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FEB
16
CERES Brown Bag Talk: Mediterranean Influences on Italian Literature and Society
Date:
Friday, 16 Feb 2018
Time:
12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Location:
302 International Center
Department:
Center for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies
Event Details:
Mediterranean Influences on Italian Literature and Society
Joseph Francese
 
The Sicilian folk hero Giufà is known throughout the Mediterranean: in Turkey he is known as Nasreddin Hoca; and in the Arab world as Juḥā. In all likelihood he was an expression of an oral tradition before he appeared in an Arabic book printed in the ninth century. Giufà was 'imported' to Sicily in the nineth century with the Arab conquest. He is a comedic character, a sort of 'village idiot,' who is not without his own redeeming qualities. Prof. Francese will discuss how Giufà entered the Italian literary tradition in the second-half of the nineteenth century and will provide a 'close reading' of the tales of the Giufà cycle.
Joseph Francese is University Outstanding Faculty and Professor of Italian in the Romance and Classical Studies section of the College of Arts and Letters at MSU. He is also Senior Editor of Italian Culture (the journal of the American Association for Italian Studies); Editor of "Studi di italianistica moderna e contemporanea nel mondo anglofono/Studies in Modern and Contemporary Italianistica in the Anglophonic World" (a monograph series published by Firenze University Press); and has served on the PMLA Advisory Committee.

Joseph Francese is University Outstanding Faculty and Professor of Italian in the Romance and Classical Studies section of the College of Arts and Letters at MSU. He is also Senior Editor of Italian Culture (the journal of the American Association for Italian Studies); Editor of "Studi di italianistica moderna e contemporanea nel mondo anglofono/Studies in Modern and Contemporary Italianistica in the Anglophonic World" (a monograph series published by Firenze University Press); and has served on the PMLA Advisory Committee.