Italian Studies Turns 25

University of Toronto publishes new series to celebrate

After 25 years of English-language publications from the University of Toronto Press about Italian language and culture, the same publishing house launches a new, more specialized series, targeting Canadian and U.S. teachers and students of Italian.
The series will be curated by two co-editors: Marcello Danesi, who had also founded the Italian Studies series, and Michele Lettieri, chair of the new Faculty of Languages, Cinematography and Linguistics of the University of Toronto at Mississauga. "The series is called Italian Pedagogy and Applied Linguistics," said Danesi, director of Semeiotics and Sanaiotic Linguistics, "and we have two works that will soon be published."
"Italian studies are on the rise," added Michele Lettieri, "and this new series was the right thing to do in order to satisfy the growing demand coming from teachers and students alike. In the United States, for instance," continued Lettieri, "12 percent of students study Italian, while just one percent study French. In the past, the textbooks were simply translated versions of those published in Italy, but that wasn't good. On the contrary, they should be written and published here, tailoring them on the needs of Canadian and U.S. consumers."
The quarter century of publications about Italian Studies were celebrated last week at the Cultural Section of the Italian Consulate in Toronto.
The series started in 1979 thanks to Marcello Danesi's commitment. "Twenty-five years have passed," said Danesi, "and we've published 86 books. However, the series was created with the contribution of two people in particular. One was Renzo Titone, professor at Rome's La Sapienza, who worked with me to fill the North American gap; the other was Ron Schoeffel, who at the time was in charge of the University of Toronto Press." "When we went to see him," remembered Danesi, "he lent us an interested ear and immediately said, let's try. He understood at once that publishing English-language books on Italian language and culture, to be distributed not only in Canada or the United States but all over the English-speaking world, could be good business."
"We were interested," said Ron Schoeffel, now retired but still actively collaborating with the publishing house, "because there were many teachers revolving around the UofT and York University, teachers interested in language, literature, and cinema. In these 25 years we developed intense exchanges with Italy. It was a very positive experience, and many young people developed a greater interest in Italian language and culture. We've also been encouraged and supported by the Italian Government and by other Canadian institutions."
The series enjoyed great success, "and it will now be necessary to reprint some titles such as Vivere in Italia. 12 conversazioni per italiani," confirmed Michele Lettieri.
The books published allowed Canadian and U.S. readers to discover today's Italian culture; previously, it only reached the Renaissance. "If a publishing house like the University of Toronto Press decides to take such an initiative, it means there's some good in it," commented Carlo Coen, director of the Cultural Section of the Italian Consulate in Toronto. "Communicating in English helped the diffusion of our language and culture in North America. People have an interest in Italian because they are interested in Italy, and via a communication language they can easily access Italy's huge cultural heritage. The diffusion of Italian culture in the USA and in Canada," added Coen, "is due both to the activities of the Italian Cultural Institutes and to the series on Italian Studies of the University of Toronto Press."
The celebration of the 25th anniversary was attended by many specialists, including John Picchione who presented his book The New Avant Garde in Italy, latest instalment in the UTP series, and Massimo Ciavolella, Chair of the Department of Italian at UCLA, who said, "The problem was getting Italian institutions involved in financing. However, it must be underscored that without Ron Schoeffel and Toronto Press this project would have never left the ground."

Publication Date: 2004-12-05
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=4679