ANGLO-AMERICAN LITERATURE

According to the Dublin descriptors, students, at the end of the course, will demonstrate:

1)    Knowledge and understanding

Students must be able to identify the specific aspects of Anglo-American literature, with reference to its themes, genres, styles, regional and ethnic origin, and authors from the 19^th century to the contemporary age.

2)  Applying knowledge and understanding

Students must be able to analyze literary texts in critical perspective, identifying the thematic, formal and structural aspects of the primary works with reference to the literary and cultural history of the United States.

3)   Making judgements

Students must be able to contextualize and argue on the examined literary texts and phenomena by making comparisons and tracing links between works and authors in the complex literary landscape of the United States (and not only).

4)    Communication skills

Students must be able to present their arguments using the essential tools of literary and textual criticism and to contextualize the selected texts from a historical, social and cultural perspective as well as from a literary point of view.

5)    Learning skills

Students must be able to apply the knowledge and skills acquired at the end of the course to study other literary texts (different from those examined in the course) and to make comparisons with the products of other national literatures.

Traditional front lessons (in the Italian language) will be matched by class debate on topical issues to foster the direct involvement of the students. To further encourage their active participation and help them study for the oral exam, attending students will be required to read primary texts (from the anthological selection) before the lessons. The selected texts will be available on Studium.

Primary Works

a)   Anthology of texts made available on Studium in the original language and in the Italian version (all the following texts, which include short stories and poems):

-    W. Irving, “Rip van Winkle” (1919)

-    N. Hawthorne, “Young Goodman Brown/Il Giovane Goodman Brown” (1835)

-    E.A. Poe, “The Tell-Tale Heart/Il cuore rivelatore” (1843) e “The Purloined Letter/La lettera rubata” (1844)

-    E. Dickinson, poesie: J249, J288, J324, J712, J754, J1129

-    W. Whitman, “Song of Myself” (1855; parti scelte)

-    M. Twain, “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County/Il famoso ranocchio saltatore della Contea di Calaveras” (1865)

-    K. Chopin, “The Story of an Hour/Storia di un’ora” (1894)

-    Poeti modernisti: E. Pound, “In a Station of the Metro” (1913), T.S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (1915), H.D., “Oread” (1916); W.C. Williams, “The Red Wheelbarrow” (1923) e “This Is Just to Say” (1934); G. Stein, “A Carafe, That is a Blind Glass” (1914) e “If I Told Him, A Completed Portrait of Picasso” (1923; estratto)  

-    A. Yezierska, “How I found America/Come trovai l’America” (1920)

-    E. Hemingway, “Hills Like White Elephants/Colline come elefanti bianchi” (1927)

-    L. Hughes, “I, Too” (1926), “The Weary Blues” (1926), “Harlem” (1951),

-    A. Ginsberg, “A Supermarket in California” (1956)

-    A. Sexton, “Her Kind” (1960) e “Cinderella” (1971)

-    D. Barthelme, “The Balloon/Il pallone” (1966)

-    C. Bernstein, “Veil” (1987; estratto) e “Thank You for Saying Thank You”

b) One of the following classics (full reading):

J.F. Cooper, L’ultimo dei Moicani (The Last of the Mohicans,1826); F. Douglass, Narrazione della vita di Frederick Douglass, uno schiavo americano (Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, 1845); N. Hawthorne, La Lettera Scarlatta (The Scarlet Letter, 1850); H. D. Thoreau, Walden ovvero Vita nei boschi (Walden; or Life in the Woods, 1854); W. Whitman, Foglie d’erba (Leaves of Grass, 1855); H. Jacobs, Vita di una ragazza schiava (Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, 1861); E. Dickinson, Selected Poems (1890; Italian translation with parallel original text); H. Melville, Billy Budd, Sailor (1891); Mark Twain, Le avventure di Huckleberry Finn (The  Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 1884); S. Crane, Il segno rosso del coraggio (The Red Badge of Courage, 1895); K. Chopin, Il Risveglio (The Awakening, 1899); H. James, Daisy Miller (1878); E. Wharton, L’età dell’Innocenza (The Age of Innocence, 1920); T. S. Eliot, La terra desolata (The Waste Land, 1922); F.S. Fitzgerald, Il Grande Gatsby (The Great Gatsby, 1925); W. Faulkner, L’urlo e il furore (The Sound and the Fury, 1929); J.D. Salinger, Il giovane Holden (The Catcher in the Rye, 1951); R. Ellison, L’uomo invisibile (Invisible Man, 1953); J. Kerouac, Sulla strada (On the Road, 1957); K. Kesey, Qualcuno volò sul nido del cuculo (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, 1962); S. Plath, La campana di vetro (The Bell Jar, 1963) or Tutte le poesie (with parallel original text); P. Dick, Il cacciatore di androidi (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, 1968); S. Cisneros, La casa di Mango Street (The House on Mango Street, 1983); T. Morrison, L’occhio più azzurro (The Bluest Eye, 1970); L.M. Silko, Cerimonia (Ceremony, 1977); D. DeLillo, L’uomo che cade (Falling Man, 2007).

Secondary works

a)     Literary history of the United Sates:

-    C. Iuli e P. Loreto (a cura di), La letteratura degli Stati Uniti. Dal Rinascimento ai nostri giorni, Roma, Carocci editore, 2017 (capp. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)

or, alternatively:

-    G. Fink et al., Storia della letteratura americana: dai canti dei pellerossa a Philip Roth, Milano, Rizzoli, 2013 (main writers and literary movements starting from the 19th century)

Students can also rely on the following reference websites:

-  D. Campbell, Brief Timeline of American Literature and Events: Pre-1620 to 1920: http://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/

-  P. Reuben, Pal: Perspectives in American Literature, https://www.paulreuben.website/

b)    Further readings (mandatory):

-    D. Mogen, “The Frontier Archetype and the Myth of America: Patterns That Shape the American Dream”, in D. Mongen, M. Busby, P. Bryant (eds.), The Frontier Experience and the American Dream. Essays on American Literature, Texas A & M University Press, 1989, pp. 15-30.

-    A. Portelli, “The Sky’s the Limit: dove comincia e dove finisce l’America”, Acoma, vol. 1, Primavera 1994, pp. 8-18 (https://www.acoma.it/it/content/confini).

c)   Supplementary reading (optional):

On the literary text, students can consult L. Chines, C. Varotti, Che cos’è un testo letterario, Roma, Carocci, 2015 (2^a ed.)

Critical material on the chosen classic (length of an essay) and any other didactic resource (such as lesson handouts and power point presentations) will be suggested and/or made available on Studium 

Please remember that in compliance with art 171 L22.04.1941, n. 633 and its amendments, it is illegal to copy entire books or journals, only 15% of their content can be copied.

For further information on sanctions and regulations concerning photocopying please refer to the regulations on copyright (Linee Guida sulla Gestione dei Diritti d’Autore) provided by AIDRO - Associazione Italiana per i Diritti di Riproduzione delle opere dell’ingegno (the Italian Association on Copyright).

All the books listed in the programs can be consulted in the Library.