Teaching code

4S002911

Teacher

Annalisa Pes

Coordinatore

Annalisa Pes

Credits

9

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

Learning objectives

The aim of the course is to provide students with: - a basic knowledge of the history of the British Empire - a basic knowledge of postcolonial theories At the end of the course students will be able to: - discuss the selected literary texts through the critical theories introduced in the course - discuss in English, in a clear and consistent way, the topics dealt with in the course

Prerequisites and basic notions

As required by the Regolamento Didattico of the programme, students can sit for the exam of Anglophone Literatures and Cultures only after passing English Literature 1 and English Language 1.

Program

“Can the Subaltern Speak?”: Writing Back to the English Canon
After introducing students to postcolonial studies and the main theoretical and critical contributions in this field, lectures will focus on the postcolonial re-writing of canonical texts. Two classics of English literature, set in period of British colonial expansion, will be considered: Robinson Crusoe and Jane Eyre. The novels will be re-read in the light of postcolonial theories on the representation of Otherness, in order to realise the imperial ideology they are imbued with.
After that, two postcolonial re-writings of the above-mentioned texts will be analyzed: Moses Ascending by Trinidadian writer Sam Selvon and Wide Sargasso Sea by British-Caribbean writer Jean Rhys. The focus will be on the aspects of: identity, alterity, dislocation/alienation, writing back as a form of resistance to the colonial and patriarchal oppression of the subalterns’ voices.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary texts (any edition in English)
- D. Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
- C. Bronte, Jane Eyre
- S. Selvon, Moses Ascending
- J. Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea

Critical references
- C. Plasa, Textual Politics from Slavery to Postcolonialism: Race and Identification, Macmillan, 2000 (i seguenti capitoli: ch 3. ‘Silent Revolt’: Slavery and the Politics of Metaphor in Jane Eyre; ch 4. ‘Qui est là?’: Race and the Politics of Fantasy in Wide Sargasso Sea)
- C. Chakraborty, “Interrupting the Canon: Samuel Selvon’s Postcolonial Revision of Robinson Crusoe”, Ariel, vol. 34, n. 4, 2003, pp. 51-72.

Handbook of postcolonial studies
-John McLeod, Beginning Postcolonialism, Manchester University Press (pref. 2^ edizione) [cap. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7]

Additional compulsory references for non-attending students
- J. Thieme, Postcolonial con-texts : writing back to the canon, London ; New York : Continuum, 2001 (i seguenti capitoli: 1. Introduction: parents, bastards and orphans; 3. 'On England's Desert Island cast away': protean Crusoes, exiled Fridays; 4. Reclaiming ghosts, claiming ghosts: Caribbean and Canadian responses to the Brontes)
- A. Howells, “The Madwoman comes out of the attic: Wide Sargasso Sea” in Jean Rhys, NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1991
- G.A. Rampaul, “Black Crusoe, White Friday: Carnivalesque Reversals in Samuel Selvon’s Moses Ascending and Derek Walkott’s Pantomime”, Cultura, Lenguaje y Representaciòn/Culture, Language and Representation, vol. 1, 2004, pp. 69-80

The present syllabus is valid until the exam session of Winter 2025

Bibliography

Didactic methods

The course will be taught in English.
Students will have to register for the webclass on the e-Learning platform, and check it regularly for updates.
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.

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:
- the knowledge and comprehension of texts, authors, contents and of the historical and cultural context of British colonization;
- the knowledge of major postcolonial theories;
- the ability to comment/analyze the literary texts in the syllabus with the aid of critical references;
- the use of an appropriate vocabulary.

Criteria for the composition of the final grade

The final grade, awarded on a 30-point scale, will equally assess the above-mentioned criteria.

Exam language

Inglese/English