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Location
307 Herter Hall
Office Hours: by appointment

After having abundantly written about modernity and poetry in France and Italy, my current research interests focus on the film image and social history. My most recent book examines the cinematic images of women as social icons in three fundamental films shot by Michelangelo Antonioni in the 1950s and demonstrate how these images represent the unresolved contradictions of Italian society and therefore constitute a powerful counterargument to the post-neorealist positive narratives of national identity. On campus, I serve on various committees on film studies. Outside of campus, I am an active promoter of Italian film and culture in the community.

Education

  • PhD in Romance Languages and Literatures (Harvard University)
  • Graduate studies in Comparative Literature (University of California, Berkeley)
  • Laurea in lettere (BA-MA in Literary and Film Studies, University of Padua, Italy)

Research Areas

Post-WWII Italian Film and Film Theory, Post-WWII Italian and Comparative Literature, Judaism in Modern Italian Literature, History and Historiography.

Selected Publications

Authored Books:

  • Straniere a se stesse: identità femminili e stilistica visuale nel cinema di Michelangelo Antonioni degli anni cinquanta. Giulianova: Galaad, 2018, pp. 296.
  • La svolta di Enea: retorica ed esistenza di Giorgio Caproni (1932-1956). Genova: Il Nuovo Melangolo, 2008, pp. 322.

Selected Articles and Book Chapters:

  • "Stolen Goods: Pirandello and Michelangelo Antonioni's La signora senza camelie (1952)." In Pirandello's Visual Philosophy: Imagination and Thought Across Media. Edited by Lisa Sarti and Michael Subialka. Farleigh Dickinson University Press, 2017, pp. 101-116.
  • "La città in versi: Litania di Giorgio Caproni." In Il pensiero della poesia. Edited by Cristina Caracchini and Enrico Minardi. Firenze University Press, 2017, pp. 117-133.
  • "More Becoming to a Man: Fathers, Sons, and the Novel of Education in Giorgio Bassani's The Garden of the Finzi-Contini." Quaderni d'italianistica, vol. 35, n. 2, 2015, pp. 139-66.
  • "Il grado zero del presente: La morte di Marx e altri racconti di Sebastiano Vassalli." Narrativa, n. 29, 2007, pp. 253-62.
  • "'Le miroir de l'étranger': Subjectivity in André Frénaud's Le silence de Genova." Romanic Review, , vol. 97, n. 3. 2006, pp. 423-43.

Awards and Accolades

Presentation of the book Straniere a se stesse at the international literary festival "La Fiera delle Parole" in Padua, Italy, on October 7, 2018.