Unit AMERICAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE

Course
Italian, classical studies and european history
Study-unit Code
A000186
Curriculum
Letteratura e filologia italiana
Teacher
Mirella Vallone
Teachers
  • Mirella Vallone
Hours
  • 36 ore - Mirella Vallone
CFU
6
Course Regulation
Coorte 2022
Offered
2022/23
Learning activities
Caratterizzante
Area
Lingue e letterature moderne
Academic discipline
L-LIN/11
Type of study-unit
Opzionale (Optional)
Type of learning activities
Attività formativa monodisciplinare
Language of instruction
English
Contents
Trauma and Literary Imagination in Contemporary American Literature

The course, starting from a historical and theoretical overview of trauma studies, will examine the literary representation of trauma, exploring the relationship between history, trauma, and memory. A laceration in the mental experience of time, the Self, and the world, trauma will be analyzed as an "enigma of survival" as well. The course will focus on the centrality of the body in the experience of trauma and on the role of language and art in working through it. Students will also reflect on the related vulnerability, relationality, and ethics issues.
Reference texts
Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.
Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous.
Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Refugees.
Cathy Caruth, Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative, and History.
Cathy Caruth (ed.), Trauma: Explorations in Memory.
Judith Butler, Precarious Life: the Powers of Mourning and Violence.
Dori Laub and Daniel Podell, Art and Trauma.
Educational objectives
At the end of the course students should be able 1. to understand the evolution of the concept of trauma in relation to literary studies; 2. to interpret literature as it relates to its historical, social, and cultural context and perform a formal and critical analysis of the literary texts studied; 3. to comment on the literary works and debate the issues of the course with an appropriate critical language.
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of American history and literature.
Teaching methods
Lectures and seminars.
Learning verification modality
Oral examination on the texts and issues of the course, aimed to test 1. the comprehension of the texts studied and of their contexts; 2. the ability to apply knowledge; 3. the ability to communicate effectively and with appropriate critical language.
Extended program
Trauma and Literary Imagination in Contemporary American Literature
The course, starting from a historical and theoretical overview of trauma studies, will examine the literary representation of trauma, exploring the relationship between history, trauma, and memory. A laceration in the mental experience of time, the Self, and the world, trauma will be analyzed as an "enigma of survival" as well. The course will focus on the centrality of the body in the experience of trauma and on the role of language and art in working through it. Students will also reflect on the related vulnerability, relationality, and ethics issues.
Condividi su