiens (Les Fleurs du Mal).
- Walt Whitman, selections from Song of Myself (Leaves of Grass).
- Gilles Deleuze, “Whitman.”
RARE BOOKS
- The first journals and caffè.
- The different editions of Manzoni’s The Betrothed.
- Futurist journals.
WORKSHOP
Idealization and unpoetic in the artistic and literary tradition.
11. Contemporary art in Milan
Art
- Lucio Fontana, Bust of a Woman [Busto di donna], Seated Young Woman [Signorina seduta], the “Abstract sculptures” [“Sculture astratte”], Spatial Environment in Black Light [Ambiente spaziale a luce nera], Neon Structure for the Ninth Milan Triennale [Struttura al neon per la IX Triennale di Milano], the “Holes” [i “buchi”] the “Cuts” [i “tagli”].
- Fausto Melotti, Sculpture no. 21 [Scultura 21].
- Piero Manzoni, the “Achromes,” the “Lines” [le “linee”] the “Artist’s shit” [“Merda d’artista”].
- Fontana’s research on space: the openness and materiality of art.
- Fontana vs the pure, self-enclosed art of the Milione in Milan.
- Manzoni artist of the present.
- Fetishism, reproducibility, originality: more on art and fashion.
12. Italian cinema and Milan
Movies [selections]
- Michelangelo Antonioni, The Night [La notte].
- Vittorio De Sica, Miracle in Milan [Miracolo a Milano].
- Luchino Visconti, Rocco and His Brothers [Rocco e i suoi fratelli].
- Ermanno Olmi, The Tree of Wooden Clogs [L’albero degli zoccoli].
- The “bourgeois Neorealism” of Antonioni.
- A new wave of Neorealism: from De Sica to Fellini.
- Immigration from the South in Visconti.
- The Lombard morality and spirituality of Ermanno Olmi.
- Yuppies, parodies, and comic movies: from the milano da bere and the Vanzinas to the comedians of the Derby.
13. Jazz and modern music in Milan
Movies
- Al Capolinea: quando a Milano c’era il Jazz.
- Santa Marta Social Club.
- Milan as the home of music labels and recording studios.
- The Capolinea and the international jazz scene in Milan.
- Milan as center of prog rock.
14. Milanese Audiences in Football and Opera: from San Siro to La Scala
Readings:
- Fred Plotkin, “Does Booing at La Scala Ruin the Show?”
- Diana Burgwyn, “Why Opera Audiences Boo.”
- Giovanni Raboni, Zona Cesarini.
- Luciano Erba, Motus in Fine Velocior.
- Gary Armstrong and Malcom Young, “Fanatic Football Chants: Creating and Controlling the Carnival” [selections].
- The audience of La Scala.
- Inter: the most poetic of football clubs.
- Dialect, chants, and fandom.
- San Siro stadium as La Scala of football: Milan, hard work, and excellence.
15. Final project / Closing Remarks
WORKS CITED IN THE READINGS
(translations are the instructor’s unless the title appears in the following list)
Al Capolinea: quando a Milano c’era il Jazz. Dir. Marianna Cattaneo. 2011. DVD.
Antonioni, Michelangelo. La notte. Screenplay by Antonioni, Ennio Flaiano, and Tonino Guerra. Perf. Marcello Mastroianni and Monica Vitti. Dino de Laurentiis, 1961. Film.
Armstrong, Gary and Malcolm Young. “Fanatic Football Chants: Creating and Controlling the Carnival.” Football Culture: Local Contests, Global Visions. Ed. Gerry P.T. Finn and Richard Giulianotti. London: Frank Class, 2000. 171-211.
Baudelaire, Charles. The Flowers of Evil. Trans. James McGowan. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1993.
Beccaria, Cesare. On Crimes and Punishments and Other Writings. Ed. Aaron Thoms. Trans. Aaron Thomas and Jeremy Parzen. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2008.
Boccioni, Umberto. La città che sale. 1910–1911. Oil on Canvas. MoMA, New York.
Boccioni, Umberto. La strada che entra nella casa. 1911. Oil on Canvas. Kunstmuseum, Hannover.
Boccioni, Umberto. Rissa in galleria. 1910. Oil on Canvas. Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan.