Learning outcomes

The module aims at offering a general introduction to the main theoretical questions and the crucial themes that pertain to the discipline, through a critical reading of texts deemed to be representative of colonial and postcolonial literatures in English. More generally, the module aims at engaging the student in independentm critical readings of the texts.
The module will be taught in English.

Program

ANTIPODEAN CHILDREN OF THE COLONY


Through the close-reading of two novels of intense lyrical power, this module aims at dealing with crucial issues in colonial/postcolonial literature (like identity, alienation, dispossession, freedom,etc.) through the voices of the protagonist children growing up in antipodean colonial settings, provincial New Zealand of the fifties and apartheid-ridden South Africa.

Critical bibliography:
- G. MERCER, "Janet Frame" (1994), chapter on "Owls Do Cry";
- RITA BARNARD, "Tsotsis: On Law, the Outlaw, and the Postcolonial State", Contemporary Literature, Vol. 49, No.4 (2008): 541-572;

Handbook: B. Ashcroft, G. Griffiths, H Tiffin (eds.), "The Empire Writes Back": Theory and Practice in Post-colonial Literatures", Routledge, 1989: "Introduction" (1-13),, ch. 2, ch.5 (pp.181-194).
The critical readings given above will be collected into an authorized plaquette (ask prof. Zinato about that)


Other OPTIONAL hanbooks for general reference:
- B. Ashcroft, G. Griffiths,H. Tiffin (eds.), "Key-Concepts in Post-Colonial Studies", Routledge 1998;
- E. Benson, L.W. Connolly (eds.), "The Routledge Encyclopedia of Post-colonial Literatures in English", 2005.:


OBLIGATORY SUPPLEMENTARY readings for non-attending students:
- - E. BOEHMER, "Colonial and Postcolonial Literature. Migrant Metaphors", Oxford UP, 2005 (Introduction, chs. 1, 2)
- J. DELL PANNY, "I have what I gave: the Fiction of Janet Frame", Introduction + Ch.2 ("Owls Do Cry")
-C.CONCILIO, "Trauma and Children's Rights in Athol Fugard's Tsotsi" (ch.18) in Oboe-Bassi (eds.), "Experiences of Freedom in Postcolonial Literatures and Cultures", Routledge, 2011 (in Frinzi)
N.B.: The critical bibliography given above is to be found in Frinzi Library (the articles on Jstor database). The opportunity of collecting all the critical material into a plaquette will be decided with the attending students.

Examination Methods

ORAL EXAM IN ENGLISH
The exam is meant to assess, through oral questions, the student's ability to engage critically with the literary texts scheduled for the course, by resorting to the critical-theoretical issues and concepts dealt with in class and to the critical bibliography. The latter is meant as obligatory reading and will be assessed through oral questions, as well.

N.B.:Students to be examined must have passed the first-year exams of English literature and language.
They are also expected to have a copy of the programme and their own primary sources with them.
The programme will be valid for two academic years (i.e. until February 2019)