ENGLISH LITERATURE
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2015/2016
- Teacher
- PAOLA SPINOZZI
- Credits
- 9
- Didactic period
- Primo Semestre
- SSD
- L-LIN/10
Training objectives
- Students will deepen their knowledge of British literature and culture from a diachronic and synchronic perspective.
The presentation of theoretical topics and close readings will allow them to acquire tools for examining texts as well as historical and cultural contexts in Great Britain and Europe. These skills will be utilized in jobs such as teaching or publishing, based on the understanding of literary genres, their evolution and hybridisation. Prerequisites
- None
Course programme
- The course will explore the history of British literature from the seventeenth to the first decades of the twenty-first century. It will begin with an introduction to the main topics in relation to specific critical theories and study methods. It will continue with a presentation of and comparison between definitions of national literature, comparative literature and world literature.
One lecture will be about the seventeenth century and one about Oroonoko; or, The Royal Slave, 1688, by Aphra Behn, who created the prototype of a narrative of slavery and colonization.
One lecture will revolve around the eighteenth century and one around Gulliver’s Travels, 1726, by Jonathan Swift: although abridged versions have circulated as a text for children, the novel deals with universal topics such as imperialism, the role of science in society and the classification of human beings on the basis of hierarchical criteria.
One lecture will be dedicated to the nineteenth century and one to Wuthering Heights, 1847, by Emily Brontë, whose narrative of individual passions clashing with social conventions has achieved world renown.
One lecture will focus on the twentieth century and one on Possession. A Romance, 1990, by Antonia S. Byatt, who has defined fundamental features of Postmodernism such as the dialectical relationship between the contemporary age and the nineteenth century.
Two lectures will be dedicated to the first fifteen years of the twenty-first century and six to Cloud Atlas, 2004, by David Mitchell, who juxtaposes different literary genres in relation to specific historical and cultural contexts, from the Victorian Age to a very distant future.
At the end of the course the concepts and definitions of national, comparative and world literature presented at the beginning of the course will be reviewed and broadened thanks to the students' critical contribution. Didactic methods
- Classes tackle the historical and cultural context as well as specific authors and literary texts. They foster a dialogical interaction as they are based on the professor's presentation of the topics and on students' readings of the primary text and are enriched by remarks and comments.
Learning assessment procedures
- The exam consists of:
A. a written essay on the topics tackled during the classes and defined in the Contents of the course;
B. an oral exam, focusing on the history of English literature as well as on the topics tackled during the classes.
The written part of the exam can be taken separately from and before the oral part only if you choose the first date available after the end of the course. After that date the written and the oral part of the exam will have to be taken jointly on the same day.
All primary and secondary works in the programme can be downloaded from Materiale didattico.
Assignments for the students who attend the course:
1.a) the study of 2 among the 4 theoretical essays in the bibliography;
1.b) the study of the 5 primary works tackled during the classes;
1.c) the study of 5 critical essays on the primary works;
2) the study of a century of history of English literature.
Assignments for the students who do not attend the course:
1.a) the study of the 4 theoretical essays in the bibliography;
1.b) the study of the 5 primary works in the bibliography;
1.c) the study of 5 critical essays on the primary works in the bibliography;
2) the study of two centuries of history of English literature. Reference texts
- For the history of English literature students can choose among the following texts:
a) Andrew Sanders, Storia della letteratura inglese, Milano, Mondadori, 2000. Vol. 1: Dalle origini al secolo XVIII; Vol. 2: Dal secolo XIX al postmoderno.
b) Paolo Bertinetti, a cura di, Storia della letteratura inglese, Torino, Einaudi, 2000. Vol. 1: Dalle origini al Settecento; Vol. 2: Dal Romanticismo all’Età contemporanea.
c) David Daiches, A Critical History of English Literature, 2 volumes, London, Mandarin, 1994 (I edition 1960). Traduzione italiana Storia della letteratura inglese, 3 volumi, Milano, Garzanti, 1998.
d) The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 8th edition, 6 volumes, New York – London, W. W. Norton & Company, 2006-2007.
Si consiglia di operare una scelta valutando se si preferisce una presentazione dei periodi storici e degli autori di tipo sintetico oppure di tipo analitico, che include l’esame di brani antologici.
Per lo studio del corso monografico gli studenti devono operare una scelta fra i seguenti testi critici, seguendo i criteri indicati nelle Modalità di verifica dell'apprendimento:
Franco Moretti, “Conjectures on World Literature”, 2000.
W. C. Dimock, “Literature for the Planet”, 2001.
David Damrosch, “World Literature, National Contexts”, 2003.
David Damrosch, “Toward a History of World Literature”, 2008.
Aphra Behn, Oroonoko, 1688.
Moira Ferguson, “Oroonoko. Birth of a Paradigm”, 1992.
Oddvar Holmesland, “Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko. Cultural Dialectics and the Novel”, 2001.
V. G. Dickson, “Truth, Wonder, and Exemplarity in Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko”, 2007.
Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels, 1726.
Eugene R. Hammond, “Nature-Reason-Justice in Utopia and Gulliver’s Travels”, 1982.
Clement Hawes, “Three Times Round the Globe: Gulliver and Colonial Discourse”, 1991.
Richard Rodino, “‘Splendide Mendax’: Authors, Characters, and Readers in Gulliver’s Travels”, 1991.
Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights, 1850.
Arnold Krupat, “The Strangeness of Wuthering Heights”, 1970.
Anne Williams, “Natural Supernaturalism in Wuthering Heights”, 1985.
Michael S. Macovski, “Wuthering Heights and the Rhetoric of Interpretation”, 1987.
A. S. Byatt. Possession. A Romance, 1990.
Adrienne Shiffman, “‘Burn What They Should Not See’: The Private Journal as Public Text in A. S. Byatt’s Possession”, 2001.
Ann Marie Adams, “Dead Authors, Born Readers, and Defunct Critics: Investigating Ambiguous Critical Identities in A. S. Byatt’s Possession”, 2003.
Mark M. Hennelly, “‘Repeating Patterns’ and Textual Pleasures: Reading (In) A. S. Byatt’s Possession: A Romance”, 2003.
David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, 2004.
James Berger, “Falling Towers and Postmodern Wild Children: Oliver Sacks, Don DeLillo, and Turns against Language”, 2005.
Rita Barnard, “Fictions of the Global”, 2009.
J. H. Mezey, “‘A Multitude of Drops’: Recursion and Globalization in David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas”, 2011.
