116-224 Rome: Fact or Fiction

Completion of 37.5 points at Beginners', Intermediate, or Post VCE level Italian for Second year. Completion of 37.5 points of Italian at Intermediate or Post VCE level for third year.

This subject, to be taught in Italian on site in Rome will use an interdisciplinary approach to explore through the media of literature, cinema and urbanism, the inexhaustible and all-pervasive myth of Rome which continues to inform the Western tradition of culture, politics and identity. The city's history and topography will be taken to be a repository of ideas, images, desires, fears, narratives and fantasies that inform both the past and the present. The city is studied, not as an autonomous organic growth, but as an artifact and a place of spectacle, a combination of myth and reality, fact and fiction. The course will consist of thematic modules which explore the historical phases of the creation of the image of Rome and their representation in literature and cinema with particular emphasis on Rome's difficult transition to the modern era. On-site visits to monuments, museums, and districts of Rome will develop an understanding of how 'civilisation' is constructed through visual and literary representation, space and memory.

• show critical thinking and analysis through required and recommended reading, essay writing and tutorial discussion, and by assessing the strength of an argument;

• show an understanding of social, political, historical and cultural contexts and international awareness through the contextualisation of judgements and knowledge;

• develop a critical self awareness and acceptance of new ideas and new aspects of Italian culture by formulating arguments;

• demonstarte resaearch skills through competent use of the library and other information sources;

• demonstrate an ability to formulate and express complex ideas in Italian.

Equivalent of 8000 words comprising one 30 minute oral presentation in Italian on location in Rome and one-5000 word research essay in Italian ( due after return to Melbourne)

• P E Bondanella, The Eternal City: Roman Image in the Modern World. University of North Carolina Press 1987.
• G. D'Annunzio, Il Piacere. Monadori 1960.
• C Levi, Roma Fuggitiva. Einaudi 1975.
• C Gadda, Quel Pasticciaccio brutto di via Merulana.
• A Moravia, Racconti Romani. Bompiani 1954.