by Dr. Francesca Bini, Stanford University

This lecture focuses on Italian writer and intellectual Giorgio Bassani (1916-2000) and his identity as a Jewish author and “visual writer”. Dr. Bini will also examine Bassani’s relationship with his mentor, Italy’s leading art critic and historian Roberto Longhi (1890-1970), and more particularly the influence of Longhi’s teaching on Bassani’s literary production in terms of re-elaboration of the medium of the artistic image.

About the speaker: Francesca Bini, Ph.D. in Romance Literatures from Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, specializes in Italian literature, literary criticism, aesthetics, and visual culture studies. As a visiting scholar at Vanderbilt University, she lectured on the literary and filmic works of Pier Paolo Pasolini, exploring connections to Roberto Longhi’s teachings. Bini co-authored “Arte e Letteratura nel nome di Roberto Longhi. Bassani, Pasolini, Testori” and curated an exhibition of the same title at Biblioteca Ariostea in Ferrara (April – June 2023). Her research delves into the interplay between verbal and visual arts, particularly the concept of “ekphrasis.”

For zoom link, please contact Dr. Valentina Denzel at vdenzel@msu.edu

SPONSORED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF ROMANCE AND CLASSICAL STUDIES and The Michael and Elaine Serling Institute for Jewish Studies and Modern Israel