Il survey course per 8 CFU prevede la discussione dei seguenti testi:
- Rebecca Harding Davis, Life in the Iron Mills (1861)
- Mark Twain, ‘The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County’ (1865)
- Henry James, Daisy Miller (1878)
- Kate Chopin, “Désirée’s Baby” (1893) – “The Story of an Hour” (1894)
- Charles W. Chesnutt, “The Wife of His Youth” (1898)
- Stephen Crane, “The Blue Hotel” (1898)
- Jack London, “To Build a Fire” (1902)
- Robert Frost (“Mending Wall” – “After Apple Picking” – “ The Road not Taken”), William Carlos Williams (“The Red Wheelbarrow” – “The Great Figure” – “Portrait of a Lady”)
- William Faulkner, “A Rose for Emily” (1930)
- Francis Scott Fitzgerald, “Babylon Revisited” (1931)
- Zora Neale Hurston, “The Gilded Six-Bits” (1933)
- Ernest Hemingway, “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” (1936)
- John Steinbeck, “The Leader of the People” (1945)
- Leslie Marmon Silko, “Lullaby” (1981)
- Toni Morrison, “Recitatif” (1983)
- Raymond Carver, “Cathedral” (1983)

Bibliografia critica:
- American Literature 1865-1914: Introduction and Timeline, in Norton Anthology of American Literature.
- American Literature 1914-1945: Introduction and Timeline, in Norton Anthology of American Literature.
- American Literature since 1945: Introduction and Timeline, in Norton Anthology of American Literature.
- A. Bendixen, “The Emergence and Development of the American Short Story,” in A Companion to the American Short Story, eds. A. Bendixen and J. Nagel, Malden, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010, pp. 3-19.
- J. Nagel, “The Twentieth Century: A Period of Innovation and Continuity,” in A Companion to the American Short Story, eds. A. Bendixen and J. Nagel, Malden, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010, pp. 217-223.
- R. H. Brodhead, “Letteratura e cultura,” in Storia della civiltà letteraria degli Stati Uniti, vol. I, a cura di E. Elliott, Torino, UTET, 1990, pp. 393-405.
- L. McCaffery, “Le invenzioni del presente,” in Storia della civiltà letteraria degli Stati Uniti, vol. II, a cura di E. Elliott, Torino, UTET, 1990, pp. 1013-1027.

Il survey course per 6 CFU prevede la discussione dei seguenti testi:
- Mark Twain, ‘The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County’ (1865)
- Henry James, Daisy Miller (1878)
- Kate Chopin, “Désirée’s Baby” (1893) – “The Story of an Hour” (1894)
- Charles W. Chesnutt, “The Wife of His Youth” (1898)
- Stephen Crane, “The Blue Hotel” (1898)
- Robert Frost (“Mending Wall” – “After Apple Picking” – “ The Road not Taken”), William Carlos Williams (“The Red Wheelbarrow” – “The Great Figure” – “Portrait of a Lady”)
- William Faulkner, “A Rose for Emily” (1930)
- Francis Scott Fitzgerald, “Babylon Revisited” (1931)
- Zora Neale Hurston, “The Gilded Six-Bits” (1933)
- Ernest Hemingway, “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” (1936)
- Leslie Marmon Silko, “Lullaby” (1981)
- Toni Morrison, “Recitatif” (1983)

Bibliografia critica:
- American Literature 1865-1914: Introduction and Timeline, in Norton Anthology of American Literature.
- American Literature 1914-1945: Introduction and Timeline, in Norton Anthology of American Literature.
- American Literature since 1945: Introduction and Timeline, in Norton Anthology of American Literature.
- A. Bendixen, “The Emergence and Development of the American Short Story,” in A Companion to the American Short Story, eds. A. Bendixen and J. Nagel, Malden, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010, pp. 3-19.
- J. Nagel, “The Twentieth Century: A Period of Innovation and Continuity,” in A Companion to the American Short Story, eds. A. Bendixen and J. Nagel, Malden, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010, pp. 217-223.