The course offers an overview of multiethnic and multicultural literature through a selective examination of authors, trends and historical contexts related to the United States of America. The literary production examined in the course describes a complex cultural and social experience in which writers continuously negotiate their own identity within the communities they belong to and the United States at large, thus exploring linguistic, racial, generational, gender and economic issues in a socio-historical context that has often evolved at a dramatically fast pace.
Curriculum
teacher profile teaching materials
Bui, Thi. The Best We Could Do. New York: Abrams ComicArts, 2017 (excerpts).
Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street, London: Vintage, 1991 (1984) (excerpts).
Danticat, Edwidge. “Children of the Sea” and “Caroline’s Wedding,” in Krik? Krak! New York: Soho Press, 1995, 3-25, 135-188.
Gillan, Maria Mazziotti. “Shame and Silence in My Work,” in Mary Ann Vigilante Mannino and Justin Vitiello (eds.) Breaking Open: Reflections on Italian American Women’s Writing. West Lafayette (IN): Purdue University Press, 2003, 153-175.
Lahiri, Jhumpa. “Interpreter of Maladies,” in Interpreter of Maladies. London: Harper UK, 2000, 43-69.
Morrison, Toni. “Recitatif”, in Martin, Wendy (Ed.) The Art of the Short Story. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2006, 1167-1181.
Santos, Bienvenido. “Quicker with Arrows”, in Wong, Shawn (ed.) Asian American Literature. A Brief Introduction and Anthology. New York: HarperCollins, 1996, 80-102.
Silko, Leslie Marmon. “Yellow Woman”, in Charters, Ann (Ed.) The Story and Its Writer (9th Ed.) Boston and New York: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2015, 1208-15.
Spiegelman, Art. The Complete Maus. Harmondsworth (UK): Penguin, 2003 (1996) (excerpts).
Tusiani, Joseph. Gente Mia (excerpts), in Ethnicity. Selected Poems, New York: Bordighera Press, 2000, 1-6, 8-9.
Yamamoto, Hisaye. “Yoneko’s Earthquake,” in Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories. New Brunswick (NJ): Rutgers University Press, 2001, 46-56.
Programme
The course, divided in two modules (Module 1: Multicultural American Literature; Module 2: Asian American Writers) focuses on the discussion, from a multiethnic and multicultural perspective, of historical, social, political, and economic issues that arise from the reading of the literary selection. Special attention will be given to the analysis of literary texts in order to understand the relationship between American literature and the national identity of the United States of America.Core Documentation
Alvarez, Julia. “Snow”, in How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. New York: Bloomsbury, 2004 (1991), 86-87.Bui, Thi. The Best We Could Do. New York: Abrams ComicArts, 2017 (excerpts).
Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street, London: Vintage, 1991 (1984) (excerpts).
Danticat, Edwidge. “Children of the Sea” and “Caroline’s Wedding,” in Krik? Krak! New York: Soho Press, 1995, 3-25, 135-188.
Gillan, Maria Mazziotti. “Shame and Silence in My Work,” in Mary Ann Vigilante Mannino and Justin Vitiello (eds.) Breaking Open: Reflections on Italian American Women’s Writing. West Lafayette (IN): Purdue University Press, 2003, 153-175.
Lahiri, Jhumpa. “Interpreter of Maladies,” in Interpreter of Maladies. London: Harper UK, 2000, 43-69.
Morrison, Toni. “Recitatif”, in Martin, Wendy (Ed.) The Art of the Short Story. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2006, 1167-1181.
Santos, Bienvenido. “Quicker with Arrows”, in Wong, Shawn (ed.) Asian American Literature. A Brief Introduction and Anthology. New York: HarperCollins, 1996, 80-102.
Silko, Leslie Marmon. “Yellow Woman”, in Charters, Ann (Ed.) The Story and Its Writer (9th Ed.) Boston and New York: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2015, 1208-15.
Spiegelman, Art. The Complete Maus. Harmondsworth (UK): Penguin, 2003 (1996) (excerpts).
Tusiani, Joseph. Gente Mia (excerpts), in Ethnicity. Selected Poems, New York: Bordighera Press, 2000, 1-6, 8-9.
Yamamoto, Hisaye. “Yoneko’s Earthquake,” in Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories. New Brunswick (NJ): Rutgers University Press, 2001, 46-56.
Reference Bibliography
Amend, Allison. “Overview”. In Hispanic-American Writers. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 2010. 7-16. ---. “Sandra Cisneros”. In Hispanic-American Writers. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 2010. 63-4. Anonymous. “From Island”. In Lin, Shirley Geok-lin. Asian American Literature. An Anthology. Lincolnwood (IL): NTC Publishing Group, 2000. 31-5. Benjamin, Shanna Greene. “The Space that Race Creates: An Interstitial Analysis of Toni Morrison’s ‘Recitatif’”. Studies in American Fiction, 40, 1, 2013. 87-106. Cheung, King-Kok. “Introduction”. In Yamamoto, Hisaye. Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories. New Brunswick (NJ) Rutgers University Press, 2001, IX-XXIII. Chute, Hillary. “Art Spiegelman”. In Lauter, Paul, et al. (Eds.) The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Seventh Edition. Volume E. Boston: Cengage, 2014, 3765-7. Cisneros, Sandra. “Introduction”. In The House on Mango Street. 25th Anniversary Edition. New York: Vintage, 2009. Coulombe, Joseph L. “Following the Tracks. History and Context of Native Writing.” In Reading Native American Literature. New York: Routledge, 2011. 18-35. “Danticat, Edwidge”. In Nelson, Emmanuel S., ed. Ethnic American Literature. Santa Barbara (CA): Greenwood, 2015. 169-71. Davis, Rocio G. “Introduction: Have Come, Are Here: Reading Filipino/a American Literature”. MELUS, 29, 1, 2004. 5-18. ---. “Oral Narrative as Short Story Cycle: Forging Community in Edwidge Danticat’s Krik? Krak!” MELUS, 26, 2, 2001. 65-81. Doherty, Thomas. “Art Spiegelman’s Maus: Graphic Art and the Holocaust”. American Literature, 68, 1, 1996. 69-84. Gardaphé, Fred. “We Weren’t Always White: Race and Ethnicity in Italian American Literature”. In Literature Interpretation Theory, 13, 2002. 185-99. Gardaphé, Fred L. “Italian American Literature and Culture”. In Hendin, Josephine G. (Ed.) A Concise Companion to Postwar American Literature and Culture. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004, 299-322. Giordano, Paolo. “From Southern Italian Emigrant to Reluctant American. Joseph Tusiani’s Gente Mia and Other Poems”. In Tusiani, Joseph, Ethnicity. Selected Poems. New York: Bordighera Press, 2012, 73-86. Hatfield, Charles. “Conclusion: Toward the Habit of Questioning”. In Alternative Comics. An Emerging Literature. Jackson (MS): University of Mississippi Press, 2005. 65-7. “Kingston, Maxine Hong”. In Nelson, Emmanuel S., ed. Ethnic American Literature. Santa Barbara (CA): Greenwood, 2015. 284-9. Kim, Elaine H. “Japanese American Family and Community Portraits”. In Asian American Literature. Philadelphia (PA): Temple University Press, 1982. 122-37. “Lahiri, Jhumpa”. In Nelson, Emmanuel S., ed. Ethnic American Literature. Santa Barbara (CA): Greenwood, 2015. 295-7. Lahiri, Jhumpa. “Trading Stories”. The New Yorker, June 13, 2011. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/06/13/trading-stories Lewis, Simon. “Lahiri’s ‘Interpreter of Maladies’”. In Charters, Ann. The Story and Its Writer. Boston: Bedford / St. Martin’s, 2015. 1463-6. Miron, Layli Maria. “No Reclaimed Homeland: Thi Bui’s Postcolonial Historiography”. Inks: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society, 4, 1, 2020, 44-65. Nagel, James. “Sandra Cisneros’s Cuentitos Latinos.” In The Contemporary American Short-Story Cycle. The Ethnic Resonance of Genre. Baton Rouge (LA): Louisiana University Press, 2001. 104-27. Silko, Leslie Marmon. “Language and Literature from a Pueblo Indian Perspective”. In Charters, Ann (Ed.) The Story and Its Writer (9th Ed.) Boston and New York: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2015, 1516-21. Stern, Carlos Simpson. “Yellow Woman”. In Riggs, Thomas (ed.) Reference Guide to Short Fiction. Detroit: St. James Press, 1999, 1110-1. Takaki, Ronald. A Different Mirror. A History of Multicultural America (Revised Edition). New York: Back Bay Books, 2008, 3-20, 447-50. Williams, Laura Anh. “Foodways and Subjectivity in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies”. MELUS, 32, 4, 2007. 69-79. Wong, Sau-Ling Cynthia. “Autobiography as Guided Chinatown Tour? Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior and the Chinese American Autobiographical Controversy”. In Sau-Ling Cynthia Wong, ed. Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior. A Casebook. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. 29-53. Other study materials will be provided during the course.Type of delivery of the course
Students are expected to come to class having read all the assigned readings. In addition, they should be prepared to engage in in-class discussions.Attendance
Lecture attendance is not compulsory but is strongly recommended.Type of evaluation
The final exam is both in written form (with a series of open-ended questions) and in oral form. teacher profile teaching materials
Bui, Thi. The Best We Could Do. New York: Abrams ComicArts, 2017 (excerpts).
Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street, London: Vintage, 1991 (1984) (excerpts).
Danticat, Edwidge. “Children of the Sea” and “Caroline’s Wedding,” in Krik? Krak! New York: Soho Press, 1995, 3-25, 135-188.
Gillan, Maria Mazziotti. “Shame and Silence in My Work,” in Mary Ann Vigilante Mannino and Justin Vitiello (eds.) Breaking Open: Reflections on Italian American Women’s Writing. West Lafayette (IN): Purdue University Press, 2003, 153-175.
Lahiri, Jhumpa. “Interpreter of Maladies,” in Interpreter of Maladies. London: Harper UK, 2000, 43-69.
Morrison, Toni. “Recitatif”, in Martin, Wendy (Ed.) The Art of the Short Story. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2006, 1167-1181.
Santos, Bienvenido. “Quicker with Arrows”, in Wong, Shawn (ed.) Asian American Literature. A Brief Introduction and Anthology. New York: HarperCollins, 1996, 80-102.
Silko, Leslie Marmon. “Yellow Woman”, in Charters, Ann (Ed.) The Story and Its Writer (9th Ed.) Boston and New York: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2015, 1208-15.
Spiegelman, Art. The Complete Maus. Harmondsworth (UK): Penguin, 2003 (1996) (excerpts).
Tusiani, Joseph. Gente Mia (excerpts), in Ethnicity. Selected Poems, New York: Bordighera Press, 2000, 1-6, 8-9.
Yamamoto, Hisaye. “Yoneko’s Earthquake,” in Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories. New Brunswick (NJ): Rutgers University Press, 2001, 46-56.
Mutuazione: 21810392 CULTURE DEI PAESI DI LINGUA INGLESE in Politiche per la Sicurezza Globale: Ambiente, Energia e Conflitti LM-52 A - Z BECCE NICOLANGELO
Programme
The course, divided in two modules (Module 1: Multicultural American Literature; Module 2: Asian American Writers) focuses on the discussion, from a multiethnic and multicultural perspective, of historical, social, political, and economic issues that arise from the reading of the literary selection. Special attention will be given to the analysis of literary texts in order to understand the relationship between American literature and the national identity of the United States of America.Core Documentation
Alvarez, Julia. “Snow”, in How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. New York: Bloomsbury, 2004 (1991), 86-87.Bui, Thi. The Best We Could Do. New York: Abrams ComicArts, 2017 (excerpts).
Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street, London: Vintage, 1991 (1984) (excerpts).
Danticat, Edwidge. “Children of the Sea” and “Caroline’s Wedding,” in Krik? Krak! New York: Soho Press, 1995, 3-25, 135-188.
Gillan, Maria Mazziotti. “Shame and Silence in My Work,” in Mary Ann Vigilante Mannino and Justin Vitiello (eds.) Breaking Open: Reflections on Italian American Women’s Writing. West Lafayette (IN): Purdue University Press, 2003, 153-175.
Lahiri, Jhumpa. “Interpreter of Maladies,” in Interpreter of Maladies. London: Harper UK, 2000, 43-69.
Morrison, Toni. “Recitatif”, in Martin, Wendy (Ed.) The Art of the Short Story. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2006, 1167-1181.
Santos, Bienvenido. “Quicker with Arrows”, in Wong, Shawn (ed.) Asian American Literature. A Brief Introduction and Anthology. New York: HarperCollins, 1996, 80-102.
Silko, Leslie Marmon. “Yellow Woman”, in Charters, Ann (Ed.) The Story and Its Writer (9th Ed.) Boston and New York: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2015, 1208-15.
Spiegelman, Art. The Complete Maus. Harmondsworth (UK): Penguin, 2003 (1996) (excerpts).
Tusiani, Joseph. Gente Mia (excerpts), in Ethnicity. Selected Poems, New York: Bordighera Press, 2000, 1-6, 8-9.
Yamamoto, Hisaye. “Yoneko’s Earthquake,” in Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories. New Brunswick (NJ): Rutgers University Press, 2001, 46-56.
Reference Bibliography
Amend, Allison. “Overview”. In Hispanic-American Writers. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 2010. 7-16. ---. “Sandra Cisneros”. In Hispanic-American Writers. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 2010. 63-4. Anonymous. “From Island”. In Lin, Shirley Geok-lin. Asian American Literature. An Anthology. Lincolnwood (IL): NTC Publishing Group, 2000. 31-5. Benjamin, Shanna Greene. “The Space that Race Creates: An Interstitial Analysis of Toni Morrison’s ‘Recitatif’”. Studies in American Fiction, 40, 1, 2013. 87-106. Cheung, King-Kok. “Introduction”. In Yamamoto, Hisaye. Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories. New Brunswick (NJ) Rutgers University Press, 2001, IX-XXIII. Chute, Hillary. “Art Spiegelman”. In Lauter, Paul, et al. (Eds.) The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Seventh Edition. Volume E. Boston: Cengage, 2014, 3765-7. Cisneros, Sandra. “Introduction”. In The House on Mango Street. 25th Anniversary Edition. New York: Vintage, 2009. Coulombe, Joseph L. “Following the Tracks. History and Context of Native Writing.” In Reading Native American Literature. New York: Routledge, 2011. 18-35. “Danticat, Edwidge”. In Nelson, Emmanuel S., ed. Ethnic American Literature. Santa Barbara (CA): Greenwood, 2015. 169-71. Davis, Rocio G. “Introduction: Have Come, Are Here: Reading Filipino/a American Literature”. MELUS, 29, 1, 2004. 5-18. ---. “Oral Narrative as Short Story Cycle: Forging Community in Edwidge Danticat’s Krik? Krak!” MELUS, 26, 2, 2001. 65-81. Doherty, Thomas. “Art Spiegelman’s Maus: Graphic Art and the Holocaust”. American Literature, 68, 1, 1996. 69-84. Gardaphé, Fred. “We Weren’t Always White: Race and Ethnicity in Italian American Literature”. In Literature Interpretation Theory, 13, 2002. 185-99. Gardaphé, Fred L. “Italian American Literature and Culture”. In Hendin, Josephine G. (Ed.) A Concise Companion to Postwar American Literature and Culture. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004, 299-322. Giordano, Paolo. “From Southern Italian Emigrant to Reluctant American. Joseph Tusiani’s Gente Mia and Other Poems”. In Tusiani, Joseph, Ethnicity. Selected Poems. New York: Bordighera Press, 2012, 73-86. Hatfield, Charles. “Conclusion: Toward the Habit of Questioning”. In Alternative Comics. An Emerging Literature. Jackson (MS): University of Mississippi Press, 2005. 65-7. “Kingston, Maxine Hong”. In Nelson, Emmanuel S., ed. Ethnic American Literature. Santa Barbara (CA): Greenwood, 2015. 284-9. Kim, Elaine H. “Japanese American Family and Community Portraits”. In Asian American Literature. Philadelphia (PA): Temple University Press, 1982. 122-37. “Lahiri, Jhumpa”. In Nelson, Emmanuel S., ed. Ethnic American Literature. Santa Barbara (CA): Greenwood, 2015. 295-7. Lahiri, Jhumpa. “Trading Stories”. The New Yorker, June 13, 2011. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/06/13/trading-stories Lewis, Simon. “Lahiri’s ‘Interpreter of Maladies’”. In Charters, Ann. The Story and Its Writer. Boston: Bedford / St. Martin’s, 2015. 1463-6. Miron, Layli Maria. “No Reclaimed Homeland: Thi Bui’s Postcolonial Historiography”. Inks: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society, 4, 1, 2020, 44-65. Nagel, James. “Sandra Cisneros’s Cuentitos Latinos.” In The Contemporary American Short-Story Cycle. The Ethnic Resonance of Genre. Baton Rouge (LA): Louisiana University Press, 2001. 104-27. Silko, Leslie Marmon. “Language and Literature from a Pueblo Indian Perspective”. In Charters, Ann (Ed.) The Story and Its Writer (9th Ed.) Boston and New York: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2015, 1516-21. Stern, Carlos Simpson. “Yellow Woman”. In Riggs, Thomas (ed.) Reference Guide to Short Fiction. Detroit: St. James Press, 1999, 1110-1. Takaki, Ronald. A Different Mirror. A History of Multicultural America (Revised Edition). New York: Back Bay Books, 2008, 3-20, 447-50. Williams, Laura Anh. “Foodways and Subjectivity in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies”. MELUS, 32, 4, 2007. 69-79. Wong, Sau-Ling Cynthia. “Autobiography as Guided Chinatown Tour? Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior and the Chinese American Autobiographical Controversy”. In Sau-Ling Cynthia Wong, ed. Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior. A Casebook. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. 29-53. Other study materials will be provided during the course.Type of delivery of the course
Students are expected to come to class having read all the assigned readings. In addition, they should be prepared to engage in in-class discussions.Attendance
Lecture attendance is not compulsory but is strongly recommended.Type of evaluation
The final exam is both in written form (with a series of open-ended questions) and in oral form.