AMERICAN THEORY

The course is part of the Master's degree program in American, European, and Postcolonial Languages and Cultures and aims to provide students with advanced knowledge and skills in the study of U.S. thought. The module aims to equip students with important theoretical tools to approach the reading and analysis of literary texts and aesthetic artifacts, as well as to provide an introduction to the transformation of literary criticism in the United States and the evolution of critical-theoretical discourse from the post-WWII period to our days
Within this broader framework, the course builds on the skills already acquired in previous years (particularly vocabulary and comprehension) to strengthen them and develop new analytical and interpretative abilities. A detailed description of the course will be available on the Moodle page (Syllabus).

Knowledge and understanding)
• Knowledge of the evolution of literary criticism in the United States from the late 1960s to the present.
• The ability to read, understand, and interpret texts, as well as engage in conversation with them.
• The ability to create connections between different ideas and/or authors, understanding their specific contributions to the academic debate and research.

(Application of knowledge, comprehension abilities, and problem-solving skills)
• The ability to independently identify an important issue.
• The ability to recognize the theoretical tools provided by the course materials.
• The ability to identify the differences between various authors and their contributions to the evolution of critical discourse.
• The ability to further explore topics of interest through library research.

(Ability to integrate knowledge and manage complexity)
• Becoming familiar with academic writing through the study of materials.
• The ability to structure a brief composition according to academic writing conventions.
• The ability to define a topic of interest or an important issue.

(Clear communication skills)
• The ability to summarize and paraphrase complex texts, grasping their main arguments.
• The ability to participate in a debate by presenting a point of view and offering a contribution.
• The ability to collaborate with peers during the discussion of texts, in organizing a debate, and articulate one’s impressions for the benefit of others.

(Learning abilities)
• The ability to develop argumentative skills.
• The ability to summarize, paraphrase, and cite sources.
• The ability to engage in dialogue with the ideas and authors covered in the course.

Required language proficiency in English is: B2 level.

Students will be introduced to the new discourse, which from the late 1960s to our day has changed the ways we approach literature, customarily referred to as Theory. We shall see that Theory names a new widespread desire to think with literature, rather than just use literature as sociological documentation or treat it as an inventory of themes. Simultaneously, we shall see how the new desire implies a fascinating mutual process of modernization involving Europe and the US, propelled by the displacement, circulation, and reorientation of European thought in the US. We will track how the post-Saussurean assumption that language mediates experience becomes interwoven with social critique (critical theory) and with psychoanalytic strands to give rise to a new decentered vision of meaning in literature (poststructuralism and deconstruction) and a more inclusive approach to the literary canon (women’s studies, Black criticism, Queer Theory). The rise of Theory is coeval with a fascinating and foundational stretch of US intellectual history. The aim of the course is to introduce students to the remarkable changes that Theory has brought on in anglophone critical practice and to reflect on its ongoing transformation in our time. Proposed weekly schedule:
Contenuti degli incontri settimanali:

1. The Birth of Theory from Brooks & Warren to Our Days. Part I: Brooks & Warren to 1971
2. The Birth of Theory from Brooks & Warren to Our Days. Part II: 1971 to Our Days
3. Affirmative Deconstruction: Inheritance
4. Post-sign: différance
5. Spivak I: Literary Criticism and Derrida (Transfer/Transference)
6. Spivak II: Homo Significans vs the Grammatologist
7. Spivak II continued
8. Deconstruction in America: Paul de Man, Part I
9. The Problem of Reading: Paul de Man, Part II
10. Harold Bloom: Influence
11. Julia Kristeva: Intertextuality
12. Kristeva continued
13. The critic: power with, not power on
14. Weak Theory
15. Conclusion: The Transformation of Theory

REQUIRED TEXTS (COURSE READER)
The COURSE READER will be our textbook. It is available on Moodle.

Bloom, Harold. From The Anxiety of Influence. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. First edition 1973. Introduction and Chapter One, pp. 5-45.
Brooks, Cleanth and Robert Penn Warren, Commentary to Yeats, “After Long Silence.” Understanding Poetry, 515-516. Holt, Reinhart and Winston, 1976. First edition 1938.
de Man, Paul. “The Resistance to Theory.” Resistance to Theory. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1986. 3-20.
de Man, Paul. “Literature and Language: A Commentary.” New Literary History, Vol. 4, No. 1, The Language of Literature (Autumn, 1972): 181-192.
de Man, Paul. “The Rhetoric of Blindness.” Blindness and Insight: Essays in the Rhetoric of Contemporary Criticism. Oxford University Press, 1971. 102-141.
de Man, Paul. An excerpt from “Semiology and Rhetoric” (pp. 1-14) and from “Reading (Proust)2 (pp. 58-64), from Allegories of Reading. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1979.
de Man, Paul. Fragments from “Autobiography as De-Facement” (pp. 67-69, p. 70, and p. 80), from The Rhetoric of Romanticism. New York: Columbia University Press, 1984.
Derrida, Jacques. “In Blind Sight: Writing, Seeing, Touching” and “Affirmative Deconstruction, Inheritance, Technology.” Deconstruction Engaged: The Sydney Seminars. Eds. Paul Patton and Terry Smith. Sydney: Power Publications, 1999. 13-29; 71-79.
Derrida, Jacques. “Différance.” Margins of Philosophy. Trans. Alan Bass. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982. 3-27.
Dimock, Wai Chee. “Weak Theory.” Critical Inquiry 39, Vol. 39, No. 4 (Summer 2013): 732-753.
Esposito, Roberto. “German Philosophy, French Theory, Italian Thought.” RSA Journal: Rivista di Studi Americani, Vol. 26 (2015): 104-114.
Hayot, Eric. “Then and Now.” In Elizabeth S. Anker and Rita Felski, Critique and Postcritique. Durham & London: Duke University Press, 2017. 279-295.
Jameson, Fredric. “Preface.” Marxism and Form: Twentieth-Century Dialectical Theories of Literature. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1971. ix-xix.
Kristeva, Julia. “Towards a Semiology of Paragrams” (19767). The Tel Quel Reader. Edited by Patrick ffrench and Roland-François Lack. London & New York: Routledge, 1998. 25-49.
Miller, H. Hillis. “The Critic as Host.” Deconstruction and Criticism. Edited by Harold Bloom et al. London and Henley: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979. 217-253.
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. “Translator’s Preface.” Jacques Derrida, Of Grammatology. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997. First edition 1976. Ix-lxxxvii.
Saint-Amour, Paul. Excerpt “Some Weak Theorists” (pp. 442-446), from “Weak Theory, Weak Modernism.” Modernism/modernity, Volume 25, Number 3 (September 2018): 437-459.


OTHER SUGGESTED TEXTS
David H. Richter, The Critical Tradition: Shorter Edition. MacMillan, 2016.
Martin McQuillan, Paul de Man. London: Routledge, 2001.

The final grade will be the result of the following elements:
• Written exam
• Oral exam

The written exam: It will consist of a series of prompts or writing invitations, with a specified number of lines, aimed at assessing the knowledge of the course materials, with particular attention to the mastery of the theoretical tools provided by the course materials and the ability for independent discussion, integrated with the ability to propose and develop connections between authors, texts, and/or ideas.

The oral exam: It will last 20 minutes and will take the form of a conversation. The purpose of the conversation is: a) to discuss the written exam; b) to further assess the knowledge of the course materials, with particular attention to the mastery of the theoretical tools offered by the course and the ability for independent discussion, integrated with the ability to propose and develop connections between authors, texts, and/or ideas.

written and oral

The lecturer has a duty to ensure that the rules regarding the authenticity and originality of exam tests and papers are respected. Therefore, if there is suspicion of irregular conduct, an additional assessment may be conducted, which could differ from the original exam description.

Grading Scale
The minimum grade is 18, and the maximum grade is 30 with honors. The grading scale is divided into three ranges:

First range: 18-22 (basic level corresponding to C in the U.S. system): Sufficient knowledge of the content; limited ability to analyze the text; limited knowledge of theoretical tools; limited ability to connect texts and/or authors.

Second range: 23-26 (intermediate level corresponding to B in the U.S. system): Fair knowledge of the content; fair ability to analyze the text; fair knowledge of theoretical tools; fair ability to connect texts and/or authors.

Third range: 27-30 (good or excellent level corresponding to A in the U.S. system): Good or excellent knowledge of the content; good or excellent ability to analyze the text; good or excellent knowledge of theoretical tools; good or excellent ability to connect texts and/or authors.

Honors (Lode) are awarded to highlight an excellent level of knowledge of the content, ability to analyze the text, knowledge of theoretical tools, and ability to connect texts and/or authors.

Lecture
student openers
debate and discussion

Regular attendance is strongly recommended.

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development