Teaching code

4S010865

Academic staff

Annalisa Pes, Susanna Zinato

Coordinator

Annalisa Pes

Credits

6

Language

English

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

L-LIN/10 - ENGLISH LITERATURE

Period

II semestre (Area Lingue e letterature straniere) dal Feb 17, 2025 al May 24, 2025.

Courses Single

Authorized

Lessons timetable Moodle Seminars 0

Learning objectives

The module, taught in English, aims at providing the students with interpretive skills and in-depth knowledge related to the main themes and theoretical issues that qualify colonial and postcolonial literature in English. This will be done through a close reading of the set texts, chosen for their representative force and analyzed in their textual dynamics, in a wide diachronic perspective that, nonetheless, fully takes into account the specifics of their contexts.The broader gaol is to stimulate the students to develop their competence in critically approaching the texts and the historical, political and cultural dynamics underlying them. At the end of the module the students will be able to: -read and interpret postcolonial literary texts by structuring ideas and concepts with argumentative skill; -comment on the texts in such a way as to demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of the theoretical debate surrounding them.

Prerequisites and basic notions

No preliminary skills are required to attend the course

Program

"The inheritance of history: discovery, disintegration and rebirth"
MODULE 1 (A. Pes, 24 hrs, 4 cfu)
After a general introduction of the main theories and critical contributions in the field of postcolonial studies, lectures will focus on the analysis of the novel Benang by the Indigenous Australian writer Kim Scott.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary text:
- Kim Scott, Benang: From the Heart (1999)
Critical references (mandatory):
- SLATER, LISA, Benang, this 'most local of histories': annexing colonial records into a world without end, Journal of Commonwealth literature, 2006-01, Vol.41 (1), p.51-68
Additional references for non attending students (mandatory):
- Le Guellec, Anne, Unsettling the colonial linear perspective in Kim Scott's 'Benang'
Commonwealth (Rodez, France), 2010-10, Vol.33 (1), p.35-44
MODULE 2 (S. Zinato, 12 hrs, 2 cfu)
Analysis of the novel Disgrace by the South African writer J.M. Coetzee
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary text:
-J.M. COETZEE, Disgrace (1999)
Critical references:
- D. Attridge, "Age of Bronze, State of Grace: Music and Dogs in Coetzee's Disgrace", ch.7 in ID, "J.M. Coetzee and the Ethics of Reading", The university of Chicago Press, 2004 (available at Frinzi library)
Additional references for non attending students (mandatory):
-R. Barnard, "J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace and the South African Pastoral", Contemporary Literature, XVIL, 2 (2003), 199-224
MODULES 1 e 2
Handbook:
-T. Ashcroft, G. Griffiths, and H. Tiffin (eds.), The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures, Routledge, 1989: Introduction; ch.2 (Replacing language: textual Strategies in Postcolonial Writing"), ch. 5 (Replacing Theory: Postcolonial Writing and Literary Theory).
Additional references for non attending students (mandatory):
-A. Loomba, "Colonial and Postcolonial identities" (ch.2, 104-183) in ID, "Colonialism/Postcolonialism", Routledge, 1998.
The present syllabus will be valid until February 2026

Bibliography

Didactic methods

The course will be taught through classroom lectures held in English. Students are encouraged to participate actively. Students will have to register for the webclass on the e-Learning platform, and check it regularly for updates.
Non-attending students: The programme for non-attending students is detailed in the Bibliography section. They can access Moodle and the uploaded supplementary teaching materials.
Methods for teaching support:
Supplementary teaching materials (slides, images, videos, other texts, etc.) that will be used during classes will be available for download from the MOODLE e-repository. These contents do not substitute but complement the readings listed in the syllabus.
In addition to this, the teachers will be available for both attending and non-attending students during office hours (see webpage for details).
Students who may miss classes are invited to contact the teachers.

Learning assessment procedures

Oral exam in English.
Students may be required to read and comment on passages taken from primary texts.
There will be no mid-term tests.
Students will have to bring their primary texts at the exam

Evaluation criteria

Student will have to demonstrate:
1) the knowledge and comprehension of texts, authors, contents and of the historical and cultural context;
2) the ability to comment/analyze the literary texts in the syllabus with the aid of class notes and in the light of the main issues dealt with in the set critical references;
3) the use of an appropriate vocabulary and the ability to personally elaborate on the themes of both modules.

Criteria for the composition of the final grade

The final grade, awarded on a 30-point scale, will result from the average of the grades obtained in the assessment of each module, on the basis of the above-listed criteria.

Exam language

inglese/English

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