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 and generic perspective.
LEARNING OUTCOMES (FURTHER INFO)
At the completion of the course the student
- will have become familiar with major American historical and cultural developments, and with 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.
This is a 6CFU lecture course given in English in the 2nd Semester. There will be 3 hours per week given in 2 classes. 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.
Topics of lectures, discussions and papers: Characters of American democracy. Whitman’s utopian democracy. Melville’s radical & ironic protest. Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience. The question of slavery (Baldwin, Morrison). Beat literature. The Vietnam crisis: Robert Lowell & Norman Mailer. Protest and folk music: Dylan.
RECOMMENDED READING
This is a provisional list of works that may be addressed in this course. A definitive Syllabus will be available on Aulaweb.
Outline of American History https://usa.usembassy.de/etexts/history/toc.htm
Outline of American Government http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/outlines/government-1991/
Dos Passos, The 42nd Parallel
Ginsberg, Howl
Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance
Ernest Hemingway, To Have and Have Not;
Kerouac, The Dharma Bums
Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener, The Two Temples
Thoreau, Walden
Whitman, Song of Myself
MASSIMO BACIGALUPO (President)
PAOLA ANNA NARDI
20 February 2019 (3 hours per week until May 15)
Note. This 6-CFU course is intended for graduates. However, students new to American literature and Erasmus students are welcome.
ANGLO-AMERICAN LITERATURE
There will be a written exam (3 hours), which can be taken in February, June-July, September-October 2019 or February 2020. 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).
PLAGIARISMS ARE UNACCEPTABLE AND WILL LEAD TO A LOWER OR FAIL GRADE.
Students will be asked to prepare presentations in the course of the semester.
The course is in English, three hourts per week in two session s of 2+1 hour. A fair knowledge of U.S. culture and literature is a porerìquisite. Erasmus students are welcome.
