Simone Dubrovic came to Kenyon in 2008. He earned a doctorate in Italian literature from “Università degli Studi di Urbino Carlo Bo” in Italy. At Kenyon College he offers courses on Italian language, literature and cinema. His scholarly interests focus on literature and art of the Italian Renaissance, nineteenth and twentieth century Italian literature and art, and Italian cinema. He also earned a MA in French literature at Miami University of Ohio and has occasionally published on French literature subjects.
Italian Renaissance, Italian literature and cinema, interplay between visual arts and literature.
2006 — Doctor of Philosophy from Universita Di Urbino
This seminar serves as an introduction to the field of museum studies. Consisting primarily of readings, discussions, assigned papers and special projects, the course will historicize the role of the museum, analyze the nature of the museum audience and study the representation and display of different cultures. This counts toward the advanced course requirement for the major. Prerequisite: ARHS 111 or equivalent and sophomore standing.
This is the first half of a yearlong course for students who are beginning the study of Italian or who have studied it only minimally. The first semester's work comprises an introduction to Italian as a spoken and written language. The work includes practice for understanding and using the spoken and written language. Written exercises, themes, oral reports and readings develop communicative skills. Coursework includes daily homework, chapter tests, a midterm and end-of-semester test. This course includes required practice sessions with an apprentice teacher (AT), which will be scheduled at the beginning of the semester. Students enrolled in the course will be automatically added to ITAL 112Y for the spring semester. Offered every fall.
This is the second half of a yearlong course for students who are continuing the study of Italian from first semester. The second semester entails more advanced work in the use of the spoken and written language. Literary and cultural materials develop reading ability and provide topics for discussion and oral presentations, as well as for writing assignments. This course includes required practice sessions with an apprentice teacher (AT), which will be scheduled at the beginning of the semester. Prerequisite: ITAL 111Y or permission of instructor. Offered every spring.
The second semester of intermediate Italian continues the format of ITAL 213Y and examines the forms and usage of all verbal moods to understand the sequence of tenses that underpins proficient communication in Italian. Cultural topics include science, work, sports, fashion and media. Students read selections from Italo Calvino, Dino Buzzati and Dario Fo, among others. Biweekly compositions apply the vocabulary and structures studied in each chapter. Written assignments culminate in a short paper in Italian on a cultural topic. There is a written final examination with an oral component. This course includes required practice sessions with an apprentice teacher (AT), which will be scheduled at the beginning of the semester. Prerequisite: ITAL 213Y or equivalent. Offered every year.
This course provides an introduction to contemporary Italian literature in its historical context. The course deepens understanding of the Italian language through advanced analysis of grammar and syntax in literary texts. Beyond reading and discussion, coursework includes short response papers, a research paper, oral presentations and a final exam. Attendance at evening film showings is required. This course can be repeated for credit up to 1.0 Kenyon unit. Prerequisite: ITAL 213Y–214Y or equivalent. Offered every year.
This course is designed as a survey and exploration of perceptions of Italian literary and artistic creation from the Middle Ages to the present. A choice of literary texts selected according to a variety of themes, works of art from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, and films to contextualize discussion of whether a continuity and a stream of Italian creativity can be said to exist throughout the history of Italian culture (and how to define such continuity or discontinuity). Themes may include the imagery of love, religion, family and philosophical reflections such as those on the nature of the individual. Students will read selections from both classical literary authors and contemporary authors, along with essays on the history of medieval and Renaissance painting and experiences of modernity. For cinema, they will watch films by Visconti, Fellini, Antonioni, Bertolucci and others, exploring how the themes have changed or remained the same through the Italian literary and cultural tradition. Prerequisite: ITAL 321 or equivalent. Offered every other year.
This course offers an opportunity to study on an individual basis an area of special interest — literary, cultural or linguistic — under the regular supervision of a faculty member. It is offered primarily to candidates for honors, to majors and, under special circumstances, to potential majors and minors. Individual study is intended to supplement, not to take the place of, regular courses in the curriculum of each language program. Staff limitations restrict this offering to a very few students. To enroll in an individual study, a student must identify a member of the MLL department willing to direct the project and, in consultation with them, write up a one page proposal for the IS which must be approved by the department chair before the individual study can go forward. The proposal should specify the schedule of reading and/or writing assignments and the schedule of meeting periods. The amount of work in an IS should approximate that required on average in regular courses of corresponding levels. It is suggested that students begin their planning of an IS well in advance, so that they can devise a proposal and seek departmental approval before the registrar's deadline. Typically, an IS will earn the student 0.25 or 0.50 units of credit. At a minimum, the department expects the student to meet with the instructor one hour per week. Because students must enroll for individual studies by the end of the seventh class day of each semester, they should begin discussion of the proposed individual study preferably the semester before, so that there is time to devise the proposal and seek departmental approval before the registrar’s deadline.
Carlo Linati e Emilio Cecchi. Un carteggio, a cura di Simone Dubrovic, Vecchiarelli Editore, Manziana (Roma), 2012.
Editing, introduction and contributions of Zoom d'oltreoceano—Istantanee sui registi italiani e sull'Italia, a cura di Daniela De Pau e Simone Dubrovic, Vecchiarelli Editore, Manziana (Roma), 2010.
Editing and introduction of Valeriano Trubbiani, La parola scolpita da Valeriano Trubbiani—Scritti scelti 1980-2007, Istituto Internazionale di Studi Piceni—Edizioni Stafoggia, Sassoferrato-Pesaro, 2008.
Editing and introduction of Sante Matteo, Radici Sporadiche—Letteratura Viaggi Migrazioni, Cosmo Iannone Editore, Isernia, 2007.
"Aprir vidi uno speco..."—racconto e immagini della grotta nei testi letterari italiani tra Tre e Cinquecento,Vecchiarelli Editore, Manziana (Roma), 2007.
The paternal mystery of Alexandre Dumas , in Eric Martone, eds. The black musketeer: Reevaluating Alexandre Dumas within the Francophone World, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Cambridge 2011.
Visconti's melancholies between Marcel Proust and Mario Praz: Conversation Piece, in Daniela De Pau & Georgina Torello, eds. Watching Pages, Reading Pictures: Cinema and Modern Literature in Italy, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Cambridge, 2009.
'Enjambement' e ottava rima tra epica e lirica (1470-1520), in AA.VV., Enjambement. Teoria e tecniche dagli antichi al Novecento, Edizioni ETS, Pisa, 2008 (co-authored with A. Corsaro).
Il diletto della noia. Alberto Savinio e la poetica dell'infanzia, in AA.VV., Gli 'Irregolari' nella letteratura—Eterodossi, parodisti, funamboli della parola, Salerno Editrice, Roma, 2007.
Le postille di Alberto Savinio ai lirici greci, in "Filologia e Critica", Anno XXXI, Fasc. 3, Settembre-Dicembre 2006, Salerno Editrice, Roma.
La grotta delle ninfe dall'Odissea alla Liberata, in AA.VV.,La letteratura del mare, Salerno Editrice, Roma, 2006.