American Fictions: Plots and Counterplots
(objectives)
Graduates in Languages and Literatures for Teaching and Translation obtain advanced knowledge and understanding in all the subject areas of their training in order to 1) consolidate and develop their competence in European and American Studies, with particular attention to their literature of specialisation; 2) deepen their knowledge of the two foreign languages chosen, achieving a heightened competence in the language of specialization and an advancement in the second language; 3) reach enhanced awareness of the linguistic features of their language of specialisation, both from a diachronic and a synchronic perspective; 4) reach an adequate knowledge of the most advanced methodologies for the analysis of literary texts; 5) handle confidently the theoretical-practical tools for teaching and for translation.
American fictions: plots and counterplots is one of the characterising modules of the programme. It allows students to consolidate their language skills as well as their knowledge of North American literary phenomena from a global and transcultural perspective. Classes focus on the analysis of plots, themes, and characters across narrative genres – such as the short story, the novel, the romance, the serial – conducive to an understanding of the Anglo-American literary imagination. At the end of the module students will be able to: apply their methodological and educational competence to the analysis of literary phenomena from a transcultural perspective; communicate at an advanced level the disciplinary content; express an autonomous and accurate critical assessment.
Requirements: Students must have already taken North American literatures and visual cultures.
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Code
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20710480 |
Language
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ENG |
Type of certificate
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Profit certificate
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Credits
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6
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Scientific Disciplinary Sector Code
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L-LIN/11
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Contact Hours
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36
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Type of Activity
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Core compulsory activities
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Teacher
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MAGGITTI VINCENZO
(syllabus)
The course is focused on the Hollywood Novel, a subgenre of twentieth century American novel, including writers, such as Fitzgerald and West, who worked for cinema as screenplayers and later reworked their experience in works that are not biographical but metaphorically represent American life through Hollywood lenses. Themes will be discussed related to alienation and mass-production. Texts will allow a different discussion about literature and cinema shifting from adaptation to reshaping literary language in cinematic terms. A recent TV series and an older movie about the end of classical Hollywood will be shown and discussed during the extra academic classes.
20710480 - American Fictions: Plots and Counterplots
2nd year MA Languages and Literatures for Teaching and Translation
(36 hours – 6 CFU; meeting twice a week – each class is 2 hours)
(reference books)
Programma 20710480 American Fictions: Plots and Counterplots
Novels
H. McCOY, I Should Have Stayed Home (1938) New Publisher, 2021 ISBN-13 978-1618952967 N. WEST, The Day of the Locust (1939) Penguin, 2018 ISBN: 9780241341674
F. Scott FITZGERALD, The Last Tycoon (1941) Penguin, 2002 ISBN: 9780141185637
Short Stories
F. Scott FITZGERALD, The Pat Hobby Stories (1962), selection of six stories (the whole collection must be read, though) https://archive.org/details/pathobbystories0000fitz/page/n5/mode/2up
Film: Sunset Boulevard (US, Paramount, 1950) regia di Billy Wilder
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Dates of beginning and end of teaching activities
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From to |
Delivery mode
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Traditional
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Attendance
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not mandatory
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Evaluation methods
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Oral exam
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Teacher
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MARIANI Enrico
(syllabus)
The course proposes an overview on the literature written in the 20th Century by immigrants or immigrants’ descendants in the U.S.A. The texts tackle the literary representation of the migration from the country of origin and the adjustment in the host country, dealing especially with controversial and multifaceted phenomena such as assimilation (or “melting-pot”) vs cultural pluralism, national identity, ethnic identity, and racial and ethnic discrimination. Moreover, the texts display a variety of perspectives on the migratory dynamics depending on the country of origin and on the perception of their community in the host country. The choice of these texts allows to compare different critical approaches due to their different literary techniques and different genres: autobiography, semi-autobiography, the Modernist novel, the realist novel, and the collective novel in first person plural. Thus, the course analyzes both the linguistic and structural differences and the recurring literary topoi. Some classes may include cinematic representations of migratory phenomena in the U.S.A.
(reference books)
Mary Antin, The Promised Land (1912)
Louis Adamic, Laughing in the Jungle (1932)
(qualsiasi edizione, digitale o cartacea)
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Dates of beginning and end of teaching activities
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From to |
Delivery mode
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Traditional
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Attendance
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not mandatory
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Evaluation methods
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Oral exam
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