English Literature
A.Y. 2020/2021
Learning objectives
The course, addressing a variety of programmes within the frame of the Faculty of Studi Umanistici, is meant to propose a specific learning pathway, connecting it to narratological, philosophical, cultural and historical competences, with a specific focus on contaminations and hybridisations between the Anglophone context and the Italian one within the wider European context. The course also aims at facilitating the access to texts in the original version through the occasional mediation of their translation in Italian.
Expected learning outcomes
Knowledge: Within the cultural and critical horizon of English Literature, openly referring to the chosen historical period focussed on each year, students will prove able to read and understand the chosen texts, locating them in their context. They are expected to frame the text with reference to its author (biography and works), its genre (analogies and divergences), its publishing context (culture and history). They are also required to be able to compare the given text with other texts belonging to the English and/or the international context.
Skills: Students are expected to understand a literary text in English (novel, poem or play) and to be able to identify its main thematic guidelines, though they are not required to translate it. Moreover the students are expected to develop the basic skills of textual analysis and show the ability to select and point out the texts' stylistic guidelines in terms of rhetorical choices and analogies/deviations in comparison with the genre they belong to.
Skills: Students are expected to understand a literary text in English (novel, poem or play) and to be able to identify its main thematic guidelines, though they are not required to translate it. Moreover the students are expected to develop the basic skills of textual analysis and show the ability to select and point out the texts' stylistic guidelines in terms of rhetorical choices and analogies/deviations in comparison with the genre they belong to.
Lesson period: Second semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
Second semester
In the emergency teaching phase, should it become necessary to use online teaching, the program designed for face-to-face teaching is modified as follows:
Teaching methods:
The lessons will be held in synchronous, trying to enhance interaction (chat and forum), using mainly Microsoft Teams; only in specific cases and duly communicated, the lessons will be held in asynchronous (videolessons). In case there will be activities in presence (following the indications of the university), students who will not participate will be offered an alternative online activity that will allow them to develop the same critical and text analysis skills.
The timetable of the lessons remains unchanged and all the most important information will be provided through the ARIEL website of the course.
The methods and criteria for attending the lessons in attendance, which require a reservation with the appropriate app, will be published in good time on the ARIEL website of the course.
Reference materials:
Those indicated in the program remain. For those who decide not to attend the course, we recommend the supporting bibliography.
Testing and grading
The exam is oral and will be conducted, in the case of online teaching, in Microsoft Teams, according to the indications provided by the University. The testing/grading methods remain the same both for attending and non attending students.
Teaching methods:
The lessons will be held in synchronous, trying to enhance interaction (chat and forum), using mainly Microsoft Teams; only in specific cases and duly communicated, the lessons will be held in asynchronous (videolessons). In case there will be activities in presence (following the indications of the university), students who will not participate will be offered an alternative online activity that will allow them to develop the same critical and text analysis skills.
The timetable of the lessons remains unchanged and all the most important information will be provided through the ARIEL website of the course.
The methods and criteria for attending the lessons in attendance, which require a reservation with the appropriate app, will be published in good time on the ARIEL website of the course.
Reference materials:
Those indicated in the program remain. For those who decide not to attend the course, we recommend the supporting bibliography.
Testing and grading
The exam is oral and will be conducted, in the case of online teaching, in Microsoft Teams, according to the indications provided by the University. The testing/grading methods remain the same both for attending and non attending students.
Course syllabus
The course syllabus includes a first part that is basically institutional and aims at providing the students with an essential awareness of the historical, cultural and literary background framing the authors and texts that are approached in the following units. The specific focus is on the gradual shaping of a "female horizon" in the English and Anglophone world, exploiting the tools of Women Studies and gender Studies.
The second part is entirely focussed on Angela Carter (The Bloody Chamber, Nights at the Circus) while the third is devoted to Jeanette Winterson (Oranges are not the Only Fruit, The Passion, Frankissstein).
The critical apparatus is aimed at encouraging an analytic reading and close analysis of the chosen texts, with a specific focus on interdisciplinary connections
The second part is entirely focussed on Angela Carter (The Bloody Chamber, Nights at the Circus) while the third is devoted to Jeanette Winterson (Oranges are not the Only Fruit, The Passion, Frankissstein).
The critical apparatus is aimed at encouraging an analytic reading and close analysis of the chosen texts, with a specific focus on interdisciplinary connections
Prerequisites for admission
The students are required to be able to read and understand literary texts in English and the critical essays included in the syllabus.
Teaching methods
Classes develop through lessons in the traditional lecture-format, trying - whenever possible - to encourage the students to participate, mostly when analysing the texts. Guest speakers are invited in connections with the themes and topic of the course. The Ariel platform is very much exploited as to share materials and upload slide presentations summarizing the topics approached in classroom practice.
Teaching Resources
Part I:
Compulsory Readings:
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1818; suggested edition: Lindau, including the two versions of the novel)
Testi critici:
AAVV, Introduzione allo studio della letteratura inglese, Roma, Carocci, 2017 (chs 1 & 4) .
A. Pasolini, "Gender Studies e cultura" in AAVV, Introduzione ai Cultural Studies. Uk, USA e paesi anglofoni, Roma, Carocci, 2016 (ch. 4)
G. Spivak, "Can The Subaltern Speak?" (1988 - https://archive.org/stream/CanTheSubalternSpeak/Can_the_subaltern_speak_djvu.txt)
Jean-Francois Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (1984; excerpts)
Part II:
Compulsory readings:
A. Carter, The Bloody Chamber (1979, any edition)
A. Carter, Nights at the Circus (1984, any edition)
Critical resources:
Lorna Sage, Angela Carter (1994, any edition)
Part III:
Compulsory Reading:
J. Winterson, Oranges are not the Only Fruit (1985)
J. Winterson The Passion (1987)
J. Winterson Frankissstein (2019)
Critical resources:
C.L. Burns, "Fantastic Language: Jeanette Winterson's recovery of the Postmodern Word"
M. Reisman, "Integrating Fantasy and Reality in Jeanette Winterson's Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit." Rocky Moutain Review, Spring 2011, pp. 16-40. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/41289361?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents)
S. Antosa "Sex, Gender and Desire in Jeanette Winterson's The Passion." Gender and Sexuality. Rights, Language and Performativity, 2012, pp. 157-175. (https://www.academia.edu/3682354/Sex_Gender_and_Desire_in_Jeanette_Winterson_s_The_Passion)
F. Maioli, "Two is the beginning of the end: identità e società nel Bildungsroman contemporaneo", in AAVV, Tessiture. Letterature e culture di lingua inglese, Firenze, Ed.It, 2010, pp. 133-180.
Supporting Bibliography:
Paolo Bertinetti, Breve storia della letteratura inglese (1982, qualunque edizione)
R. Jackson, Fantasy: A Literature of Subversion (1981, any edition)
T. Todorov, La letteratura fantastica (1975, any edition)
T. Todorov, La letteratura fantastica (1975, qualunque edizione)
Compulsory Readings:
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1818; suggested edition: Lindau, including the two versions of the novel)
Testi critici:
AAVV, Introduzione allo studio della letteratura inglese, Roma, Carocci, 2017 (chs 1 & 4) .
A. Pasolini, "Gender Studies e cultura" in AAVV, Introduzione ai Cultural Studies. Uk, USA e paesi anglofoni, Roma, Carocci, 2016 (ch. 4)
G. Spivak, "Can The Subaltern Speak?" (1988 - https://archive.org/stream/CanTheSubalternSpeak/Can_the_subaltern_speak_djvu.txt)
Jean-Francois Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (1984; excerpts)
Part II:
Compulsory readings:
A. Carter, The Bloody Chamber (1979, any edition)
A. Carter, Nights at the Circus (1984, any edition)
Critical resources:
Lorna Sage, Angela Carter (1994, any edition)
Part III:
Compulsory Reading:
J. Winterson, Oranges are not the Only Fruit (1985)
J. Winterson The Passion (1987)
J. Winterson Frankissstein (2019)
Critical resources:
C.L. Burns, "Fantastic Language: Jeanette Winterson's recovery of the Postmodern Word"
M. Reisman, "Integrating Fantasy and Reality in Jeanette Winterson's Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit." Rocky Moutain Review, Spring 2011, pp. 16-40. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/41289361?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents)
S. Antosa "Sex, Gender and Desire in Jeanette Winterson's The Passion." Gender and Sexuality. Rights, Language and Performativity, 2012, pp. 157-175. (https://www.academia.edu/3682354/Sex_Gender_and_Desire_in_Jeanette_Winterson_s_The_Passion)
F. Maioli, "Two is the beginning of the end: identità e società nel Bildungsroman contemporaneo", in AAVV, Tessiture. Letterature e culture di lingua inglese, Firenze, Ed.It, 2010, pp. 133-180.
Supporting Bibliography:
Paolo Bertinetti, Breve storia della letteratura inglese (1982, qualunque edizione)
R. Jackson, Fantasy: A Literature of Subversion (1981, any edition)
T. Todorov, La letteratura fantastica (1975, any edition)
T. Todorov, La letteratura fantastica (1975, qualunque edizione)
Assessment methods and Criteria
The exam consists in an oral interview, traditionally graded on a 30/30 system. Students are required to take their texts with them when sitting for the exam
As to be graded, the students must :
· Show a thorough knowledge of all the works included in the syllabus
· Prove able to understand and comment texts in English
· Prove able to frame each work and author in their respective context
· Organize their knowledge within a critical frame
· Prove able to answer to the question in good Italian. They can, if they want, be interviewed in English.
Attending students will be given the possibility to take a midterm, in modalities to be defined. The final grade, after the oral interview, will be given according to the usual grading system (30/30)
As to be graded, the students must :
· Show a thorough knowledge of all the works included in the syllabus
· Prove able to understand and comment texts in English
· Prove able to frame each work and author in their respective context
· Organize their knowledge within a critical frame
· Prove able to answer to the question in good Italian. They can, if they want, be interviewed in English.
Attending students will be given the possibility to take a midterm, in modalities to be defined. The final grade, after the oral interview, will be given according to the usual grading system (30/30)
Unita' didattica A
L-LIN/10 - ENGLISH LITERATURE - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Professor:
Vallorani Nicoletta
Unita' didattica B
L-LIN/10 - ENGLISH LITERATURE - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Professor:
Pasolini Anna
Unita' didattica C
L-LIN/10 - ENGLISH LITERATURE - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Professor:
Pasolini Anna
Professor(s)