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Visit the Graduate School for admission information and the online application to the PhD program. Please note that only online applications are accepted. Any difficulties or special requests for paper applications should be addressed directly to the Graduate School.
Questions of a general nature relating to the Department of Romance Studies can be directed to the graduate field assistant.
OVERVIEW|
Thanks
to the Special Committee system at Cornell, the Ph.D. program in
Italian Cornell has long been a program in Italian Studies. Graduate
students in Italian design a program of study that is comparatist
and/or interdisciplinary in approach, and are strongly encouraged
to develop a high degree of theoretical and methodological awareness.
The Italian program is particularly strong in the areas of medieval
and Renaissance Italian literature, the culture of the Risorgimento
and Decadent Italy, 20th century Italian visual and media studies,
reactionary modernism in Italy, and Holocaust studies. For example,
recent graduates have written on queer theory and Italian feminism,
and the role of the body in fascism.
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ITALIAN GRADUATE FIELD|
The
Graduate Field in Italian includes not only Italian literature faculty
in the Romance Studies Department, but extends to faculty in History,
Architecture, Linguistics, and Comparative Literature, to reflect
the program’s commitment to interdisciplinarity.
In addition, graduate students have
access to other outstanding faculty in many departments and programs
across the university, such as German Studies, Government, History
of Art, Medieval Studies, Music, Romance Studies, and Visual Studies.
The opportunity to do interdisciplinary work is enhanced by the
structure of the program which allows students to complete a concentration
in a minor field. Typical
concentrations include gender studies, visual studies, comparative
literature, music, and art history.
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CORNELL AND ROMANCE STUDIES|
Cornell
is uniquely positioned for the study of Italian literature and culture.
The University Libraries house the finest Dante and Petrarch collections
outside Italy, while the university is home to Cornell Cinema, cited
as one of the best campus film exhibition programs in the country,
screening close to 400 different films/videos each year, seven nights
a week in Willard Straight Theater.
Founded in 1966 to support research and imaginative teaching in
the humanities, the Society for the Humanities encourages serious
and sustained discussion on topics of compelling interest to Italian
Studies.
The topic for 2004-2005 is “Translation.”
Cornell is also home to the Institute for European Studies, whose
mission is to enhance the international dimensions of Cornell University’s
curriculum and facilitate interdisciplinary scholarship and teaching.
The Institute provides financial and logistical support for more
than 20 programs in area, thematic and development studies at Cornell.
It is especially active in offering predissertation workshops and
international research travel grants to encourage graduate student
research.
In addition, the Italian program is home to the Italian Studies
Colloquium (ISC), which offers an engaging intellectual atmosphere
in which faculty and graduate students meet bi-weekly to discuss
papers that treat any facet of Italian history, literature or culture.
Papers are distributed a week in advance to participants with the
view of soliciting comments and promoting discussion. Recent presenters
have included Enzo Traverso, Maria Stampino, Jeffrey Schnapp, and
Arthur Groos. In conjunction with the ISC, Cornell’s School
of Architecture recently sponsored a symposium entitled “Italian
Modernisms.” Participants included Mia Fuller, Giuliana Bruno,
Brian McLaren, and Dietrich Neuman.
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CURRICULUM|
The
following list of recent graduate courses offered by members of
Italian Field offers a snapshot of faculty interests and the kinds
of subjects prospective students can expect to study at Cornell:
Fascist Bodies, Fascist Films
The Modern-Post: Postmodernism in Italy
The Modern Italian Novel
Boccaccio
Dante’s Commedia
The Medieval Society of the Spectacle
Opera, History, Politics, and Gender
The Cinematic City
Tuscany as the New Jerusalem
Love and Sex in the Italian Renaissance
Patronage and the Medici
History of the Italian Language
Poetry in a Radio Age: Data Retrieval and the Italian Lyric
The Culture of the Renaissance
Renaissance Literature
The Catholic Grotesque: The Italian ‘Sacri Monti’ and
their post-Renaissance Legacy
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FINANCIAL SUPPORT|
All
entering students receive generous fellowship support and summer funding. Currently, support is guaranteed by the graduate school for four years for students entering with an M.A. or five years for students entering with a B.A. This guarantee includes two years of fellowship and two or more years of teaching assistantships. These provide full tuition awards and, in addition, offer academic year stipends and student health insurance coverage. Students receive additional funding for the summer. Travel money and grants are also available to fund research projects and conference travel.
Prospective graduate students are encouraged to consider applying for outside fellowships. Click the following link for information about the Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship
Teaching
Opportunities for Graduate Students
The experience of classroom teaching, with adequate advice, assistance,
and supervision, is an essential part of graduate education. Indeed,
documentary evidence of such experience (evaluations, letters of
recommendation) is indispensable for new Ph.D.s applying for teaching
jobs. We make every effort to have all Ph.D. candidates teach Italian
language courses for one year and Italian literature for a second.
Scholarly and Professional Training Opportunities
Entralogos
Graduate students, with support from the Department of Romance Studies,
assume responsibility for organizing an annual symposium called
the Entralogos Conference around a topic of their choosing. Generally
they bring to campus three prominent speakers from outside who represent
the three sections of the department (French, Italian and Spanish),
but chiefly invite contributions from students themselves. The proceedings
have frequently been published in booklet form. Entralogos provides
the participants with invaluable pre-professional experience in
the presentation and publication of their work.
Diacritics
In addition, advanced students can petition to join the Editorial
Board of Diacritics and participate in reviewing and evaluating
submissions. Students have even responsible for editing special
issues of the journal on topics of their choosing.
Research Abroad
Students have the opportunity to study abroad and are encouraged
to spend one of their fellowship years in Italy. The Department
of Romance Studies covers travel expenses to and from the United
States.
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PH.D. PROGRAM|
Structure
of the Ph.D. Program
The graduate program in Italian literature is structured to allow
for a broad experience in literary history and criticism and to
avoid premature specialization. The student of recent literature
should acquire an ample and precise sense of cultural traditions;
likewise, the student of earlier periods should become acquainted
with the literary and critical trends of our own day. To this end,
courses and seminars seek to provide both broad and detailed familiarity
with major periods and authors. Indeed, the system of Area Examinations
is intended to ensure general preparation in Italian literature,
while avoiding the single comprehensive examination in use in many
graduate programs.
The graduate plan encourages students to define their field of study
flexibly and broadly, in relation to such disciplines as linguistics
and semiotics, philosophy, anthropology, visual studies, history
of art or music, medieval studies, psychology or psychoanalysis,
and the study of classical literatures or other modern national
literatures. The student’s field of study is defined by consultation
with the Special Committee.
The Special Committee and the Minor Subject
By the end of the first year, each doctoral students chooses a three-member
Special Committee consisting of a chair appointed by the student,
and two other faculty members. (M.A. candidates need have only two
members on their committees). The committee (in particular, the
chair) is the person directly responsible for the student’s
progress in his/her work. It is the student’s responsibility
to consult regularly with the members of his/her committee and to
convene the entire committee once a year to discuss the general
direction of his/her studies. Students may reconstitute the committee
whenever and as often as they wish, and are encouraged to do so,
without embarrassment, as their special interests crystallize and
their contacts with faculty members increase.
At least one member of the Special Committee must represent a field
other than the student’s major field. Most students choose
only one minor subject, though Graduate School regulations allow
election of two, in which case two committee members are from other
fields. The readings expected of students in the minor, the courses
they will be asked to take, what sort of examination will be expected,
are all matters for discussion and arrangement with the minor member(s)
of the Special Committee. On such questions, students should reach
a clear understanding with their committees well in advance of the
Special Field Examination.
Coursework and Second Foreign Language Requirement
Students entering the program without an M.A. normally take a total
of sixteen courses over a three-year period. Classes in Italian
studies are divided into the following areas :
A. Middle Ages (Duecento, Trecento)
B. Renaissance and Early Modern Period (Quattrocento, Cinquecento,
Seicento)
C. 18th and 19th centuries (Settecento, Ottocento)
D. 20th century (Novecento)
It is the responsibility of the individual student to become acquainted
with each of these areas. There are courses dealing with topics
in all these areas during any three-year cycle. However, since course
offerings are not structured to correspond to the boundaries imposed
by the areas, students should supplement course work with independent
readings to be determined in consultation with their Special Committees.
Every student is expected to speak and write Italian fluently and
accurately. Students choose any additional language study according
to the requirements of their areas of study and in consultation
with Special Committees. Students are encouraged to avail themselves
of relevant courses in the area of Italian Linguistics offered by
the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics.
The student must also demonstrate or acquire proficiency in a second
foreign language (one that complements the student's course
of study) prior to taking the "A" exam. Proficiency
can be demonstrated through coursework or by written examination.
Area Examinations
The purpose of the “Area Examinations” is to gauge student
familiarity with the Italian tradition in at least three (and preferably
all) of the four areas listed above. They may choose to do this
by taking two or more courses, approved by the Special Committee,
in each area.
Students who do not use course work to demonstrate familiarity with
the Italian literary tradition must sit for written examinations,
which will be scheduled at the convenience of the candidate and
the faculty member administering the exam. Students may take as
many or as few exams at a time as they wish, and they may complete
them in any order they choose. However, it is expected that students
will complete their exams by the end of the fifth semester.
Students who choose to do one or two minors in other fields (for
example history, history of art, comparative literature, medieval
studies) must negotiate requirements (course work, examinations,
etc.) with the faculty member from the Special Committee who represents
that area of specialization.
Area examinations in Italian do not exceed four hours and include
textual analysis, as well as knowledge of factual, bibliographical
and critical sources, and the historical and literary information
of the period. Candidates are expected to give proof of breath and
precision of their knowledge by writing on a particular topic.
Each faculty member prepares and administers an area examination
in his or her field of specialization. Students can satisfy the
remaining area examinations through attendance in courses which
are projected to offer, over a three-year period, suitable coverage
of the other literary periods and areas. It is the students responsibility
to agree with the instructor of the course on the modalities and
suitable supplements to the course for his examination. The Area
Examination is passed or failed in its entirety, or passed with
a conditional deficiency to be made up within one semester through
further readings and testing at the discretion of the area specialist(s)
and the Special Committee.
“A” Exam
The Graduate School requires that students complete the “Admission
to Candidacy Examination” (“A” exam) before registering
for the seventh semester. Students in Italian Literature take the
“A” exam after having completed all Area Examinations,
as well as the language requirements determined by the Special Committee.
The “A” exam is an oral exam that usually does not exceed
two hours. Based on an extended piece of written work presented
to the Special Committee -- usually a paper designed to serve as
the introduction or first chapter of the dissertation -- the “A”
exam tests the student’s competence in his/her area of specialization.
Students should plan to spend at least a fourth of their time over
one semester in the preparations of this paper, consulting frequently
with their chair as they define the topic, prepare an outline and
write. The paper should not be a first draft, but a finished
piece of work, complete with summary bibliography and such scholarly
apparatus as may be appropriate (most such papers are twenty to
fifty pages long). The completed paper should be made available
to all members of the Special Committee at least one week (preferably
two) prior to the date agreed upon for the examination.
During the examination, members of the Special Committee question
the candidate on the worth and coherence of his/her topic and on
his/her understanding of the texts and problems of interpretation
that the topic raises. Students who pass the examination receive
recommendations from committee members for further work on the dissertation.
In the event of failure, the student repeats the examination on
the basis of a new or revised paper.
“B” Exam
The “B” exam is the defense of the dissertation. Each
member of the Special Committee usually presents to the candidate
a brief written judgment and critique of the dissertation and a
checklist of errors to be corrected. The major aims of the exam
are to assure the candidate that the dissertation has been carefully
read and considered and to allow the student to engage in a serious
discussion of his/her work.
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PROFILES|
Lorenzo Fabbri
Elisabeth Fay
Joel Pastor
Andrea Righi
My goal is to adopt a socio-cultural, and thus comparative take on the cultural-literary fact. My work focuses on contemporary poetry, poetics and aesthetics. I am currently revising a study of post '68 Spanish and North American vanguards. The Italian core of my study is developed only on a theoretical level. G. Della Volpe, L. Anceschi, A. Negri are some of my references, but I plan to enlarge the work including also Italian authors such as the ones active in the gruppo 63. My other area of interest deals with planetary studies. I would like to inscribe the discipline of contemporary Italian literature into the larger theoretical field of ecology and global relations of production.
Daniel Tonozzi
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