Giulio Genovese
Visiting Assistant Professor
Background
Dr. Genovese joined John Carroll University in 2026 as Visiting Assistant Professor of Italian in the Department of Ancient and Modern Languages and Cultures, where he leads the Italian section and collaborates with the Sabo Center for Languages and Cultures. A native of Tuscany, Italy, he earned his Ph.D. in Italian Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and previously taught at Bryn Mawr College and The Pennsylvania State University. His teaching and research bring medieval and modern Italy into conversation, connecting Dante and the classic literary tradition to contemporary literature, film, food, and culture.
Areas of Expertise
Dante and the reception of the Divine Comedy; medieval and modern Italian literature; twentieth- and twenty-first-century women writers; reception, adaptation, and intermediality; Italian language and culture pedagogy.
Research Interests
Dr. Genovese's research follows the afterlives of Dante's Divine Comedy and the ways the poem has been rewritten and reimagined long after the Middle Ages. His first book, A Militant Dante: Sociopolitical Uses of the Sommo Poeta in Post-1968 Italy, examines how Italian poets, filmmakers, and activists turned Dante into a political and countercultural touchstone during the anni di piombo and the years of liberation. He is also co-editing A Hundred Years of Goliarda Sapienza (1924–2024) and writes on twentieth-century Italian women writers and on the reception of Italian literature across media.
Education
Ph.D. in Italian Studies, University of Pennsylvania
M.A. in Italian Studies, University of Pennsylvania
M.A. in Italian Language, Literature, and Culture, Università della Svizzera italiana (Lugano, Switzerland)
B.A. in Italian Literature (Lettere moderne), University of Bologna (Italy)
Courses Taught
- At John Carroll, Dr. Genovese teaches Italian language at all levels along with content courses on Italian literature and culture. Representative courses he taught include:
- - Buon Appetito: Food, Culture, and Justice in Italy
- - What the Hell? Dante Reimagined
- - Tales of Love and Mischief in Italy and France: Giovanni Boccaccio and Marguerite de Navarre
- - Italian Society in Films
Publications
Selected Publications:A Hundred Years of Goliarda Sapienza (1924–2024). Co-edited with Beatrice Basile. New York: Peter Lang (forthcoming).
"Dante Underground: Queer Militancy and the Sommo Poeta (1972–1982)." Dante Studies 142 (2024): 67–83.
"Leonardo Sciascia and Elio Petri's Todo Modo: Intersemiotic Uses of Dante during the anni di piombo." Immagine. Note di storia del cinema 24 (2024): 45–62.
"La Commedia in giallo: tre esempi di riscritture dantesche." Perspectives médiévales 44 (2023).
“Convergence Culture: Marco Martinelli and Ermanna Montanari's Staging of Dante.” In La mondializzazione di Dante I: Europa, 179–190. Ravenna: Angelo Longo Editore (2022).
“Hidden Authoriality in Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Novels.” In Ferrante Unframed: Authorship, Reception and Feminist Praxis in the Works of Elena Ferrante, 89–100. Florence: Società editrice Fiorentina (2021).
