Teaching code

4S002903

Teacher

Annalisa Pes

Coordinatore

Annalisa Pes

Credits

6

Language

English

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

L-LIN/10 - ENGLISH LITERATURE

Period

I semestre (Lingue e letterature straniere) dal Sep 28, 2020 al Jan 9, 2021.

Lessons timetable Moodle Seminars

Learning outcomes

The course, held in English, aims at introducing students to relevant aspects of English literature, from the Pre-Romantic to the contemporary period, through the reading of a selection of canonical texts. Primary notions about possible methodological approaches for the analysis of literary texts and genres will be imparted. Furthermore, the course will provide a sound knowledge of the English literature of the period (historical context, texts, genres, literary movements and authors) and stimulate abilities and skills for the critical analysis of texts, their discussion and analysis, in consideration of their historical, cultural, and context specificities.

At the end of the course, students will be able to:
- Analyse the literary texts of the syllabus discussing them in relation to their historical and cultural context;
- Discuss the texts using an appropriate critical approach demonstrating the knowledge of the literary conventions of their time;
- Express the acquired literary and critical knowledge demonstrating an adequate competence also in the English language.

Program

PROGRAMME
"Re-writing London: postcolonial, hidden and transnational lives in the metropolis"
The course will investigate different literary representations of the city of London provided by the voice of the “Other”. The peripheral or marginal experiences of migrants, second-generation citizens, homeless, criminals will allow students to put together a portrait of the English metropolis from the 1970s to nowadays in a multifaceted and multicultural perspective. The critical reading of primary texts will be focused on the issues of belonging, resistance, hybridity and transnational identity shaping the lives of these “new Londoners” in a process of ongoing change and renegotiation.
PLEASE BE ADVISED:
Lectures will be held in English.
The programme will be valid for two academic years (i.e. until February 2023)

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
A) PRIMARY TEXTS (to be read in any unabridged edition in English):
- Hanif Kureishi, The Buddha of Suburbia (1990)
- Monica Ali, Brick Lane (2003)
- Ben Judah, This is London (2016): selected parts
B) REFERENCES (compulsory):
-J.C. Ball, Imagining London. Postcolonial Fiction and the Transnational Metropolis (University of Toronto Press, 2004): Introduction: The Key to the Capital (pp. 3-40).
- J. Procter, Dwelling Places. Postwar Black British Writing (Manchester University Press, 2003): Introduction (pp. 1-20) and ch. 4 (“Suburbia”, pp. 125-159).
- K. Kaleta, Hanif Kureishi: Postcolonial Storyteller (University of Texas Press, 1998): ch. 3.
- A. Cormack, Migration and the Politics of Narrative Form. Realism and the Postcolonial Subject in Brick Lane. CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE, 47: 4, 2006, pp. 695-721.
- L.E. Roupakia, Cosmopolitanism, Religion and Ethics: Rereading Monica Ali’s Brick Lane. JOURNAL OF POSTCOLONIAL WRITING, 52: 6, 2016, pp. 645-658.
-https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jan/20/this-is-london-by-ben-judah-review
-https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/book-review-this-is-london-by-ben-judah/
-https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/books/this-is-london-life-and-death-in-the-world-city-by-ben-judah-review-a3157026.html
C) HANDBOOK:
As regards the literary and cultural context spanning from Romanticism to Post-modernism, students will refer to:
- A. Sanders, The Short Oxford History of English Literature (Oxford University Press, 2004 - third edition), chapters 6 (“The Literature of the Romantic Period 1780-1830”), 7 (“High Victorian Literature, 1830-1880), 8 (“Late Victorina and Edwardian Literature, 1800-1920”), 9 (“Modernism and its Alternatives: Literature 1920-1945”) and 10 (“Post-War and Post-Modern Literature”).

Examination Methods

EXAM METHOD
Typology: Oral exam in English at the end of the course. There will be no mid-term tests.
The exam will consist in an oral discussion (in English) that will assess the knowledge of the module’s texts (A, B and C) and the capacity to critically discuss the problematic issues they deal with. In particular students will have to demonstrate:
- knowledge and comprehension of texts and contexts (to know the contents of primary texts and to be able to read them within their historical and cultural framework. Handbook: main authors and movements from Romanticism to Post-modernism)
- capacity to critically comment and analyse literary texts (to be able to discuss texts proving analythical skills and the knowledge of critical works)
- ability to express clearly and with the use of an appropriate vocabulary the critical and personal interpretations of texts.
Students may be required to read and comment on passages taken from primary texts (see A) above).

PLEASE BE ADVISED
Further details on required readings and general information on bibliographical material will be provided during classes
Students will have to bring their own primary texts at the exam.