Graduates in Languages and Literatures for Teaching and Translation obtain advanced knowledge and understanding in all the subject areas of their training in order to
1) consolidate and develop their competence in European and American Studies, with particular attention to their literature of specialisation;
2) deepen their knowledge of the two foreign languages chosen, achieving a heightened competence in the language of specialization and an advancement in the second language;
3) reach enhanced awareness of the linguistic features of their language of specialisation, both from a diachronic and a synchronic perspective;
4) reach an adequate knowledge of the most advanced methodologies for the analysis of literary texts;
5) handle confidently the theoretical-practical tools for teaching and for translation.
North American literatures and visual cultures is one of the characterising modules of the programme. It allows students to acquire linguistic and communicative skills as well as the competence to analyse poetic, narrative, and theatrical texts taking into account the linguistic and cultural complexity of North America. Special attention is devoted to the study of the relationships between literature and the visual arts, such as cinema, photography, the graphic novel, and painting.
At the end of the module students will be able to: enhance their critical awareness; make independent use of the most advanced theoretical methods for analysing literary texts and phenomena; communicate at an advanced level the disciplinary content.
Prerequisites: students enrolled in other degree programmes are allowed to select this module if they have gained at least 12 CFU in Anglo-American language and literatures for their bachelor’s degree and can certify the attainment of the B2 level in the English language.
Note: for LM37 students enrolled in the international curriculum “English and Anglo-American Studies” (English-English Literature), this module can be chosen as an associated subject (“materia affine”) to the literature of specialisation.
1) consolidate and develop their competence in European and American Studies, with particular attention to their literature of specialisation;
2) deepen their knowledge of the two foreign languages chosen, achieving a heightened competence in the language of specialization and an advancement in the second language;
3) reach enhanced awareness of the linguistic features of their language of specialisation, both from a diachronic and a synchronic perspective;
4) reach an adequate knowledge of the most advanced methodologies for the analysis of literary texts;
5) handle confidently the theoretical-practical tools for teaching and for translation.
North American literatures and visual cultures is one of the characterising modules of the programme. It allows students to acquire linguistic and communicative skills as well as the competence to analyse poetic, narrative, and theatrical texts taking into account the linguistic and cultural complexity of North America. Special attention is devoted to the study of the relationships between literature and the visual arts, such as cinema, photography, the graphic novel, and painting.
At the end of the module students will be able to: enhance their critical awareness; make independent use of the most advanced theoretical methods for analysing literary texts and phenomena; communicate at an advanced level the disciplinary content.
Prerequisites: students enrolled in other degree programmes are allowed to select this module if they have gained at least 12 CFU in Anglo-American language and literatures for their bachelor’s degree and can certify the attainment of the B2 level in the English language.
Note: for LM37 students enrolled in the international curriculum “English and Anglo-American Studies” (English-English Literature), this module can be chosen as an associated subject (“materia affine”) to the literature of specialisation.
teacher profile teaching materials
Henry James, "Daisy Miller". In Daisy Miller and Other Stories, ed. John Gooder (Oxford UP, 2009);
-----, “Pandora”. Ibidem.
L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (W.W. Norton Annotated Edition, 2001);
The Wizard of Oz (film), dir. Victor Fleming;
The Wiz (film), dir. Sidney Lumet.
William Carlos Williams, Paterson (New Directions);
Paterson (film), dir. Jim Jarmusch.
Carole Maso, The Art Lover (New Directions, 1995).
Programme
Through the rewritings of visual, narrative, and poetic texts (ekphrases, parodies, adaptations for the stage and the screen), published in a period ranging from the last decades of the 18th century to the end of the 20th, the course investigates the specificities of different genres, languages and media and the processes of adaptation and transcodification. Reflection will also focus on issues related to democracy and citizenship in the United States; racial, ethnic, and gender discrimination; civil rights; transculturalism.Core Documentation
Phillis Wheatley, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral. In The Collected Works of Phillis Wheatley, ed. John Shields (Oxford UP, 1988)Henry James, "Daisy Miller". In Daisy Miller and Other Stories, ed. John Gooder (Oxford UP, 2009);
-----, “Pandora”. Ibidem.
L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (W.W. Norton Annotated Edition, 2001);
The Wizard of Oz (film), dir. Victor Fleming;
The Wiz (film), dir. Sidney Lumet.
William Carlos Williams, Paterson (New Directions);
Paterson (film), dir. Jim Jarmusch.
Carole Maso, The Art Lover (New Directions, 1995).
Reference Bibliography
Ryan Bunch, “Ease on Down the Road”: Black Routes and the Soul of The Wiz. In Adapting the Wizard of Oz: Musical Versions from Baum to MGM and Beyond, eds. Danielle Birkett and Dominic McHugh. Oxford Scholarship Online, 2019. Linda Hutcheon, A Theory of Adaptation (Routledge 2006). Adam R. McKee, "William Carlos Williams's Image of the City". William Carlos Williams Review , Vol. 31, No. 2 (Fall 2014), pp. 141-158. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/willcarlwillrevi.31.2.0141. John C. Shields, Phillis Wheatley’s Struggle for Freedom in Her Poetry and Prose, in The Collected Works of Phillis Wheatley, edited by John C. Shields, New York, Oxford University Press, 1988, pp. 229-270. Sabrina Vellucci, An “Entirely Personal” Success: Intertextuality and Self-Reflexive Ironies in Henry James’s “Pandora”. Humanities 10: 61 (2021). https://doi.org/10.3390/h10020061. -----, “Figuring Loss: The Rejection of Impersonal Aesthetics in Carole Maso’s The Art Lover,” Modes and Facets of the American Scene. Studies in Honor of Cristina Giorcelli, ed. Dominique Marçais (Roma: Ila Palma, 2014), pp. 381-394. Literary History Greil Marcus and Werner Sollors, eds., A New Literary History of America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2009 (selected chapters). Richard Gray, A Brief History of American Literature. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.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 (conferences, seminars, presentations). In case of a COVID-19 emergency all the provisions that regulate the didactic activities will be implemented. In particular, the following modalities will be applied: distance learning with live recorded lectures and sharing of materials (critical bibliography, Power Point presentations, etc.) through apps and platforms. Further information to this regard will be provided on the course Moodle pages.Attendance
To be considered as regularly attending the course, students must attend at least 75% of classes in person (or live on Microsoft Teams, in case the dual mode should still be required because of the pandemic). Students who cannot attend classes are invited to contact the instructor at least two months before the date on which they intend to take the exam in order to agree on the required additions to the program.Type of evaluation
Students who regularly attend the course are required to read the texts assigned in class. Active participation in class discussions is an integral part of the final evaluation. Students who cannot attend classes are invited to contact me at least two months before the date on which they intend to take the exam in order to be assigned the required additions to the program.