Italian American Literature and Film
 

Artistic movements reflect DEEP CHANGES in society.

REALISM - Naturalism - Verism
18th century - 1700: industrial revolution

Emile Zola - Germinal (month of march in revolutionary calendar) 1885
MINING

Dickens

ENERGY
: coal, steam engine,

iron foundry (mossolov)  ENERGY OF THE MODERN WORLD

HUGO
Les Miserables -- 1862

 

Avant-garde lit and arts. Experimentation. Textuality.

IN EVERY FORM OF ARTISTIC EC

FREUD, unconscious

Dreams as parallel universe - prophetic
The interpretation of dreams


anthropology and psychology: "primitive art"

Late 1800: Impressionism in art- painting, realism in literature

1900: psychologism, surrealism

Literary device, stream of consciousness, reflecting the work of brain....

Joyce, Faulkner, Dos Passos, Proust, Kafka

capturing different perspectives

capturing emotional states

Stanislavski = method acting

FROM GIORGIONE TO KANDINSKY

giorgione

monet

van gogh starry night (MoMA)

gauguin 1

gauguin 2 

gauguin 3

picasso

kandinsky

kandinsky 2

kandinsky 3 (guggenheim collection)

kandinsky: unconscious mapping, the brain and mental representations as metaphors. balance in chaos, equilibrium, self containment.

below electrons: energy. the vital force of the universe.

1960's

John Cage 4.33
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gN2zcLBr_VM&f

Di Donato, investment of energy to be accepted.

John Steinbeck = Grapes comes out the same year as Christ (1939)


doom gloom desolation bad fortune accidents and incidents: energy. not spiritual determination, not abstract thinking, not the challenge.

His bricklayers are conscious of the energy they express, the strength they exude, their vitality, courage.

THIS IS HOW THEY SEE THEMSELVES: strong, positive forces that are building America, whose dream is to have the next generation of great Americans.

BUT THEY ARE REJECTED: by the church, by society, by the system, by god.

Contrast with EYETALIANS ARE LIKE CHILDREN.

Religiosity vs religion

Christ as sacrificial symbol, suffering.

Ecce homo (Antonello da Messina)

man of sorrows

GEREMIO Jeremiah

JOB

Faith: very Italian, very Catholic. SAINTS, JJM: intercession.

God is too far away, too remote. You have to go through the hierarchy. Church hierarchy reflects divine hierarchy.

Cult of saints. Intermediaries between humans and god.
god is approachable only through hierarchy.

Role of Madonna.

Louis, the Jewish friend. Atheism as acquired philosophy.
Atheism as anger, retaliation against God.
 
Anger as positive response (as opposed to resignation)?

The Cripple. (life after death)

TARANTELLA

 

DISCUSSION and REFLECTION

Would you recommend YES / NO  Christ?
Give ONE ARGUMENT to support your position.

15 minutes total
My overall favorite work was .........

(Good writing: technique, skill, intelligence. Sometimes spontaneity and inspiration.
EVALUATING PARTICIPATION