AMERICAN LITERATURE 1 MOD. 1

The course is part of the MA in American, European and Postcolonial Languages and Cultures and the MA in Linguistics and aims to provide students with advanced knowledge and skills in the literary and cultural field, particularly in the history of American literature and culture from the nineteenth century to the present day. Students will have the opportunity to improve their skills in textual analysis as applied to works of prose and poetry, and to place these works in their respective historical and cultural contexts. The analytical tools acquired over the three years of the undergraduate course will be tested and developed, starting with the knowledge of literary history and critical theory and methodology; the ability to work independently and to discuss the results of their work orally will be encouraged.

The specific pedagogical objectives of the course are:
1) to develop an in-depth knowledge and understanding of key works of Californian American literature between the 1800s and the 2000s;
2) the ability to apply this knowledge and understanding to other texts;
3) the development of advanced skills in communicating the content studied in English;
4) the ability to discuss and evaluate primary and secondary materials with relative autonomy;
5) the ability to work synergistically with other students.

Advanced knowledge of written and spoken English (≥ C1). Good knowledge of the history of American literature and the basic theoretical concepts of literary theory, acquired through the teaching of the three-year programme in Languages, Civilizations and Linguistic Sciences and/or the reading of the reference works in the bibliography.

Immediately after joining the United States in 1848, California became an attractive place for immigrants as a consequence of the discovery of gold in 1849. People from other parts of the U.S. and from abroad flocked there with the dream of becoming rich; the number of new comers grew again at the beginning of the 20th century, because of the oil industry and Hollywood, and later as a consequence of different migration waves. Since the beginning of its Anglophone history, California has been represented as an Edenic land, blessed by eternal sunshine, internationally perceived as a land of golden dreams despite its xenophobic history and its environmental precariousness. This course will chronologically cover some of the most representative texts of Californian literature from the 19th to the 21st centuries, with specific reference to environmental, social, and racial issues.

Primary sources
Helen Hunt Jackson Ramona, extract
John Muir, extract
Upton Sinclair, Oil!, chaps. 1, 13.
C Pam Zhang, How Much of These Hills Is Gold (whole book)
Naomi Hirahara, Evergreen/Mas Arai/Terminal Island (whole book)
Easy Rider, film
Stokely Carmichael, “Black Power” (free online)
John Fante, “My Dog Stupid”
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath (whole book)

Secondary sources
Bavaro, Vincenzo, and Elisa Bordin. Special Issue of Acoma 26 (2024). "California: immaginazione e disastro". acoma.it
Davis, Mike. "Sunshine or Noir" in The City of Quartz
discography (see Moodle page)
Lagayette, Pierre. California in Late Settlement. (pdf on Moodle)
McNamara, Kevin. Ed. The Cambridge Companion to the Literature of Los Angeles. Cambridge, 2010. Chronology and Introduction + essays by William Alexander McClung and David Wyatt

Class presentation and class participation (30%): students must work in groups and prepare 1) a class presentation on The Grapes of Wrath 2) an interview to writer Naomi Hirahara
Written exam (50%)
Oral exam (20%)

The written exam is 2 hours long and requires the writing of 3 mini-essays on selected topics. Students must be able to discuss a topic thoroughly but within the assigned count limit. The student is asked 3 questions (specific or broad) on 3 different topics, which the students must use to organize their critical discourse on the themes of the course. The questions may be the comment of a text, a precise date/title/etc., or a broad investigation of a topic. The exam is not thought of as a test, but as a short critical essay of about 15 lines whose aim is the assessment of the learning goals (knowledge of the historical and critical frame and of the texts; comparative and analytical skills; independent thought; communicative skills).
Primary and secondary sources are mandatory.

Pay attention: you must have the texts on you during the oral exam.
Students who cannot attend can contact me at elisa.bordin@unive.it or visit me during my office hours.

Lectures and seminars, class discussion, flipped classroom, participation in literary events with authors and/or conferences

English

written and oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Natural capital and environmental quality" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development