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 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 Format

The course will be held in traditional face-to-face mode. Lectures are delivered in English and alternate with seminar sessions of close textual reading and group work. The course is divided into modules.

Course Structure and Attendance

6-credit course (first semester) – 3 modules

• I: historical/cultural context
• II: first and second author
• III: third and fourth author

9-credit course (first and second semester) – 5 modules

• I: historical/cultural context
• II: first and second author
• III: third and fourth author
• IV: fifth author
• V: sixth author

Students may choose which and how many modules to attend. If a student decides to take a module, that module must be attended in its entirety. It is therefore possible to have mixed attendance: for the modules attended, students will sit the exam according to the requirements for attending students, while for the modules not attended, students will sit the exam according to the requirements for non-attending students.

Attendance is strongly encouraged and will be monitored by means of a sign-in sheet at the beginning and end of each class. All students, whether attending or non-attending, are required to register on Aulaweb.

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 of the U.S. South"

The course focuses on the literature and culture of the South, one of the most contradictory, thriving, and traditional spaces of the United States. Through a selection of a wide variety of cultural elements (film excerpts, music, advertisements, etc.) and literary texts, students will be introduced to different issues, among which plantation life, racial tensions, the Jim Crow Era, the Civil Rights Era, local color, Southern agrarianism, rural and pastoral literature, Southern humor, Southern grotesque, the Southern Renaissance, and the blues.

Authors who might be included in the course for both attending and non-attending students — four authors for a 6-credit course and six authors for a 9-credit course (reading list to be integrated/modified. Please consult aulaweb for any update):

• Kate Chopin
• William Faulkner
• Ralph Ellison
• Flannery O'Connor
• Eudora Welty
• Robert Penn Warren
• Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
• Carson McCullers, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
• Alice Walker
• Cormac McCarthy
• Katherine Anne Porter
• Thomas Wolfe

All slides used during lectures and other teaching materials will be available on Aulaweb.

For attending students, lecture notes and the material available on Aulaweb are generally sufficient for exam preparation, provided they are studied carefully.

Students unable to attend will be directed to specific critical support materials. The number of authors will remain unchanged: 4 authors for a 6-credit course and 6 authors for a 9-credit course.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

61273 - 65300

First semester, late September/early October 2026; the exact date will be announced on Aulaweb.

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

For attending students, the final grade will be based on participation in classroom activities and the written exam. The percentage attributed to classroom activities will vary according to the number of modules attended, up to a maximum of 50% for students who attend all modules.

For non-attending students, the grade will be based exclusively on the written exam.

For second-year students, the exam lasts three hours, is written, and consists of 6 open-ended questions (with answers of at least 15 lines) on the historical and cultural context, the history of literature, as well as the authors, texts, and critical materials studied.

For third-year students, the exam lasts three hours, is written, and consists of 5 open-ended questions (with answers of at least 15 lines) on the historical and cultural context, the history of literature, as well as the authors, texts, and critical materials studied, and one close reading question on one of the texts on the syllabus. The text for the close reading will be announced in May 2027. Students are required to bring a printed copy of the close reading text to the exam.

Attending students will not be required to answer questions on texts they have already worked on in class (through individual assignments, presentations, etc.), with a corresponding reduction in the time allotted.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The exam consists of open-ended questions covering all aspects of the course (the historical period, cultural contexts, the development of literary history, and the main authors), aimed at assessing students' knowledge and understanding. The exam also includes the commentary of excerpts from the works under study. This type of exercise makes it possible to evaluate students' ability to identify the main formal features of individual texts and to place them within their historical and cultural contexts, to engage critically with the proposed materials, to develop and argue their own point of view in a coherent manner, as well as to demonstrate interpretive skills and critical thinking.

More specifically, the assessment will take into account the following criteria:

• knowledge and understanding of the course content
• quality of expression and coherence of argumentation
• correct use of specialized terminology (literary, historical-cultural, and critical)
• capacity for critical reasoning and textual analysis
• ability to contextualize texts within their historical and cultural framework
• ability to develop and argue one's own point of view

FURTHER INFORMATION

Exam registration: online on the University website.

Course registration: via mandatory registration on Aulaweb. It is very important that non-attending students register for the course on Aulaweb, where all information about the syllabus and some of the materials useful for exam preparation will be progressively uploaded.

This syllabus is valid until February 2027. From the summer session of 2027 onwards, students will be required to follow the 2027-28 syllabus.

Students who have officially filed a certificate of disability, specific learning disorder (SLD), or other special educational needs are advised to contact both the referent 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 arrangements that, while respecting the learning objectives of the course, take into account individual learning needs and provide appropriate compensatory tools.