Rebecca Falkoff, professor in the Department of French and Italian, shares her journey from an undergrad studying Faust, literary theory, and languages at UPenn to a PhD in Italian Studies at UC Berkeley. Along the way we learn of her rich and expansive research and writing on hoarding—from 19th century Parisian flea markets to Sherlock Holmes to today’s reality TV shows—as well as insights into learning languages, her own literary translation work, and Italian authors such as Dante, Carlo Emilio Gadda, and Elena Ferrante.
Italian
Into the COLAverse – Episode 11: Paola Bonifazio
Paola Bonifazio, professor in the department of French and Italian, discusses how the Italian film industry helped promote the modernization of Italy in and through its active shaping of identity and behavior of Italian people. She also shares insight into the huge popularity of photoromance magazines (graphic storytelling that uses photographs instead of drawings) in Italy, digging into how they were used to promote political, religious, and social agendas in the making of Italian culture and society.