OVERVIEW

CITY AND COUNTRY IN AMERICAN CULTURE

This is a course on American literature and culture, seen in relation to American history. It will largely deal with the theme of the ciry (in opposition to the country) in 20th-century fiction, theatre, and poetry..The course is taught in English. The final exam is written. Students who take this course for 6 CFU can take the exam in Fenbruary 2018 or later. Those who need 9CFU can take the exame in June 2018 or later,

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to familiarize students with major trends of American culture and with important works in different genres (fiction, essay, drama, poetry, film). Students will learn how to analyze such works competently from a historical, generic and textual perspective

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the completion of the course the student

- will have become familiar with major American historical and cultural developments, and with some major American writers and texts;

- will be able to interpret these developments in English and Italian with reference to  fiction, poetry, drama and literary theory;

- will be able to contextualize and analyze texts and documents of notable complexity and historical significance and describe their cultural and linguistic peculiarities.

TEACHING METHODS

This is a lecture course given in English. In Semester I there will be 3 hours per week given in 2 classes; in Semester II, two hours per week (only for students who wish to acquire 9 CFU). Students must enroll for this course in Aulaweb where they will find weekly notes & resources. The final exam is written.Students may write a paper after taking their final exam if they wish to improve their grade.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

We will consider how the city is presented, positively or negatively, in works by major auhtors like Hawthorne, Thoreau, Melville, Whitman, Dickinson, James, Anderson, Faulkner, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Salinger, Bellow, and in several Modernist poets (R. Frost, C. Sandburg, W.C. Williams, M. Moore, W. Stevens etc.).

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Reading List (provisional & indicative)

Sherwood Anderson, Poor White

Hart Crane, The Bridge

Robert Frost, North of Boston

Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables

Henry James, The Jolly Corner

Herman Melville, Bartleby

Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman

Wallace Stevens, Il mondo come meditazione (Guanda)

Walt Whitman, Calamus and other poems

Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire

W. C. Williams, Paterson

An Outline of American Government. http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/outlines/government-1991/

An Outline of American History :  https://usa.usembassy.de/etexts/history/toc.htm

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

MASSIMO BACIGALUPO (President)

PAOLA ANNA NARDI

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Week of October 10, 2017.

Class schedule

ANGLO-AMERICAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE II

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

EXAMINATION PROCEDURE
There will be a written exam (3 hours), which can be taken in February, June-July, September-October  2017 or February 2018.
The exam is in three parts:
Part 1 - Fill in the blank (10 questions);
Part 2 - Short Answer (5 questions);
Part 3 - Essay questions (Answer 3 questions chosen from a list). Students are also encouraged to write after taking the written exam a 1,500-word paper on a subject agreed upon with lecturer.
PLAGIARISMS ARE UNACCEPTABLE AND WILL LEAD TO A LOWER OR FAIL GRADE.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

See Examination Procedure. The written exams are graded by the lecturer and a colleague in the same discipline who have previously agreed on criteria of evaluation, as outlined in class.

Exam schedule