48
Anglo-American Languages and Literature
UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI "L'ORIENTALE"
Overview
Date/time interval
Syllabus
Course Objectives
Expected learning outcomes
Detailed and personal knowledge of literary texts, critical texts and all other materials included in the syllabus. Knowledge of the literary and cultural context in which the texts being analyzed were produced. Mastery of the tools for critical analysis of texts and the ability to use them in reading and interpretation. Ability to produce autonomous, rigorous and original readings and interpretations.
Ability to apply knowledge and understanding
This course intends to provide students with the knowledge, methodological tools of analysis and conceptual categories necessary for reading, contextualization, analysis and in-depth critical understanding of the texts and issues addressed, relating to crucial nodes of American culture and their literary representation. Through debates in class, it also aims to promote the ability to critically argue one's ideas both as a tool for better understanding texts and themes, and as an objective in itself. Active participation of students in class is required.
Course Prerequisites
Requirements
Must have: Good knowledge of the English language, adequate for understanding texts in the original language and participating in class discussions. Important: good knowledge of American literary history. Familiarity with the categories of literary criticism and textual analysis.
CP students: In order to take the Anglo-American Literature III exam, it is necessary to have passed Anglo-American Literature I and II.
Teaching Methods
The course will be held in English and will combine lectures, textual analysis and group discussion of the topics or texts (cultural and literary) assigned for that lesson. All texts will be read and discussed in English. Students will be required to read the assigned texts regularly and participate actively in class discussion. Textual analysis activities in small groups or individually will be planned during the lesson or to be completed at home.
Assessment Methods
The exam consists of a written test lasting 3-4 hours, based on open-ended questions, in English or, upon request, in Italian, followed by an oral exam that focuses on the discussion of the written exam and the reading and discussion of one or more passages from the materials in the program. For students attending classes, it is possible to take a midterm (written, duration 2 hours). Midterm is optional.
Language in which the exam is held: English or Italian (upon request).
Evaluation: a scale of grades 18 (minimum to pass)-30 (top grade).
Evaluation criteria: the exams are designed to ascertain direct and critical knowledge of the literary and theoretical bibliography, the contexts and concepts covered, and the ability to produce a personal and structured critical discourse. Autonomy of judgment and rigorous logical reasoning will be central to the evaluation.
Texts
Mandatory readings, excerpts will be available online under the tab “materiali didattici”:
Herman Melville, Typee (1846), any complete edition.
Mark Twain, excerpts from Letters from Hawaii (1866).
Ernest Hemingway, “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” (1936).
Dr. Seuss, selected cartoons (1941-45).
Hisaye Yamamoto, “Miss Sasagawara” (1950).
Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man, Prologue and Chap. 1 (1952).
Toni Morrison, Tar Baby (1981), any complete edition.
David Henry Hwang, M. Butterfly (1988).
Binyavanga Wainaina, “How to Write About Africa” (1992).
Haunani-Kay Trask, excerpts from From a Native Daughter and selected poems(1993).
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, “The Danger of a Single Story” (TED Talk, 2009).
Mandatory critical and theoretical readings, the extracts will be made available in the "teaching materials" section before the beginning of the course:
- Edward Said, from Orientalism, Pantheon Books, 1978.
- Gayatri Spivak, from “Can the Subaltern Speak?”, 1988.
- Aimé Césaire, from Discourse on Colonialism Monthly Review Press, 1950.
-Walter Mignolo, from On Decoloniality, Duke University Press, 2018.
- Pilar Martinez Benedì, “Suoni perduti (o ritrovati) nell’orecchio. Fattualità, intensità e la trasmissione dell’affect in Typee di Herman Melville.” Ácoma, Vol. 12, 2017, pp.149-167.
- Amy Kaplan, from The Anarchy of Empire in the Making of U.S. Culture, Harvard University Press, 2002.
- Donatella Izzo, “Introduzione: alla scoperta dell’Asian America” e “Le forme della violenza: il modernismo politico di Hisaye Yamamoto” in Suzie Wong non abita più qui, Shake, 2006, pp. 7-35 e pp. 125-139.
- Jacques Derrida, selections.
- Judith Butler, “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory”, Theatre Journal, Vol. 40, No. 4. (Dec., 1988), pp. 519-531.
- Timothy Yu, “What’s Wrong with Miss Saigon?” https://asianamerican.wisc.edu/2019/03/27/whats-wrong-with-miss-saigon/
- Vincenzo Bavaro, “Invisible man” in Giorgio Mariani (a cura di) Il romanzo americano: storia, forme, canoni, Carocci, 2025.
- Miriam B. Mandel, from Hemingway and Africa, Boydell & Brewer 2011.
-Toni Morrison, from Playing in the Dark. Whitness and the Literary Imagination, Vintage Books, 1993.
Further texts could be added. A full reading list will be provided at the beginning of the course.
Contents
Course Title: "Tropics of Empire: what do American Visions of Asia and Africa say about the US?"
This course examines how American literature and pop culture have “fabricated” the Pacific, Asia, and Africa as exotic, racialized tropical spaces, and how these visions support, complicate, or resist imperial ideologies. Focusing on Orientalism, colonialism, and the emergence of counter-narratives, we will explore how literary, theatrical, and popular narratives from the mid-nineteenth to the late twentieth century have shaped American perceptions of racial and geographic “Others” —Oriental, African, Indigenous, Black—while also reading counter-narratives that challenge these imperialist gazes. Comparing canonical texts and counter-narratives by indigenous and diasporic authors, students will critically analyze the politics of representation, power, and voice.
- Orientalism and imperialist gaze.
- Colonialism and the noble savage trope.
- Travel narratives of the XIX century.
- Indigenous counter-narratives: The Pacific.
- Wartime racialization and Anti-Asian representations.
- The Asian mystique.
- Africa as blank canvas or deathscape.
- Masculinity, nostalgia and the white savior complex.
- Diasporic counter-narratives: Asia.
- Diasporic counter-narratives: Africa.
Course Language
English