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ANGLO-AMERICAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE II

Course Overview

The second-year course in Anglo-American Literature and Culture is a 54-hour course that runs throughout the academic year. The course is taught in English and focuses on the essential features and major issues of Anglo-American literature and culture from the late 19th century to the present day.

Course Details

• Code: 61273
• Academic Year: 2025/2026
• Credits:
  • 6 cfu anno 2 TEORIE E TECNICHE DELLA MEDIAZIONE INTERLINGUISTICA 8741 (L-12) - GENOVA
  • 9 cfu anno 2 LINGUE E CULTURE MODERNE 8740 (L-11) - GENOVA
  • 6 cfu anno LINGUE E CULTURE MODERNE 8740 (L-11) - GENOVA
  • 9 cfu anno LINGUE E CULTURE MODERNE 8740 (L-11) - GENOVA
  • 9 cfu anno 1 LETTERATURE MODERNE E SPETTACOLO 11961 (LM-14) - GENOVA
• Scientific Disciplinary Sector: L-LIN/11
• Language: English
• Teaching Location: GENOVA
• Semester: Annual
• Teaching Materials: AULAWEB

Aims and Content

Learning Outcomes

The course aims to familiarize students with major trends of American culture and with important works in different genres. Students will learn how to analyze such works competently from a historical and textual perspective.

Aims and Learning Outcomes

At the completion of the course, the student will have become familiar with major American historical and cultural developments and with some major American writers and texts. The student will be able to interpret these developments in English and Italian with reference to fiction, poetry, drama, and literary theory.

Prerequisites

Preferably, students should already have taken an introductory course in American literature. However, personal interest and a good background in reading literature may be sufficient to participate usefully in this course. A fair knowledge of English (B2 or superior level) and an ability to follow complex historical and cultural arguments are also required.

Teaching Methods

The course includes lectures in English and seminar activities, workgroups, and close-readings. Students who are unable to attend will have to read some supplementary material.

Syllabus/Content

The course aims at introducing the essential elements of the literature and culture of the United States through some of the fundamental texts of the period from the end of the 19th century to the contemporary period. Every year, through different texts and perspectives, students will focus on issues like the literature of the West, the South, urban development, racial tensions, ethnic literature, environmental issues, Realism, Modernism, and Post-Modernism.

Recommended Reading/Bibliography

The course focuses on the literature and culture of the Midwest, the American heartland, and one of the most representative spaces of the United States. Through a selection of a wide variety of literary texts, students will be introduced to different issues.

Authors that might be included in the course for both attending
on-attending students (reading list to be integrated/modified) include:

• Willa Cather, O Pioneers (1913)
• Sherwood Anderson, Winesburg, Ohio (1919) selected short stories
• Sinclair Lewis, Main Street , (1920) selected short stories
• Richard Wright, Native Son (1940)
• Langston Hughes, Not Without Laughter (1930)
• Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac , (1949) selected essays
• Jim Harrison, (1988)
• Charles Baxter, Gryphon: New and Selected Stories (2011), selected short stories
• David Foster Wallace, selected short stories and essays
• Louise Erdrich, selected short stories

Teachers and Exam Board

• PAOLA ANNA NARDI
• Exam Board:
  • PAOLA ANNA NARDI (President)
  • GABRIELE FERRACCI

Lessons

• Lesson starts on Wednesday, the 1st of October 2025
• Timetable:
  • Wednesday 11-13 Room L (polo)
  • Thursday: 17-18 Room E (polo)

Exams

Exam Description

Students will take a written exam at the end of the course. For students who will attend the course, the evaluation will be based on both their active participation in the lessons (50%) and the final exam (50%). The evaluation will be based entirely on the final exam for the other students.

Assessment Methods

The exam paper involves open questions and commentary on literary texts. The open questions test knowledge and comprehension; the commentary tests the student's ability to recognize and describe the main formal features of specific texts and connect them to contextual historical and cultural information.

Exam Schedule

• Data appello: 21/01/2026
• Orario: 11:30
• Luogo: GENOVA
• Degree type: Scritto

Further Information

Attendance is highly recommended. Students who cannot attend will have to study some supplementary or different material. Course enrolment via AulaWeb is mandatory. Examination enrolment is through the Unige website. This syllabus is valid till February 2027. Erasmus students are welcome.