The University of British Columbia
UBC - A Place of Mind
The University of British Columbia
RMST 202 Literatures and Cultures of the Romance World II: Modern to Post-Modern
  • Home
  • About
    • START HERE!
    • Trailer
    • Meet your Instructor
    • UBC Calendar Entry
    • Aims and Objectives
    • Classroom Etiquette
    • AI Policy
    • A User’s Manual
    • A Typical Week
    • Student Support
    • Introduction
    • Conclusion
    • Feedback
      • Midterm Evaluation 2026
      • Midterm Evaluation 2024
      • Midterm Evaluation 2022
      • Workload/Quality Survey 2024
      • Workload/Engagement Survey 2022
      • Quiz Feedback 2026
      • Website Feedback 2026
      • Lecture Feedback 2024
      • Final Survey Results 2022
      • Focus Group 2022
    • Talks and Articles
    • Contact
  • Schedule
  • Authors
  • Texts
    • Choose your Own Adventure
  • Concepts
  • Lectures
    • Videos
    • Podcasts
    • Transcripts
    • PowerPoints
    • Drinks Pairings
    • Lecture Feedback 2024
  • Videos
    • Lecture Videos
    • Conversation Videos
    • Behind the Scenes Videos
  • Student Blogs
    • Blog Post Awards 2026
    • Blog Post Awards 2024
  • Assessment
    • Blogs
    • Quizzes
    • Midterm
    • Final Exam
    • Broken Contracts
    • Academic Integrity
    • AI Policy
    • On Ungrading
  • Playlist
    • Full Playlist
    • Expanded Playlist
  • START HERE!
Home / Italy

Tags

blog books childhood class coming of age crime death desire Dreams family fiction France gender history identity life literature love memories memory money motherhood nadja narration nostalgia perspective politics poverty power race reading reality reflection relationships romance Romance Studies sexuality Surrealism time trauma Uncategorized violence war women writing

Search

Italy

Ferrante; These two would not pass the buzzfeed friendship quizzes

This week’s reading of Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend honestly left me quite confused and a little bit frustrated. Funnily enough, my brilliant friend actually lent me the physical copy of this book when I told her I was reading … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogs, Ferrante | Tagged with childhood, Envy, friends, friendship, Italy, love, Wealth

‘We Were Girls Together’; A Review of My Brilliant Friend

Welcome to the last book review of the semester! This week I read My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, and I am so happy this was the last book. It is a coming-of-age book (so on brand for this class) about two girls in a poor neighbourhood in Naples. The story starts with an older […]

Posted in Blogs, Ferrante | Tagged with books, childhood, family, fiction, friendship, Italy, literature, love, money, socioeconomic status

Daniel’s Ferrante slides

Daniel’s Ferrante slides

Daniel’s slides on My Brilliant Friend

Posted in Ferrante resources | Tagged with Italy, language, violence

Patricio’s Ferrante Slides

Patricio’s Ferrante Slides

Patricio’s slides on My Brilliant Friend

Posted in Ferrante resources | Tagged with cities, class, geography, Italy

Frenemies (My Brilliant Friend) – Elena Ferrante

I loved this book so much, and I will have to read the next ones. I can’t be left in such a cliffhanger! Of course, this book is an coming of age story, a common theme in the course. It takes us on a journey where we can see how a small neighborhood in Italy […]

Posted in Blogs | Tagged with childhood, COA, coming of age, Elena Ferrante, family, friends, identity, Italy, jealousy, life, love, My brilliant friend, Personal Growth, poverty, Teens

The Time of Doves by ​​Mercè Rodoreda

The Time of Doves by ​​Mercè Rodoreda is set in Barcelona during the time of war. The story covers all aspects of war from deaths to the family of the soldiers left behind. The protagonist of the story Natalia is shown to be a people pleaser who breaks up with her fiance to marry a […]

Posted in Blogs | Tagged with domestication, fiction, italian-literature, Italy, literature, merce Rodoreda, Spanish Civil War, the time of doves

GIVE ME AN APEROL SPRITZ AND SEND ME TO AN ITALIAN SEASIDE RESORT TO HAVE A VACATION ROMANCE PLEASEE (hopefully I don’t have any developing and highly impressionable children with me :P)

Hey everyone, I hope you are all doing well this week! I have just finished reading “Agostino” by Alberto Moravia, and it was different. Compared to some of the other lengthier novels we’ve read it was for sure easier to follow and had a pretty simple storyline. Regardless, there was an in-depth story with a […]

Posted in Blogs, Moravia | Tagged with books, desire, family, fidelity, history, Italy, life, narrative, perspective, sexuality, story, Travel, youth

Moravia’s ‘Agostino’: A character with serious mommy issues, who would make Freud’s dreams come true

The novel “Agostino” chronicles the journey of its title character, a young child approaching adolescence, navigating through the turbulent waters of emerging sexuality and self-discovery. Moravia portrays Agostino’s path with sensitivity and nuance, skillfully capturing the essence of youth. At first, I thought the novel would be about coming of age, a charming summer romance, or something […]

Posted in Blogs | Tagged with class, fredu, Italy

Week V – We’re Getting Weird This Week

Oh, boy…where do I even begin? I mean it was definitely an interesting read but, I won’t lie, it did make my stomach turn at some point. From the overly sexual descriptions of his mother to the racism to the overall underlying misogynistic tone of the book, Alberto Moravia’s Agostino never failed to disturb and […]

Posted in Blogs, Moravia | Tagged with adolescence, blog, childhood, Italy, oedipus

Reflection, Alberto Moravia’s Agostino

 I do not think a book has ever made me feel more uncomfortable than Alberto Moravia’s Agostino. The novel follows a young boy Agostino who comes from a wealthy family and how a loss of innocence completely changes his relationship and how he view…

Posted in Blogs | Tagged with class, coming of age, Italy, sexuality

  • Previous
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • Next
Creative Commons License
Except where otherwise noted, this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Romance Studies
Faculty of Arts
715 – 1873 East Mall
Buchanan Tower
Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z1
Website fhis.ubc.ca/undergraduate/romance-studies/
Find us on
  
Back to top
The University of British Columbia
  • Emergency Procedures |
  • Terms of Use |
  • Copyright |
  • Accessibility