Teaching code

4S01196

Teacher

Silvia Bigliazzi

Coordinator

Silvia Bigliazzi

Credits

6

Language

Italian

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

L-LIN/10 - ENGLISH LITERATURE

Period

CuCi 1 A, CuCi 1 B

Courses Single

Authorized

Lessons timetable Moodle Seminars 0

Learning objectives

The module aims at introducing the students to English Literature with a focus upon canonical texts and within the context of coeval continental literature. At the same time, it wishes to provide appropriate instruments for a critical approach to texts and genres. The module will develop abilities of textual reading and analysis of literary works belonging to different periods within their historical and cultural contexts. It will also introduce students to critical approaches aimed at strengthening their analytical and argumentative skills.

Prerequisites and basic notions

The English Literature (i) exam can only be taken if students have a B1 language certificate in English.

Program

“Mental Life and the Metropolis in the Modernist Novel: Readings from James Joyce and Virginia Woolf”

The course aims at introducing students to the fiction of James Joyce and Virginia Woolf with a focus on the metropolis and its experience through mental life. It will focus on an analysis of Joyce’s famous short story "The Dead" from the early collection Dubliners and will then concentrate on narrative and mythical experimentation in Ulysses, examining the relationship between history and myth in the second episode of the first part (Telemachy). It will then move on to a reading of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway.

Attending and non-attending students alike are required to do all the readings indicated below.
Further teaching material will be available for download from the MOODLE repository.

Primary Texts
• James Joyce, I Morti (parallel text), ed. by Claudia Corti, Venezia, Marsilio, 2012.
• James Joyce, Ulysses, part I, episode 2 (1922; students may choose any English edition; recommended Italian edition: Ulisse, trans. and commentary by G. De Angelis, introd. by G. Melchiori, Milano, Mondadori 1978).
• Virginia Woolf, La signora Dalloway (1925; testo inglese a fronte), a cura di Marisa Sestito, Venezia, Marsilio, 2012.


Seconday Texts
• G. Melchiori e G. De Angelis (eds), Guida alla lettura dell’Ulisse di James Joyce, Milano, Mondadori, 1984, pp. 1-66, 85-93.
• Derek Attridge (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to James Joyce, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2004, chapters 1-7 (pp. 1-148).
• Paul K. Saint-Amour, “Of Clocks and Clouds”, in A Companion to Virginia Woolf, edited by Jessica Berman, Malden Oxford, Wiley Blackwell, 2016, pp. 79-94.


Be advised:
- No editions other than those indicated in the syllabus are to be used. Texts are to be read in full. In the case of articles or book chapters, read the indicated page-range. Primary texts must be read in the original language.
- Any files uploaded in moodle other than those indicated in the above list, are not intended as substitutes for the texts in the syllabus.
- Other material in moodle not indicated in the syllabus is intended as optional.

Bibliography

Didactic methods

The course consists of face-to-face lectures with the active participation of students. The course will be held in Italian and the primary texts will be read in English with the aid of parallel-text editions. Attending students will have the opportunity to take one self-assessment test at the end of the course. A written calendar of the topics that will be dealt with will be circulated in class at the beginning of the course.

Learning assessment procedures

Knowledge acquisition will be evaluated through an oral exam, which will consist in a discussion of the topics dealt with during the course. Alternatively, students may submit an essay in Italian of approximately 5,000 words at least a week before the exam. The essay will then be presented and discussed orally. For essay-writing guidelines please refer to the following text: Richard Marggraf Turley, Writing Essays, London and New York, Routledge, 2016 (2nd edition). Before submitting their essays, students are required to discuss their project with the teacher.

Evaluation criteria

Students should demonstrate that they have acquired:
1) adequate knowledge of the primary texts in the relevant historical and cultural context;
2) the ability to understand and translate the primary texts into Italian;
3) textual analysis skills with special attention to stylistic aspects;
4) expository and argumentative abilities in Italian.

Criteria for the composition of the final grade

The final grade will result from the average mark students will earn on the basis of the four criteria indicated above.

Exam language

Italiano con lettura dei testi nella lingua originale e traduzione in italiano.