Teaching code

4S002903

Teacher

Lisanna Calvi

Coordinator

Lisanna Calvi

Credits

6

Language

English

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

L-LIN/10 - ENGLISH LITERATURE

Period

I semestre (Lingue e letterature straniere) dal Sep 25, 2023 al Dec 22, 2023.

Courses Single

Authorized

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

Jane Eyre: Legacies and Afterlives
The module will explore Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre (1847) and, through the critical lens of adaptation and appropriation, of two of the many ‘responses’ that the novel, and its centrality in female writing and in the history of literature at large, had after its first publication in 1847 as examples of a rich literary and cultural afterlife, with special regard to the twentieth century (Rhys) and the new millennium (Tennant).
Please be advised
The programme consists in three parts: a. Primary texts, b. and b.1 Readings, and c. Handbook (see the BIBLIOGRAPHY section below).
Further details on required readings, general information on bibliographical material, and exam method will be given during classes.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
a. Primary texts
- Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, ed. by Stevie Davies, Penguin, 2006.
- Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea, ed. by Andrea Ashworth, Penguin, 2000.
- Emma Tennant, Thornfield Hall, HarperCollins, 2007.
b. Readings
- Julie Sanders, Adaptation and Appropriation, Routledge, 2006, pp. 1-41, 95-137.
- Esther Godfrey, “Jane Eyre, from Governess to Girl Bride”, Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, Vol. 45, No. 4, 2005, pp. 853-871.
- Caroline Rody, “Burning Down the House: The Revisionary Paradigm of Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea”, in Wide Sargasso Sea, ed. by Judith L. Raiskin, Norton, 1999, pp. 217-225.
- Alexandra Lewis, “The Ethics of Appropriation; or, the ‘mere spectre’ of Jane Eyre: Emma Tennant’s Thornfield Hall, Jasper Fforde’s The Eyre Affair and Gail Jones’s Sixty Lights”, in Amber K. Regis and Deborah Wynne (eds), Charlotte Brontë. Legacies and Afterlives, Manchester University Press, 2017, pp. 197-220.
b1. Supplementary readings for non-attending students
- Cora Kaplan, Victoriana – Histories, Fictions, Criticism, Edinburgh University Press, 2007, pp. 15-36.
- Susan Meyer, “Colonialism and the Figurative Strategy of Jane Eyre”, Victorian Studies, Vol. 33, No. 2 1990, pp. 247-268.
3. Handbook
As regards the literary and cultural context spanning from the Romantic Age to the present, students will refer to:
- Paul Poplawski (ed.), English Literature in Context, Cambridge University Press, 2017: chapters 4 (“The Romantic Period, 1780-1832”), 5 (“The Victorian Age, 1832-1901”), 6 (“The Twentieth Century, 1901-1939), 7 (“The Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries, 1939-2015”) and 8 (“Postcolonial Literature in English”).

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 mandatory readings listed in the PROGRAM section.
It is strongly advised, although not mandatory, to attend classes. Upon students' request, the instructor can assign further bibliographical material. She will also be available during office hours to provide clarifying information and answer questions.

Learning assessment procedures

Oral exam (the exam will last approximately 20/30 minutes and will consist of 5/6 questions).
Students may be required to read and comment on passages taken from primary texts (see “PROGRAM > Bibliography > a. Primary texts). Please bring your own books on the exam day.
There will be no mid-term tests.

Evaluation criteria

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;
3) the use of an appropriate vocabulary.

Criteria for the composition of the final grade

The assessment of the three components listed above (see "Evaluation criteria") will form the final grade, awarded on a 30-point scale.
Minimum pass: 18/30
Maximum: 30/30 (cum laude)

Exam language

Inglese / English

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