Italian Studies (Language, Literature and Culture)
COLLECTION AREA
Italian Language and Literature
GENERAL PURPOSE
Materials in the collection support course offerings (including Study Abroad) and faculty research in Italian. Holdings are strongest in the great figures -- Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Ariosto, Tasso, and Goldoni -- and in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Less emphasis is placed on early literature overall and the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries than would be required in support of a graduate program.
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE PROGRAM
The Department of French and Italian offers five options to the study of Italian languages and literature: major in Italian, major in Romance languages with emphasis on Italian, modified major in Italian, an Italian modified major, and Italian as a modifier. There is, in addition, the Comparative Literature Offerings in Italian which stress the Trecento, the Renaissance, and modern Italian literature (i.e., Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries). Support of faculty research requires the purchase of primary and secondary materials in all periods and areas.
GENERAL SUBJECT BOUNDARIES
Appropriate materials are found in the Library of Congress classifications:- PC - Italian Language
- PQ - Italian Literature
Pre-1964 acquisitions are classified in the 850's of the Dewey Decimal System. Much important material in support of Italian civilization is obviously part of the History, Art and Music collec tions.
LANGUAGES
Most of the materials in the collection are in Italian, English and other western European lan guages. The existing collection reflects an earlier overall emphasis on secondary works in German for almost all the disciplines. Apart from such a standard item as the Deutsches Dante Jahrbuch, few purchases of German materials dealing with Italian are made.
GEOGRAPHIC AREAS
The collection encompasses the entire Italian nation. Within this general framework, the Library has a reasonably good collection of Italian dialect dictionaries and grammars, noteworthy because of the status of these dialects in history and literature.
TYPES OF MATERIAL COLLECTED
The collection consists of monographs and selective journals in Italian language and literature. Updated editions of earlier works are acquired on the basis of their merit. As a matter of policy, contemporary prose and poetry are considered essential items for purchase. For translations, see the Literature Policy Statement.
FORMAT OF MATERIALS COLLECTED
Both monographic and serial items are obtained and held in hard copy. If microform editions of serials suitable for purchase become available in the future, their acquisition will be given considera tion. The Library also has the Dante Commentary Collection available through the Library's Online system.
Creation Date
July 1982 [Ralph Cryesky]
Revision Date
October 1994 [Luis Villar]
LC Class
PC, PQ