Università Roma Tre

This course is an introduction to the national literature of the United States. I will explore the cultural complexities of an emerging and changing nation as revealed by representative authors such as Mary Rowlandson, Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and others. I will also emphasize the ways in which classic American literary texts have provided themes, styles, and narrative techniques to a distinctively American film culture. Through this course students will develop close reading and analytical writing skills. Attendance is highly recommended for prospective American Literature majors.

PLEASE TAKE NOTE OF THE FOLLOWING:
-- Students who are not able to attend classes will study a separate syllabus.

— Mary Rowlandson, The Sovereignity and Goodness of God (1682), edited by Neal Salisbury, New York, Bedford/St. Martins, 1997,
https://csivc.csi.cuny.edu/history/files/lavender/rownarr.html
— Phillis Wheatley, “On Being Brought from Africa to America” e “To The Right Honorable, William, Earl of Dartmouth”,
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45465/on-being-brought-from-africa-to-america
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/right-honourable-william-earl-dartmouth
—Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass (1855), a cura di Mario Corona, con testo a fronte, Venezia, Marsilio, 2002. N.B. L’introduzione di Mario Corona è parte integrante del programma d’esame.
— Langston Hughes, “I, too”.
— Allen Ginsberg, “A Supermarket in America”.
— Frederick Douglass, Narrazione della vita di Frederick Douglass, uno schiavo americano, scritta da lui stesso (1845), a cura di Maria Giulia Fabi, con testo a fronte, Venezia, Marsilio, 2015. N.B. L’introduzione di M. Giulia Fabi è parte integrante del programma d’esame.
— Frederick Douglass, “Letter to His Master”, Sept. 1848 http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/02/i-am-your-fellow-man-but-not-your-slave.html
— Edgar Allan Poe, “The Murders of the Rue Morgue”, 1841.
— Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter (1850), edited by Leland S. Person, New York, Norton, 2017.
— Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Minister’s Black Veil” (1832), The Scarlet Letter (1850), edited by Leland S. Person, New York, Norton, 2017.
— Herman Melville, “Bartleby, the Scrivener” (pp.65-98), “Benito Cereno” (183-257), “Hawthorne and His Mosses” (solo le pp.51-58), in Tales, Poems, and Other Writings, edited by John Bryant, New York, Modern Library, 2002.
— Henry James, L’angolo bello (1908), a cura di Alide Cagidemetrio, con testo a fronte, Venezia, Marsilio, 2011.
TESTI CRITICI OBBLIGATORI
— Hans Bertens & Theo D’haen, American Literature: A History, London, Routledge, 2013. Studiare solo i Capitoli 1 e 2 della Part I.
— Sara Antonelli “Realismo e simbolismo” (Dispense).
— Mario Corona, ” Il ‘capolavoro sepolto’: Leaves of Grass 1855″ e “L’autore e l’opera”, in Foglie d’erba, a cura di Mario Corona, con testo a fronte, Venezia, Marsilio, 2002, pp. 9-62.
— Links to the six US editions of Leaves of Grass (1855-1892), https://whitmanarchive.org/published/LG/
— R. W., French, “Preface to Leaves of Grass, 1855 Edition”, in J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings, eds., Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, New York, Garland Publishing, 1998, https://whitmanarchive.org/criticism/current/encyclopedia/entry_606.html
— James, E. Miller, Jr., “Song of Myself, 1855”, in J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings, eds., Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, New York, Garland Publishing, 1998, https://whitmanarchive.org/criticism/current/encyclopedia/entry_52.html
— Ivan Marki, “Starting from Paumanock”, in J.R. Le Master and Donald D. Cummings, eds., Walt Whitman: An Encyclopaedia, New York, Garland Publishing, 1998, https://whitmanarchive.org/criticism/current/encyclopedia/entry_684.html
— R. W. French, “When Lilacs Lasts in Dooryard Bloomed”, in J.R. Le Master and Donald D. Cummings, eds., Walt Whitman: An Encyclopaedia, New York, For Those who could not attendedGarland Publishing, 1998, https://whitmanarchive.org/criticism/current/encyclopedia/entry_67.html
— M. Giulia Fabi, “Introduzione” e “L’autore e l’opera”, in Frederick Douglass, Narrazione della vita di Frederick Douglass, uno schiavo americano, scritta da lui stesso (1845), a cura di Maria Giulia Fabi, con testo a fronte, Venezia, Marsilio, 2015, pp. 9-40.
— Sara Antonelli, “The African Company Presents Richard III di Carlyle Brown”, in Shakespeare nel Novecento, a cura di Agostino Lombardo, Roma, Bulzoni, 2002, pp. 75-78.
— Dispense su “La short story”.
— Alide Cagidemetrio, “Introduzione” e “L’autore e l’opera”, in Henry James, L’angolo bello (1908), a cura di Alide Cagidemetrio, con testo a fronte, Venezia, Marsilio, 2011, pp.9-38.