Required skills

Very good knowledge of English (at least a C1 level).

Goals

The course will highlight specific, crucial aspects/themes of key US Modernist texts analyzing and comparing them at the level of form, content and context. The texts will be interpreted 1. addressing them critically and culturally with different methodological approaches; 2. developing/deepening the ability to build a valid, creative and original critical interpretation to improve and deepen the students' critical ability (knowledge and ability to read critically and contextualize the primary texts).

US Modernisms/The course is lectured in English; students should have at least a C1 level in English.

Subjects

The course will highlight specific, crucial aspects/themes of key US Modernist texts analyzing and comparing them at the level of form, content and context. The texts will be interpreted addressing them critically, contextually and culturally in their English versions.

Mandatory texts/works/readings (A=adopted; C=recommended)

Referral texts/primary sources

(A) Henry James, short story, “The Jolly Corner” (1908), any edition; also available online at https://archive.org/stream/thejollycorner01190gut/1190.txt

(A) Francis Scott Fitzgerald, novel, The Great Gatsby (1925), any edition

(A) Nella Larsen, novel, Passing (1929), any edition

(A) Edith Wharton, short story, “Roman Fever” (1934), any edition.

Mandatory readings/secondary sources

(A) on literary history, historical and cultural contexts: Hans Bertens and Theo D’haen, American Literature: A History, Routledge, London and New York, 2014, selected pages (pp. 1-7; 47-48; 83-87; 93-96; 111-119; 124-132; 141-143; 162-165; 174-177; 185-190; 224-227; 231-232; total number of pages: 50 pp.), available at the Biblioteca/Library of the Department, Palazzo Ugolini, Corso Cavour 2, Macerata; also available in electronic edition at: https://bibliomarchesud.it/opac/resource/american-literature-a-history/UMC1758712

(A) on Narratology: Peter Hühn et al., eds., The Living Handbook of Narratology, Hamburg, Hamburg University, 2009-2023, available online at: https://www.lhn.uni-hamburg.de/contents.html, the following sections: narratology; story/discourse; time; point of view; focalization; the reader; the implied author

(A) 4 critical essays on the primary texts (see below).

All works are available at the Biblioteca/Library of the Department, Palazzo Ugolini, Corso Cavour 2, Macerata. When specified, they are also available in electronic version.

Additional, mandatory readings (critical essays on individual texts) will be suggested during the course and will be listed in the Unimc web page of the course by the end of the lessons (in the NOTIZIE section).

Extra info

The course is lectured in English (students should have at least a C1 level in English).

• Teaching methods

  Lectures with dialogical spaces, class discussion and laboratorial teaching to read, translate, and interpret the primary texts.

• Assessment methods

  oral test (30 minutes): assessment of the students’ ability of reading critically and contextualizing the texts; assessment of the students’ knowledge of literary history and of the ability of using and quoting the critical/secondary resources. All the texts listed in the contents section are mandatory but students can focus on (at least) two texts for the oral test. Language of the oral test: English.

  
  

  Evaluation criteria

  critical ability (knowledge and ability of reading critically and contextualizing the texts): 60%; ability of using and quoting the primary texts and the critical/secondary resources; knowledge of literary history: 40%.

The course is lectured in English; students should have at least a C1 level in English. Italian language may be used up to 30% of the course (and only if incoming students will have at least a a B2 level in Italian.

English