116-063 Images of Sicily: Fate, Fact or Fiction?

Availability

Credit Points

Coordinator

Prerequisites

A first-year subject in either Italian, French, History, Fine Arts, English or Cultural Studies.

Semester

Contact

Subject Description

This course will attempt to contrast images of Sicily developed by nineteenth and twentieth century Sicilian authors with present day historical and sociological descriptions of Sicily, and to investigate the degree to which the popular image of Sicily has been determined by this literary output. The pervasive image of Sicily in the world's imagination is of an island which has been unable to extricate itself from the traditional patterns of the past and embrace the future. This failure has been variously associated with an enervating climate and the myriad of foreign powers which held sway over its people, sapping local initiative. Sicilians are perceived as a people at war with themselves, unable to cure the ills of their island and transcend the curses of resignation, exploitation, corruption and fatalism, all of which appear as themes of the novels. The course will explore the link between the literature and the urban and rural landscapes through the study of themes such as memory of place, decadence and the pervasiveness of pagan mythology. The course asks the question of how far reality finally conforms with stereotype.

Assessment

A 15-minute oral report given in Sicily written up on return and totalling 1500 words, and a research essay of 2500 words.

Prescribed Texts

• F De Roberto, I Viceré. (selected extracts) Garzanti 1976.
• F De Roberto, The Viceroys. Harvill Collins.
• L Pirandello, I vecchi e i giovani. (selected extracts) Mondadori.
• L Pirandello, The old and the young. Dutton 1933.
• L Sciascia, Il consiglio d'Egitto. Adelphi.
• L Sciascia, The council of Egypt. Harvill Collins.
• G Tomasi di Lampedusa, Il gattopardo. Feltrinelli, 1958.
• G Tomasi di Lampedusa, The Leopard with A Memory and Two Short Stories. Harvill Collins 1988.
• G Verga, Mastro don Gesualdo. Mondadori.
• G Verga, Mastro don Gesualdo. Penguin.