This course will provide an outline of the history of the US culture and literature from the privileged perspective of the sea (ocean, lake, river, etc), moving from the analysis of some of the early texts dealing with the subject. North America, in fact, has always been defined by the sea, in terms of exploration, exploitation, expansion and cultural imaginary. Through the reading and analysis of a sample of representative literary texts by Melville ("The Encantadas; or The Enchanted Isles"), Thoreau ("Walden; or Life in the Woods" e "A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers"), Hemingway, Steinbeck and other writers - even contemporary ones - and through a careful consideration of the social and cultural context of origin of some major literary works, this course will investigate and discuss the relation existing between the sea - "the watery part of the world", in Melville's words -, colonialism, exploration and the American culture. A glance to the work of Virginia Woolf (with particular reference to the novels "To the Lighthouse" and "The Waves") will expand our perspective on the whole matter, including an innovative, feminine and different point of view.