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.
This is a 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, discussion and papers: Characters of American democracy. Whitman’s utopian democracy. Melville’s radical & ironic protesy. Thoreau’s civil disobedience. The question of slavery (Baldwin, Morrison). Beat literature. The Vietnam crisis: Robert Lowell e Norman Mailer. Protest and folk music: Dylan.
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
Ricevimento: Availabe at www.lingue.unige / Stefania MIchelucci
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.
