Languages, Cultures, Literature, Translation

“Beings from/in the Margin: Female Authors and Other Animals” The course explores the complex and often profound relationships between women and animals in American literature, focusing on texts written by female authors from the 20th century to the present day. Through a selection of novels, short stories, poems, and hybrid texts, we will study the rhetorical, narrative, and ethical choices of American women writers who use animal figures as metaphor and symbol to challenge dominant ideas about gender, race, species, nature, and power. The course investigates the literary and cultural significance of animals in the works of authors such as Zora Neale Hurston, Willa Cather, Toni Morrison, and Joan Didion. We will discuss how non-human animals introduce dynamics of margin/center and identity/otherness within the texts, in order to critique patriarchal and discriminatory systems and to deconstruct traditional concepts of identity, otherness, and community.

A basic knowledge of Anglo-American literature from its origins to the second half of the nineteenth century is recommended, as well as a good command of written and spoken English.

“The Good Anna” Gertrude Stein, 1909 “Their Eyes Were Watching God” Zora Neale Hurston, 1937 "The Bee Poems," Sylvia Plath, 1962 “Run, River” Joan Didion, 1963/ “Where I Was From” 2003 “Hers” Maxine Hong Kingston 1978 “Caged Bird” poem by Maya Angelou, 1983 “The Wife’s Story” Ursula K. Le Guin, 1982 “Beloved” Toni Morrison, 1993 “The White Cat” Joyce Carol Oates, 1994

Attendance, while not mandatory, is strongly recommended.

The written exam (in English) will assess students’ knowledge of the authors and texts studied, as well as the concepts acquired. It will consist of three open-ended questions to be answered within two hours. emphasis will be placed on the students’ ability to develop a critical and analytical discourse around the texts through close reading of selected passages, highlighting intertextual connections between different authors and contexts. 25% of the final grade will be based on an in-class presentation of a specific theme and/or text (to be agreed upon with the instructor), accompanied by a PowerPoint and lasting approximately twenty minutes.

A selection of texts from: "The Animal Reader. The Essential Classic and Contemporary Writings", edited by Linda Kalof and Amy Fitzgerald, Routledge, 2021. A selection of texts (provided by the instructor) from: Agamben, Giorgio. The Open: Man and Animal. Translated by Kevin Attell, Stanford University Press, 2004. Boggs, Colleen Glenney. Animalia Americana: Animal Representations and Biopolitical Subjectivity. Columbia University Press, 2013. Derrida, Jacques. The Animal That Therefore I Am. Edited by Marie-Louise Mallet, translated by David Wills, Fordham University Press, 2008. Haraway, Donna J. When Species Meet. University of Minnesota Press, 2008. Ryan, Derek. Introduction to "Literature and Animals", Cambridge University Press, 2023. Tischleder, Babette. Introduction to "An Eclectic Bestiary. Encounters in a More-Than-Human World", Transcript Publishing, 2020 For those who cannot attend: Gray, Richard. A History of American Literature. Blackwell, 2012.

The course combines traditional lectures (in which the instructor will present the historical context and background of the authors studied) with more seminar-style sessions that involve student presentations of a specific text and/or theme. Active participation is therefore strongly encouraged through in-class discussions, presentations, and contributions. Each week, students will be assigned specific texts from the syllabus to read and prepare for class discussion.