AMERICAN LITERATURE 2

This course is the final step for those students who have chosen Anglo-American literature as their MA field of specialization. It is an advanced course that builds on the students’ solid knowledge of Anglo-American literary history and of narratology. Students are expected to:
1. know Anglo-American Literature from high post-modernism to so called post-post-modernism in depth;
2. know the poetics of post-modernism, minimalism and post-post-modernism and the late twentieth-century realist strand that characterizes the period under scrutiny;
3. skillfully handle stylistic and formal concepts, applying them to the texts in the syllabus contrastively with special attention to the effect they create on readers;
4. read and discuss knowledgeably the secondary materials in the syllabus, formulating judgements;
5. analyze and contextualize primary and secondary texts with self-direction and autonomy.

Maturity and independence in the analysis of texts and in their interpretation along contrastive lines.
Specifically:
- knowledge of the appropriate narratological vocabulary;
- knowledge of the poetics presented in the course;
- abitity to contextualize the texts within the poetics before mentioned
- ability to articulate autonomous evaluations on the texts in the syllabus.

Very good level of English
Knowledge of the main tenets of US literature (literary history and XVIII and XIX century canonical authors)

The course presents some representative texts that exemplify the development of Anglo-American Literature from the sixties to the present day. The texts in the syllabus exemplify the most important poetics of the period under scrutiny: high-postmodernism (with texts by Barth, Pynchon and DeLillo), minimalism (with texts by Carver), post-postmodernism (with texts by Saunders, Wallace) and the realist trend (with texts by Roth, Morrison and Lahiri).

Primary texts
Pynchon, Thomas. The Crying of Lot 49;
Barth, John. “Lost in the Funhouse”; “Literature of Exhaustion”; “Literature of Replenishment”;
DeLillo, Don. White Noise
Carver, Raymond. A selection of short stories
Roth, Philip. The Human Stain
Toni Morrison, Beloved
Jhumpa Lahiri, one short story from Interpreter of Maladies
Saunders, George. one short story from Tenth of December
Wallace, David Foster. A selection of short stories; “E Unibus Pluram”

Secondary readings will be provided later on and uploaded on moodle

Written exam+brief oral exam
The written exam consists of brief questions Questions and two Close Readings. It aims at assessing the student’s skills at:
applying a specific and precise vocabulary in discussing the relationship between formal choices and thematic issues;
recognizing the features of the poetics presented and demonstrating the capacity to handle the critical materials in the syllabus flexibly and appropriately while analyzing two brief excerpts taken from two texts in the syllabus;
articulating interpretive autonomous judgments while entering into a critical conversation with the texts in the syllabus.
The oral will revolve around a discussion of the written exam.

Duration and evaluation:
the exam must be completed in 3 hours.

Blended Course (hosted on moodle). Lectures with class discussion + informal classes

English

Blended course on moodle
The course is rather challenging. To dilute the syllabus, students are warmly invited to read The Human Stain and White Noise before classes.

written and oral