Venice, the Jews, and Italian Culture
July 17-20, 2006
Sponsors: Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities
This section includes the presentations at the conference which was held during the last week of the Institute. It is organized by session. As with the institute materials, all materials are considered drafts at this stage and may not be reproduced. They are for your personal use only.
Text files are in .PDF format and can be read in Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Audio files are MP3s and can be heard using Adobe Flash Player.
Monday, 17 July
15:00-17:00: New Perspectives on Venice, the Jews and Italian Culture
Benjamin Ravid: Where and How Do We Go From Here: Is Our Imagination the Only Limit?
Amos Luzzatto: The So-Called Young Scholar from Padua: Moshe Hayyim Luzzatto
17:30-19:00: Writing Italian in English
Will Wells: Translations of Umberto Saba and Sara Coppio Sullam
Miriam Shein: Hunting for History in Historical Fiction: The Elusive Heroine of Sotto Voce
Q & A - Audio File
Tuesday, 18 July
9:00-11:00: Cross-Cultural Judaism
Mehnaz Afridi: Internalizing the Ghetto: Jew and Muslims in Venice
Maria Esformes: The Jewish Memoir
Amy Kaminsky: Intraculture as Interculture
Madhuri Yadlapati: Christian Ambivalence, Heresy, and the Jews
Story told by Maria Esformes, "Has bien no mires a quién" (Audio)
Q & A - Audio File
11:30-13:00: Urban Venice
Paul Michelson: Mythical Venice(s)
Michael Thaler: The Pope, Venice and the Jews
Marina Karem: Before Memory Fades Away
Q & A - Audio File
15:00-18:00: The Early Modern Jew
Karina Attar: The Exceptional Jewess and the Foolish Jews
Michela Andreatta: A Poet in the Ghetto: Leon Modena's Literary Production
Cristiana Facchini: Judaisms in the Age of Baroque, Leone Modena's Critique of Judaism
Ariella Lang: Simone Luzzatto's Discorsi: The Politics of Jewish Identity in 17th c. Venice
Q & A - Audio File
Wednesday, 19 July
9:30-11:00: Italian Jewish Music
Gabrielle Mancuso & Giovanni Mancuso: Alphabet Music: A Reading of Sefer Yetzirah
Enrico Fink: Klezmer and the Revival of Jewish Music in Contemporary Italy
Q & A - Audio File
11:30-13:00: Jewish Identity and the Curriculum
Paola Servino: Thematic Goals: Curricular Suggestions
Kathleen Sunshine: Fiction and Film: Italy Through the Prism of History
Q & A - Audio File
15:00-16:30: Displaying Jewish Culture
Shelley Hornstein: New Eyes: Diaspora, Display, and Discovery in Jewish Museums
Paul Hamburg: Exhibiting Venetian Books: Texts in (Con)texts
Jonathan Malino: Merano, the Jews, and Italian Culture: Anomalous Familiarity
Q & A - Audio File
17:00-18:30: On The Merchant of Venice
Allene Phy-Olsen: Stage History of The Merchant of Venice
Dorset Noble: Producing The Merchant of Venice
Shirley Kagan: Playing Jessica and Portia
Robin Russin: Shelach is My Name: Prolegomena to a new play about Shylock
Q & A - Audio File
Thursday, 20 July
9:00-11:00: Performing Jewish Venice
Andrea Most, Theatrical Liberalism: Jews, Theatricality and Modernity
Ronnie Scharfman: A Midrash on our NEH Institute
Mimi Weisel: Venice of Yesterday as Reflection of Jewish Life Today
Russell Scott Valentino: Taking the Traghetto to the Ghetto; or, Performing Jewish Culture in Venice
Q & A - Audio File
