Assignment for Wednesday, 04-15-15

Dear Roman Readers,

The assignment for Wednesday, May 15, is not large, but it is multifacted. Use this post to help you keep track. Please do the following:

(1) Download, print, and read the factsheet on Piranesi, the premier 18th-century illustrator of Rome and its ruins;

(2) View the Piranesi prints of Rome through the special View-o-matic program I've written for you (instructions below);

(3) Download, print, and read the factsheet on Florence Nightingale, British nurse extraordinaire and (before that) intrepid Roman traveler;

(4) Download, print, and read Nightingale's letters from Rome, which detail her adventures in the city during her Grand Tour;

(5) Download, print, and read the factsheet on Caroline Petrigru Carson, South Carolina socialite turned expatriate artist in Rome; BONUS: her obituary in the New York Times on p. 2;

(6) Download, print, and read Petrigru Carson's letters in Rome, which span the time of her first arrival until her death; and

(7) View Petrigru Carson's paintings of Italy, which are as valuable to understanding her time in Italy as her letters.

*                    *                    *                    *                   *

Sure, seven items — but manageable ones. The factsheets won't take you long; and the two collections of letters are together about as long as many of the readings we've given. As for the images, Carson's paintings are assigned to give you a sense of her as an artist; Piranesi's will require a little more time to get through, but they are exquisite and ought to fuel your imagining of Rome...as they were meant to do.

Regarding the View-o-matic: When you access the first page, you'll have the choice of (a) downloading the images, (b) viewing them at random or (c) viewing them in sequence. Choose only (a) or (c) at this point; (b) will be for testing your recall later on.

If you choose option (a), you can download the images as one big .ZIP file and (once unzipped) view them in your favorite image viewer.

If you choose option (c), you'll stay within the View-o-matic program. Click the arrows at left and right to scroll through the images, which will be clearly labeled. Click on an image to enlarge it and savor it in a higher resolution.

We'll look forward to our last student-led discussion of Nightingale and Petigru Carson with Team F.

Go in peace, children, and beware of Roman procuresses!

DC

Assignment for Monday, 04-13-15

Dear Readers of Rome,

As we embark upon our last full unit, Modern Rome, please do the following for Monday, April 13:

(1) Read the following sections in the Historical Sketch of the Blue Guide:

• "Years of Decline" (pp. 26–7); and
• "Napoleon in Rome" (p. 27).

(2) Download, print, and read the excerpts from Jeremy Black's book, Italy and the Grand Tour (Yale 2003).

(3) Download, print, and read the factsheet on Edith Wharton.

(4) Download, print, and read Wharton's short story, "Roman Fever."

*                    *                    *                    *                    *

Our concern on Monday will be making sense of tourism in Italy, which although not exclusive to modernity, is nonetheless a fixture of it. Who participated in the Grand Tour and why? Were the experiences of men different from those of women? How do their experiences and expectations differ from those of modern tourists? How are they the same?

We'll look forward to your outlines on Sunday, noon.

DC

PS: The PDFs for Monday will look quite long in terms of page length, but I assure you, this is because they are generously spaced.