English Literature
A.Y. 2023/2024
Learning objectives
The course aims at providing a basic preparation in English and other Anglophone literatures. Specific attention will be given to the interdisciplinary connections with the fields of geography, history, cultural and literary studies. Students will acquire the basic methodological tools of literary criticism, and they will be provided hints on the most suitable critical strategies to approach the issues proposed by each syllabus. Primary texts will be proposed in English. Texts in translation are allowed but not encouraged.
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.
Competence: 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.
Competence: 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: First semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course can be attended as a single course.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
First semester
Course syllabus
TITLE: Make kin not babies: the paths of the affection in some contemporary English and Anglophone narratives
The syllabus takes up Gender Studies as usual, proposing an approach to affective networks and the way in which they are narrated in contemporary English and Anglophone literatures. Different kinds of partnerships - from love to marriage to brotherhood, from same sex love to heterosexual love - form the main focus of many contemporary fictions, and they develop a discourse on the dynamics of love and friendship that seem quite interesting. It also appear visible (and relevant) the need to recover a productive relationship with the environment.
The 6-credit programme is organised in thematic nodes.
Node 1: making kin
Node 2: companion species
The 9 CFU programme has an additional module that proposes two classic texts from the Western canon on the theme of the couple relationship.
Classes will include a reflection on literary translation, with guest translators.
The syllabus takes up Gender Studies as usual, proposing an approach to affective networks and the way in which they are narrated in contemporary English and Anglophone literatures. Different kinds of partnerships - from love to marriage to brotherhood, from same sex love to heterosexual love - form the main focus of many contemporary fictions, and they develop a discourse on the dynamics of love and friendship that seem quite interesting. It also appear visible (and relevant) the need to recover a productive relationship with the environment.
The 6-credit programme is organised in thematic nodes.
Node 1: making kin
Node 2: companion species
The 9 CFU programme has an additional module that proposes two classic texts from the Western canon on the theme of the couple relationship.
Classes will include a reflection on literary translation, with guest translators.
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
Node1: making kin
Ama Ata Aidoo, Changes, A Love Story (1991, It. Trans.: Cambiare, 1991)
Tlootlo Tsamaase, The Silence of the Wilting Skin (2020; It. Trans.: Silenziosa sfiorisce la pelle)
Lindsay Drager, The Archive of Alternate Endings (2019; It. Trans.: L'archivio dei finali alternativi, 2023)
Transizioni: AAVV, Omenana, 2023 (edizione italiana). Racconti selezionati:
"Memento mori" (di Tiah Marie Beautement, available in English here: https://omenana.com/2018/08/30/memento-mori-tiah-marie-beautement/ )
"Mangiapeccati" (di Chikodili Emelumadu, available in English here:
https://omenana.com/2019/05/09/sin-eater-chikodili-emelumadu/
Node2: Companion species
V. Woolf, Flush (1933; any edition also in Italian)
Laura Jean McKay, The Animals in that Country, 2020 (It. Trans.: L'anno dell'influenza animale, 2023)
Choose one of these two novels:
Witi Ihimaera, The Whale Rider (1987; It. Trans. Kahu e la Balena, 2020)
Zakes Mda, The Whale Caller (2005;It. Trans.: L'uomo che chiama le balene)
9 CFU SYLLABUS
To the already mentioned texts, the following ones are to be added
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, edited by Deborah Lutz, Norton Critical editions, NY, Norton, 2016.
Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea, edited by Judith Raiskin, Norton Critical editions, NY, Norton, 1999.
You are required these specific editions.
Critical texts:
These texts are not necessarily to be studied, but they will be used in classroom practice and they are highly advisable for non attending students
L. Curti, La voce dell'altra: scritture ibride tra femminismo e postcoloniale, Meltemi, 2006 (chs 1 e 2).
Vera Gheno, Parole d'altro genere. Come le scrittrici hanno cambiato il mondo, Rizzoli, 2023 (we will read exceprts along classroom practice. Non attending students are advised to read the book as a whole).
D. Haraway, The Companion Species Manifesto (2003, It. Transl. Manifesto delle specie compagne, Meltemi, 2023)
L. Neri e G. Carrara (a cura di) Teoria della letteratura , Carocci, 2021(chs 1, 7, 10, 14)
Ama Ata Aidoo, Changes, A Love Story (1991, It. Trans.: Cambiare, 1991)
Tlootlo Tsamaase, The Silence of the Wilting Skin (2020; It. Trans.: Silenziosa sfiorisce la pelle)
Lindsay Drager, The Archive of Alternate Endings (2019; It. Trans.: L'archivio dei finali alternativi, 2023)
Transizioni: AAVV, Omenana, 2023 (edizione italiana). Racconti selezionati:
"Memento mori" (di Tiah Marie Beautement, available in English here: https://omenana.com/2018/08/30/memento-mori-tiah-marie-beautement/ )
"Mangiapeccati" (di Chikodili Emelumadu, available in English here:
https://omenana.com/2019/05/09/sin-eater-chikodili-emelumadu/
Node2: Companion species
V. Woolf, Flush (1933; any edition also in Italian)
Laura Jean McKay, The Animals in that Country, 2020 (It. Trans.: L'anno dell'influenza animale, 2023)
Choose one of these two novels:
Witi Ihimaera, The Whale Rider (1987; It. Trans. Kahu e la Balena, 2020)
Zakes Mda, The Whale Caller (2005;It. Trans.: L'uomo che chiama le balene)
9 CFU SYLLABUS
To the already mentioned texts, the following ones are to be added
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, edited by Deborah Lutz, Norton Critical editions, NY, Norton, 2016.
Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea, edited by Judith Raiskin, Norton Critical editions, NY, Norton, 1999.
You are required these specific editions.
Critical texts:
These texts are not necessarily to be studied, but they will be used in classroom practice and they are highly advisable for non attending students
L. Curti, La voce dell'altra: scritture ibride tra femminismo e postcoloniale, Meltemi, 2006 (chs 1 e 2).
Vera Gheno, Parole d'altro genere. Come le scrittrici hanno cambiato il mondo, Rizzoli, 2023 (we will read exceprts along classroom practice. Non attending students are advised to read the book as a whole).
D. Haraway, The Companion Species Manifesto (2003, It. Transl. Manifesto delle specie compagne, Meltemi, 2023)
L. Neri e G. Carrara (a cura di) Teoria della letteratura , Carocci, 2021(chs 1, 7, 10, 14)
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. Optional midterm exams will be made available.
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:
Vallorani Nicoletta
Unita' didattica C
L-LIN/10 - ENGLISH LITERATURE - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Professor:
Caponi Paolo
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Professor(s)