OVERVIEW

The second-year course in Anglo-American Literature and Culture (9 CFU) is a 54-hour course that runs throughout the academic year (3 hours per week in the first semester and 2 in the second). The third-year course is shared with the second-year course. Lectures are combined with practical exercises and seminars. The course is taught in English and focuses on the essential features and major issues of Anglo-American literature and culture from the late 19th century to the present day. This course is also available as a 6-credit option (with a reduced syllabus).

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims at  familiarizing students with major trends of American culture and with important works in different genres (fiction, essays, poetry, movies, visual arts). Students will learn how to analyze such works competently from a historical 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.

PREREQUISITES

Preferably, students should already have taken an introductory course in American literature. However, personal interest and a good background in reading literature may be sufficient to participate usefully in this course. A fair knowledge of English (B2 or superior level) and an ability to follow complex historical and cultural arguments are also required. Erasmus students are welcome.

TEACHING METHODS

Course with lectures in English and seminar activities, workgroups, and close-readings.

Students who are unable to attend will have to read some supplementary material.

For students who decide to come to lessons, attendance is mandatory for 28 hours out of 36 and 13 hours out of 18 (75% of the course). Attendance is checked through signatures. 

Attendance is strongly recommended.

Lessons are in English.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The course of the second year aims at introducing the essential elements of the literature and culture of the United States through some of the fundamental texts of the period from the end of the 19th century to the contemporary period. Every year through different texts and perspectives, students will focus on issues like the literature of the West, the South, the urban development, racial tensions, ethnic literature, environmental issues, Realism, Modernism, and Post-Modernism. These topics will be presented in various courses that will deal with different spaces: New England, Midwest, West, the South, and the American city.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

“The Literature and Culture of the Midwest”

The course focuses on the literature and culture of the Midwest, the American heartland, and one of the most representative spaces of the United States. Through a selection of a wide variety of literary texts, students will be introduced to different issues, among which, pioneer’s life in the Midwest, the African-American experience in Chicago ghettos, the pastoral beauty of the natural landscape, the surviving strategies of Native tribes, the devastation of the environment, small towns of the American Province, life on the road.

Authors that might be included in the course for both attending/non-attending students (reading list to be integrated/modified)

Sherwood Anderson, Winesburg, Ohio (1919)

Charles Baxter, Gryphon: New and Selected Stories (2011), selected short stories

Willa Cather, O Pioneers (1913)/

Richard Wright, Native Son (1940)

Jim Harrison, Dalva (1988), selected poems

Langston Hughes, Not Without Laughter (1930)

Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac, (1949) selected essays

Sinclair Lewis, Main Street, (1920)

David Foster Wallace, selected short stories and essays

Louise Erdrich, selected short stories

All the slides used during the lectures and other teaching materials will be available on AulaWeb. For attending students, the notes taken in class and the material on AulaWeb are generally sufficient for exam preparation.
For students who are unable to attend, specific supplementary critical material will be provided.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

PAOLA ANNA NARDI (President)

GABRIELE FERRACCI

LESSONS

LESSONS START

First semester, end of September/beginning of October 2025, the precise date will be posted in aulaweb

Class schedule

ANGLO-AMERICAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE II

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Students will take a written exam at the end of the course (June, July, September, October 2026, and February 2027).

For students who will attend the course, the evaluation will be based on both their active participation in the lessons (50%) and the final exam (50%)

The evaluation will be based entirely on the final exam for the other students.

There will be a written exam (2 hours). The exam consists of 5 questions, and answers must be not less than 15 lines long. There will be a reduction in the number of questions and the exam duration for attending students who have already dealt with texts in the syllabus.

Students will have to show their knowledge of the authors presented, the texts analyzed, and their cultural contexts. 

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The exam paper involves open questions and commentary on literary texts (poems, extracts of short stories, novels, essays, etc.). The open questions test knowledge and comprehension; the commentary tests the student's ability to recognize and describe the main formal features of specific texts and connect them to contextual historical and cultural information; it also tests the student's comprehension of and ability to respond to, critical essays included in the reading list.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Attendance is highly recommended. Students who cannot attend will have to study some supplementary or different material. Course enrolment via aulaweb is mandatory. Examination enrolment is through the unige website.

This syllabus is valid till February 2027.

Erasmus students are welcome!

Students who have officially submitted certification for a disability, specific learning disorder (SLD), or other special educational needs are advised to contact both the designated representative, Prof. Sara Dickinson (sara.dickinson@unige.it), and the course instructor at the beginning of the course, in order to agree on teaching and exam methods that, while respecting the course objectives, take into account individual learning styles and provide appropriate compensatory tools.