Faculty
Lina Insana
Assistant Professor of Italian
Undergraduate and Study Abroad Advisor in Italian
Jewish Studies Program Advisory Committee
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)
Office
1328 C
Cathedral of Learning
412-624-6269
insana@pitt.edu
Curriculum vitae
Research Interests & Fields of study
Holocaust literature and film; detective fiction in the Italian tradition; Italian American literature; Sicilian literature; literature of Fascism and resistance; images of southern Italy in European literature
Teaching
Undergraduate
- Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced Italian Language
- 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
Selected Publications
Books and articles
Arduous Tasks: Primo Levi, Translation, and the Transmission of Holocaust Testimony. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2008.
"In Levi's Wake: Adaptation, Simulacrum, Postmemory." Forthcoming in Italica.
"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. Forthcoming, NY: MLA.
"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)
CWES/EUCE Small Grant, Spring 2007
U of Pittsburgh A&S Type I Research Grant, Summer 2004
UCIS Small Grant, Summer 2003
U of Pittsburgh Faculty of A&S Junior Scholar nominee for NEH Summer Stipend competition, 2002–03
U of Pennsylvania Mellon Doctoral Fellowships, 1998-2000
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