Contemporary English Literature
A.Y. 2022/2023
Learning objectives
This course explores the various developments of contemporary English literature, starting from a methodological reflection on the area of the discipline. It provides students with cultural and literary knowledge of the period ranging from the second half of the twentieth century to the present and offers reading paths and critical analysis of texts belonging to different literary currents and trends (Postmodernism, Postcolonialism, etc.). In addition, it draws attention to the continuities and discontinuities between past and present literature, to the contamination of literary genres and to the intersections between written works and other media (cinema, television, etc.).
Expected learning outcomes
KNOWLEDGE: By the end of the course, students should be able to discuss the contents of the discipline, contextualise the literary texts included in the programme within the cultural and literary background in which they were produced, and provide critical interpretations of the literary works included in the programme. LINGUISTIC AND LITERARY ABILITIES: Students should be able to read the texts and acknowledge their linguistic complexity. Students should also be able to critically analyse the texts included in the programme and be able to connect different authors, texts and literary trends. They should demonstrate understanding of the different critical approaches and of the various levels of textual interpretation. In addition, students are expected to express themselves with clarity and precision and to use the specific terminology of the discipline correctly.
Lesson period: First 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
First semester
Course syllabus
Course title: "Landscape stories: places and narrations in contemporary English literature.
Description: The course investigates how contemporary novels represent spaces and considers the crucial role of real and imaginary geographies in literary texts. English fiction is deeply rooted in the landscape: geographical features unfold metaphorical and symbolical meanings. A general introduction is devoted to discussing what is meant for contemporary English literature and to presenting critical issues and intertextual strategies. The first part deals with various waterscapes, essential traits in the discourses of Britishness, through different genres and perspectives, from science fiction to postcolonialism and postmodernism. In the second part, places of memory are examined, where individual and collective issues are developed, often connected with traumatic events and implying the revisitation of history. The third part focuses on littoral spaces in Abdulrazak Gurnah's novels. The winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2021 engages in representing the contact zones of the East African coast, entangling transcultural stories. Employing the paradigms of class, gender, and ethnicity, the course explores the question of national identity and its transformations as well as its complicated relationships with the otherness.
The course is addressed to graduate students specializing in Foreign Languages and Literatures. Students interested in the 6 credit exam can choose Part 1 and Part 2 or Part 1 and Part 3 or Part 2 and Part 3; students interested in the 9 credit exam are required to study Part 1, 2 and 3.
The syllabus is valid until February 2024.
Description: The course investigates how contemporary novels represent spaces and considers the crucial role of real and imaginary geographies in literary texts. English fiction is deeply rooted in the landscape: geographical features unfold metaphorical and symbolical meanings. A general introduction is devoted to discussing what is meant for contemporary English literature and to presenting critical issues and intertextual strategies. The first part deals with various waterscapes, essential traits in the discourses of Britishness, through different genres and perspectives, from science fiction to postcolonialism and postmodernism. In the second part, places of memory are examined, where individual and collective issues are developed, often connected with traumatic events and implying the revisitation of history. The third part focuses on littoral spaces in Abdulrazak Gurnah's novels. The winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2021 engages in representing the contact zones of the East African coast, entangling transcultural stories. Employing the paradigms of class, gender, and ethnicity, the course explores the question of national identity and its transformations as well as its complicated relationships with the otherness.
The course is addressed to graduate students specializing in Foreign Languages and Literatures. Students interested in the 6 credit exam can choose Part 1 and Part 2 or Part 1 and Part 3 or Part 2 and Part 3; students interested in the 9 credit exam are required to study Part 1, 2 and 3.
The syllabus is valid until February 2024.
Prerequisites for admission
The course is taught in English. Students are expected to read English literary texts and criticism and to discuss them in English, therefore a very good knowledge of English is required. They should also show a good knowledge of English literature from the XIX century onwards as well as a proven ability to analyze literary texts.
Teaching methods
The course employs the following teaching methods: lectures including close reading and analysis of the texts; audiovisual materials, such as sequences of television or film adaptations, documentaries, interviews, etc. Students are encouraged to actively participate in textual analysis and in the discussions in class and in the website forum.
Teaching Resources
General bibliography:
Robert Tally, Spatiality (introduction and a selection of chapters made available on the website of the course)
Patrick Parrinder, Nation & Novel. The English Novel from its Origins to the Present Day (introduction and conclusion, available on the website of the course)
"British Fiction in a Global Frame" in A Concise Companion to Contemporary British Fiction, edited by James F. English (available on the website of the course)
"Framing the Present" in The Cambridge Companion to British Fiction 1980-2018, edited by Peter Boxall (available on the website of the course).
Part 1: WATERSCAPES
Literary texts:
J.G. Ballard, The Drowned World
Romesh Gunesekera, Reef
Kate Grenville, The Secret River
Ian McEwan, On Chesil Beach.
Part 2: PLACES OF MEMORY
Literary texts:
V.S. Naipaul, A Way in the World
Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day
Graham Swift, Mothering Sunday
Petina Gappah, The Book of Memory.
Part C: LITTORAL SPACES IN ABDULRAZAK GURNAH
Literary texts:
Abdulrazak Gurnah, By The Sea
Abdulrazak Gurnah, Desertion
Abdulrazak Gurnah, Gravel Heart
Abdulrazak Gurnah, Afterlives.
The website of the course is online on the Ariel platform (http://ariel.unimi.it): students will be able to download variuos materials. Critical essays on general questions or on specific texts will be available. The website also contains general information on the course and is continuously updated. Students will be invited also to attend book presentations during Bookcity Milan (in November).
Robert Tally, Spatiality (introduction and a selection of chapters made available on the website of the course)
Patrick Parrinder, Nation & Novel. The English Novel from its Origins to the Present Day (introduction and conclusion, available on the website of the course)
"British Fiction in a Global Frame" in A Concise Companion to Contemporary British Fiction, edited by James F. English (available on the website of the course)
"Framing the Present" in The Cambridge Companion to British Fiction 1980-2018, edited by Peter Boxall (available on the website of the course).
Part 1: WATERSCAPES
Literary texts:
J.G. Ballard, The Drowned World
Romesh Gunesekera, Reef
Kate Grenville, The Secret River
Ian McEwan, On Chesil Beach.
Part 2: PLACES OF MEMORY
Literary texts:
V.S. Naipaul, A Way in the World
Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day
Graham Swift, Mothering Sunday
Petina Gappah, The Book of Memory.
Part C: LITTORAL SPACES IN ABDULRAZAK GURNAH
Literary texts:
Abdulrazak Gurnah, By The Sea
Abdulrazak Gurnah, Desertion
Abdulrazak Gurnah, Gravel Heart
Abdulrazak Gurnah, Afterlives.
The website of the course is online on the Ariel platform (http://ariel.unimi.it): students will be able to download variuos materials. Critical essays on general questions or on specific texts will be available. The website also contains general information on the course and is continuously updated. Students will be invited also to attend book presentations during Bookcity Milan (in November).
Assessment methods and Criteria
The exam consists of an oral interview. The minimum score is 18, the maximum is 30. The oral exam (in English) will entail general questions on the English novel and will also include methodological questions on the frame of contemporary literature, the literary representation of national identity, the issues concerning the literary canon as well as the main critical approaches to fiction. More specific questions will pertain to the literary texts included in the syllabus, their language and motifs, their connections and intertextual quality.
Students may accept or reject the mark, in this case it will be recorded as "ritirato".
Students may accept or reject the mark, in this case it will be recorded as "ritirato".
L-LIN/10 - ENGLISH LITERATURE - University credits: 9
Lessons: 60 hours
Professor:
Brazzelli Nicoletta
Professor(s)