Faculty
Lina Insana
Associate Professor of Italian
Undergraduate and Study Abroad Advisor in Italian
Jewish Studies Program Advisory Committee
On sabbatical leave in Fall 2009 (2101)
For major and minor advising this term, please contact Prof. Francesca Savoia; for study abroad advising this term, please contact Prof. Dennis Looney
Office: 1328 C Cathedral of Learning
Tel: 412-624-6269
E-mail: insana@pitt.edu
Education
PhD, Romance Languages and Literatures, U of Pennsylvania (2000)
MA, Italian Language and Literature, U of Pittsburgh (1996)
BA, Political Science and Italian, U of Pittsburgh (1991)
Research Interests & Fields of study
Holocaust literature and film; Sicilian literature; Italian American literature; literature of Fascism and resistance; Italian detective fiction; images of southern Italy in European literature
Teaching
Undergraduate
- Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced Italian Language
- Italian Cultural Heritage II
- Modern Italian Literature in Translation
- Italian Novella
- Italian Novel
- Italian Detective Fiction
- Italian American Studies
- Fascism and Resistance
- Literature of the Holocaust
- Translation Studies
- From Novel to Screen
Graduate
- Representations of the Holocaust
- Fascism and Resistance
- Sicilian Literature
- Translation Studies
- Italian Detective Fiction
Selected Publications
Arduous Tasks: Primo Levi, Translation, and the Transmission of Holocaust Testimony. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2009.
"In Levi's Wake: Adaptation, Simulacrum, Postmemory." Italica 86.2 (2009): 212-38.
"Translation Matters: Primo Levi, Translation, and the Transmission of Holocaust Tesimony." MLA Approaches to Teaching the Writings of Primo Levi. Eds. Nicholas Patruno and Roberta Ricci. NY: MLA [forthcoming].
"Strega Nona’s Ethnic Alchemy: Stregheria, Magic Pasta, and That Amazing, Disappearing ‘N.’" MELUS 31.2 (2006): 207-43.
"Traumatic Translation: the Ancient Mariner’s voyage from English to Italian—and back again." Journal of Italian Translation 1.1 (2006): 23-35.
"Fascist Appropriations: The case of Jolanda de Blasi’s Le scrittrici italiane." Strong Voices, Weak History: Women Writers of the Middle Ages and Renaissance in England, France, and Italy. Eds. P. J. Benson and V. Kirkham. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 2004. 314-40.
"Redefining dulce et utile: Boccaccio’s defense of literature on economic terms." Heliotropia 2.1 (2004), 5 August 2004.
Translation
"Winter Evenings," "Learn a Trade for a Rainy Day," and "Dear Hope," short stories by Marchesa Colombi, in Writing to delight: Nineteenth-Century short stories by Italian Women. Eds. Antonia Arslan and Gabriella Romani. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2006.
Honors and Awards
Modern Language Association's 2007 Aldo & Jeanne Scaglione Publication Award for a Manuscript in Italian Literary Studies, for Arduous Tasks: Primo Levi, Translation, and the Transmission of Holocaust Testimony (U of Toronto Press)
U of Pittsburgh A&S Type I Research Grant, Summer 2004
U of Pittsburgh Faculty of A&S Junior Scholar nominee for NEH Summer Stipend competition, 2002–03
Professional Service
Senate Library Committee, August 2003-present
Faculty Mentor, University Honors College Undergraduate Teaching Assistant, Spring 2005
Faculty Mentor, First Experiences in Research Program, Spring 2005
Provost’s 1st Year Graduate Fellowship Committee, Spring 2005
Foreign Language Advisory Committee, August 2000-May 2002
Heinz Regional History Center, Italian American Advisory Board, September 2004-present (Advisory Board Chair since January 2007)
Professional Affiliations
MLA, AAIS, AATI, AIHA, MELUS, AJS
