Valeria Dani
Visiting Assistant Professor of Italian
Valeria Dani is a scholar of contemporary Italian poetry and critical theory. She received her Ph.D. in Italian Studies from Cornell University and studied at the University of Rome La Sapienza and The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Her current book project traces the kinetic role of anadiplosis (a figure of repetition) in the Italian lyric tradition, wielding rhetoric as a tool to intervene in debates around the philosophy of language, political theology, and the limits of representation. Her research interests extend to affect theory, horror cinema, Marxist thought, as well as Italian feminist theory and Jewish studies. Along with Italian language courses, Dani designs and leads classes across disciplines (e.g., academic writing, critical theory, feminist and gender studies, comparative literature) and taught in the Cornell Prison Education Program for many years. She is also a translator of Italian theory, and her work has been supported by a Mellon/ACLS Public Fellowship.
Recent Courses Taught
First Term Italian
Third Term Italian
Research Interests
Italian modern and contemporary poetry; critical theory; Jewish studies; translation theory; film studies; Marxist theory; affect theory; feminist and gender studies; prison education.
Distinctions
- Mellon/ACLS Public Fellowship, 2020-2022
Selected Publications
- Dani, Valeria. “‘Moribondo Cristo le rispose:/non mi toccare!’: Touch, Isolation, and the Agonizing Flesh in Amelia Rosselli’s Variazioni belliche,” California Italian Studies, 11, n.1, 2022.
- Dani, Valeria. “‘Adesso tornerai a scrivere poesie.’ Antonia Pozzi’s Unfinished Prose and the Lyrical Vocation,” L’Anello che non tiene. Journal of Modern Italian Literature, 29-32, n.1, 2020.
- Dani, Valeria. “IF. An Altarpiece for Amelia Rosselli,” invited contributor for the issue “Fact, Fiction, Fabrication: Truth or Lies in Art and Literature,” Vassar Review, May 2019.
- Dani, Valeria. “La colonia fascista di Sciesopoli: trasformazione e abbandono,” La Rassegna Mensile di Israel, n. 1-2, 2018.
- Dani, Valeria. “‘Cerco nella sabbia/il sole e il pianto/dei mondi.’ Scrittura, nominazione e metamorfosi in Antonia Pozzi,” Smerilliana, January 2014.
Appointed to the Faculty
2025Educational Background
Ph.D., Cornell University
M.A., University of Rome La Sapienza
B.A., University of Rome La Sapienza