Teaching code

4S002926

Teacher

Silvia Bigliazzi

Coordinatore

Silvia Bigliazzi

Credits

9

Language

English

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

L-LIN/10 - ENGLISH LITERATURE

Period

Semester 1  dal Oct 2, 2017 al Jan 20, 2018.

Lessons timetable Moodle Seminars

Learning outcomes

The module aims at introducing the students to nineteenth- and twentieth-century English Literature, and at the same time providing basic instruments for a critical approach to texts and genres. The module will develop abilities of textual reading and analysis of different textual types, with a focus on modern and contemporary works within their historical and cultural contexts. It will also introduce students to critical approaches aimed at strengthening their analytical and argumentative skills. On successful completion of the module, students will be able to re-elaborate critically the acquired knowledge and to discuss topics employing appropriate linguistic and stylistic registers.

Program

“The experience of evil in English Literature at the turn of the nineteenth century and beyond.”
The module concentrates on the topic of evil in some canonic texts of English literature between the end of the nineteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth century. It focuses on the genres of the novel, of the short story, and, with regard to poetry, of the dramatic monologue. After offering an overview of chosen classic texts of the Victorian age devoted to this subject, from the Brontë sisters’ narratives to Stevenson’s and Wilde’s, as well as to the detective novel and Browning’s dramatic monologues, the module will then explore the protomodernist experimentation of Joseph Conrad, Virginia Woolf’s modernist narrative, and T.S Eliot’s early poetry. The discussion will extend to Francis Ford Coppola’s cinematic re-reading of Conrad’s narrative in the 1970s. These issues will be located within the literary period spanning the Victorian age and the entire twentieth century.

TEACHING METHODS:
The module will be held in English. Attending students will take three self-assessment tests during the module. A written calendar of the topics that will be dealt with will be circulated in class at the beginning of the course.
Further teaching material will be available for download from the MOODLE repository.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Students are required to do all the readings indicated in the three sections below: 1. Primary Texts (the writers’ works), 2. Secondary Texts (references), 3. Handbook (literary history):

1) Primary Texts:
• Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness (1899), ed. by P.B. Armstrong, New York, Norton Critical Edition, fifth edition, 2016 (section: “The Text of Heart of Darkness”);
• T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, in Prufrock and Other Observations (1917), in R. Sanesi (ed.), Poesie (parallel text edition), Milano, Bompiani, 1983;
• T.S. Eliot, Hamlet (1919), Tradition and the Individual Talent (1921), in Selected Prose of T.S. Eliot, ed. by F. Kermode, London, Faber, 1975, pp. 37-49.
• Virginia Woolf, La Signora Dalloway (1925; parallel text edition), ed. by Marisa Sestito, Venezia, Marsilio, 2012.

2) Secondary Texts:
• Section: “Background and Context”, in Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness (1899), ed. by P.B. Armstrong, New York, Norton Critical Edition, fifth edition, 2016;
• A. Serpieri, “La prospettiva fenomenologica nella raccolta di Prufrock”, in Id., Le strutture profonde, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1973, pp. 89-119;
• Maria DiBattista, Virginia Woolf’s Major Novels: The Fables of Anon, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1980, pp. 22-63;
• Monika Fludernik, An Introduction to Narratology, London and New York, Routledge, 2009, pp. 1-118.

3) Handbook:
As regards the literary and cultural context spanning from the Victorian Age to the late twentieth century, students will refer to:
• A. Sanders, The Short History of English Literature, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1994, chapters 7-10 (pp. 398-639).

Non-attending students:
Non-attending students are required to integrate the syllabus detailed above (parts 1, 2 and 3) with the following readings:

• section “Criticism”, in Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness (1899), ed. by P.B. Armstrong, New York, Norton Critical Edition, fifth edition, 2016;
• chapters 11 (“Practical applications”) and 12 (“Guidelines for budding narratologists”), in Monika Fludernik, An Introduction to Narratology, London and New York, Routledge, 2009.

Examination Methods

The exam will consist in an oral discussion of the topics dealt with during the module. The acquired abilities will be evaluated in terms of:

1) knowledge of the literary history and of the primary texts within their historical and cultural contexts;
2) ability to use critical approaches appropriate to textual and contextual analysis, with special attention to stylistic and narratological features;
3) textual comprehension and translation into Italian of the primary texts;
4) argumentative skills and academic use of English.

The oral exam will be held in English and will evaluate the knowledge acquired with regard to parts (1), (2) and (3) of the above-detailed syllabus.