AMERICAN THEORY

The course is part of the Master's degree program in American, European, and Postcolonial Languages and Cultures and aims to provide students with advanced knowledge and skills in the study of U.S. thought. The module aims to equip students with important theoretical tools to approach the reading and analysis of literary texts and aesthetic artifacts, as well as to provide an introduction to the transformation of literary criticism in the United States and the evolution of critical-theoretical discourse from the post-WWII period to our days
Within this broader framework, the course builds on the skills already acquired in previous years (particularly vocabulary and comprehension) to strengthen them and develop new analytical and interpretative abilities. A detailed description of the course will be available on the Moodle page (Syllabus).

Knowledge and understanding)
• Knowledge of the evolution of literary criticism in the United States from the late 1960s to the present.
• The ability to read, understand, and interpret texts, as well as engage in conversation with them.
• The ability to create connections between different ideas and/or authors, understanding their specific contributions to the academic debate and research.

(Application of knowledge, comprehension abilities, and problem-solving skills)
• The ability to independently identify an important issue.
• The ability to recognize the theoretical tools provided by the course materials.
• The ability to identify the differences between various authors and their contributions to the evolution of critical discourse.
• The ability to further explore topics of interest through library research.

(Ability to integrate knowledge and manage complexity)
• Becoming familiar with academic writing through the study of materials.
• The ability to structure a brief composition according to academic writing conventions.
• The ability to define a topic of interest or an important issue.

(Clear communication skills)
• The ability to summarize and paraphrase complex texts, grasping their main arguments.
• The ability to participate in a debate by presenting a point of view and offering a contribution.
• The ability to collaborate with peers during the discussion of texts, in organizing a debate, and articulate one’s impressions for the benefit of others.

(Learning abilities)
• The ability to develop argumentative skills.
• The ability to summarize, paraphrase, and cite sources.
• The ability to engage in dialogue with the ideas and authors covered in the course.

Required language proficiency in English is: B2 level.

Students will be introduced to the new discourse, which from the late 1960s to our day has changed the ways we approach literature, customarily referred to as Theory. We shall see that Theory names a new widespread desire to think with literature, rather than just use literature as sociological documentation or treat it as an inventory of themes. Simultaneously, we shall see how the new desire implies a fascinating mutual process of modernization involving Europe and the US, propelled by the displacement, circulation, and reorientation of European thought in the US. We will track how the post-Saussurean assumption that language mediates experience becomes interwoven with social critique (critical theory) and with psychoanalytic strands to give rise to a new decentered vision of meaning in literature (poststructuralism and deconstruction) and a more inclusive approach to the literary canon (women’s studies, Black criticism, Queer Theory). The rise of Theory is coeval with a fascinating and foundational stretch of US intellectual history. The aim of the course is to introduce students to the remarkable changes that Theory has brought on in anglophone critical practice and to reflect on its ongoing transformation in our time. Students will read and discuss the following major authors:
Theodor W. Adorno
Fredric Jameson
Jacques Derrida
Hèléne Cixous
Mikkail Borch-Jacobsen
Terese De Lauretis
Michel Foucault
Judith Butler
Barbara Christian
Henry Louis Gates
Eve K. Sedgwick
Roberto Esposito
Rita Felski

Required texts
Julian Wolfreys, ed., Literary Theories: A Reader and Guide ( Edinburgh University Press 1999), selections
and
Theodor W. Adorno and Horkheimer, “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception” (1947)
Judith Butler, “What is Critique?” in The Judith Butler Reader, ed. Sara Salih (2004)
Barbara Christian, “The Race for Theory,” in Cultural Critique (1987)
Hélène Cixous, “Writing and the Law,” in Readings: The Poetics of Blanchot, Joyce, Kafka, Kleist,
Lispector, and Tsvetayeva (1991)
Jacques Derrida, “Différance” (1968), In Margins of Philosophy, trans. Alan Bass (1982)
Roberto Esposito, Living Thought (2012), excerpts
Rita Felski, The Limits of Critique (2015) excerpts
Henry Louis Gates, The Signifying Monkey (1988), excerpts
Terese De Lauretis, “Through the Looking Glass,” excerpts, in Alice Doesn’t: Feminism, Semiotics, Cinema (1984)
Teresa De Lauretis, “Strategies of Coherence: Narrative Cinema, Feminist Poetics, and Yvonne Rainer,” in Technologies of Gender (1987)
Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form (1971), “Introduction”
Eve K. Sedgwick, “Paranoid Reading and Reparative Reading, or, You’re So Paranoid, You Probably Think This Essay is About You,” in Touching Feeling: Affect, Pedagogy, Performativity (2003)

Suggested readings
Derek Attridge, "This Strange Institution Called Literature: An Interview with Jacques Derrida,” in Acts of Literature, ed. Derek Attridge (1992)
Tim Campbell, “Introduction,” Diacritics, Vol. 39, No. 3, Contemporary Italian Thought (Fall 2009)
Jacques Derrida, “Che cos’è la poesia” (1988), A Derrida Reader: Between the Blinds, ed. Peggy Kamuf (1991)
Roberto Esposito, “German Philosophy, French Theory, Italian Thought,” in RSA Journal 26 (2015)
Julia Kristeva, Revolution in Poetic Language (1974), excerpts (2: The semiotic chora ordering the drives and 10: The Signifying Process)
Mena Mitrano, “Between Suspicion and Love: Reality, Postcritique, and Euro-American Modernization (An Introduction to the Debate),” in Review of International American Studies Vol. 13, Fall—Winter № 2 (2020)

The final grade will be the result of the following elements:
• Written exam
• Oral exam

The written exam: It will consist of a series of prompts or writing invitations, with a specified number of lines, aimed at assessing the knowledge of the course materials, with particular attention to the mastery of the theoretical tools provided by the course materials and the ability for independent discussion, integrated with the ability to propose and develop connections between authors, texts, and/or ideas.

The oral exam: It will last 20 minutes and will take the form of a conversation. The purpose of the conversation is: a) to discuss the written exam; b) to further assess the knowledge of the course materials, with particular attention to the mastery of the theoretical tools offered by the course and the ability for independent discussion, integrated with the ability to propose and develop connections between authors, texts, and/or ideas.

written and oral

Grading Scale
The minimum grade is 18, and the maximum grade is 30 with honors. The grading scale is divided into three ranges:

First range: 18-22 (basic level corresponding to C in the U.S. system): Sufficient knowledge of the content; limited ability to analyze the text; limited knowledge of theoretical tools; limited ability to connect texts and/or authors.

Second range: 23-26 (intermediate level corresponding to B in the U.S. system): Fair knowledge of the content; fair ability to analyze the text; fair knowledge of theoretical tools; fair ability to connect texts and/or authors.

Third range: 27-30 (good or excellent level corresponding to A in the U.S. system): Good or excellent knowledge of the content; good or excellent ability to analyze the text; good or excellent knowledge of theoretical tools; good or excellent ability to connect texts and/or authors.

Honors (Lode) are awarded to highlight an excellent level of knowledge of the content, ability to analyze the text, knowledge of theoretical tools, and ability to connect texts and/or authors.

Lecture
student openers
debate and discussion

Regular attendance is strongly recommended.

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