Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE ITL1026

 
TITLE Shooting the Mob - Literary and Cinematic Representations of Organised Crime in Italy and the United States

 
UM LEVEL 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course

 
MQF LEVEL 5

 
ECTS CREDITS 4

 
DEPARTMENT Italian

 
DESCRIPTION What makes the sinister narrative of the mafia so alluring to novelists and film directors? How is a novel on organised crime transformed into a film? In what ways are such elements as plot, character, point of view, time and space transposed from a literary work to an audio-visual one? The unit will first focus on the political, economic and social issues which gave rise to the phenomenon of organised crime in Sicily. Within this context, the etymological roots of the word “Mafia” will be examined. It will then proceed to investigate the rapport between literary and cinematic versions of organised crime in Italy and the USA. The arc of representation will therefore expand from Italy to the United States to include the portrayal of Sicily in Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's Il Gattopardo and Luchino Visconti's cinematic version of the novel as well as Mario Puzo's The Godfather and Francis Ford Coppola's cinematic trilogy. Leonardo Sciascia's depiction of the character of the mafioso will also be examined. Finally, some examples of more recent Italian and American literary and cinematic representations of organized crime will be explored.

Study-unit Aims:

- To study the phenomenon of organised crime in Sicily and the United States through the key notion of “representation” in literary and filmic texts;
- To introduce students to a number of key concepts pertaining to the study of literary and audio-visual texts via the analysis of the phenomenon of organised crime;
- To provide students with the critical tools which are necessary for the appreciation of the complex interaction between written texts and audio-visual ones;
- To provide students with the critical tools which will allow them to appraise the techniques which are deployed in filmic adaptations of literary texts;
- To allow space for comparative analysis between key films in Italian and American cinema.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:
- Place literary and filmic texts within a precise historical framework;
- Draw on the key concepts and the terminology of film analysis and literary criticism;
- Analyse Italian and American literary and filmic texts within a broadly comparative context;
- Draw links with adjacent fields such as the visual analysis of films when reading a literary text and vice versa;
- Read texts as part of a complex web of intertextual literary and cultural relationships.

2. Skills:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:
- Discuss various representations of organised crime in Italy and the United States;
- Demonstrate critical skills in the reading of both literary and filmic texts;
- Place within a precise historical framework the analysis of literary and filmic texts;
- Draw on his or her improved expressive potential regarding the filmic and literary texts studied within the unit and apply such a potential to the understanding of other works.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings:

Reading List:

- Puzo, M. (2009) The Godfather. Arrow Books Ltd.

A coursepack of readings comprisinga carefully selected collection of theoretical and critical works will be made available. The readings may include excerpts from Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Leonardo Sciascia, Henner Hesse, Pino Arlacchi, Christopher Duggan, Giuseppe Pitrè, Martin Scorsese and Gregory L. Lucente, among others.

Recommended reading:

- Hutcheon, L. (2012) A Theory of Adaptation. Routledge.
- Renga, D. (ed.) (2011) Mafia Movies. A Reader. University of Toronto Press.
- Ciconte, E. (2008) Storia criminale. Rubbettino.
- Tomasi Di Lampedusa, G. (reprint, 2007) The Leopard. Vintage Classics. (either in Italian or English)
- Sciascia, L. (reprint, 2002) Il giorno della civetta. Adelphi. (either in Italian or English)
- Stille, A. (1996) Excellent Cadavers. The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic. Vintage.

 
ADDITIONAL NOTES Lectures will be delivered in English. The exam will be held in English. Students who are majoring in Italian may be allowed to take the exam in Italian, with the permission of the lecturer.

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Examination (2 Hours) Yes 100%

 
LECTURER/S Gloria Lauri Lucente

 

 
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

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