"The 1521 Orlando Furioso" - SIS Biennal Conference (Taylor Institution, Oxford, 28-30 september 2015) (original) (raw)

SIS Themed Conference "Visions of Italy", University of Kent 10-11 September 2020 - Visions of the Hereafter in Italian literature (1789-1911) - Messina and the Plague. The Descent to Hell in Varano’s Visioni sacre e morali

2020

Visions of Italy Popular conceptions of Italy typically revolve around the visual: the beauty of its landscapes and its historic legacy of fine art and architecture. This dates back at least to the medieval period, and the innovations of artists such as Giotto and visionary writers like Dante. In the twentieth century, it is in the fields of cinema, photography, art, fashion and design that Italy has had the most marked impact around the world. Concurrently, Italy has also been a favoured subject of visual representation: from Grand Tour photographic albums to mainstream Hollywood films set in Italy, there is no lack of foreign representations of the country and its inhabitants. This conference will explore Italian visual culture, Italy’s relationship with the visual and the way in which Italy and Italians have been depicted. It aims to further a dialogue among scholars in the field of Italian studies who deal with visual culture in the broadest sense, from studies of visual arts and objects to literary works characterized by an emphasis on the visual. Papers and panels will address topics such as: Cinema and photography; Visual arts of all eras, from Medieval and Rennaissance to contemporary art; Fashion and design; Advertising and visual culture; Intermediality and cross-media representation; Visual representations of Italians and Italian culture abroad (e.g. Italian-Americans, the diaspora, etc); Visual representations of migration to and within Italy; Transcultural representations of Italy and Italians; Ekphrasis and visual culture in Italian literature; Visualisation within, and of, the work of medieval and early modern authors (e.g. Dante, Boccaccio, Petrarca). Keynote speaker: Prof Stephen Gundle.

‘Birds against modernity: resistance, poetry, and nightmare in Leopardi and Svevo’ - SIS Themed Conference 2018 'Resistance in Italian Culture: Literature, Film and Politics' 5-6 April 2018, University of Sussex

Respectively witnessing the beginning and the end of the 19th century, Leopardi and Svevo look at their own age with a mixture of scepticism and nostalgia. Their individual works explore the survival of nature and poetry within the context of an artificial age. By reading Leopardi’s Elogio degli uccelli and Svevo’s Rapporti difficili, this paper will discuss both writers’ ‘ornithological resistances’ to modernity. Leopardi’s 1824-28 poetic crisis and Svevo’s 1898-1919 so-called abandonment of “quella ridicola e dannosa cosa che si chiama letteratura” will be read in the light of each other, discussing the way in which both writers adopt birds to evade their melancholy meditation on art. Particular attention will be given to the themes of ‘canto’ and ‘riso’, exploring Leopardi’s and Svevo’s discourses on the modern impossibility of retrieving the birds’ singing jouissance. Furthermore, this paper will observe the way in which Svevo empowers the Elogio’s melancholy to deride his own ‘literary resistance’, reinterpreting Amelius’ reverie as a nightmarish example of modern narcissism.

Theatre and Theatricality in Modern and Contemporary Italian Literature and Media. [Three separate panels, nine presenters]

Midwest Modern Language Association, Chicago, Illinois, 5 November 2010.

Session A 1. Teatralizzazione di un romanzo: i costumi di scena degli Indifferenti di Moravia Chiara De Santi, SUNY Fredonia 2. Pasolini e lo strappo nella coscienza dello spettatore Fulvio Orsitto, California State Univerisity-Chico 3. Lina Wertmüller regista-burattinaia Federico Pacchioni, University of Connecticut-Storrs Session B 4. Manzoni’s Count of Carmagnola and Kleist’s Prince of Homburg: History between Fiction and Factuality Maria Giulia Carone, University of Wisconsin-Madison 5. Teatro e teatralità nella poesia del primo Palazzeschi Daniele Fioretti, University of Wisconsin Madison 6. Mario Luzi’s Plays: A Plurality of Voices Ernesto Livorni, University of Wisconsin-Madison Session C 7. Distinctive Nature of Masques of Commedia dell’Arte in their Relationship with Food in 18th Century Paola Monte, Royal Holloway, University of London 8. Arlecchino is Lying: Deconstructing Goldoni’s II bugiardo Stefano Boselli, Gettysburg College 9. The Spectator in Dario Fo’s Performances: From the Foyer to the Post-Performance Debates Marco Valleriani, Royal Holloway, University of London