Teaching code

4S002903

Academic staff

Annalisa Pes, Cristiano Ragni

Coordinator

Annalisa Pes

Credits

6

Language

English

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

L-LIN/10 - ENGLISH LITERATURE

Period

I semestre (Lingue e letterature straniere) dal Sep 26, 2022 al Dec 23, 2022.

Lessons timetable Moodle Seminars 0

Learning objectives

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.

Prerequisites and basic notions

Being a first-year exam, no preliminary skills, other than those required to enroll, are required. A sufficient competence in English, however, is advisable in order for students to understand lectures conducted in English, comprehend primary texts and scholarly work in the discipline in English, and take the exam in English.

Program

Women Living in Each Other: Jane Eyre and Clarissa Dalloway

MODULE 1 (A. Pes, 18 hrs, 3 cfu)
The module introduces students to Charlotte Bronte’s novel, Jane Eyre, considered by critics as a revolutionary text in the context of Victorian women’s writing. Starting from the analysis of the novel, lectures will focus on stylistic and structural features of female autobiography and, at the same time, emphasis will be laid on relevant issues like obedience and resistance in a patriarchal society, the relation with religion, gender roles, classism and social conformity, race discourse and orientalist stereotypes in a colonial context. Different critical approaches through which the novel has been read will also be explored: feminist and gender studies, psychoanalytical reading and postcolonial studies. In addition to this, contemporary re-writings and re-adaptations of the text will be mentioned.

MODULE 1’s programme consists in three parts (see the “BIBLIOGRAPHY” section below):
A. Primary text
B. Readings
Further details on required readings, general information on bibliographical material, and exam method will be given during classes.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. Primary text
- Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (any English edition)
B. Readings
- S.M. Gilbert and S. Gubar, “A Dialogue of Self and Soul: Plain Jane’s Progress” in The Madwoman in the Attic, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1979, pp. 336-371
- C. Plasa, “‘Silent Revolt’: Slavery and the Politics of Metaphor in Jane Eyre”, in Textual Politics from Slavery to Postcolonialism, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 60-81
B1. Further readings for non-attending students
- Firdous Azim, “Charlotte Brontë/Currer Bell. Sexuality, the Text and the Woman Novelist” in The Colonial Rise of the Novel, London and New York, Routledge, 1993, pp. 88-108

MODULE 2 (C. Ragni, 18 hrs, 3 cfu)
The module introduces students to one of the pivotal works of English Modernism: Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway. Starting from the analysis of the short story “Mrs Dalloway in Bond Street” - which constitutes a first draft of the novel - and through the vision of clips taken from Marleen Gorris’s film adaptation (Mrs Dalloway, 1997), the course will focus, among others aspects, on the characterization that Woolf makes of the character of Clarissa Dalloway, caught in the constant search for balance between her inner world and the outer world, between past and present, between life and death. The rewriting published by Michael Cunningham in 1998 (The Hours) will be also mentioned, as well as the homonymous film directed by Stephen Daldry in 2002.
MODULE 2’s programme consists in three parts (see the “BIBLIOGRAPHY” section below):
A. Primary texts
B. Readings
Further details on required readings, general information on bibliographical material, and exam method will be given during classes.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. Primary texts
- Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway in Bond Street (the text will be made available on MOODLE)
- Virginia Woolf, La signora Dalloway (English-Italian edition), a cura di Marisa Sestito, Venezia, Marsilio, 2012.
B. Readings
- Monica Latham, «Clarissa Dalloway’s Itinerary: Narrative Identity Across Texts», in e-Rea. Revue Électronique d'Études sur le Monde Anglophone 13:1 (2015) https://journals.openedition.org/erea/4724?lang=en#tocto1n2
- Paul K. Saint-Amour, “Mrs Dalloway. Of Clocks and Clouds”, in Jessica Berman (ed.), A Companion to Virginia Woolf, Malden, MA – Oxford, Wiley, 2016, pp. 79-94.
- Lisbeth Larsson, “Walking in Upper-Class Westminster – Mrs Dalloway”, in Lisbeth Larsson, Walking Virginia Woolf’s London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2017, pp. 107-13
B1. Further readings for non-attending students
- J.P. Saunders, “Mortal Stain: Literary Allusion and Female Sexuality in ‘Mrs Dalloway in Bond Street’”, in Studies in Short Fiction Newberry, S.C. 15/2 (1978), pp. 139-144.

MODULE 1 and MODULE 2
As regards the literary and cultural context spanning from the Romantic Age to nowadays, students will refer to:
- Paul Poplawski, English Literature in Context (Cambridge University Press, 2017 - second edition): chapters 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

Bibliography

Didactic methods

Whole class teaching in English.
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 “PROGRAMME > Bibliography” section above.

Learning assessment procedures

Oral exam. Students may be required to read and comment on passages taken from primary texts (see “PROGRAMME > Bibliography > a. Primary texts).
There will be no mid-term tests.
Students must bring their own primary texts on the day of the exam.

Evaluation criteria

Student will have to demonstrate:
1) the knowledge and comprehension of the module’s topics (texts, authors, and genres) and of the literary and cultural context (from the Romantic Age to the present);
2) the development of good analytical and synthetic skill levels with regard to the main historical, cultural, textual, and critical topics of the module; and
3) the use of an appropriate vocabulary.

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.

Exam language

Inglese / English