One of the main aims of this Course of Study is to provide students with advanced knowledge of two foreign literatures related to the two languages of their choice, paying special attention to intercultural and transcultural dynamics. The course also aims at refining their ability to interpret cultural phenomena, using the tools and methodologies of literary, cultural and historical analysis.
Anglo-American Literatures III is among the characterizing activities of the "Foreign Literatures" area. It aims at providing the students with a good knowledge of twentieth and twenty-first century English Literature with special attention to intercultural dynamics and the theoretical-methodological debate; it helps students discover the tools and methodologies of literary, cultural and historical analysis at an advanced level.
At the end of the module, students will reach an advanced critical ability in the interpretation of exemplary texts in the original language, as well as the necessary competence for oral rewording, translation, rewriting and adaptation in Italian of the texts themselves. They will also be able to re-elaborate and communicate disciplinary knowledge in a specialized and non-specialized intercultural context.
Pre-requisite: Anglo-American Literatures II; English Language and Translation II
Anglo-American Literatures III is among the characterizing activities of the "Foreign Literatures" area. It aims at providing the students with a good knowledge of twentieth and twenty-first century English Literature with special attention to intercultural dynamics and the theoretical-methodological debate; it helps students discover the tools and methodologies of literary, cultural and historical analysis at an advanced level.
At the end of the module, students will reach an advanced critical ability in the interpretation of exemplary texts in the original language, as well as the necessary competence for oral rewording, translation, rewriting and adaptation in Italian of the texts themselves. They will also be able to re-elaborate and communicate disciplinary knowledge in a specialized and non-specialized intercultural context.
Pre-requisite: Anglo-American Literatures II; English Language and Translation II
teacher profile teaching materials
The different forms of memory (historical, collective, personal, post-memorial) will be examined through a sample of representative texts of the twentieth- and twenty-first-century American literary canon. The historical periodization will broadly refer to the years 1910-1945; 1945-2000; 2001-present. Special attention will be placed on questions related to the representation of trauma, the construction of ethnic identities as a result of diasporas and migrations, the construction of gender identities, the narration of collective and personal histories. These issues will be explored focusing on the specificities of literary genres (fiction, poetry, film) and phenomena such as intertextuality and intermediality.
Edgar Lee Masters, The Spoon River Anthology, ed. Fernanda Pivano (parallel Italian translation), Einaudi, 2014.
Gertrude Stein, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, any edition.
Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast, Scribner.
Vladimir Nabokov, Speak, Memory. An Autobiography Revisited, Penguin.
Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun, any edition.
Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, any edition.
Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony, Penguin.
Toni Morrison, Beloved, Penguin.
Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud, Incredibly Close, qualunque edizione.
Programme
Memory and Post-Memory in U.S. 20th- and 21st-Century LiteratureThe different forms of memory (historical, collective, personal, post-memorial) will be examined through a sample of representative texts of the twentieth- and twenty-first-century American literary canon. The historical periodization will broadly refer to the years 1910-1945; 1945-2000; 2001-present. Special attention will be placed on questions related to the representation of trauma, the construction of ethnic identities as a result of diasporas and migrations, the construction of gender identities, the narration of collective and personal histories. These issues will be explored focusing on the specificities of literary genres (fiction, poetry, film) and phenomena such as intertextuality and intermediality.
Core Documentation
James Weldon Johnson, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. Norton Critical Edition, 2015.Edgar Lee Masters, The Spoon River Anthology, ed. Fernanda Pivano (parallel Italian translation), Einaudi, 2014.
Gertrude Stein, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, any edition.
Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast, Scribner.
Vladimir Nabokov, Speak, Memory. An Autobiography Revisited, Penguin.
Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun, any edition.
Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, any edition.
Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony, Penguin.
Toni Morrison, Beloved, Penguin.
Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud, Incredibly Close, qualunque edizione.
Reference Bibliography
Hebel, Udo J. Transnational American Memories. De Gruyter, 2009. Hirsch, Marianne, The Generation of Postmemory. Writing and Visual Culture After the Holocaust, Columbia University Press, 2012. Literary history "Modern Period 1910-1945", Heath Anthology of American Literature, ed. Paul Lauter, Vol. D. Wadsworth: Cengage, 2010, pp. 1101-1128"; The Columbia Literary History of the United States, ed. Emory Elliott. New York: Columbia U.P., 1988 (Part Four and Five -- chapters will be given in class) Further critical references will be provided at the beginning of the course.Type of delivery of the course
The course will mostly consist of lectures and seminars, but students will also participate in other didactic activities such as field trips, visits to the Center for American Studies in Rome, events related to American literature and culture.Attendance
Students who are not able to attend classes are invited to contact the instructor for additional critical/theoretical references, in case they should be needed.Type of evaluation
Students will be assessed through written tests during the course (open-ended questions; text analysis exercises) and an oral exam. Please note: due to the COVID19 emergency exams will be oral and will take place via video-conference on Microsoft Teams.