HOW TO STUDY AMERICAN LITERATURE
(Free adaptation based on Paolo Simonetti’s “How to Study (American) Literature” https://corsidilaurea.uniroma1.it/it/users/paolosimonettiuniroma1it)
1. The most important thing is to READ the primary texts (novels, short stories, poems on the syllabus) from beginning to end, all of them, carefully. No audiobooks, no films, no summaries, no AI abstracts, no reading guides, no YouTube lectures, no author interviews, no bullet points from the Internet. Even critical essays are useless if you haven’t first read the primary texts in their entirety. Reading means studying the text, non unlike what you would do with a history book, or any other book. If you don’t like reading, if you find it boring, if you can’t focus enough to read a book cover to cover, you shouldn’t be studying literature. Choose another course. Without reading the texts, you will not pass the exam.
2. For, the main test of your exam will be a close reading of key passages of the assigned readings. Close reading is the opposite of superficial reading, let alone of reading summaries of a text. To close read a text means to read that text carefully, rereading it as many times and as thoughtfully and thoroughly as it is necessary to understand how it works and why it makes us laugh or cry or makes us suspicious or anxious or uncertain about our biases, prejudices and settled beliefs. In other words, it helps us become better thinkers.
3. In class, we spend a lot of time reading and analyzing passages from the texts. The written and oral exams are based on discussing excerpts from these works, so you must complement your reading of the primary texts with the critical essays on the syllabus, which are designed to help everyone engage more deeply with the works and their authors. Knowing the plot is important, but obviously it is not enough.
4. The exam assesses not just your knowledge but also your critical thinking and your ability to engage directly with the texts. I will ask you questions to understand how you approached the readings and whether you have considered certain issues (if you haven’t, I will evaluate how you answer when I raise them). Reciting critics’ names, dates, or vague notions by heart is not enough.
5. The entire syllabus must be studied—no exceptions. If you have questions about the syllabus or the exam format, book an office hour appointment. I cannot answer hundreds of emails asking the same questions.
6. Exams and office hours (except in extremely rare, documented cases) are held in person, with no exceptions. If you find this inconvenient (and I totally understand and sympathize), there are online universities that will soon put us out of business anyway.
7. In case it wasn’t clear from point #1, let me repeat: There is no point in registering for the exam if you haven’t read even one of the primary texts. You won’t pass, and you’ll waste your time—and mine.
(Free adaptation based on Paolo Simonetti’s “How to Study (American) Literature” https://corsidilaurea.uniroma1.it/it/users/paolosimonettiuniroma1it)
1. The most important thing is to READ the primary texts (novels, short stories, poems on the syllabus) from beginning to end, all of them, carefully. No audiobooks, no films, no summaries, no AI abstracts, no reading guides, no YouTube lectures, no author interviews, no bullet points from the Internet. Even critical essays are useless if you haven’t first read the primary texts in their entirety. Reading means studying the text, non unlike what you would do with a history book, or any other book. If you don’t like reading, if you find it boring, if you can’t focus enough to read a book cover to cover, you shouldn’t be studying literature. Choose another course. Without reading the texts, you will not pass the exam.
2. For, the main test of your exam will be a close reading of key passages of the assigned readings. Close reading is the opposite of superficial reading, let alone of reading summaries of a text. To close read a text means to read that text carefully, rereading it as many times and as thoughtfully and thoroughly as it is necessary to understand how it works and why it makes us laugh or cry or makes us suspicious or anxious or uncertain about our biases, prejudices and settled beliefs. In other words, it helps us become better thinkers.
3. In class, we spend a lot of time reading and analyzing passages from the texts. The written and oral exams are based on discussing excerpts from these works, so you must complement your reading of the primary texts with the critical essays on the syllabus, which are designed to help everyone engage more deeply with the works and their authors. Knowing the plot is important, but obviously it is not enough.
4. The exam assesses not just your knowledge but also your critical thinking and your ability to engage directly with the texts. I will ask you questions to understand how you approached the readings and whether you have considered certain issues (if you haven’t, I will evaluate how you answer when I raise them). Reciting critics’ names, dates, or vague notions by heart is not enough.
5. The entire syllabus must be studied—no exceptions. If you have questions about the syllabus or the exam format, book an office hour appointment. I cannot answer hundreds of emails asking the same questions.
6. Exams and office hours (except in extremely rare, documented cases) are held in person, with no exceptions. If you find this inconvenient (and I totally understand and sympathize), there are online universities that will soon put us out of business anyway.
7. In case it wasn’t clear from point #1, let me repeat: There is no point in registering for the exam if you haven’t read even one of the primary texts. You won’t pass, and you’ll waste your time—and mine.
- Docente: Cristina Iuli