31353 - Anglo-American Literature 3

Learning outcomes

Course contents

War and Peace in the American Century. (Period of reference: 20th century)

“The American Century” is the label imposed on the 20th century by critics worldwide. This course explores the making and the reception of that label through a series of cultural, artistic and social variables:

·        The changing geo-politics at the turn of the previous century and the rising of America as a world power;

·        The impact of technology on society and on people's interior landscape/imagination;

·        The development of mass-media as forms of communication & entertainment;

·        The dynamic interplay of Canada and USA as North American juxtaposing realities.

Literature will be the counter-environment leading the above mentioned exploration, as works of fiction of Canadian and USA writers will be employed to detect the dynamics of complex and evolving cultural scenarios.

The course will be integrated by:

·        a series of ‘close-up' classes on classics of the North American literary scene (weekly)

·        a series of optional conferences and screenings (schedule will be available when classes start).

This course is offered also to Ersamus and International students. Classes will be mainly in English.

Readings/Bibliography

A) Literary History (Final Test)

IMPORTANT: all students must know the literary history of the related time. The following readings are therefore mandatory:

II year students

USA: Guido Fink, Mario Maffi, Franco Minganti, Bianca Tarozzi, Storia della letteratura americana (nuova edizione), Firenze: Sansoni, 1991 (1915-1945)

Canada: Capone Giovanna, Canada. Il villaggio della terra, Bologna, Patron (chapters 1,2,3).

III year students

USA: Guido Fink, Mario Maffi, Franco Minganti, Bianca Tarozzi, Storia della letteratura americana (nuova edizione), Firenze: Sansoni, 1991 (1945 – Present days)

Canada: Capone Giovanna, Canada. Il villaggio della terra, Bologna, Patron (capitoli 1,2,3).

In addition, students are required to read what follows (lists B, C, and D):

B)  At least 4 texts (novels, poetry collections, short stories collections) by any of the following Writers:

Acker Kathy; Baldwin James; Barth John; Anderson Sherwood; Auster Paul; Barthelme Donald; Bellow Saul; Brautigan Richard; Bernard Malamud; Momaday Scott; Berryman John; Bishop Elizabeth; Brooks Gwendolyn; Burroughs William; Capote Truman; Coover Robert; Cummings e.e.; DeLillo Don; Dos Passos John; Eliot, T.S.; Ellison Ralph; Gass William; Hemigway Ernest; Fante, John; Faulkner William; Fitzgerald Francis Scott; Frost Robert; H.D.; Hammett Dashiell; Harper Michael; Heller Joseph; Kerouac Jack; Kesey Ken; Mailer Norman; Hughes Langston; Hurston Zora Neale; Lardner Ring; Lewis Wyndham; Lowell Robert; MacLeish Archibald; Masters Edgar Lee; Miller Arthur; Miller Henry; Moore Marianne; Morrison Toni; Parker Dorothy; Nabokov Vladimir; O'Connor Flannery; Palahniuk Chuck; Percy Walker; Plath Sylvia; Pynchon Thomas; Pound Ezra; Reed Ishmael; Roth Philip; Salinger Jerome D.; Schneck Stephen; Roth Henry; Runyon Damon; Sinclair Lewis; Sontag Susan; Vonnegut Kurt; Ginsberg Allen; Stein Gertrude; Steinbeck John; Stevens Wallace; Tan Amy; Tennessee Williams; Walker Alice; Williams W.C.; Wolfe Tom

C)  At least 1 volume chosen from this list:

Calabrese Stefano,  Codeluppi Vanni (a cura di) Nel paese delle meraviglie, Roma, Carrocci, 2009

Chiarenza C., Vance W.L., Immaginari a confronto. I rapporti culturali tra Italia e Stati Uniti: la percezione della realtà fra stereotipo e mito, Venezia, Marsilio, 1992

Cinotto, Simone, Una famiglia che mangia insieme. Cibo ed eticità nella comunità italoamericana di New York, 1920-1940, Torino, Otto Editore, 2001.

Dawidoff, N.,  In The Country of Country: A Journey to the Roots of American Music (1998).
Leavy, Patricia, Iconic Events: Media, Power, and Politics in Retelling History (Lexington Books, 2007)

Di Luzio, Alessandra, (a cura di) The Grand Tour Lives On, Bologna, Clueb, 2006

Divine Robert A., American Immigration Policy, 1924-1952,Yale University Press,1957

Dowd Doug, Blues for America. Una critica, lamento e tante memorie, Bologna, Clueb, 2011

Evans, Harold, The American Century, Alfred A. Knopf, 1998

Franci G., Mangaroni, R. , Zago E., In viaggio attraverso il Deco americano, fotografie di F. Zignani, Firenze, Alinea, 1997

Franci G., Zignani F., Stranieri in Paradiso / Lost in Paradise, Bologna, Bononia University Press, 2007

Franci Giovanna, Dreaming of Italy: Las Vegas and the Virtual Grand Tour, Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2005

La Polla Franco, Un posto nella mente. Il nuovo romanzo americano: 1962-1982, Ravenna: Longo Editore, 1983

Maffi Marco, La giungla e il grattacielo. Gli scrittori e il sogno americano, (1981)

Marcus, Greil, Like a Rolling Stone: Bob Dylan at the Crossroads, 2005, [trad.it: Like a Rolling Stone. Bob Dylan, una canzone per l'America, Donzelli, 2005]

McLuhan, Marshall, The Mechanical Bride (1954. Gingko Press, 2002)

Portelli, Alessandro, Canoni americani. Oralità, letteratura, cinema, musica,  (Donzelli,  2004)

Proietti Salvatore, Hippies! Dall'India alla California la road map del '68, Roma, Cooper 6 Castelvecchi, 2003

Rydell, Robert W., Kroes R., Buffalo Bill in Bologna: The Americanization of the World, 1869-1922, [trad.it.: Buffalo Bill Show. Il west selvaggio, l'Europa e l'americanizzazione del mondo , Donzelli, 2006]

Sioli Marco (a cura di), Metropoli e natura sulle frontiere americane, Milano: FrancoAngeli, 2003.

Frye Northrope, Mythologizing Canada. Essay on the Canadian Literary Imagination, edited by Branko Gorjup, Toronto, Legas, 1997

Frye Northrope, The Bush Garden: Essays on the Canadian Imagination, Toronto, Anansi, 1971

Powe Bruce, The Solitary Outlaw. Trudeau, Lewis, Gould, Canetti & McLuhan, Toronto, Somerville House Books, 1996

D)  At least 1 critical essay consistent with the topic chosen for the final essay  (to be confirmed with the course director)

 

Teaching methods

The course is based on regular classes; it is structured following an interdisciplinary methodology juxtaposing literary sources to artistic, historical ones, as well as film and multimedia references.

Assessment methods

For this exams, students must: A) acquire a good knowledge of North American literature and culture (Canada and USA), (second year students: from 1915 to 1945; third year students: from 1945 to present day); B) present an individual investigation of a theme or an author (essay) developed from the subjects discussed in class.

The final exam will consists of two written parts:

 a) Test to check the student's knowledge of North American literature (United States and Canada).

 The test consists of 30 ‘closed' questions (20: true/false; 10 multiple choice); students are given 1 (one) hour. Evaluation: 1/30 to each right answer.

 This part of the exam is based on the mandatory readings; it aims to evaluate the student's knowledge of the history of both USA and Canadian literature (Second year students: 1915-1945. Third year students: 1045-present days).

 b) Essay (3000-3500 words).

The essay must be in English. It must be delivered the same day of the test.

 

Through the essay, students must prove their ability as literary critics in relation to the subjects discussed in class. To help towards the definition of a subject for this essay, a list of possible themes will be suggested in class; however, students will be free to choose their own. Students must prove: good knowledge of their primary and secondary sources; their capability to analyse literary texts in relation to the chosen subject; their mature and original critical approach. The essay will be evaluated on the basis of: a clear and sound working hypothesis; consistency between the essay structure and the chosen subject; correct use of the chosen bibliography; essay presentation (layout; footnotes; bibliography, etc.).

The final evaluation will be an average grade between the two written parts. In the academic year 2013-2014, students will have the following options to take the exam: two dates between January and February 2013; three dates between May and July 2014; one date in September 2014; two dates between January and February 2015.

Teaching tools

In addition to the literary sources, in class multimedia, films and visual arts will be used. The course will be integrated by a series of optional conferences and screenings (schedule available when classes start).  

Office hours

See the website of Elena Lamberti