Schema della sezione

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    Introduzione

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    • TENTATIVE COURSE SCHEDULE File DOCX

    • Aims and Objectives:

       

      The main purpose of the course is to provide students with an introduction to Vietnam War representations across American literature, with a special emphasis on Vietnamese American narratives and perspectives.

       

      The course will examine the American war in Vietnam and the diasporic Vietnamese experience through a close reading of four major works (Herr, O’Brien, Nguyen, Bui), all the while tackling the socio-historical context behind it. It will begin with a comprehensive overview that unpacks the war’s local roots and aftereffects, firmly centering Vietnamese agency and political actors. The course will then investigate how American literature and cinema have shaped collective memories of the conflict in the following decades, recently giving way to literary and critical perspectives willing to challenge pre-assumed notions.

      Students will critically engage with the contested memories of the war through the study of Michael Herr’s Dispatches, Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer and Thi Bui’s The Best We Could Do, with attention to their formal and thematic aspects and through an intermedial approach that will not fail to include discussions of Hollywood depictions of the conflict. Students will develop the ability to discuss critically the themes and issues addressed during the course.

       

      The course is designed to provide students with the opportunity to explore American literature and culture in a transnational way by focusing on a key topic that encompasses war literature, Asian American literature, and Cold War studies. Notions of theoretical frameworks and methodologies such as trauma studies, diaspora studies, and critical refugee studies will also be introduced and discussed.

    • This course will be seminar-based. To ensure its success, students are expected to actively engage in class discussions and to fulfill the weekly reading assignments. All participants in the seminar are expected to deliver one class presentation (about 15-20 minutes) on a chosen topic.

    • Evaluation Methods

      -       Each participant in the seminar will be expected to demonstrate his or her completion of the weekly reading assignment through active participation in group discussion and by reading, and commenting on, two passagesof his or her choice which he or she will have previously made known to the instructor by email (no later than 5:00 PM on the day before the session). The schedule of assignments will be made available on Moodle.

      -       In addition, each participant will be required to give a 15–20-minute oral presentation on a chosen and specific aspect (for example: characterization, setting, gender, style, etc.) of one of the texts on the reading list. Finally, each participant will be required to write a 2000-word research paper which must include a list of primary and secondary sources (no more than two of the latter can be websites). Papers must be typed and should follow the MLA Style Sheet. Students must turn in their papers at least two weeks before the date on which they intend to take the exam.

      -       Seminar assessment: participation and oral presentation 40%; research paper 60%

       

      N. B. Students who are unable to attend the seminar will be required to write a 3000-word research paper on a topic that will be assigned by the seminar instructor, and to take an oral exam. The oral exam, which will take the form of a discussion with the examiner, will cover the topics and concepts examined in class and considered in the prescribed bibliography and secondary texts. The aim of the exam is to test the depth and breadth of the student’s knowledge, to assess the students’ skills to critically analyze, discuss and evaluate the main themes of the course and to ascertain their ability to structure an argument and communicate what they have learnt. The examination will last approximately 30 minutes.

       

      The grading system ranges from 18/30 to 30/30 cum laude:

      30 - 30 cum laude = Excellent

      27-29 = Very Good

      24-26 = Good

      21-23 = Satisfactory

      18-20 = Weak

      0-17 = Fail

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    Secondary Texts (Mandatory)

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    Additional Material (MANDATORY FOR NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS)

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    Materiali in italiano (OPZIONALI)