21801978 - LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND INSTITUTIONS IN ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES

CANALE A-L
The course is made up of two modules. While the first module deals with some of the main grammar and morpho-syntactic structures of the English language, the second module focuses on the diversity of American culture through short stories and their writers. A selection of American short stories from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries will be read and discussed. Special attention will be given to their formal and rhetorical characteristics as well as their impact and legacy on American history and culture.

Canale M-Z
The course is made up of two modules. While the first module deals with some of the main grammar and morpho-syntactic structures of the English language, the second module focuses on the literary and critical contribution by twentieth-century African-American writers. In an interdisciplinary framework, the analysis of the formal features of these texts will be instrumental to connect literary and socio-cultural issues. By promoting active participation in class, the adopted teaching method envisages the improvement of language skills and the ability to engage in open discussion.

Canali

teacher profile | teaching materials

Programme

First module - Focus on English Grammar

The first module deals with some of the main grammar and morpho-syntactic structures of the English language.

Second module - American Short Stories

The second module is an introduction to the diversity of American culture through short stories and their writers. At the end of the module, the students will be able to: analyze the chronological and historical development of the American short story through its most representative authors; become familiar with the act of analyzing and interpreting short stories through appropriate theoretical and methodological frameworks, acknowledging alternative interpretations and developing critical thinking; experience how literary and cultural texts can transform one’s perception and understanding of self, other and communities.


Core Documentation

Edgar Allan Poe, “The Tell-Tale Heart” (1843)
Kate Chopin, “Desiree’s Baby” (1893)
Susan Glaspell, “A Jury of Her Peers” (1917)
Joyce Carol Oates, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” (1966)
Ambrose Bierce, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (1890)
Ralph Ellison, “Battle Royal” (1947)
Alice Walker, “Everyday Use” (1973)
Ray Bradbury, “There Will Come Soft Rains” (1950)
Ernest Hemingway, “The Killers” (1927)
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1892)
James Thurber, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” (1939)
Shirley Jackson, “The Lottery” (1948)
Tim O’Brien, “The Things They Carried” (1990)

The short stories listed above may be read in any edition in English.

Reference Bibliography

“Biography of Shirley Jackson”. In Bloom, Harold (ed.) Bloom's Major Short Story Writers. Shirley Jackson. Philadelphia (PA): Chelsea House Publishers, 2001, 11-3. “Characters”. In Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs (Eds.) Literature. An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Eight Edition. Upple Saddle River (NJ): Pearson, 2006. 153-160. Charters, Ann. “Casebook Five. Joyce Carol Oates’s ‘Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?’” In Ann Charters (Ed.) The Story and Its Writer (9th Ed.) Boston and New York: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2015, 1616-26. Charters, Ann. “Casebook Three. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’”. In Ann Charters (Ed.) The Story and Its Writer (9th Ed.) Boston and New York: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2015, 1577-78. “Critical Views on ‘The Lottery’”. In Bloom, Harold (ed.) Bloom's Major Short Story Writers. Shirley Jackson. Philadelphia (PA): Chelsea House Publishers, 2001, 29-36. “Cultural Context of Invisible Man: Brown V. Board of Education.” In Harold Bloom (Ed.) Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2008, 34-7. Everman, Welch D. “August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury, 1951”. In Riggs, Thomas (Ed.) Reference Guide to Short Fiction (2nd Ed.) Detroit: St. James Press, 1999, 745-6. Farrell, Susan. “Fight vs. Flight: A Re-evaluation of Dee in Alice Walker’s ‘Everyday Use’”. Studies in Short Fiction, 35, 1998. 179-86. Franklin, Ruth. “‘The Lottery’ Letters.” The New Yorker, June 25, 2013. https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-lottery-letters Goonetilleke, D.C.R.A. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber, 1942”. In Riggs, Thomas (ed.) Reference Guide to Short Fiction. Detroit: St. James Press, 1999, 1014-5. Jackson, Shirley. “The Morning of June 28, 1948, and ‘The Lottery’”. In Charters, Ann (Ed.) The Story and Its Writer (9th Ed.) Boston and New York: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2015, 1443-5. Miner, Madonne M. “Désirée’s Baby by Kate Chopin, 1892” In Riggs, Thomas (Ed.) Reference Guide to Short Fiction. Detroit: St. James Press, 1999, 805-6. Morris, Roy Junior. “From Ambrose Bierce: Alone in Bad Company.” In Martin, Wendy (Ed.) The Art of the Short Story. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2006, 1476-8. Nagel, James. “Charlotte Perkins Gilman, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’”. In James Nagel, The American Short Story Handbook. Hoboken (NJ): John Wiley & Sons, 2015. 196-201. “On Reading and Thinking Critically”. In Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewick. (Eds.) The Presence of Others. Readings for Critical Thinking and Writing. Boston: Bedford / St. Martin’s, 1994, 3-9. “Point of View”. In Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs (Eds.) Literature. An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Eight Edition. Upple Saddle River (NJ): Pearson, 2006. 209-218. “Recognize Symbols.” In Kirszner, Laurie G., and Stephen R. Mandell. LIT. Boston: Wadsworth, 2012. 242-4. Roberts, Edgar V., and Henry E. Jacobs. “A Career in Fiction. Edgar Allan Poe”. In Roberts, Edgar V., and Henry E. Jacobs (Eds.) Literature. An Introduction to Reading and Writing (8th Ed.) Upple Saddle River (NJ): Pearson, 2006. 500-4. Rodriguez, Richard. “Reading for Success”. In Cavitch, D. (Ed.) Life Studies, 5th Edition. Boston: Bedford Books, 1995, 208-11. Scofield, Martin. “Poe and the aesthetics of the short story”. In Martin Scofield. The Cambridge Introduction to the American Short Story. New York: Cambridge UP, 2006. 31-2. “Setting”. In Kirszner, Laurie G., and Stephen R. Mandell. LIT. Boston: Wadsworth, 2012. 148-149. Steinglass, Matt. “Reading Tim O’Brien in Hanoi”. In Charters, Ann (Ed.) The Story and Its Writer (9th Ed.) Boston and New York: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2015, 1521-4. “Structure”. In Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs (Eds.) Literature. An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Eight Edition. Upple Saddle River (NJ): Pearson, 2006. 112-115. “Style”. In Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs (Eds.) Literature. An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Eight Edition. Upple Saddle River (NJ): Pearson, 2006. 295-302. “The Influence of Folklore on ‘Battle Royal’”. In Ann Charters (Ed.) The Story and Its Writer (9th Ed.) Boston and New York: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2015, 1616-26. “The Story Behind the Story”. In Bloom, Harold (ed.) Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried. Philadelphia (PA): Chelsea House Publishers, 2005, 13-5. “Theme”. In Arp, Thomas R., and Greg Johnson. Perrine’s Literature. Structure, Sound, and Sense (8th Ed.) Boston: Thomson Wadsworth, 2002. 203-10. “there will come soft rains… Adapted from a story by Ray Bradbury.” Weird Fantasy, 17, 1950. 1-7. Sibley, Brian. “Bradbury, Ray (Douglas)”. In Riggs, Thomas (Ed.) Reference Guide to Short Fiction (2nd Ed.) Detroit: St. James Press, 1999, 93-5. Tuten, Nancy. “Alice Walker’s ‘Everyday Use’,” in Explicator, Volume 51, No. 2, Winter, 1993, pp. 125-28. Vernon, Alex. “Tim O’Brien”. In Lauter, Paul, et al. (Eds.) The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Seventh Edition. Volume E. Boston: Cengage, 2014, 3174-5. Watermann, Arthur. “Susan Glaspell”. In Lauter, Paul, et al. (Eds.) The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Seventh Edition. Volume D. Boston: Cengage, 2014, 1560-1. Other study materials will be provided during the course.

Type of delivery of the course

The teaching method involves online classes supported by PowerPoint presentations and audio-visual material related to the topics being covered. The course is taught in English but the general level of the class will be taken into consideration.

Attendance

Lecture attendance is not compulsory but is strongly recommended.

Type of evaluation

The final exam is in written form and it consists of a series of multiple choice and open-ended questions based on the syllabus. Those students who wish to improve the final grade of the Written Exam may take an Oral Exam, the outcome of which may positively or negatively affect the grade of the Written Exam. Please note: Should the COVID-19 emergency continue, the final assessment might be entirely based on an online oral examination.

teacher profile | teaching materials

Fruizione: 21801439 LINGUA, CULTURA E ISTITUZIONI DEI PAESI DI LINGUA INGLESE in Scienze politiche e relazioni internazionali L-36 MZ ELIA ADRIANO

Programme

First module: English grammar: Learning the Language
The first module deals with some of the main grammar and morpho-syntactic structures of the English language. The language skills acquired by the students will be assessed at the end of the course.

Second module: Twentieth-century African-American voices
The second module focuses on the literary and critical contribution by twentieth-century African-American writers. In an interdisciplinary framework, the analysis of the formal features of these texts will be instrumental to connect literary and socio-cultural issues. By promoting active participation in class, the adopted teaching method envisages the improvement of language skills and the ability to engage in open discussion.The reference material includes works of fiction, critical essays and audiovisual material.

Core Documentation

For all students:

- Adriano Elia, Serena I. Volpi, Heading South with Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes, Padova, Libreriauniversitaria.it, 2021.
- Adriano Elia, W.E.B. Du Bois and Langston Hughes - Two Remarkable Men, Novalogos, 2020.
- Adriano Elia, La Cometa di W.E.B. Du Bois, Roma, RomaTrE-Press, 2015.

Further reference material will be given during the course.

Reference Bibliography

“Biography of Shirley Jackson”. In Bloom, Harold (ed.) Bloom's Major Short Story Writers. Shirley Jackson. Philadelphia (PA): Chelsea House Publishers, 2001, 11-3. “Characters”. In Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs (Eds.) Literature. An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Eight Edition. Upple Saddle River (NJ): Pearson, 2006. 153-160. Charters, Ann. “Casebook Five. Joyce Carol Oates’s ‘Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?’” In Ann Charters (Ed.) The Story and Its Writer (9th Ed.) Boston and New York: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2015, 1616-26. Charters, Ann. “Casebook Three. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’”. In Ann Charters (Ed.) The Story and Its Writer (9th Ed.) Boston and New York: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2015, 1577-78. “Critical Views on ‘The Lottery’”. In Bloom, Harold (ed.) Bloom's Major Short Story Writers. Shirley Jackson. Philadelphia (PA): Chelsea House Publishers, 2001, 29-36. “Cultural Context of Invisible Man: Brown V. Board of Education.” In Harold Bloom (Ed.) Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2008, 34-7. Everman, Welch D. “August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury, 1951”. In Riggs, Thomas (Ed.) Reference Guide to Short Fiction (2nd Ed.) Detroit: St. James Press, 1999, 745-6. Farrell, Susan. “Fight vs. Flight: A Re-evaluation of Dee in Alice Walker’s ‘Everyday Use’”. Studies in Short Fiction, 35, 1998. 179-86. Franklin, Ruth. “‘The Lottery’ Letters.” The New Yorker, June 25, 2013. https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-lottery-letters Goonetilleke, D.C.R.A. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber, 1942”. In Riggs, Thomas (ed.) Reference Guide to Short Fiction. Detroit: St. James Press, 1999, 1014-5. Jackson, Shirley. “The Morning of June 28, 1948, and ‘The Lottery’”. In Charters, Ann (Ed.) The Story and Its Writer (9th Ed.) Boston and New York: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2015, 1443-5. Miner, Madonne M. “Désirée’s Baby by Kate Chopin, 1892” In Riggs, Thomas (Ed.) Reference Guide to Short Fiction. Detroit: St. James Press, 1999, 805-6. Morris, Roy Junior. “From Ambrose Bierce: Alone in Bad Company.” In Martin, Wendy (Ed.) The Art of the Short Story. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2006, 1476-8. Nagel, James. “Charlotte Perkins Gilman, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’”. In James Nagel, The American Short Story Handbook. Hoboken (NJ): John Wiley & Sons, 2015. 196-201. “On Reading and Thinking Critically”. In Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewick. (Eds.) The Presence of Others. Readings for Critical Thinking and Writing. Boston: Bedford / St. Martin’s, 1994, 3-9. “Point of View”. In Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs (Eds.) Literature. An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Eight Edition. Upple Saddle River (NJ): Pearson, 2006. 209-218. “Recognize Symbols.” In Kirszner, Laurie G., and Stephen R. Mandell. LIT. Boston: Wadsworth, 2012. 242-4. Roberts, Edgar V., and Henry E. Jacobs. “A Career in Fiction. Edgar Allan Poe”. In Roberts, Edgar V., and Henry E. Jacobs (Eds.) Literature. An Introduction to Reading and Writing (8th Ed.) Upple Saddle River (NJ): Pearson, 2006. 500-4. Rodriguez, Richard. “Reading for Success”. In Cavitch, D. (Ed.) Life Studies, 5th Edition. Boston: Bedford Books, 1995, 208-11. Scofield, Martin. “Poe and the aesthetics of the short story”. In Martin Scofield. The Cambridge Introduction to the American Short Story. New York: Cambridge UP, 2006. 31-2. “Setting”. In Kirszner, Laurie G., and Stephen R. Mandell. LIT. Boston: Wadsworth, 2012. 148-149. Steinglass, Matt. “Reading Tim O’Brien in Hanoi”. In Charters, Ann (Ed.) The Story and Its Writer (9th Ed.) Boston and New York: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2015, 1521-4. “Structure”. In Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs (Eds.) Literature. An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Eight Edition. Upple Saddle River (NJ): Pearson, 2006. 112-115. “Style”. In Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs (Eds.) Literature. An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Eight Edition. Upple Saddle River (NJ): Pearson, 2006. 295-302. “The Influence of Folklore on ‘Battle Royal’”. In Ann Charters (Ed.) The Story and Its Writer (9th Ed.) Boston and New York: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2015, 1616-26. “The Story Behind the Story”. In Bloom, Harold (ed.) Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried. Philadelphia (PA): Chelsea House Publishers, 2005, 13-5. “Theme”. In Arp, Thomas R., and Greg Johnson. Perrine’s Literature. Structure, Sound, and Sense (8th Ed.) Boston: Thomson Wadsworth, 2002. 203-10. “there will come soft rains… Adapted from a story by Ray Bradbury.” Weird Fantasy, 17, 1950. 1-7. Sibley, Brian. “Bradbury, Ray (Douglas)”. In Riggs, Thomas (Ed.) Reference Guide to Short Fiction (2nd Ed.) Detroit: St. James Press, 1999, 93-5. Tuten, Nancy. “Alice Walker’s ‘Everyday Use’,” in Explicator, Volume 51, No. 2, Winter, 1993, pp. 125-28. Vernon, Alex. “Tim O’Brien”. In Lauter, Paul, et al. (Eds.) The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Seventh Edition. Volume E. Boston: Cengage, 2014, 3174-5. Watermann, Arthur. “Susan Glaspell”. In Lauter, Paul, et al. (Eds.) The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Seventh Edition. Volume D. Boston: Cengage, 2014, 1560-1. Other study materials will be provided during the course.

Type of delivery of the course

The teaching method involves online classes supported by PowerPoint presentations and audio-visual material relating to the topics being covered. The course is taught in English but the general level of the class will be taken into consideration.

Attendance

Lecture attendance is not compulsory but is strongly recommended.

Type of evaluation

The final exam is in written form and it consists of a series of multiple choice and open-ended questions based on the syllabus. Those students who wish to improve the final grade of the Written Exam may take an Oral Exam, whose outcome may affect positively or negatively the grade of the Written Exam. Please note: Should the COVID-19 emergency continue, the final assessment might be entirely based on an online oral examination.