Faculty
Simone Castaldi
Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures
Degrees
PHD, 2002, Brown Univ; MA, 1998, Univ Virginia; BA, 1995, Univ Florence
Bio
Simone Castaldi was born in Florence, Italy and received his Ph.D from Brown University in 2002. As an Associate Professor at Hofstra, he teaches cinema, modern and contemporary literature, popular culture, literary theory, and language. Before joining the Romance Languages and Literatures department at Hofstra he taught at RISD (Rhode Island Institute of Design), the University of Georgia, and The Ohio State University. He is the author of Drawn and Dangerous (University Press of Mississippi), a book analyzing the intersection of the postmodern arts with Italian auteur comics during the '80s and offering the first in-depth English language study of Italian comics. He has published articles and contributed chapters to books on Italian authors such as Carlo Emilio Gadda, Tommaso Landolfi, Scipio Slataper, Tullio Avoledo, the trans-avant-garde, the cinema of Elio Petri and Pietro Germi, and on the Italian comic book medium. Currently, his research focuses on the independent press during the period of the Italian counterculture of the '60s and '70s. Recently, he has contributed translations to the first English-language edition of Andrea Pazienza's comic book works. He is currently translating Hugo Pratt's Corto Maltese 12-volume series for The Library of American Comics (IDW).
Teaching Interests
Cinema, history of the novel, the Italian and European comic book, history of the Italian Mafia, food studies.Research Interests
Neo- and Trans-Avant-gardes
History and culture of the Italian Comic Book
The independent and underground press in the '60s and '70s
Recent Courses Taught
| Course | Title | Level |
|---|---|---|
| HUHC 020B | ITALIAN COMIC BOOKS | Undergraduate |
| ITAL 002 | ELEMENTARY ITALIAN 2 | Undergraduate |
| ITAL 101 | LANGUAGE AND READING | Undergraduate |
| ITAL 103 | ITAL THRGH COMICS & FAIRY TALE | Undergraduate |
| ITST 141 | (AA) ITAL CINEMA-NEORLISM-PRSN | Undergraduate |
| ITST 142 | (IS) ITALIAN MAFIA: HIST&FICT | Undergraduate |
| ITST 144 | (IS) ITALIAN FOOD CULTURE | Undergraduate |
