RMST301

Pinocchio & Everything Else

In this course, the term «Pinocchio» designates the original educational story for children – the would-be Bildungsroman, if one will – authored in Italian by the Florentine Carlo Collodi, Pinocchio (first part: Florence, 1881; second part: 1882-83).

«Everything else» designates the field of applicability of the pedagogical concepts implied in said text, or in some parallel literary texts from mostly Romance civs and lits whose concerns overlap, interact or converge with Pinocchio’s … or, well, diverge from them in significant, revealing ways.

One way to describe our general purpose is to say we wish to test the full truth of Jiddu Krishnamurti’s critical dictum: «It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society». It is with this goal in mind that we “visit” Pinocchio, and with it, a panoply of other Romance classics which also – very diversely – examine the issue of how the individual and society can be (mis)aligned with each other.

The course is articulated in two components. The first component is devoted to reading and interpreting Collodi’s Pinocchio; the other, to everything else. However, to aim for a better synergy between the two, we do not tackle the two concepts sequentially but in parallel.

The syllabus tries to offer a synopsis of what could be an ideally comprehensive plan. Each week, a first item (A) includes relevant topics or texts to be presented & discussed from mostly Romance civs and lits (see details below).

A second list (B) follows pretty closely the Italian context – and, of course, text – of Collodi’s Pinocchio. Here, Italy’s nation-building blueprint since the early 1800s (the Risorgimento, i.e. Resurgence) is studied as an exemplary small-scale case of one of today’s most burning issues on the global stage: How previously subjugated and colonized peoples may successfully coalesce into a single-identity country in consequence of a deliberate political program – with all the positive and the problematic sides therein implied.

Further topics from ancient and modern lits, econ, philosophy, history, etc., may also be approached in this class, if need be, in the order in which they may be brought up during the discussion by students, based on their own spheres of interest and specialization.

Learning outcomes:

Our desired learning outcome is to develop the factual knowledge and the critical skills necessary to question, in a well-informed, articulate manner, the mainstream current approach (concept / precept) of adapting-fitting-bending individual behaviour to dominant standards of “social success” that are often destructive, and/or unethical, and/or alienating (commodifying); and/or – tragicomically – a lot more childish than the very child they purport to “train.”

Language of instruction: English

Prerequisites: No prerequisites