Faculty & Staff

Nicolino Applauso
Visiting Assistant Professor of Italian
Phone: 570-372-4693
Email: applauso@susqu.edu
Office Location: Bogar Hall Rm 203

Applauso specializes in 13th- and 14th-century Italian literature with emphasis on political invective and comic poetry during wartime. His research explores the ethical weight of humor in political invective by such poets as Rustico Filippi, Cecco Angiolieri, and Dante Alighieri. His most recent publication is a book chapter, “Peasant Authors and Peasant Haters: Matazone da Caligano and the Ambiguity of the ‘Satira del villano’ in High and Late Medieval Italy,” in the volume Rural Spaces in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Time (De Gruyter, 2012).

Applauso is currently working on several projects: a book project, Curses and Laughter: Dante’s Comedy and the Ethics of Political Invective in the Comic Poetry of High and Late Medieval Italy, which proposes a new approach to medieval political invective in Italy by emphasizing its ethical project; an article on “Invective and Humor in Dante and Cecco Angiolieri: Verbal Assault or Encounter with the Other?” forthcoming in At Whom Are We Laughing? Humor in Romance Languages and Literatures (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013); and book reviews for the journal Italica.

He is also interested in Italian history and cinema (silent cinema and the neoralism, horror-giallo, and spaghetti western genres), and in the interconnection between creative writing and foreign language acquisition.

Applauso enjoys creative writing, music composition, theater and biking. He is dedicated to bring awareness of Italian culture within the community. He is currently involved in Let’s Speak Italiano, a community outreach program that allows Susquehanna University students to teach beginning and intermediate Italian language workshops at the Selinsgrove Library.

Courses:

• ENGL-100 Writing and Thinking
• ITAL-102 Beginning Italian II
• ITAL-201 Intermediate Italian I
• ITAL-302 Adv Grammar and Written Expression
• ITAL-542 Independent Study
• ITAL-599 Italian Comprehensive Exam
• LANG-503 Classroom Assistant