Longing in Contemporary Italian Culture

This course revolves around the feeling of longing that characterizes different states of mind and moods: from mal d’Africa to afro optimism, from anxiety and fear/melodrama of coming out of the closet to yearning of acceptance, from the feeling of nostalgia of immigrant and emigrant authors to the state of mind that fuels the phenomenon of restanza. The course consists of six modules that cross the Italian cultural history from fascism to the present day to follow the longing that accompanies literary and cinematic texts as well as advertising and musical extracts. In the course, canonical authors are accompanied by emerging authors, and are read in the light of literary theory in the field of black studies, affect studies, and queer studies.