Comparative Literature at the Graduate Center, CUNY

Buona estate! Our students Annalisa Guzzardi, Filippo Fabbricatore, and Veronica Gianello along with faculty Giancarlo Lombardi and Monica Calabritto reunited with alums Mattia Mossali (Wesleyan) and Alberto Gelmi (Vassar) at the American Association for Italian Studies (AAIS) conference in Sassari.

Come and support our graduating student Evan Knight who will present his research in just 3 minutes at the Dissertation Showcase at the CUNY Graduate Center on 5/11! This will be a great opportunity to network with a reception after.

Register here:

Inside the CUNY Graduate Center: A Dissertation Showcase Elebash Recital Hall

Congratulations to Dr. Jonathan Liebembuk on his successful defense of his dissertation, “Forms of Encounter: The Genre of Displacement in the Contemporary Novel of Migration.” Committee Members: Bettina Lerner, Sonali Perera, and Peter Hitchcock. Best wishes Jonathan!

Congratulations to Dr. Michael Healy, who successfully defended his dissertation, "The Desire of Strict Souls: The Poetry, Criticism, and Letters of Paul Valéry and Wallace Stevens.” Committee members: André Aciman, Giancarlo Lombardi, and John Brenkman. Best wishes Mike!

UPDATE 3/25 We regret to announce that Andrea Bajani's event at the Graduate Center has been cancelled.

Please join us on March 27th at The Graduate Center, CUNY, for this exciting event! Professors of Comparative Literature André Aciman and Giancarlo Lombardi are in conversation with winner of the 2025 Strega Prize Andrea Bajani. Bajani's book "L'anniversario" is also a contender for the Italian Cultural Institute's 2026 SuperBook "Prize of Prizes", a new initiative by the Institute. From March 26 to 29 the authors of the 8 books that were awarded in 2025 the most important Italian literary prizes will present their work during these proceedings. We hope to see you there!

Congratulations to Dr. Khaled Al Hilli who successfully defended his dissertation, "Mapping Memory: Space and the Afterlives of Violence in Iraqi and American Fiction After 2003”. Committee members: Ammiel Alcalay, Siraj Ahmed and Christopher Stone. Many congratulations to you Khaled!

Hello, prospective students! Please join us on November 6th at 1 pm for our Fall Open House! We will be there to answer your questions about the MA and PhD programs, admissions, and more. This event will be hybrid, please RSVP to Carol Pierce at [email protected] for the Zoom link. We hope to see you there!

Please join us on October 29th for "Fashioning Italianità on American Soil" at the Graduate Center!

For more events in this series, check out the ICI's website here: https://iicnewyork.esteri.it/en/gli_eventi/calendario/xxv-week-of-the-italian-language-in-the-world-all-the-new-yorks-events/

Please join us for the book launch of "Neubau Atmospheres: East German Cultural Remediations of Modernist Architecture" by Dr. Stephan Ehrig next Tuesday!