Università Roma Tre

Poetry and Drama in Contemporary Anglophone North America

As categories of literary compositions, literary genres are naturally flexible and open to blending and hybridization. Poetry and drama, in particular, share specific characteristics and often impregnate each other with lyricism and performative qualities. We need only to address the work of great dramatists, modernist poets, the beat and post beat generation, and post-modern authors whatever their ethnicities and gender to discover how often those two genres mingle to create new subversive blurring. We will aim at reaching an adequate understanding of the significance of genre in contemporary literature: T. Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire; J. Eugenides, The Virgin Suicides; S. Coppola, film "The Virgin Suicides.

Duff, David. “Key Concepts.” Modern Genre Theory. Ed. David Duff. Harlow: Longman, 2000. x–xvi and “Introduction.” Modern Genre Theory. Ed. David Duff. Harlow: Longman, 2000. 1-24.

Texts: T. Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire; J. Eugenides, The Virgin Suicides; S. Coppola, film "The Virgin Suicides.

Duff, David. “Key Concepts.” Modern Genre Theory. Ed. David Duff. Harlow: Longman, 2000. x–xvi and “Introduction.” Modern Genre Theory. Ed. David Duff. Harlow: Longman, 2000. 1-24.

Texts: W.C. Williams, A Dream of Love, Eugene O’Neill, Desire under the Elms, T. Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire, A. Miller, Death of a Salesman, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Tirannus Nix, Kenneth Patchen, Picture-Poems, Diane Di Prima, Memoirs of a Beatnik, Susan Sontag, Alice in Bed, Erin Shields, If We Were Birds Caroline Gage, The Second Coming of Joan of Arc, Bob Dylan, a selection of Songs, Toni Morrison, Desdemona.