Professor Gattuso Hendin, how has NYU embraced the field of Italian American Studies?
“NYU and the Department of Italian Studies have welcomed Italian American Studies, both officially and in terms of student response. Each spring I teach the course, “Italian American Life in Literature,” to our undergraduates. The course attracts students majoring in English, Italian, Cinema Studies, History, Dramatic Writing and many other fields. They are not all of Italian heritage but all have an interest in knowing more about Italian American history, art, film and fiction. Italian American distinction in filmmaking, and the use of Italian American culture in film, spur many students from the Tisch School of the Arts to take the course. There is widespread student involvement across disciplines. My focus is on Italian American fiction and film as it interacts with mainstream writing. The course begins with “classic” texts such as Pietro Di Donato’s Christ in Concrete, but extends through beat poetry and memoir, contemporary fiction and poetry, and ethnic postmodernism, concluding
