Kristina Marie Olson

Kristina Marie Olson

Kristina Marie Olson

Associate Chair

Associate Professor

Italian: Medieval and Early Modern Italy; Dante, Boccaccio, Petrarch; Translation and Adaptation Studies

My research focuses on the tre corone of Italian literature — Dante Alighieri, Giovanni Boccaccio, and Francesca Petrarca — asking what their poems and stories reveal about ethics, gender, money, and power. A recurring question runs through my work: what happens to a literary text as it travels across centuries, crossing languages, art forms, and cultures?

I am the author of Courtesy Lost: Dante, Boccaccio, and the Literature of History (University of Toronto Press) and am at work on a second book exploring how clothing and textiles function as instruments of political authority in Dante and Boccaccio. I serve as Editor-in-Chief of Dante Studies, the leading American journal devoted to Dante scholarship.

At Mason, I teach courses on Italian language, literature, and cinema that bring medieval and modern literature and art forms into conversation with contemporary perspectives.

Selected Publications

Monograph

Courtesy Lost: Dante, Boccaccio and the Literature of History. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015.

Edited Volumes

A World of Possibilities: The Legacy of 'The Undivine Comedy.' Series: Cultural Inquiry (#37). Berlin: ICI Berlin Press, 2025.

Boccaccio Internazionale / International Boccaccio: Selected Essays of the Fifth Triennial Conference of the American Boccaccio Association, University of Padua (June 6-8, 2022). Edited by Valerio Cappozzo, Maggie Fritz-Morkin, Rino Modonutti, and Kristina Olson. Florence: Leo S. Olschki, 2025.

Approaches to Teaching Dante’s Divine Comedy. Second edition. Edited with Christopher Kleinhenz. Series: Approaches to Teaching World Literature. New York: Modern Language Association, 2020.

Boccaccio 1313-2013. Edited with Francesco Ciabattoni and Elsa Filosa. Ravenna: Longo Editore, 2015.

Audiobook

"Books That Matter: Boccaccio's Decameron,” Audible, 2021.

Selected Articles

"The Whole Book: Eroticism and Censorship in Boccaccio’s Decameron.” In The Oxford Handbook of Italian Literature, ed. Stefano Jossa. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press (2025). https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197613955.001.0001

"In Good Faith: From Dante’s First American Poet-Translator, Thomas William Parsons, to Sandow Birk, Marcus Sanders and Mary Jo Bang." In American Dantes: Traditions, Translations, Transformations, eds. Theodore J. Cachey, Jr., and Zygmunt Barański. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2025, pp.161-180. 

"'Maintaining Neutrality in a Period of Moral Crisis': The Appropriation of Inferno 3 from JFK to Martha Nussbaum.” In Dante Beyond Borders, ed. Nick Havely. Cambridge: Legenda, 2021, pp. 311-323.

"The Ethical and Sartorial Geography of the Far East: Tartar Textiles in Boccaccio’s Decameron  and Esposizioni," Le Tre Corone. Rivista internazionale di studi su Dante, Petrarca, Boccaccio 6 (2019): 125-139.

“Shoes, Gowns, and Turncoats: Reconsidering Cacciaguida’s History of Florentine Fashion and Politics,” Dante Studies 134 (2016): 26-47.

 

Expanded Publication List

Articles and Book Chapters

"Filling in the Blanks: Free-Verse Translations of the Commedia." In Dante's Divine Comedy in English, eds. Jacob Blakesley, Theodore J. Cachey, Jr., and Federica Pich. London: Routledge, 2026, pp. 180–197.

"The Whole Book: Eroticism and Censorship in Boccaccio's Decameron." In The Oxford Handbook of Italian Literature, ed. Stefano Jossa. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2025.

"In Good Faith: From Dante's First American Poet-Translator, Thomas William Parsons, to Sandow Birk, Marcus Sanders and Mary Jo Bang." In American Dantes: Traditions, Translations, Transformations, eds. Theodore J. Cachey, Jr., and Zygmunt Barański. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2025, pp. 161–180.

"'E se non piangi, di che pianger suoli?': The Tragic and Visual Art of Dante's Commedia in Paolo Sorrentino's È stata la mano di Dio." In Early Modern Voices in Contemporary Literature and on Screen, eds. Ambra Moroncini and Aaron Kahn. Holden, MA: Quod Manet, 2024, pp. 57–76.

"Migrant Purgatories: Dante, Lô, Nabil, and Sedira," Le Tre Corone. Rivista internazionale di studi su Dante, Petrarca, Boccaccio 9 (2022): 77–92.

"'Maintaining Neutrality in a Period of Moral Crisis': The Appropriation of Inferno 3 from JFK to Martha Nussbaum." In Dante Beyond Borders: Contexts and Reception, eds. Nick Havely, Jonathan Katz, and Richard Cooper. Oxford: Legenda, 2021, pp. 311–323.

"Dante in a Global World: Sandow Birk's Divine Comedy." In The Unexpected Dante: Perspectives on the Divine Comedy, ed. Lucia Wolf. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 2021, pp. 47–59.

"Dante and Monetary Language." Dante Studies 138 (2020): 195–202.

"The Tale of Lisabetta da Messina." In The Decameron Fourth Day in Perspective, ed. Michael Sherberg. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2020, pp. 86–106.

"Conceptions of Women and Gender in the Comedy." In Approaches to Teaching Dante's Divine Comedy, second edition, eds. Christopher Kleinhenz and Kristina Olson. New York: Modern Language Association, 2020, pp. 110–119.

"Legacies of Greed and Liberality: Angevin Rulers in Dante and Boccaccio," Studi sul Boccaccio XLVII (2019): 181–201.

"The Ethical and Sartorial Geography of the Far East: Tartar Textiles in Boccaccio's Decameron and Esposizioni," Le Tre Corone. Rivista internazionale di studi su Dante, Petrarca, Boccaccio 6 (2019): 125–139.

"Shoes, Gowns, and Turncoats: Reconsidering Cacciaguida's History of Florentine Fashion and Politics," Dante Studies134 (2016): 26–47.

"Uncovering the Historical Body of Florence: Dante, Boccaccio and Sumptuary Legislation," Italian Culture 33:1 (March 2015): 1–15.

"Dante's Urban American Vernacular: Sandow Birk's Divine Comedy." Special Issue: "New Voices in Dante Criticism," Dante Studies 131 (2013): 143–169.

"The Language of Women as Written by Men: Dante, Boccaccio, and Gendered Histories of the Vernacular," Heliotropia8–9 (2011–12). Reprinted in Heliotropia 700/10: A Boccaccio Anniversary Volume (LED, 2013), pp. 217–236.

"Resurrecting Dante's Florence: Figural Realism in the Decameron and the Esposizioni," Modern Language Notes 124:1 (January 2009): 45–65.

"'Concivis meus': Petrarch's Rerum memorandarum libri II.60, Boccaccio's Decameron VI.9, and the Specter of Dino del Garbo," Annali d'italianistica 24 (2005): 375–380.

 
Short Essays

"Life and Hell: Reading, Seeing and Living Dante." The Inferno by Dante Alighieri. Philadelphia: Beehive Books, 2024, pp. 119–127.

"Empty Flags and Fallen 'Angeli': Dante and the Imagery of the Capitol Riot." Bibliotheca Dantesca 4 (2021): 212–218.

"Hell on Earth: Parents, Children, and Pain at the Border." In "Dante: Prophet of Hope." The Berkley Forum, Georgetown University. October 21, 2021.

"Worse than Dante's Hell: Parents, Children and Pain at the Border." Dante Notes, September 28, 2018.

"Selected Illustrations from Birk's Comedy." Birk Illustrations, Digital Dante. New York, NY: Columbia University Libraries, 2017.

 
Translations

Selected poetry from Amelia Rosselli's Documento. Published in Italian Poetry Review IV (Società editrice fiorentina, 2009).

 
Reviews and Review Articles

Review of Boccaccio's Florence: Politics and People in His Life and Work by Elsa Filosa. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2022. In Heliotropia 20 (2023): 197–200.

Review of The Decameron: A Critical Lexicon, eds. Pier Massimo Forni and Renzo Bragantini. English edition by Christopher Kleinhenz. Translation by Michael Papio. Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2019. In Annali d'italianistica 39 (2021): 492–494.

Review of The Ethical Dimension of the Decameron by Marilyn Migiel. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015. In Heliotropia 16–19 (2019–20): 297–300.

Review of Speaking Spirits: Ventriloquizing the Dead in Renaissance Italy by Sherry Roush. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015. In Speculum 92:2 (April 2017): 580–581.

Review of Inferno Revealed: From Dante to Dan Brown by Deborah Parker and Mark Parker. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. In Italica 92:2 (2015): 508–511.

Review of Boccaccio: A Critical Guide to the Complete Works, eds. Victoria Kirkham, Michael Sherberg, and Janet Levarie Smarr. University of Chicago Press, 2013. In Modern Philology 113:4 (May 2016): 217–224.

Review of Money, Morality, and Culture in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe, eds. Juliann Vitullo and Diane Wolfthal. Ashgate Publishing Company, 2010. In Annali d'italianistica 30 (2012): 509–511.

Review of Boccaccio's Naked Muse: Eros, Culture, and the Mythopoeic Imagination by Tobias Foster Gittes. University of Toronto Press, 2007. In Heliotropia 6:1–2 (2009): 63–66.

Review of Dante's Two Beloveds by Olivia Holmes. Yale University Press, 2007. In The Medieval Review, July 1, 2009.

Review article of From Florence to the Heavenly City: The Poetry of Citizenship in Dante by Claire Honess. Legenda, 2006. In Symposium 61:3 (Fall 2007): 211–216.

Courses Taught

At George Mason University:

  • FRLN 550: Boccaccio's Decameron
  • FRLN 330: Topics in World Literature
  • HNRS 122/230: The Language of Empire: Ancient Rome, Italy and Africa
  • HNRS 122: Hell on Earth
  • ITAL 420: Global and Local Italy
  • ITAL 360: The Italian South (Carlo Levi; Elena Ferrante)
  • ITAL 340: Italian through the Arts (Film / Opera)
  • ITAL 330/331: Advanced Italian: Language and Culture I & II
  • ITAL 320: Italian Cinema / Neorealism and Global Cinema / Neorealism and Its Legacy
  • ITAL 325: Major Italian Writers ("Dante's Divine Comedy"; "Dante's Inferno"; "The Literature of the Black Death: Boccaccio's Decameron")
  • ITAL 201 & ITAL 202: Intermediate Italian II
  • ITAL 101 & ITAL 102: Elementary Italian I and II
  • ITAL 110: Elementary Italian

Thesis Advisor and Reader (at Mason)

  • URSP Mentor for Giovanna Uberti, August-December 2017. Project Title: “Urban Policing in Contemporary Italy.” George Mason University.
  • URSP Mentor and English Honors Thesis Advisor for Georgia Wood, June 2014-May 2015. Project Title: “The ‘Divine’ Revisited: Reflections of Dante’s Divine Comedy in Toni Morrison’s Trilogy.” George Mason University.

Extramural Teaching

  • The Teaching Company (Great Courses / Wondrium). Course title: "Learning Italian: Step by Step and Region by Region," released December 2020.
  • Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), Fairfax, Virginia. Course title: Dante’s Inferno. Spring 2017.
  • Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), Fairfax, Virginia. Course title: Dante’s Purgatorio. Spring 2018.
  • Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), Fairfax, Virginia. Course title: Dante’s Paradiso. Spring 2019.

Education

Ph.D., Department of Italian, Columbia University (2006)

M.A., Department of Italian, Columbia University (2001)

B.A., Division of Languages and Literatures, Bard College (1998)

Recent Presentations

Keynote: "Uncontained Obscenity: The Role of the Frame and Early English Translations of the Decameron." Symposium: "Boccaccio's Decameron: New Perspectives Between Text and Image." University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR. February 25, 2026.

Panelist. Roundtable on American Dantes: Traditions, Translations, Transformations, eds. Z. G. Barański and T. J. Cachey. Chair: Elizabeth Coggeshall. Symposium: "Global Dante Translation and Reception: A Dante Symposium Celebrating 30 Years of the Devers Program in Dante Studies." University of Notre Dame. September 25, 2025.

Respondent to Jacob Blakesley, "Dante in Africa." Symposium: "Global Dante Translation and Reception: A Dante Symposium Celebrating 30 Years of the Devers Program in Dante Studies." University of Notre Dame. September 25, 2025.