Investigating Italy through Crime Fiction
Course Number: 82-364
The course will examine Italian crime fiction as a counter-narrative to Italian history, culture and society from the 1930s to the present. Through a selected corpus of crime novels, short stories, films and TV series, students will be offered an alternative perspective on social issues and themes related to justice and injustice. Class discussions and assignments will include ongoing reflections on the historical events, political changes and social conditions that give rise to crime, with particular attention to themes such as social class inequality, dysfunctional power dynamics, gender-based violence, migration, environmental injustice and political corruption in relation to the Italian justice system.
Students will analyze and discuss crime stories inspired by, or that can be connected to, sociopolitical events and the cultural climate of their time, examining how Italian society has responded across different historical periods and contexts (e.g., antifascism, political activism, protests, anti-mafia movements). The course will include texts by sociopolitically engaged authors who combine literature, political activism and the defense of civil rights, such as Leonardo Sciascia — who exposed connections between the state and the mafia in Sicily — and Massimo Carlotto, who spent several years in prison following a miscarriage of justice and has denounced abuses within the penitentiary system as well as large-scale corruption.
Degree: Undergraduate
Concentration: Italian Studies
Semester(s): Fall
Units: 9, 12
Prerequisite(s): None