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 colonial to the contemporary age.

 2) Applying knowledge and understanding

Students must be able to analyze literary texts: to identify the thematic, formal and structural aspects of the selected works and anthological passages with reference to the literary and cultural history of the United States and to issues of poetics, stylistics, versification (see prerequisites and supplementary readings).

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. Didactic materials will be available on Studium.

Level of competence in English: A2-A2+. Analysis of literary texts, metrics and prosody: basics (or, alternatively, see ► Supplementary readings (optional) in the section on textbooks

Optional

Module A (6 cfu)

Literary map of the United States in diachronic (XVI-XXI centuries) and diatopic perspectives. Critical introduction to texts, contexts, authors, works, themes, literary genres.

 Module B (3 cfu)

Visions and revisions of the American Dream: representation and distortion of the myth in the critical perspective of marginal subjects (young people, ethnic and gender minorities)

Module A

1)     Literary history of the United Sates:

Main authors and literary movements from one of the following textbooks (free choice):

-   G. Fink et al., Storia della letteratura americana: dai canti dei pellerossa a Philip Roth, Milano, Rizzoli, 2013.

-   R. Gray, A History of American Literature, Blackwell, Malden and Oxford 2004.

-   P. Lauter (ed.), A Companion to American Literature and Culture, Hobboken, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.

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/

 2) Anthology:

-      20 representative texts of various genres, authors, and time (the texts will be selected by the teacher and made available on Studium, in the Italian version or in English with Italian parallel text translation)

 Modulo B

1)     Primary sources – 2 works from the following group (students’ choice):

 B. Franklin, Autobiografia (The Autobiography, 1973) - F.S. Fitzgerald, Il Grande Gatsby (The Great Gatsby, 1925) – A. Miller, Morte di un commesso viaggiatore (Death of a Salesman, 1949) – S. Plath, La campana di vetro (The Bell Jar, 1963) – R. Ellison, L’uomo invisibile (Invisible Man, 1953) – J. Kerouac, Sulla strada (On the Road, 1957) – S. Cisneros, La casa di Mango Street (The House on Mango Street, 1983) – T. Morrison, L’occhio più azzurro (The Bluest Eye, 1970)

 2) Secondary sources:

-      C. Erdheim, “Why Speak of American Stories as Dreams?”, in K. Newlin (ed.), Critical Insights: The American Dream, Ipswich, Mass.: Salem Press, 2013, pp. 52-67.

-      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.

-      D. Packer-Kinlaw, “The Rise and Fall of the American Dream: From the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin to Death of a Salesman”, in K. Newlin (ed.), Critical Insights: The American Dream, Ipswich, Mass.: Salem Press, 2013, pp. 3-17.

 

► Supplementary readings (optional)

Students can consult the following texts on, respectively, the literary text and prosody: L. Chines, C. Varotti, Che cos’è un testo letterario, Roma, Carocci, 2015 (2^a ed.); J. Hollander, Rhyme’s Reason. A Guide to English Verse (New, Enlarged Edition), New Haven, Yale University Press, 1989.

 

 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. To the extent permitted by law, the texts in point 2 (mandatory) and any other resource (optional) on the chosen classics discussed in the classroom or used for the lessons (handouts, power point presentations) will be made available on the Studium platform.