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SUMMER 2021 • VOL. XXXV
INDIANA UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF FRENCH AND ITALIAN
frit
Soumbedioune Bay, Dakar, Senegal
Letter from the Chair Unfortunately, our students were unable to
study abroad in 2020-21, but we have been
ment in virtual format was undoubtedly our bi-
annual Graduate Student Colloquium. Organized
OANA PANAÏTÉ heartened by the recent news that they should around the topic of “Closeness in Distance,” it
T he year we are leaving behind has tested
our skills and determination in countless
ways while reaffirming our dedication to our
be able to resume deeply formative sojourns in
our Aix-en-Provence and Bologna programs in
Fall 2021.
gathered an impressive roster of talks by MA and
PhD students from US and international universi-
ties in Francophone and Italian Studies and
research and teaching missions. More than ever, The extraordinary history and current prestige French Linguistics, while featuring a memorable
our courses on French and Italian languages of our French programs were recognized by the keynote lecture delivered by the Italian historian
and Francophone and Italian literatures, media, French Embassy in the US by being awarded Carlo Ginzburg, as well as talks by scholars Carla
and cultures have offered multifaceted windows the title of Centre d’Excellence de l’Ambassade
Calargé and Amanda Dalola.
on the world thanks to innovative and exciting de France aux États-Unis, a rare distinction only
It must be underscored that, throughout this
topics such as “Black Paris,” “Race, Immigration bestowed upon 24 universities in the country.
entire year, our graduate students, particularly
and the Pandemic: French Perspectives,” “Tales Social distancing, virtual and hybrid learn-
those who have been serving in teaching and
in a Time of Plague,” “The Good Mothers: Women ing, travel restrictions, and increased personal
service positions, have demonstrated a highly
in the Mafia and Antimafia,” “Cloak and Dagger,” burdens did not dampen our commitment to
inspiring combination of resilience, creativ-
“Humour and Wit in the Italian Renaissance,” and teaching nor hinder our ambitious scholarly
ity, and professionalism. Last but not least, our
“New Italian Identities,” to name a few. agendas, as was also evidenced by the rich dis-
In August 2020, we had the pleasure of wel- cussions and significant decisions regarding the department has been able not only to meet
coming Jeffrey Lamontagne (PhD, McGill 2020), post-pandemic future of our department which but also exceed all the challenges raised during
who joined our faculty as an Assistant Professor occurred during a faculty retreat held in March this entire period thanks to the expertise and
of French Sociolinguistics. The fall semester also 2021. During the spring semester, IU launched steadfastness of our department administrator,
offered us the opportunity to organize a special its online Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) in Isabel Piedmont-Smith, who recently celebrated
event in collaboration with the College’s Walter French, a program spearheaded by our depart- 25 years in the Department. Thanks to her as well
Center for Career Achievement to spotlight our ment which enables French high-school teachers as the rest of our staff, faculty and students, FRIT
department and showcase some of our recent in Indiana and beyond to complete and enhance is able to emerge stronger and passionately reas-
alumni who shared their experience with current their professional training. sert its vocation for the languages, humanities,
and prospective students. The acme of the events hosted by our depart- and a meaningful 21st-century college education.
SOCIOLINGUIST JOINS FRIT CAREERS EVENT FEATURES FRIT ALUMS MA & PHD GRADS PERSEVERE
After a Most Unusual Start, Lamontagne Settles in as Newest Professor
ISABEL PIEDMONT-SMITH
S trange. That’s how Jeffrey Lamon-
tagne described what it was like
to move to Blomington and begin his
a finalist, and he was impressed by the relation-
ships between the academic programs related
to linguistics: those housed in language-specific
departments like FRIT as well as the different
position as Assistant Professor of French fields in Linguistics and Second Language Stud-
Linguistics during the pandemic. Never ies. Since he was using computational linguistic
having taught nor taken a course online before, tools in his dissertation research, IUB’s strength
the young scholar from McGill University in in computational linguistics was especially im-
Montreal not only had to learn how to teach via portant in leading him to accept the job offer that
Zoom but also dealt with quarantine require- came a few weeks after his visit.
ments in his multi-step move from Montreal to Lamontagne’s dissertation, which he success-
Bloomington. Plus, one of his Fall courses was on fully defended at McGill in September 2020, de-
phonetics and pronunciation, which is very tricky scribed three studies he undertook on phonologi-
with the sound and timing distortions that come cal variation, or differences in sound produced
with videoconferencing. among speakers of a language. The first study was
“We started using spectrograms more often,” of French speakers in Saguenay, Quebec, and how
said Lamontagne of the F315 class. A spectro- emphasis on certain words in phrases is affected
gram is a visual depiction of frequencies of sound by the sounds of words in the phrases. This was
over time, and F315 students could use software initially to be an in-depth study to comprise the
to convert their French language practice into whole of his dissertation, but due to the pan-
spectrograms as part of their pronunciation demic Lamontagne was unable to complete the
assessment for the class. Luckily, Lamontagne’s in-person research required, so he shifted to an graduate students who had similar interests. He
teaching assistant, Arielle Roadman (MA ’21, “article-based thesis” of three different studies. taught his first graduate course, “Introduction
French Linguistics and Linguistics) did have In the second study, Lamontagne used a large to French Morphology,” which he found very
socially-distanced in-class meetings with students database, or corpus, of Laurentian French (also rewarding. A few of his students are continuing
twice a week, so she could model and assess the known as Quebec French) and a computer pro- work on the presentations they gave in his course
students’ pronunciation in person, albeit with gram to investigate laxing, the process of a tense and plan to present their research at upcoming
masks (hers was see-through). vowel becoming lax in everyday speech. Finally, conferences.
Due to traveling back and forth from Mon- in the third study Lamontagne used a Spanish As to his own research, Lamontagne is both
treal to deal with the details of a long-term move, language corpus developed by his dissertation co- continuing what he began as a doctoral student
Lamontagne spent a total of 8 weeks of the Fall chair Francisco Torreira to explore the deletion of in Quebec and branching out into new fields
Semester, so about half the time, in quarantine. vowel sounds between words when the first word of inquiry. He hopes to be able to conduct the
In addition to F315, he also taught “Introduction ends in a vowel and the second word starts with in-person research in Saguenay to complete the
to French Linguistics” (F402). “My students were a vowel. bigger research project he initially planned for his
my primary social contact,” says the bilingual After successfully completing the herculean PhD dissertation before the pandemic got in the
native of Ottawa. intellectual task of defending his dissertation way. In his ongoing study of laxing in Laurentian
Lamontagne was attracted to apply to the while moving to a new country and teaching French, he intends to next look at individual
position in the Department of French and Italian two new courses online, Lamontagne was able to speakers and whether they develop rules for
due to good word of mouth, including from his settle in a bit more to the scholarly community when a vowel sound is changed. Meanwhile, with
dissertation co-director Heather Goad and a at IUB during the Spring 2021 semester. Two ad- the assistance of two native Mandarin speakers
colleague at the Université de Québec à Montréal, ditional new courses were on his schedule, as well from the Department of Linguistics, he is explor-
Michael Dow (PhD ’14, French Linguistics). He as diving into a phonetics reading group, where ing tone changes in Mandarin that are dependent
visited campus in February 2020 to interview as he connected with colleagues and advanced on subsequent tones in the phrase or sentence.
“Lamontagne” continued on page 6
frit is published by the Department of French
and Italian of Indiana University-Bloomington
to encourage alumni interest in and support for
In Memoriam: Edoardo A. Lèbano
Indiana University. The newsletter is paid for by the
Department. For information about our programs,
or to donate, please call (812) 855-1952 or visit frit.
indiana.edu.
P rofessor Emeritus of Italian Edoardo
A. Lèbano, an established scholar
and beloved teacher of Italian language,
After teaching at the
University of Virginia,
Charlottesville and
Department of French and Italian the University of
literature, and culture, passed away in
Chair.............................................................Oana Panaïté Wisconsin, Milwau-
Editor........................................Isabel Piedmont-Smith
Bloomington on November 28, 2020. He kee, Lèbano arrived
was one of the most energetic and impactful
Designer..................................Isabel Piedmont-Smith at IU in the fall of 1971 as an Associate Professor
advocates of Italian culture in North America of
College of Arts and Sciences with tenure.
his generation.
Executive Dean ................................. Rick Van Kooten Soon after his arrival at IU and with the sup-
Lèbano grew up in Italy, where he studied law
Executive Director of port of his Italian colleagues, Lèbano advocated
in Naples and then literature back in Florence,
Advancement...........................................Travis Paulin for the creation of a Center for Italian Studies,
where he grew up. There he met and married
Director of Alumni Relations ..............Vanessa Cloe which was approved in 1974, with Lèbano as its
American exchange student Mary Vangeli, and
first director. He was also very active in study
they moved to the United States in 1957. He
abroad programs, creating the IU Bologna sum-
soon became a naturalized US citizen, and after
mer program for which he served as director
working in the US Foreign Service Institute as an
for two years, and directing both the Bologna
Italian instructor, he began graduate studies at the
academic year program and the Florence summer
Catholic University of America, earning a PhD
program twice.
2 ~ frit summer 2019 in Romance Languages and Literatures in 1966.
Associate Professor Margot Gray, who
served as Director of Undergraduate
faculty notebook Studies in French for Spring 2021
As Americans’ attention was focused in 2020- tributing a chapter on political and corporeal moderated panels and
21 on voting, Guillaume Ansart published an suffocation in a collection with Oxford UP on delivered papers while
article entitled “Rousseau and Condorcet: Will, Albert Camus’s The Plague and COVID-19. Renata Uzzell (PhD
Reason and the Mathematics of Voting” in the Elizabeth Hebbard, along with colleague ’21, French Linguistics)
British journal History of Political Thought. The Patricia Ingham (IU English), created the IU Book and Victoria Lagrange (PhD candidate, French/
work considers how Rousseau and Condorcet Lab in Fall 2020, which focuses on the book as a Francophone Studies) provided invaluable as-
defined the social conditions and voting proce- physical, historical, technical, artistic, and cultur- sistance before and during the event.
dures necessary to make voting a mechanism of al object (see page 5 in this newsletter). She also Colleen Ryan received the university-level
rational collective decision-making. continued work on her CLIR grant-funded proj- Distinguished Service Award from the American
Alison Calhoun traveled virtually to Vancou- ect, The Peripheral Manuscripts Project: Digitizing Association of Teachers of Italian this sum-
ver, Dublin, and London to present her research Medieval Manuscripts in the Midwest (https://
mer in recognition of her leadership in Italian
on Descartes and on early modern opera. As peripheralmss.org/), with Michelle Dalmau (IU
pedagogy. Ryan reports that teaching “Women
Director of Graduate Studies in French and Libraries) and colleagues at nearly two dozen
in the Mafia and Antimafia” and “Masterpieces
Francophone Studies, she was particularly up- collections in the Midwest, to digitize and cata-
of Italian Literature” in Spring 2021 was a great
lifted by the courage of the incoming cohort of log hundreds of medieval manuscripts.
graduate students, especially those who battled 2021 is a year full of Dante events to com- experience despite the online learning imposed
pandemic restrictions to join the program from memorate the 7th centenary of the poet’s by the pandemic. Students had a good sense
abroad. death. For Akash Kumar, the most interesting of how to engage and learn remotely, she says,
Along with his research team, Laurent Deky- activity so far was appearing on the BBC 4 radio and they contributed with great energy all the
dtspotter recently published in the Journal program “Beyond Belief” (https://www.bbc. way through. In addition, she recently took film
of Neurolinguistics on the topic of nonnative co.uk/programmes/m000vh5t) to discuss the director Fred Kuwornu’s “Teaching Black Italy”
French, addressing the neurocognitive bases of continued relevance of Dante’s Inferno in the course for faculty, which was extremely infor-
nonnative language processing in the language here and now. mative, encouraging and energizing!
network. In ongoing work, Dekydtspotter In March, Jeffrey Lamontagne was invited to During the 2020-21 academic year, Massimo
and colleagues, including Charlène Gilbert the University of Texas at Austin to present his Scalabrini completed a book manuscript titled
(MA ’16 and current PhD candidate in French collaborative work with Gretchen McCulloch on Commedia e civiltà: Dinamiche anticonflittuali
Linguistics) and Kate Miller (PhD ’11, French dialectal differences in French tweets. During nella letteratura italiana del primo Cinquecento,
Linguistics), argue that this network of the brain this virtual visit, he showed that we can learn and he is currently in the process of finding
modifies its activity during nonnative language about subtle properties of a dialect’s pronuncia- a publisher. He also became a member of
processing to counteract the weaker activa- tion from which letters tweeters repeat for sty- “Cinquecento plurale,” an international network
tion of the stored information for the words listic effect (e.g. “aiiime” vs. “aimeeee” for “aime”). of scholars working on the Italian Renaissance.
and grammar of the nonnative language. This As president of the Conseil International Appropriately for Dante’s 7th centenary,
action of the language network is argued to be d’Études Francophones, Oana Panaïté was in the first 2021 issue of Romanic Review was
automatic and to reveal fundamental aspects of charge of the first virtual congress of this inter-
published in May under the guest editorship
the language system. national association dedicated to interdisciplin-
of Wayne Storey with the title: The Pleasure
Margot Gray hopes to have put teaching ary studies, research, publications, and artistic
of Dante’s text/Il piacere del testo dantesco. The
via Zoom behind her, after various mishaps - expression from all countries and regions of
eleven essays, in English and Italian, included
including an effort to help a student get into a French expression. The 2021 CIÉF laureate was
breakout room that resulted in putting herself the writer Marie Darrieussecq whose lecture Storey’s introduction to the volume and his
in the room instead, then not being able to get and interaction with the audience was char- own “Painting (and Writing) over Dante.” His
out, despite helpful coaching from the breakout acterized by her usual cheerfulness, wit, and study “Michele Barbi curatore di testi danteschi”
group. (She did enjoy her unplanned discussion passion for literature and the connections it appeared in the commemorative issue for the
of the breakout topic, though.) Her book Stolen makes possible. FRIT was well represented both 100-year anniversary of Michele Barbi’s found-
Limelight: Gender, Display and Displacement in by alumni and current students: Cristina Robu ing of Studi Danteschi 85 (2020), and his “Legacy
Modern Fiction in French has been accepted for (MA’17 and current PhD candidate, French/ of Petrarch’s Chartae” was published in Petrarch
publication. She was glad to return to Proust Francophone Studies) and Amanda Vreden- and His Legacies, edited by Ernesto Livorni and
with another forthcoming piece, and is con- burgh (PhD ’20, French/Francophone Studies) Jelena Todorović (MA ’06, PhD ’09, Italian).
Lèbano’s research achievements, teaching colorful imagination” and “Sometimes too enthu- language and culture in the US, Lèbano served
excellence, and prodigious service were recognized siastic, if that is possible.” He spread Italian outside the American Association of Teachers of Italian
through promotion to the rank of Professor in the classroom too, cooking dinner for students in (AATI), first as secretary-treasurer (1980-1983)
1983. His scholarship focused on three differ- the campus Food Services Building in the 1970s, and later as president (1984-1987). He taught for
ent fields: Renaissance epic and chivalric poetry, many summers at the Middlebury College Italian
with an emphasis on the works of Luigi Pulci; “Brilliant, very animated with a School, arguably the best full-immersion program
nineteenth century and Modernism; and language in North America, where he served as director
instruction. Perhaps his most influential scholarly
colorful imagination” wrote a from 1987 to 1995. It was under his direction that
work is the first English edition, translated in verse student about Prof. Lèbano in 1980. the Middlebury Italian School acquired the inter-
by the Italian American poet Joseph Tusiani, of national reach and prestige it still has today.
Luigi Pulci’s epic poem Morgante. He was also the leading a 13-day “epicurean experience” through Edoardo Lèbano’s service and leadership have
co-author, with Pier Raimondo Baldini, of one of northern and central Italy in the summer of 1983, been recognized by significant accolades includ-
the major Italian textbooks in the United States for and contributing his famous lasagna to the De- ing the AATI Distinguished Service Award and
decades, Buongiorno a tutti!. partment’s annual holiday party for years into his the title of Cavaliere dell’Ordine al Merito della
A beloved teacher, Lèbano garnered student retirement. Repubblica Italiana bestowed by the President of
praise such as “Brilliant, very animated with a An influential figure in the teaching of Italian the Italian Republic. frit summer 2021 ~ 3
Students Explore Career Options, Learn from Alumni
ISABEL PIEDMONT-SMITH
“L ean into people and relationships,”
advised Vianna Newman Den-
nis (BA ’15, Italian and Individualized
career in Italian Studies. In addition to the “hard
skills” of learning a new language, she reminded
the students that studying French or Italian leads
Togo (West Africa), she came back to the States
and started looking for jobs online. But online
jobboards were “like throwing darts,” so she agreed
to “ever-more effective communication, from “Careers” continued on page 6
Major) when asked how to look for jobs
grammar and syntax and awareness of formal and
after graduation. Newman Dennis was one of informal situations and registers, to the ability to
four BA alumni who spoke at a French and Ital- negotiate meaning.” The “soft skills” she men-
ian career night November 10, 2020 to over 130 tioned, such as communication, self-confidence,
students interested in the Department’s programs. and problem-solving, were emphasized in the
The event, hosted in collaboration with the Walter subsequent discussion with the alumni panelists.
Center for Career Achievement via Zoom, was “You’re spending all this time, really, analyz-
moderated by College of Arts and Sciences advisor ing grammar and sentences, but also how to get a
Peter Giordano. message across,” said Meslin when asked how her
Newman Dennis herself held curatorial intern- French studies prepared her for her current job in
ships at Cooper Hewitt, the Smithsonian museum public relations. Even analyzing poetry, she said,
of design in New York City, and at the National helps build communication skills that are useful
Gallery of Art in Washington, DC before starting in the business world. She added that knowing
a PhD program in art history at the University of French is very useful for work in the wine industry.
Maryland, College Park, where she is currently a Shi and Newman Dennis both spoke about
student. She was joined on the alumni panel by their experiences giving presentations in their ad-
Halley Rose Meslin (BA ’18, French and Environ- vanced Italian classes at IU, and how this prepared
mental & Sustainability Studies), who is currently them well for future jobs and graduate study. Shi,
a public relations and communications specialist who also holds a masters degree in Computational
at Fetzer Vineyard in the San Francisco Bay area; Finance from Carnegie Mellon, said the experience
Devynn Barnes (BA ’17, French and Journalism), helped give him the confidence to deliver analyti-
who works as an Assistant Account Executive at cal results in his profession. He said a lot of traders
Momentum Communications in New York City; have a background in foreign languages.
and Freddie Cheng Shi (BA ’16, Italian and Math), When asked about how she decided what to
a Quantitative Strategist at Guardian Life, also in do after graduation, Barnes recalled coming across
New York City. a Peace Corps information session while work-
Professor Colleen Ryan, Director of Under- ing at an internship with the French Embassy in
graduate Studies in Italian, gave introductory DC the summer before her senior year. She went
remarks reflecting on her own life path in studying to the session and decided right there she wanted
Halley Rose Meslin, Vianna Newman Dennis, and Freddie
Cheng Shi discussed their career paths with students via
first French and then Italian, and then building a to be a Peace Corps volunteer. After two years in Zoom in November.
In Memoriam: Mona Tobin Houston
A ssociate Professor Emerita Mona To-
bin Houston passed away in Chelms-
ford, Massachusetts, on January 15, 2021.
Houston taught the graduate course “Thème et
Version,” foreshadowing her interest and consider-
able skill in translation. In her second year at IU,
the French and of Antonio Tabucchi from the Ital-
ian. She also served as dramaturg for a production
of The Illusion by Corneille (freely adapted by Tony
She was a faculty member in French from 1962 un- then-chair Samuel F. Will wrote to the Dean: “Mrs. Kushner) at the Round House Theater in Silver
til her retirement in 1999, specializing in 17th-cen- Houston is the only American on our staff whose Spring, Md. in 1991 and was on site for a semi-
tury theater, which she taught “always regarding French will be accepted by native French people as staged reading at the Théâtre de l’Odéon-Théâtre
the printed text only as a design, however brilliant completely authentic French.” de l’Europe (Paris) of her translation into French of
and rich, for the total dramatic phenomenon” (ac- Houston’s wide range of scholarly interests and Beast on the Moon by Richard Kalinoski.
cording to the late Professor Samuel Rosenberg). expertise showed in her collaborations with her In Bloomington, she was active in the Town
Professor Houston was born and raised in New husband and other colleagues, as well as her trans- Theatre as director, actor, and producer, and she
York City and graduated from Barnard College lations of theatrical works. With John Houston, she translated and produced two French plays for
with a BA in French and Italian. She went on to published a teaching version of François Mauriac’s the John Waldron Arts Center. For many years,
earn a PhD from novel Génitrix (1966) and the anthology French Houston coached up-and-coming opera singers at
Yale, where she Symbolist Poetry (1980). With Samuel N. Rosen- IUB in correct French pronunciation, an invalu-
met her future berg, she co-authored the seminal reference work able service. Houston was also active in the Elm
husband John Harper’s Grammar of French (1983). She taught Heights Neighborhood Association and involved
Porter Houston. French grammar countless times, and students in foreign language enrichment programs in our
After marrying were happily infected by her enthusiasm for what is local school district.
in Paris, they often considered a dull subject. “I wanted to write Houston served as resident director of IU’s aca-
both came to our and let you know how much I enjoyed being one of demic year program in Strasbourg, France, during
department at your students,” says a student note in Houston’s file it’s last year in 1996-97. After that transitional year,
IU-Bloomington. from 1996. “Teachers that inspire are unfortunately Director of Overseas Study Richard Stryker praised
As early as her all too rare, so I feel lucky to have had you as a her handling of the administrative complexities
first semester at professor not once, but twice.” and advising of students “with good humor and
IU, before com- Houston’s work for the stage included transla- aplomb,” which is how she will also be remember
pleting her PhD tions of Molière (The Flying Doctor, The Painter by many students and colleagues.
dissertation, Named Love, Mr. Porkingham Goes to Paris) from
4 ~ frit summer 2021alumni notebook
Annual Awards
Dan Golembeski (MA ‘91 and PhD ’99, French Linguistics), Associ- On April 16, the Department hosted its annual awards ceremony via Zoom
ate Professor of French at Grand Valley State University (Allendale, for the first time. Although we missed the warmth of being in person (as
Mich.), was honored as a Chevalier des Palmes académiques by the well as the food!), we were delighted to celebrate the accomplishments of our
French government in April. The Ordre des Palmes académiques was students, Associate Instructors, and faculty. The Department was especially
originally established by Napoleon in 1808 and honors educators and pleased to be able to present the first annual Edoardo A. Lèbano Memo-
scientists for outstanding service at the university level. rial Award in honor of our dear colleague who made ongoing donations for
Golembeski has been busy the last few years translating a three- student awards in his lifetime (see In Memoriam, pg. 2).
volume travelogue from French to English. “It’s a wonderful story,” he Undergraduate student awards:
writes, “(about) a 62 year old retired journalist who decides to walk • Mary Kate Shearer (BS’ 21, Ballet) – Charlotte F. Gerrard Memorial Prize
the Silk Road from Turkey to China by himself.” He received an NEA • Andrew Brown (BA ’21, French & Geography) – Grace P. Young Award
translation grant to complete the work, and there was an unantici- • Daniel Creech (BA ’21, French & Int’l Studies) – Grace P. Young Award
pated fourth volume, which he is working on now. • Frankie Siracusano (BA ’21, Italian & Psychology) – Edoardo A. Lèbano
Jana (Mowrey) Lonberger (BA ’77, French), of Snellville, Ga., re- Memorial Award
tired as a librarian in 2018. She worked at Emory University in Atlanta, • Katherine Tilghman (BA ’21, Spanish) – John K. Hyde Award
and Lanier Technical College in Gainsville, Ga., during her career. • John Hines – Albert & Agnes Kuersteiner Memorial Prize
Carl L. Shutoff (MA ’79, PhD ’80, French Literature) writes: “I was • Murray McCormack – Albert & Agnes Kuersteiner Memorial Prize
honored by East African Community Services of Seattle for my vol- • Ashton Murray (BS ’21, Informatics) – Quentin M. Hope Memorial
unteer work teaching citizenship classes, preparing immigrants and Award
refugees for their naturalization interviews.” He now lives in Seattle • Isabella Castillo (BA ’21, Italian & Int’l Studies) – Eneria Ruggeri Award
and adds, “I was also recognized by the King County Association • Payton Romans – Carol Ann Brush Hofstadter Scholarship (for study in
of Historical Organizations for my work at the Holocaust Center for Bologna)
Humanity. [I am] a docent in the museum, driving Holocaust survivors Graduate student awards:
to speaking engagements, and representing the Center at education • Vincenzo Dimaggio (MA ’20, Italian) – Olga Ragusa Graduate Award
conferences. My band, the Kesselgarden Klezmer Duo, continues to • Evie Munier (MA ’18, French/Francophone Studies) – Lander Mac-
entertain audiences in the Pacific Northwest at fundraisers, folk festi- Clintock Memorial Award
vals, and Jewish life cycle events.” • Erin Stigers – Lander MacClintock Memorial Award & Peter Cannings
Jolene Vos-Camy (MA ‘94 and PhD ’00, French Literature) was also Memorial Prize
awarded the honor of Chevalier des Palmes académiques at the same • Giorgio Losi (MA ’19, Italian) – Graduate Student Service Award &
ceremony as Golembeski in April. Vos-Camy is Professor of French Eneria Ruggeri Award
and former chair of the French Department at Calvin College in Grand • Elke Defever (MA ’20, French/Francophone Studies) – Graduate Student
Rapids, Mich. Service Award & Grace P. Young Award
• Jonathan Hall (MA ’21, French/Francophone Studies) – Graduate Stu-
Send us your news! We welcome alumni updates, either directly
dent Service Award
to fritdept@iu.edu, or via the IU Alumni Association (http://alumni.
• Lee Killey (MA ’21, French Linguistics) – Graduate Student Service
iu.edu).
Award
• Claire Fouchereaux (MA ’20, French/Francophone Studies) – Grace P.
The Book Lab Young Award
• Scott Evans (MA ’17, French Linguistics) – Grace P. Young Award
Teaching Awards:
In August 2020, French medievalist
• Elke Defever – Associate Instructor award for French
Elizabeth Hebbard and Patricia Ingham (IU
• Chase Tiffany (MA ’19, French Linguistics) – Associate Instructor award
English and Director, Institute for Ad-
for French
vanced Study) received a Public Arts and
• Vincenzo Dimaggio – Associate Instructor award for Italian
Humanities grant from the Vice Provost for
• Karolina Serafin – Trustees Teaching Award
Research to establish the IU Book Lab. The • Marco Arnaudo – Trustees Teaching Award
Book Lab, housed in the new Cook Center
for Public Arts & Humanities in Maxwell Thank you to all our donors who make these awards possible!
Professor Elizabeth Hebbard
Hall, is a research and maker space dedi-
cated to the History of the Book and to pursuing current innovations
in Book Arts and Book Design. The Book Lab focuses on the book as a Publication Highlight
physical art object, cultural object, and historical technology for writ-
ing, teaching, learning, and reading. Our experiments and presenta- This summer Brill published Interpretation and Visual Poetics in Medieval
tions engage books of different kinds: chapbooks and chapter books; and Early Modern Texts, (Boston–Leiden) in honor of Professor Emeritus
miniature books and giant books; picture books and comic books. Wayne Storey. Edited by Beatrice Arduini (PhD ’08), Isabella Magni (PhD
We aim to complement archival research with experimentation and ’17) and Jelena Todorović (PhD ’09), the volume contains 18 essays by the
collaboration in all aspects of the book arts, from the cultivation of three editors and Michelangelo Zaccarello, Daniel E. O’Sullivan, Valerio Cap-
plants for paper fibers and inks, to the creation of digital fonts based pozzo (PhD ’12), Christopher Kleinhenz (PhD ’69), Mirko Tavoni, Francesco
on historic typefaces. The Book Lab planted an ink garden at the Marco Aresu (MA ’09), Dario Del Puppo, Giovanni Spani (PhD ’07), Furio
Hilltop Garden and Nature Center in spring 2021. The garden space Brugnolo, Teodolinda Barolini, Alessandro Vettori, Marcello Ciccuto, Marco
is being used to cultivate several different plants used for medieval Veglia, Michael Papio, and Anthony Nussmeier (PhD ’12) on topics dear to
and modern ink making, which will feature in Book Lab teaching and Storey’s heart, including visual poetics, Dante, Boccaccio, medieval manu-
workshop activities in the 2021-22 academic year. Liz Hebbard will scripts and early printed books, pre-Dantean lyric poetry, medieval philology
teach a first course related to the Book Lab through the Intensive and poetics, textual criticism and Old Occitan chansonniers. For a complete
table of contents, see https://brill.com/view/title/58363.
Freshman Seminar program in August 2021. -- Liz Hebbard
frit summer 2021 ~ 5Complimenti and félicitations! Graduates Persevere in Pandemic
BEN REED & ISABEL PIEDMONT-SMITH
T his year, we celebrate ten MA stu-
dents finishing their degrees, and five
students completing the doctorate. In the
start a new post-doc position at the Bibliotheca
Hertziana of Rome for 2021-22. Vacchelli is also
Associate Editor of Simultanea, a journal of Italian
Laura Demsey, French Linguistics
Demsey plans to defend her dissertation this
summer. She is working with Associate Professor
pop culture founded in 2019 by Professors Andrea Kevin Rottet as her dissertation chair on a thesis
Italian MA program, Lucia Casiraghi, Nicolò
Ciccarelli and Marco Arnaudo. titled Changes in the Definite Determiner System of
Salmaso, and Alvise Stefani have all completed
Luisa Garrido Baez, Italian Studies New England French.
their degrees, and will all continue in the PhD
program. Jonathan Hall received the MA degree In her thesis, La gamificazione come risorsa “When I came to IU, I expected to receive
in French/Francophone Studies and will continue educativa: Motivazione, acquisizione e differen- an education in French Linguistics to become
doctoral studies in the Department as well. Shane ziazione nei corsi universitari online di lingua prepared for my career later on,” writes Demsey. “I
O’Bannon completed the MA degree in French straniera, Garrido Baez explored the use of aspects knew that I would take classes, and that I would
Instruction as well as an Area Certificate in Col- of video gaming in online foreign language classes. teach, but what I didn’t necessarily expect was to
lege Pedagogy this summer. Five students have She successfully defended her thesis, with the sup- actually begin my career—a very dynamic one,
completed their MA degrees in French Linguistics: port of her dissertation chair, Professor Colleen with many different facets.” Reflecting on her
Arielle Roadman and Scott Kunkel (both Dual Ryan, in September 2020. After several years at the experiences designing curricula, working for the
Masters students in the Linguistics Department), University of Southern Mississippi, she is now a Global Village residential center, making scholarly
Lee Killey, Clara Miller-Broomfield, and Jenica Lecturer in Italian at the University of Michigan. connections across campus, organizing a teach-
Jones. Roadman, Killey, and Miller-Broomfield ing colloquium, and presenting at international
Francesco Samarini, Italian Studies conferences, she says “The opportunities I’ve been
will all continue their doctoral studies at IU-
Samarini defended his dissertation entitled able to take advantage of while at IU are more
Bloomington, while Kunkel and Jones will pursue
Philip Roth e l’Italia in March 2021, and received
further graduate studies elsewhere. than I ever hoped for.” She will begin a position
When asked about their memories from the his degree in May. He is grateful for the dedicated
as Teaching Associate Professor of French at the
program, this year’s MA graduates reflected on support of his dissertation director, Provost Pro-
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill this fall.
the compelling content of coursework, the tight fessor Andrea Ciccarelli, as well as the department
knit cohort of graduate students, and the learning faculty and staff during his time at IU. Francesco is
experience and support they received as Associ- beginning his summer embarking on new research
ate Instructors, especially from the Directors of in Geneva, Switzerland, studying a collection of
Language Instruction and the Course Coordina- early modern books with the generous support of
tors. Through an intensive two year program a Fondation Barbier-Mueller research fellowship.
made all the more challenging by the pandemic In Fall 2021, Francesco will begin a new appoint-
environment, our M.A. cohort has overcome the ment as a Lecturer in Italian at Dickinson College.
adversities of the moment and is moving onward Marzia Bagnasco, Italian Studies
with an enriched sense of purpose. Bagnasco defended her dissertation, A Disput-
Our PhD graduates also stayed focused despite ed Country: Italy, Migrants, and National Identity
the additional distractions and isolation of the in Contemporary Films and Documentaries, in May
pandemic. 2021, under the direction of Professor Colleen
Carlotta Vacchelli, Italian Studies Ryan. She is proud to have completed the doctor-
Vacchelli defended her dissertation, La ate, overcoming the challenges of the pandemic,
funzione-Pazienza. L’influenza di Andrea Pazienza after four years of unforgettable teaching and
nel graphic novel italiano, in September 2020, learning experiences in Bloomington. In keep-
under the direction of Professor Marco Arnaudo. ing with the central themes of the dissertation,
Her work focused on the influence of comic book Marzia now happily teaches Italian to immigrants
auteur Andrea Pazienza on contemporary Italian in Turin, and plans to further develop a career as
Marzia Bagnasco (top) at the conclusion of her Zoom
culture. After a year as a post-doc at the Center an intercultural educator and translator for Italian dissertation defense in Italian with her advisor, Professor
for Italian Modern Art in New York City, she will film festivals. Colleen Ryan in May.
“Careers” continued from page 4 At the end of the event, Giordano asked the Tweets in Laurentian French and the French of
with Newman Dennis that a personal approach is panelists what advice they would give to under- both northern and southern France. For example,
better. In her case, a direct email inquiry landed graduate students today. Shi encouraged students “tropppppp loooongueuuhhhh” instead of “trop
her an interview, and then a job, with a com- to respect their own decisions. Meslin and Barnes longue.”
munications company that works with nonprofit both spoke about being open to a variety of oppor- When asked how he liked Bloomington so far,
agencies. tunities. Follow what you are interested in, advised it was understandably difficult for Lamontagne
Although she did find her first job after IU via Meslin, and you’ll find a job that resonates with to give an answer, since so much of his time here
an online jobs board, Meslin agreed that human you. Dennis Newman added that it’s important has been in pandemic circumstances. He enjoys
connections are key. “If you are being authentic to be patient with yourself, noting that students cooking and cocktails, so he is looking forward
about your interests, other people are going to rec- don’t have to figure everything out right away. She to more socializing when he returns from a
ognize that and give you opportunities,” she said. also came full circle back to Ryan’s introduction trip home to Canada this summer, and he is a
Shi agreed, saying that an Italian degree “is kind of emphasizing the many skills gained through the Dungeons & Dragons gamer, which activity he
like a shiny point for you to find a job if your job is study of French or Italian: “You end up with skills continued online with his family and friends dur-
not related to Italian.” The person who interviewed you would not have anticipated.” ing the COVID shut-downs.
him at Guardian Life noted that his résumé gained The Department plans to reinstate its annual
attention because of the Italian BA in addition to “Lamontagne” continued from page 2 fall welcome party in early September so that
Shi’s qualifications in finance. Twitter has also been a topic in Lamontagne’s we can give Lamontagne and our new graduate
research recently. He has partnered with Gretchen students from Fall 2020 and Fall 2021 a hearty,
6 ~ frit summer 2021 McCulloch to analyze repetition of letters in in-person welcome soon.Top new books in Italian
▶▶ The most recent book by veteran writer dialogue with the protagonist. Di Pietran- around. The narrator recognizes his various
Edith Bruck, Il pane perduto (The Lost tonio’s book reminds us that to belong, emotional stages through the homes that
Bread, 2020), is a captivating narrative that actually to feel wanted and therefore to feel he has inhabited, and that have witnessed
brings the protagonist down memory lane at home, even for an instant, is an incessant and therefore facilitated his specific actions
and, like all Bruck’s works, is a delicate mix arbitration between our achievements and in life. Each home represents a moment of
of autobiography and fiction, of personal our roots. his life, but each moment is explained by the
and collective suffering, bringing us back, home itself. Bajani writes this book almost as
▶▶ Emanuele Trevi’s Due vite (Two Lives, 2020)
once again, to the tragedy of genocide, of if it were a detective novel, with each chap-
is a novel and also a dual biography and a
prejudice, of intolerance created by our in- ter (home) opening up some truth about the
critical essay, as it is a personal and literary
nate fear of the other. Bruck, who turned 90 mystery of life.
homage to two other writers, both Trevi’s
this year, draws on a lifetime of experience. friends, Pia Pera (1956-2016) and Rocco Car- ▶▶ L’acqua del lago non è mai dolce (The
Born in Hungary, she survived Auschwitz bone (1962-2008), who died prematurely. Water of the Lake is Never Clear and Pure,
and moved to Italy in 1954, where she has The idea of this book may seem strange, but 2021), the latest novel by Giulia Caminito,
published poetry, fiction, screenplays and Trevi, who has dealt with memory and loss, takes place in Anguillara, on beautiful Lake
theatrical works. as well as with writing as a psychoanalytic Bracciano, just outside Rome. The two main
▶▶ Borgo Sud, by Donatella Di Pietrantonio tool in his previous books, explicates for protagonists are Gaia, who is finishing high
(2020), is a wonderful addition to the rich the reader the reasons, the personal con- school and is exposed to life through her re-
“on the road” literary tradition. It is a very nections, the professional familiarity that lationships and friendships with her school-
particular one, though, as the protagonist, brought the two departed authors together mates, and her mother, Antonia, a working
who lived a quiet life, travels during the with the narrator. Trevi has the gift of trans- class warrior with several children, the father
night to join the much more adventurous forming very personal memories, discus- of her oldest in prison for homicide, and
sister whom she has not seen in a long time, sions and episodes into universal events, her husband, Gaia’s father, an invalid. The
and while traveling through space she trav- thanks to his choice of topics, and, above all, title renders, without any doubt, the lack of
els through memory as well, re-examining his affable, and yet lyrical style. sweetness (mai dolce) in this emotionally
their relationship and their lives together and socially complicated story, which has
▶▶ Andrea Bajani’s Il libro delle case (The
and apart. This journey has a precise ar- betrayal and violence as a background can-
Book of Homes, 2021) distinguishes itself
rival point, Borgo Sud, an area of the large vas, and whose plot is somewhere between
by reversing the usual trope: the homes
southern sea-town where everything began, a realistic novel and detective fiction.
occupied by the protagonist set the pace
and which is really a village within the city, for his personal evolution, not the other way -- Andrea Ciccarelli
a world of its own, where birth and death
Top new books in French
▶▶ In David Diop’s violent and searingly anti- unconditional maternal love. conjugal violence, as well as jealousy and
war novel Frère d’âme (2018), the Senega- ▶▶ Le bal des folles by Victoria Mas (2019) mistrust within family circles. The novel is
lese infantryman Alfa, fighting for France combines historical fiction with gothic inspired by Amal’s own experiences, which
during World War I, is haunted by the death and thriller genres in its evocation of the ultimately led her to found the organiza-
of his closest comrade and, maddened by 19th-century Hôpital Salpêtrière in Paris, tion “Femmes du Sahel” to educate women
grief and guilt, he proceeds to cut off one where women viewed as insane, hysterical, of the Sahel region and combat violence
hand of each German soldier he kills, fright- debauched or otherwise unconventional against them.
ening his fellow soldiers through his obses- were confined and subjected to study. We ▶▶ A trip to Auschwitz is the focus of Yasmina
sive revenge. In the novel’s rewarding and follow the lives of Eugenie, whose gift for Reza’s new novel Serge (2021). With both
lyrical second half, Alfa turns to recollecting communing with the dead has resulted in parents now dead, three middle-aged Jew-
his childhood in a small African village: a her being committed to the asylum; Genev- ish siblings of Hungarian descent, Serge,
contrast pointing up the senseless butchery iève, a devoted nurse; Thérèse, a prostitute;
of war. Winner of the International Booker Jean and Anne (“Nana”), decide to visit
and Louise, abused by her uncle. This novel
Prize (2021) for the English translation At the historic site to re-connect with their
offers a dramatic period tableau of the treat-
Night All Blood is Black. ancestral past. This place of unspeakable
ment of women who were either unable or
horror - now treated by tourists as a “selfie”
▶▶ L’enfant céleste (2020), the debut novel refused to obey the strict social codes of late
destination - brings out bittersweet familial
from Maud Simonnot, provides an utter nineteenth-century France.
tensions and conflicts, often recounted with
escape from the hectic, post-industrialized ▶▶ Djaïli Amadou Amal’s novel Les impatien- biting humor, yet leavened by the implicit
world. The protagonist Mary and her tes (2020) was first published in the author’s love and memories that bind the siblings in
dreamy, sensitive young son Célian travel native Cameroon as Munyal ou les larmes de spite of themselves.
to a legendary island in the Baltic Sea after la patience and provides a chilling account of
suffering emotional wounds. There, they female victimization by traditions for which --- Margot Gray
explore the island’s timeless forests and the only advice is the “tears of patience.” Top books and films photos:
shores and are enfolded within a wild yet Two sisters are married off against their wills Page 7: Bosco Verticale apartment building, Milan (top),
hospitable world that progressively heals at age seventeen, and we hear their stories lavender field, Provence (bottom)
Page 8: Château Frontenac, Quebec City (top), Amalfi coast,
them. Written in a delicate, lyrical and sensu- as well as the perspective of the other wife
Italy (bottom). All photos public domain or stock images.
ous tenor, this novel returns us to the beauty of one of the men. Each recounts the experi-
of nature and the cosmos in a context of ence of enforced marriage, polygamy and frit summer 2021 ~ 7Indiana University
Global & International Studies Building
355 N. Jordan Ave.
Bloomington, IN 47405-1105
Top new films + TV in French
▶▶ Mignonnes (Maïmouna Doucouré, France, ization occurs. Known for their minimalist, is inspired by the French book series about
2020) is a rare French film directed and writ- “philosophical” realism and engagement with Arsène Lupin, an infamous “gentleman thief.”
ten by a woman of color. Released as Cuties in contemporary social issues, the Dardenne Sy plays a modern Lupin as he investigates
English, it is also exceptional in its engage- brothers won the Best Director award at his father’s death through scams and tricks.
ment with the complex intersection of race, Cannes for the film in 2019. Amazon Prime. Even though casting a Black man as a thief is
class, gender, and Islam in shaping identity. problematic in a lot of ways, the series offers
▶▶ A student favorite, Dix pour cent (created by
Based on Doucouré’s own life experience, an interesting take on racial issues in France
Fanny Herrero, 2015-2020) is a four-season
the film argues for the value of hybridity and through the lens of French literature. We
comedy series that follows a talent manage-
warns against the dangers of forcing young recommend you read the novels by Maurice
ment agency and the four agents as they
women to choose between antagonistic, Leblanc as well!
deal with various celebrities of French film.
binary models of identity and culture. Netflix. This is great material for people who want to ▶▶ Je ne suis pas un homme facile (Éléonore
▶▶ Le jeune Ahmed (Luc et Jean-Pierre practice their French and learn about the cin- Pourriat, France, 2018) is a light romantic
Dardenne, Belgium, 2019) addresses the vol- ema industry in France. Even though the plot comedy in which the main character, a my-
atile issue of Islamic radicalization, focusing lines are fictional, the actors and actresses soginist named Damien, wakes up in a world
on its social and psychological dimensions. manged by the agents play themselves. dominated by women. This film directed and
Contrary to most other films on the topic, Netflix (English title: Call My Agent). written by a woman completely reverses
the film neither denounces nor apologizes gender roles and expectations as Damien
▶▶ Lupin (created by George Kay and Francois
for its titular protagonist, but rather attempts pursues the powerful author Alexandra. Netf-
Uzan, 2021) is a Netflix series starring Omar
to elicit empathy for him and those who sur- lix (English title: I am not an easy man).
Sy, whom America discovered via the film
round him, as well as a deeper understand- Intouchables in 2011. The show displays the -- Brett Bowles, Evie Munier, and Victoria
ing of the circumstances in which radical- versatility of the César-winning actor and Lagrange
Top new films in Italian
▶▶ Favolacce (D’Innocenzo Brothers, 2020) of- (English title Ties) was selected to open the troversial Italian leaders of the 1980s. In this
fers a somewhat degraded and dystopic view 77th Venice Film Festival. unique biopic-style perspective on his life of
of contemporary family life in the outskirts exile and luxury in Tunisia, the focus is on the
▶▶ Miss Marx (Susanna Nicchiarelli, 2020)
of Rome, where the adults are imprisoned politician’s relationships with family, friends,
is a biopic costume drama that recounts
by petty bourgeois dreams and children are and other questionable figures.
the short life and deep passions of social
further trapped by adult frustrations and
activist Eleanor Marx, departing from her ▶▶ Taking place once again in the outskirts
negativity. This Italy-Switzerland co-produc-
tion won the Jury Prize at the 2020 Brussels father Karl Marx’s death. Linking feminism of Rome, thie semi-autobiographical film
International Film Festival and the Best and socialism, Nicchiarelli anachronistically Maledetta primavera (Elisa Amoruso, 2020)
Screenplay category at the Berlin Film Festi- interweaves music, history and emotions to recounts the events of a summer in the life of
val. English title: Bad Tales. Amazon Prime. capture and express one woman’s trajec- 14-year-old Nina and her dysfunctional fam-
tory of change. The strong conscience of the ily, as her father comes and goes between
▶▶ The marital drama Lacci (Daniele Luc- director combined with heavy subject matter gambling wins. Nina is both challenged by
chetti, 2020), based on Domenico Starnone’s
recalls, to some extent, Sofia Coppola’s Marie and attracted to a new girl at school, Sirley
eponymous novel, is set in the 1980s and
Antoinette (2006). (also the English title of the film), who hails
masterfully mixes the early and late phases of
from French Guinea and speaks only French.
Aldo and Vanda’s marriage and the short and ▶▶ For Hammamet (Gianni Amelio, 2020), Mas-
Is their bond real and legitimate or is it just a
long-term effects it has on their two children. ter Amelio collaborates with Alberto Taraglio
figment of Nina’s imagination?
The “shoelaces” or ties that bind thus lend to recount the last decade of life of Bettino
themselves to many interpretations. Lacci Craxi, one of the most important and con- -- Colleen RyanYou can also read
