Research in Italian Studies
Our research is distinctive for its thematic breadth and chronological range, extending from Dante to 21st-century Italophone writing. It reflects approaches ranging from literature to intellectual history and Translation Studies. Several members of Italian Studies also have strong interests in the history of reception, the history of the book and publishing, linguistic interactions (e.g., Renaissance Latin / vernacular), and visual culture.
Italian Studies provides a vibrant context for the development of new research perspectives through its seminars and its thriving community of Early Career Fellows. Its postgraduate community is strongly supported by the Centre for Arts Doctoral Research Excellence and the Humanities Research Centre. It regularly attracts postdocs funded by the European Union, the British Academy, the Leverhulme Trust, and other funding bodies.
Research areas
- Dante and Dante reception
- History of universities, c. 1300-c. 1750
- Philosophy, language(s), and culture, c. 1350–c. 1650
- History of the book and publishing, c. 1400-present
- Reception of Greek literature and philosophy, c. 1400-present
- Italian literature and culture in comparative perspectives (18th to 21st century)
- Intellectual history and periodical Studies in a transnational perspective
- Translation Studies
- Migration and transnational cultures
- Italian colonialism and postcolonialism
- Critical and cultural theory
- Ethics and politics in literature (20th to 21st century)
- Language teaching pedagogy
Current research projects
- The Dynamics of Learning in Early Modern Bologna
- Language(s) and Philosophy in Renaissance Italy
- European Gothic and the Villa Diodati
- Dante's Transnational Female Public in the Long Nineteenth Century (1789–1921)
- Sociological Perspectives on Publishing Translations in Post-WWII Italy
- Telling Lives
- Transnational Media at the End of the Colonial Era in Italy and the Third World
- Writing Origins
- Revenants of Contemporary Italy: Literature and Urban Folklore
- Ethical Questions in Contemporary Italian Travel Writing
Research news
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Recent and forthcoming publications
Jennifer Burns
Transnational Modern Languages: A Handbook, ed. by Jennifer Burns and Derek Duncan (Liverpool University Press, 2022). The cornerstone volume of the 'Transnational Modern Languages' series: 37 short essays on keywords for thinking critically about languages and cultures, from 'Animal' to 'Voice'.
David Lines
The Dynamics of Learning in Early Modern Italy: Arts and Medicine at the University of Bologna (Harvard University Press, early 2023).
Fabio Camilletti
Spettriana. Storie di fantasmi dell'antica Europa, ed. and transl. by Fabio Camilletti (Milan: ABEditore, 2022)
Federica Coluzzi
Dante beyond Influence: Rethinking Reception in Victorian Literary Culture (Manchester University Press, 2021)
Cecilia Piantanida
Sappho and Catullus in Twentieth-Century Italian and North American Poetry (Bloomsbury Academic, 2021)
Mila Milani
‘Cultural Sociology’ in Routledge Handbook of Translation and Methodology (Routledge, 2022), pp. 239–253