Course description
The course looks at businessmen and businesswomen as they are portrayed in short stories, plays, short novels and films, from the Middle Ages to the present day. Although intellectuals tend to dismiss business culture as focused solely on the acquisition of wealth, and business men and women as immature, the course is designed to examine the fundamental connection between a robust business culture and the flourishing of the arts and civic life. We will focus on questions of wealth and wealth creation, the role of business in urban development, the arts and philanthropy, business and meritocracy, business and issues of class, race, gender and religion, the importance of reputation and the need for secrecy, and the anxiety associated with both poverty and wealth.

Beginning with literature from the middle ages, the course takes as a premise the revolutionary nature of businessmen who risked bankruptcy to elevate a family’s status. Before insurance, when travel by land and sea was hazardous, men of business were the first individuals to challenge the exisiting socio-economic structure by striving to accumulate wealth, previously the exclusive prerogative of the nobility and the Church.

Most of the authors are Italian, and some works are set in Venice, yet students will be introduced to a number of the great authors of Western literature. The first objective of the course is always to provoke thought and to stimulate discussion among students with different national and disciplinary perspectives. Informed discussion is achieved through close reading of the texts, and teaching this skill is another objective of the course. The third objective is to improve English rhetorical skills both in speech and in writing, and students will have the opportunity to write and rewrite two five-page papers. We will also examine the particular perspective of Italian writers, and the tendency to view social questions from the perspective of ideology.

A block of time is devoted to each unit, offering the opportunity to explore the texts from various perspectives. There is a visual component in each unit — either or film or a work of art like the Scrovegni Chapel, built in response to the condemnation of the Paduan family of money-lenders Inferno 17, according to legend. To reinforce the relationship between urban reality and literary thought, we will visit Venetian sites mentioned or suggested by the Merchant of Venice and La Locandiera. Films will allow comparative interpretations as well as visualizations. Finally, I will seize the opportunity for students to perform scenes from the plays if it is at all feasible.

Students are expected to read and reflect on the texts in preparation for class discussions. The two papers will develop assigned arguments from the readings and class discussions, and each paper will be five pages in length. Papers will be graded on the basis of the structure and clarity of the argument, and the accuracy and precision of the language. They may be rewritten one time, and the grade will average the first and second version. Every student is entitled to his or her own opinion, the objective is to present it effectively.

Teaching and Evaluation Methods
Class participation 25%
2 five-page papers 50%
Final Exam 25%

Program

Unit 1
Birth of a Merchant Ethos in Medieval Europe: Dante, Inferno 17 (1310)& Giotto’s Scrovegni Chapel (Trip to Scrovegni Chapel in Padua)
How to Educate Merchants to become Rulers: Excerpts from Boccaccio, Decameron (1350)

Unit 2
The Economy of Love and Kinship vs. the Economy of Profit /The Jew as Merchant: William Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice (1596-98);& Christopher Marlowe, The Jew of Malta (1589-90)
Merchant of Venice, film by Michael Radford, (2004)
*First paper due

Unit 3
The Astute Businesswoman of Venice: Carlo Goldoni, "The Mistress of the Inn"/"La Locandiera" (1753)vs. Pantalone (performance of A Servant of two Masters?)

Unit 4
Greed and Identity: Luigi Pirandello, "The Jar" (1909)
Kaos
, film by Paolo e Vittorio Taviani (1984)
*Second paper due

Unit 5
The Old Noblilty and the New Man of Business: Giuseppe di Lampedusa, the Leopard (1958)
The Leopard, film by Luchino Visconti (1963)

Unit 6
The Consumers' Voice?: Dario Fo, Can't Pay? Won't Pay! (1974)

Exam Period: Final Exam