Against a historical background from the Risorgimento to Fascism, World War II and the post-war period of recovery, "Italian Encores" will present fiction by 19th- and 20th-century authors in six film adaptations. Selections, representing literary styles from Verismo to Neorealismo, will alternate between novels and novelle: Verga's I Malavoglia and Visconti's La terra trema; Senso by Boito and Visconti; Il gattopardo by Tomasi di Lampedusa and Visconti; Porte aperte by Sciascia and Amelio; La Ciociara by Moravia and De Sica. The course will conclude with an autobiography (1975), Padre Padrone by Ledda and the Taviani Brothers. Discussions of one to two weeks for texts, depending on length, will be followed by a week of classes devoted to each film. Films will be shown during a scheduled weekly screening time and also be available on library reserve for individual consultation. Topics to be addressed will include film in its relation with the sister arts (literature, painting, music), the directors in their identity as auteur, and Italian cultural issues, such as ideals and disillusionments of the Unification, government corruption, class structure, regional identity (Sicily, Sardinia), gender issues, and the family. Class conducted in Italian; prerequisite 5 semesters of Italian or equivalent.