Anno Accademico 2014-2015 UNIVERSITÀ DI CATANIA

Anno Accademico 2014-2015
UNIVERSITÀ DI CATANIA
Dipartimento di Scienze Umanistiche
Docente
DENOMINAZIONE
Insegnamento
(in italiano)
DENOMINAZIONE
Insegnamento
(in inglese)
Settore scientifico
disciplinare
Corso di Laurea in
cui l’insegnamento è
erogato
Anno di corso in cui
l’insegnamento è
erogato
Totale crediti: CFU
Numero ORE
Obiettivi del corso
(in italiano)
Obiettivi del corso
(in inglese)
Programmi del
corso
(in italiano)
Salvatore Marano
Teoria e critica della Letteratura Anglo-americana
American Literature: Theory and Criticism
L-LIN/11
Laurea Magistrale in Lingue e culture europee ed extraeuropee (LM37)
II anno
6
Lezioni frontali e attività equivalenti: 36
Conoscenza del dibattito intorno alla teoria della letteratura e alla critica
letteraria negli Stati Uniti (1960-2000).
A partire dalle abilità di lettura testuale sviluppate nel triennio: padronanza
di abilità analitiche e comparatistiche, con riferimento ai generi letterari, ai
testi, ai contesti e agli intertesti della detective story analitica e delle sue
parodie in Nordamerica (USA, Canada) e nel Regno Unito.
Knowledge of the debate on literary theory and criticism in the United
States (1960s-2000s).
Capitalizing on the textual reading skills students developed in their
careers: mastery of analytic and comparative skills. Focus on literary
genres, texts, contexts and intertexts of the analytic detective story and its
parodies in North America (USA, Canada) and the United Kingdom.
Modulo 1 (18 h) Teoria e critica letteraria negli USA (1960-2000)
Il dibattito intorno a teoria e critica letteraria negli Stati Uniti fra gli anni
‘60 e il 2000, dallo strutturalismo alla narratologia, attraverso le poetiche
post-strutturaliste, decostruzioniste e postmoderniste, ovvero a quelle
ispirate a psicoanalisi, studi di genere, nuovo storicismo, studi etnici e
post-coloniali.
Modulo 2 (18 h) La detective story analitica e le sue parodie (18401940)
Una sinossi dei racconti di Poe e di A. Conan Doyle mostra come la
detective story analitica sia inseparabile, fin dalle origini, da pratiche
Anno Accademico 2014-2015
intertestuali e (auto)-parodistiche. Le quali verranno indagate attraverso
una campionatura dei lavori di Mark Twain, O. Henry, B. Harte, S.
Leacock, E. Hemingway, B. Hecht.
Programmi del
Module 1 (18 hours) Theory and Literary Criticism in the U.S. (1960scorso
2000s)
The debate on literary theory and criticism in the United States, 1960s(in inglese)
2000s, from structuralism to narratology, through post-structuralist and
post-modernist, deconstructionist and new historicist poetics, as well as
through, ethnic, gender , psychoanalytic and post-colonial studies.
Testi adottati
(in italiano)
Module 2 (18 h) The analytic detective story and its parodies (1840s1940s)
A synopsis of Poe’s and A. Conan Doyle’s short mystery tales shows how,
from the very beginning, the analytic detective story is inseparable from
intertextual and (self-) parodic practices. Those will be investigated in
sample works of Mark Twain, O. Henry, B. Harte, S. Leacock, E.
Hemingway, B. Hecht.
Letture obbligatorie
n. 1 (uno) libro, indicato col simbolo ●
n. 3 (tre) antologie di testi, indicate col simbolo ▲
n. 3 (tre) articoli, indicati col simbolo ■
Quando non diversamente indicato, i testi vanno letti e studiati per intero.
Modulo 1 (18 h) Teoria e critica letteraria negli USA (1960-2000)
▲ P. Barry. Beginning Theory. An Introduction to Literary and Cultural
Theory. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 2009.
È obbligatorio lo studio dei seguenti capitoli:
“Introduction” (pp. 1-10); “Structuralism” (pp. 38-58); “Post-structuralism
and deconstruction” (pp. 59-77); “Postmodernism” (pp. 78-91);
“Psychoanalytic criticism (pp. 92-115); “Feminist Criticism” (pp. 116133); “Lesbian/gay criticism” (pp. 134-149); “Marxist criticism” (pp. 150165); “New Historicism and cultural materialism” (pp. 178-184);
“Postcolonial criticism” (pp. 185-197); “Narratology” (pp. 214-238)
▲ J. Rivkin, M. Ryan. Literary Theory: An Anthology. New York and
London: Blackwell, 20042.
È obbligatorio lo studio dei seguenti testi:
C. Brooks, “The Formalist Critics” (pp. 22-27); V. Propp, “Morphology of
the Folk-tale” (pp. 72-75); J. Frow, “Text and System” (pp. 222-236); J.
Derrida, “Différance” (pp. 278-299); H. Cixious, “The Newly Born
Woman” (pp. 348-354); S. Freud, “The Uncanny” (pp. 418-430); N.
Chodorow, “Pre-Oedipal Gender Configurations” (pp. 470-486); M.
Foucault, “Discipline and Punish” (pp. 549-566); E. Sundquist, “Melville,
Delany, and New World Slavery” (pp. 621-642); M. Bakhtine, “Discourse
in the Novel” (pp. 674-686); P. Macherey, “For a Theory of Literary
Production” (pp. 703-711); S. Žižek, “The Sublime Object of Ideology”
(pp. 712-724); L. Irigaray, “The Power of Discourse and Subordination of
the Feminine” (pp. 795-798); A. Lorde, “Age, Race, Class, and Sex:
Women Redefining Difference” (pp. 864-860); G. Rubin, “Sexual
Transformations” (pp. 889-891); H.L. Gates, “The Blackness of Blackness:
A Critique of the Sign and the Signifying Monkey” (pp. 987-1004); R.D.
Parker, “Tradition, Invention, and Aesthetics in Native American
Literature” (pp. 1051-1070); Ngugi wa Thion’go, “Decolonising the Mind”
Anno Accademico 2014-2015
(pp. 1126-1150); J. Kincaid, “A Small Place” (pp. 1224-1232); W.
Benjamin,”The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” (pp.
1235-1241); J. Fiske, “Culture, Ideology, Interpellation” (pp. 1268-1273).
● G. Allen. Intertextuality. New York and London: Routledge, 2011.
Modulo 2 (18 h) La detective story analitica e le sue parodie: 18401940
▲ La seguente antologia di short- e short short-stories verrà messa a
disposizione degli studenti all’inizio del corso:
E.A. Poe, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841); “The Mystery of
Marie Rogêt” (1842); “The Gold-Bug” (1843); “The Purloined Letter”
(1844).
A.C. Doyle, “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” (1892); “The Field
Bazaar” (1896); “The Adventure of the Dancing Men” (1903); “How
Watson Learned the Trick” (1924).
M. Twain, “The Stolen White Elephant” (1878)
O. Henry, “Tictocq” (1894); “Tracked Down to Doom, or the Mystery of
the Rue Peychaud” (1894); “The Adventures of Shamrock Jolnes” (1904);
“The Sleuths” (1904); “The Detective Detector” (1905).
B. Harte, “The Stolen Cigar Case” (1900).
S. Leacock, “Maddened by Mystery: or, The Defective Detective” (1911);
“An Irreducible Detective Story” (1916); “Murder at $ 2.50 a Crime”
(1937).
E. Hemingway, “The Killers” (1927).
B. Hecht, “The Whistling Corpse” (1945).
■ R.P. Falk, F. Teague, “Parody”, in A. Preminger, T.V.F. Brogan (eds.).
The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1995 (pp. 881-883).
■ D. Sayers, “The Omnibus of Crime” (1928), in H. Haycraft. The Art of
the Mystery Story. New York: Biblio and Tannen, 1976 (pp. 71-109).
■ S. Marano. “Il segno dei quattro: Sherlock Holmes e gli umoristi
americani”. Sherlock Magazine, 5, 2005 (pp. 71-115).
Letture facoltative/di consultazione/per approfondimenti individuali
Si consideri la seguente sezione come un repertorio di testi da consultare
liberamente per approfondire i temi trattati nel corso.
D.H. Lawrence. Studies in Classic American Literature [1923]. New York:
Viking, 1964.
M. Bonaparte. The Life and Works of Edgar Allan Poe: A Psychoanalytic
Interpretation. London: Imago, 1949.
L.Fiedler. Love and Death in the American Novel. New York: Criterion,
1960.
W. Booth. The Rhetoric of Fiction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1961.
D. Hoffman. Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State
Anno Accademico 2014-2015
University Press, 1972.
D. Halliburton. Edgar Allan Poe. A Phenomenological View. Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1973.
S. Fish. Is There a Text in This Class? Cambridge (Mass.): Harvard
University Press, 1980.
R. L. Green (ed.). The Sherlock Holmes Letters. Iowa City: University of
Iowa Press, 1986.
S. Fischer Fishkin. Was Hugh Black? New York: Oxford University Press,
1993.
David K. Reynolds. Beneath the American Renaissance. The Subversive
Imagination n the Age of Emerson and Melville. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1989
(Introduction: pp. 3-14; Part Two - Public Poison: Sensationalism and
Sexuality, § 6 The Sensational Press and the Rise of Subversive Literature;
§7 The Erotic Imagination; §8 Poe and Popular Irrationalism (pp. 149268). Part Four, The Grotesque Posture: Popular Humor and the American
Subversive Style. § 15 The Carnivalization of American Language; § 16
Transcendental Wild Oats; §17 Whitman’s Poetic Humor; §18 Stylized
Laughter in Poe, Hawthorne, an Melville (pp. 439-524); Epilogue:
Reconstructive Criticism: Literary Theory and Literary History, pp, 561568)
Testi adottati
Required readings
(in inglese)
n. 1 (one) book, identified by the symbol ●
n. 3 (three) anthologies, identified by the symbol ▲
n. 3 (three) scholarly articles, identified by the symbol ■
Unless otherwise stated, the texts must be read and studied from cover to
cover.
Module 1 (18 hours) Theory and Literary Criticism in the U.S. (1960s2000s)
▲ P. Barry. Beginning Theory. An Introduction to Literary and Cultural
Theory. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 2009.
Only the following sections:
“Introduction” (pp. 1-10); “Structuralism” (pp. 38-58); “Post-structuralism
and deconstruction” (pp. 59-77); “Postmodernism” (pp. 78-91);
“Psychoanalytic criticism (pp. 92-115); “Feminist Criticism” (pp. 116133); “Lesbian/gay criticism” (pp. 134-149); “Marxist criticism” (pp. 150165); “New Historicism and cultural materialism” (pp. 178-184);
“Postcolonial criticism” (pp. 185-197); “Narratology” (pp. 214-238)
▲ J. Rivkin, M. Ryan. Literary Theory: An Anthology. New York and
London: Blackwell, 20042.
Only the following texts:
C. Brooks, “The Formalist Critics” (pp. 22-27); V. Propp, “Morphology of
the Folk-tale” (pp. 72-75); J. Frow, “Text and System” (pp. 222-236); J.
Derrida, “Différance” (pp. 278-299); H. Cixious, “The Newly Born
Woman” (pp. 348-354); S. Freud, “The Uncanny” (pp. 418-430); N.
Chodorow, “Pre-Oedipal Gender Configurations” (pp. 470-486); M.
Foucault, “Discipline and Punish” (pp. 549-566); E. Sundquist, “Melville,
Delany, and New World Slavery” (pp. 621-642); M. Bakhtine, “Discourse
in the Novel” (pp. 674-686); P. Macherey, “For a Theory of Literary
Anno Accademico 2014-2015
Production” (pp. 703-711); S. Žižek, “The Sublime Object of Ideology”
(pp. 712-724); L. Irigaray, “The Power of Discourse and Subordination of
the Feminine” (pp. 795-798); A. Lorde, “Age, Race, Class, and Sex:
Women Redefining Difference” (pp. 864-860); G. Rubin, “Sexual
Transformations” (pp. 889-891); H.L. Gates, “The Blackness of Blackness:
A Critique of the Sign and the Signifying Monkey” (pp. 987-1004); R.D.
Parker, “Tradition, Invention, and Aesthetics in Native American
Literature” (pp. 1051-1070); Ngugi wa Thion’go, “Decolonising the Mind”
(pp. 1126-1150); J. Kincaid, “A Small Place” (pp. 1224-1232); W.
Benjamin,”The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” (pp.
1235-1241); J. Fiske, “Culture, Ideology, Interpellation” (pp. 1268-1273).
● G. Allen. Intertextuality. New York and London: Routledge, 2011.
Module 2 (18 h) The analytic detective story and its parodies (1840s1940s)
▲ The following anthology of short- short and short -stories will be made
available to students at the beginning of the course:
E.A. Poe, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841); “The Mystery of
Marie Rogêt” (1842); “The Gold-Bug” (1843); “The Purloined Letter”
(1844).
A.C. Doyle, “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” (1892); “The Field
Bazaar” (1896); “The Adventure of the Dancing Men” (1903); “How
Watson Learned the Trick” (1924).
M. Twain, “The Stolen White Elephant” (1878)
O. Henry, “Tictocq” (1894); “Tracked Down to Doom, or the Mystery of
the Rue Peychaud” (1894); “The Adventures of Shamrock Jolnes” (1904);
“The Sleuths” (1904); “The Detective Detector” (1905).
B. Harte, “The Stolen Cigar Case” (1900).
S. Leacock, “Maddened by Mystery: or, The Defective Detective” (1911);
“An Irreducible Detective Story” (1916); “Murder at $ 2.50 a Crime”
(1937).
E. Hemingway, “The Killers” (1927).
B. Hecht, “The Whistling Corpse” (1945).
■ R.P. Falk, F. Teague, “Parody”, in A. Preminger, T.V.F. Brogan (eds.).
The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1995 (pp. 881-883).
■ D. Sayers, “The Omnibus of Crime” (1928), in H. Haycraft. The Art of
the Mystery Story. New York: Biblio and Tannen, 1976 (pp. 71-109).
■ S. Marano. “Il segno dei quattro: Sherlock Holmes e gli umoristi
americani”. Sherlock Magazine, 5, 2005 (pp. 71-115).
Optional readings / Reference books / Further readings
Students should consider the following section as a repertoire of texts to
study/reed/scan/skim freely for in-depth study.
D.H. Lawrence. Studies in Classic American Literature [1923]. New York:
Anno Accademico 2014-2015
Viking, 1964.
M. Bonaparte. The Life and Works of Edgar Allan Poe: A Psychoanalytic
Interpretation. London: Imago, 1949.
L.Fiedler. Love and Death in the American Novel. New York: Criterion,
1960.
W. Booth. The Rhetoric of Fiction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1961.
D. Hoffman. Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State
University Press, 1972.
D. Halliburton. Edgar Allan Poe. A Phenomenological View. Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1973.
S. Fish. Is There a Text in This Class? Cambridge (Mass.): Harvard
University Press, 1980.
R. L. Green (ed.). The Sherlock Holmes Letters. Iowa City: University of
Iowa Press, 1986.
S. Fischer Fishkin. Was Hugh Black? New York: Oxford University Press,
1993.
David K. Reynolds. Beneath the American Renaissance. The Subversive
Imagination n the Age of Emerson and Melville. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1989
(Introduction: pp. 3-14; Part Two - Public Poison: Sensationalism and
Sexuality, § 6 The Sensational Press and the Rise of Subversive Literature;
§7 The Erotic Imagination; §8 Poe and Popular Irrationalism (pp. 149268). Part Four, The Grotesque Posture: Popular Humor and the American
Subversive Style. § 15 The Carnivalization of American Language; § 16
Transcendental Wild Oats; §17 Whitman’s Poetic Humor; §18 Stylized
Laughter in Poe, Hawthorne, an Melville (pp. 439-524); Epilogue:
Reconstructive Criticism: Literary Theory and Literary History, pp, 561568)
Modalità di
Tradizionale
erogazione della
prova
Facoltativa
Frequenza
Prova orale
Valutazione
Per la valutazione dell’esame si terrà conto della padronanza dei contenuti
e delle competenze acquisite, dell’accuratezza linguistica e proprietà
lessicale, nonché della capacità argomentativa dimostrata dal candidato.
Il Docente
Prof. Salvatore Marano