Study-unit American Literature I
| Course name | Foreign languages and cultures |
|---|---|
| Study-unit Code | A002630 |
| Curriculum | Comune a tutti i curricula |
| Lecturer | Mirella Vallone |
| Lecturers |
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| Hours |
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| CFU | 9 |
| Course Regulation | Coorte 2021 |
| Supplied | 2021/22 |
| Supplied other course regulation | |
| Learning activities | Caratterizzante |
| Area | Letterature straniere |
| Sector | L-LIN/11 |
| Type of study-unit | Opzionale (Optional) |
| Type of learning activities | Attività formativa monodisciplinare |
| Language of instruction | Italian |
| Contents | “Love is the bond of perfection”: cohesion and fragmentation in colonial America The course, that will be the first formative step in the curriculum specializing in American literature and culture, will take into examination colonial America studying the transatlantic routes and the different types of dislocation at the origins of American identity. It will focus on the one hand, on the Puritan Great Migration and its contribution to American culture, on how American Puritans developed narratives of cohesion and continuity to face the perils of the New World and forged a religious rhetoric out of a doctrinal belief in inextricable links between the temporal and the transcendent, the visible and the invisible - a rhetoric that moving into national oratory testifies the permanence of the American Dream. On the other hand, it will analyze, through the reading of Toni Morrison’s novel A Mercy, how colonial history was also a history of fragmentations and dispersions caused by expropriations, forced dislocations, exploitation, and unequal power relations. |
| Reference texts | The Puritans in America: A Narrative Anthology, ed. Andrew Delbanco, Harvard UP, 2009. (available on PRIMO) Toni Morrison, A Mercy. A selection of ciritical texts will be provided at the beginning of the course. |
| Educational objectives | The course aims to provide students with a comprehensive overview of the origins of American history and literature, and of the complex and debated issues related to these origins, along with the tools for the analysis of literary texts. At the end of the course students should be able 1. to situate the primary texts included in the reading list in their historical, cultural, and literary context; 2. to read and translate the literary works, and perform a formal text analysis; 3. to comment on the literary works and debate the issues of the course with an appropriate critical language. |
| Prerequisites | Basic notions for the analysis of literary texts. |
| Teaching methods | Lectures and seminars. |
| Learning verification modality | Oral examination. |
| Extended program | “Love is the bond of perfection”: cohesion and fragmentation in colonial America The course, that will be the first formative step in the curriculum specializing in American literature and culture, will take into examination colonial America studying the transatlantic routes and the different types of dislocation at the origins of American identity. It will focus on the one hand, on the Puritan Great Migration and its contribution to American culture, on how American Puritans developed narratives of cohesion and continuity to face the perils of the New World and forged a religious rhetoric out of a doctrinal belief in inextricable links between the temporal and the transcendent, the visible and the invisible - a rhetoric that moving into national oratory testifies the permanence of the American Dream. On the other hand, it will analyze, through the reading of Toni Morrison’s novel A Mercy, how colonial history was also a history of fragmentations and dispersions caused by expropriations, forced dislocations, exploitation, and unequal power relations. |