After the Republic: Venice from 1797 to the Present (HI3XY)

This module analyses the cultural, economic, environmental, political, and social history of Venice and the Veneto from the fall of the Republic of Venice in 1797 to the present.

Whilst focusing on Venice and the Veneto, the module also considers issues with a wider resonance. These issues include: imperialism; nationalism; fascism; violence; warfare; disease; cultural, economic, and environmental changes; and the impact of tourism.

The module makes use of an extensive range of primary sources, including literary and visual representations of Venice and the Veneto.

Living in Venice will familiarise students with the city and the module includes site visits.

The module draws on insights from neighbouring disciplines such as art history, anthropology, film, and literary studies.

Seminars

1. The Fall of the Republic and Napoleonic Venice
2. Habsburg Venice
3. Liberal Venice
4. Belle Époque Venice
5. Venice in the First World War
6. Travel/Reading Week. No seminar.
7. Fascist Venice
8. Post-War Venice
9. Written Assessment Workshop
10. Global Venice.

Indicative Reading List

Barnes, David. The Venice Myth: Culture, Literature, Politics, 1800 to the Present. London: Routledge, 2015.

Bohn, Willard. The Other Futurism: Futurist Activity in Venice, Padua, and Verona. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004.

Bosworth, R.J.B. Italian Venice: A History. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2014.

Brodsky, Joseph. Watermark: an Essay on Venice. London: Penguin, 2013.

Calvino, Italo. Invisible Cities. London: Vintage, 1997.

Collier, Peter. Proust and Venice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Di Martino, Enzo. The History of the Venice Biennale, 1895-2005: Visual Arts, Architecture, Cinema, Dance, Music, Theatre. Venice: Papiro Arte, 2005.

Don’t Look Now. Directed by Nicolas Roag. British Lion Films, 1973.

Ferris, Kate. Everyday Life in Fascist Venice, 1929-40. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

Fragile and Resilient Cities on Water: Perspectives from Venice and Tokyo. Edited by Rosa Caroli and Stefano Soriani. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017.

Hemingway, Ernest. A Farewell to Arms. The Hemingway Library. London: Simon & Schuster, 2014.

Hom, Stephanie M. The Beautiful Country: Tourism and the Impossible State of Destination Italy. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015.

Howard, Deborah. The Architectural History of Venice. Rev. ed. London and New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002.

Howells, William D. Venetian Life. Rev. ed. London and Boston: Constable, 1907.

James, Henry. The Aspern Papers and Other Tales, 1884-1888. Edited by Rosella Mamoli Zorzi and Simone Francescato. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022.

James, Henry. Letters from the Palazzo Barbaro. London: Pushkin, 1998.

Laven, David. Venice and Venetia Under the Habsburgs, 1815–1835. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Mann, Thomas. Death in Venice. New York: HarperCollins, 2004.

Plant, Margaret. Venice: Fragile City 1797-1997. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2003.

Quill, Sarah. Ruskin's Venice: the Stones Revisited. Rev. ed. Burlington and Farnham, Surrey: Lund Humphries, 2015.

Ritter, Dorothea. Venice in Old Photographs, 1841-1920. London: Laurence King, 1994.

Rolfe, Frederick. The Desire and Pursuit of the Whole: a Romance of Modern Venice. London: Gibson Square, 2002.

Sargent's Venice. Edited by Julia Moore. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2006.

Scappettone, Jennifer. Killing the Moonlight: Modernism in Venice. New York: Columbia University Press, 2014.

Thompson, Mark. The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front 1915-1919. London: Faber and Faber, 2008.

Turner and Venice. Edited by Ian Warrell. London: Tate, 2003.

Upstone, Robert. Sickert in Venice. London: Scala Publishers in association with Dulwich Picture Gallery, 2009.

World Film Locations: Venice. Edited by Michael Pigott. Bristol: Intellect, 2013.

Assessment

(Please note that these assessments are indicative and are subject to change for 2026/27)

• Seminar Contribution (20%)
• 3000 Word Essay Or Source Review (80%)