University of Pittsburgh

Faculty

Dennis Looney

Chair, Department of French and Italian
Associate Professor of Italian, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Classics

Study Abroad Advisor in Italian (2101)

 

Office: 1328 Cathedral of Learning
Tel: 412-624-6264
E-mail: looney@pitt.edu

Education

PhD, Comparative Literature, University of North Carolina (1987)
MA, Sacred Poetics, Boston University (1980)
BA, Classical Greek, Boston University (1978)

Curriculum vitae (PDF)

Research Interests & Fields of study

Renaissance Studies; reception of the classical tradition in European literature and culture; vernacular classicism; Dante; Ariosto

Selected Teaching

Selected Publications

Books

Freedom Readers: The African American Reception of Dante Alighieri and the Divine Comedy, U of Notre Dame Press, Devers Series in Dante Studies, forthcoming 2010.

'My Muse Will Have a Story to Paint': Selected Prose of Ludovico Ariosto, U Toronto P, Lorenzo da Ponte Italian Library Series, forthcoming 2010.

Zatti, Sergio. The Quest for Epic: From Ariosto to Tasso. Ed. Dennis Looney. Trans. Sally Hill and Dennis Looney. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2006

Phaethon's Children: The Este Court and Its Culture in Early Modern Ferrara. Co-edited with Deanna Shemek. Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies. Tempe: Arizona State UP, 2005.

Compromising the Classics: Romance Epic Narrative in the Italian Renaissance. Detroit: Wayne State UP, 1996.

Articles

"The Beginnings of Humanistic Oratory: Petrarch’s Coronation Oration." In Petrarch: A Critical Guide to the Complete Works. Eds. Victoria Kirkham and Armando Maggi. U of Chicago P, 2009. 131-40.

"Epoch-making Letters: Hiram Powers in the Gabinetto Vieusseux." In The Politics of Writing Relations: American Scholars in Italian Archives. Eds. Deanna Shemek and Michael Wyatt. Florence: Olschki, 2008. 139-63.

"'Flame-coloured Letters and Bugaboo Phraseology': Hiram Powers, Frances Trollope and Dante in Frontier Cincinnati." In Hiram Powers a Firenze: Atti del Convegno di studi nel Bicentenario della nascita (1805-2005). Ed. Caterina Del Vivo. Florence: Olschki, 2007. 135-52.

"Il mito di Fetonte ed altri miti luttuosi nel rinascimento ferrarese." In Lucrezia Borgia. Storia e mito. Eds. Michele Bordin and Paolo Trovato. Firenze: Olschki, 2006. 151-61.

"Collodi and Ariosto: Episodic Misadventures in Pinocchio." In Approaches to Teaching Collodi's Pinocchio and Its Adaptations. Ed. Michael Sherberg. NY: MLA, 2006. 34-40.

"Leopardi's Il Copernico and Paradigm Shifts in Art." Annali d'italianistica 23 (2005): 133-46.

"Fragil arte: tradurre e governare nei volgarizzamenti boiardeschi ad Ercole I d'Este." Il Principe e la storia. Eds. S. Matarrese and C. Montagnini. Novara: Interlinea Edizioni, 2005. 117-30.

"Spencer Williams: An African American Filmmaker at the Gates of Hell." In Dante and Cinema. Ed. Amilcare Iannucci. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2004. 129-44

"Ariosto and the Classics." In Ariosto Today. Eds. D. Beecher, M. Ciavolella, and R. Fedi. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2003. 18-31.

Awards and Honors

CWES/EUC Grant, 2005

Central Research Development Fund, U Pittsburgh, 1991, 1994, 2000

FAS Research Grant, U Pittsburgh, 1987, 1988, 2003–04

Research Abroad Program Grant, U Pittsburgh, Summer 2002, 2009

Compromising the Classics, Honorable Mention, Marraro-Scaglione Prize in Italian, 1996-97

President's Distinguished Teaching Award, U Pittsburgh, 1992

NEH Summer Institutes, 1988, 1989, 1990

Professional Service

MLA, Division of Medieval and Renaissance Italian Literature, Executive Committee, 2006-10

Assistant Dean, Humanities, 2004-06

ADFL, Executive Committee, 2002–04; President, 2004

Profession, Editorial Advisory Committee, 2002–03

Chair, Department of French and Italian, 1996-2003; 2006-present

 

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