American literature and europe (2020/2021)

Learning outcomes

This course aims at providing students with an advanced knowledge of themes, genres, and tendencies in the literature and culture of the United States. Focus will be on specific texts and on a variety of critical approaches to interpret them. By the end of this course, students will be able to analyze texts that show specific tendencies of American culture. They will be able to connect literary works to political, social, and religious events. They will develop critical awareness in seeing how literature is influenced by its context, and how the context defines literature, this allowing for domestic and international consequences. Furthermore, students will be able to approach texts with adequate critical tools, and will be familiar with specific features of American English.

The course addresses through fiction and non-fiction texts the role of prison and imprisonment in American culture. -****ALL THE MATERIALS MARKED AS "PART OF THE EXAM" in the Moodle page for this course (Moodle page: https://moodle.univr.it/moodle/course/view.php?id=3478) -Algren, N. short story "El Presidente de Mejico" explored his experience in a Texas jail. From "The Neon Wilderness" -Baliga, S. An Example of Restorative Justice with Sujatha Baliga https://www.google.it/search?q=An+Example+of+Restorative+Justice+with+Sujatha+Baliga&oq=An+Example+of+Restorative+Justice+with+Sujatha+--Baliga&aqs=chrome..69i57.604j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 -Baliga, S. Transformative Justice in Education Speaker Series (video - speech starts at minute 8:10) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khB0U0wMT4o -Bauer, S. "American Prison". New York, Penguin Press 2018 (pp. 36-39, 55-61, 75-83, 95-99, 103, 120-130, 150-157, 168-175, 196-200, 219-226, 243-247) -BUNKER, "Education of a Felon. A Memoir". ST.Martin Griffin Publishers, 2001 THIS BOOK IS FOR STUDENTS WHO CANNOT READ ITALIAN. IT SUBSTITUTES Kalica, E. e Santorso S. (a cura di), Farsi la galera. Spazi e culture del penitenziario. Ombre Corte 2018 -Davis, A. Are Prisons Obsolete? 2003 (pp. 9-40 only) -Fleetwood, N.R. “Posing in Prison: Family Photographs, Emotional Labor, and Carceral Intimacy”. Public Culture 27:3, 2015 -Franklin, H. B. The Victim as Criminal and Artist: Literature from the American Prison (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1978 FRINZI -Gordon, A. F. “Angela Davis. Globalism and the prison industrial complex: an interview with Angela Davis”, Race Class 1999; 40; 145 PDF -Green, T. From the Plantation to the Prison. African American Confinement Literature. Mercer UP 2008 FRINZI -Jackson, G. George Jackson/San Quentin https://vimeo.com/100361380 video -Jackson, G. Soledad Brother. The Prison Letters of George Jackson https://libcom.org/files/soledad-brother-the-prison-letters-of-george-jackson.pdf -Kolk, B. van Der. The Body Keeps the Score. Penguin CHAPTERS 5, 6 and 7 ONLY -Larson, D. (Ed.) (2014). Fourth City: Essays from the Prison in America. East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State University Press. FRINZI (1 CHAPTER OF YOUR CHOICE) -LeRoy, Mervin "I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang" (1932) film. From the novel by Robert E. Burns. Film available at https://divers-and-sundry.blogspot.com/2015/03/i-am-fugitive-from-chain-gang.html -London, J. "Pinched": A Prison Experience PDF Copisteria 30eoltre -Malcolm X, Autobiography (chapters 10 e 11) FRINZI. I suggest watching the film as well Malcolm X (Spike Lee, 1992) -Melville, H. Bartleby, the Scrivener. http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/11231/pg11231.html -Pelàez, Vicky. “The Prison Industry in the United States: Big Business or a New Form of Slavery?” El Diario-La Prensa, New York and Global Research 10 March 2008 http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-prison-industry-in-the-united-states-big-business-or-a-new-form-of-slavery/8289 -Poe, E.A., “The Pit and the Pendulum” https://www.eapoe.org/works/tales/pitpdma.htm -Thoreau, Civil Disobedience http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper2/thoreau/civil.html -Tullis, P. “Can Forgiveness Play a Role in Criminal Justice?” https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/06/magazine/can-forgiveness-play-a-role -Turner, N. Confession https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/turner/turner.html

Oral exam