Teaching code

4S002949

Academic staff

Silvia Bigliazzi, Emanuel Stelzer

Coordinator

Silvia Bigliazzi

Credits

6

Language

English

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

L-LIN/10 - ENGLISH LITERATURE

Period

I semestre (Area Lingue e letterature straniere) dal Sep 22, 2025 al Dec 24, 2025.

Courses Single

Authorized

Lessons timetable Moodle Seminars 0

Learning objectives

The course, held in English, aims at introducing Students to the English Literature from the 16th century to the Restoration (1660), paying emphasis on some canonical literary texts. Besides, it will offer skills and abilities for the critical analysis of literary texts and their genres. The course objective is to provide a good knowledge of the literature of the period (historical context, texts, genres, literary movements and authors) and to develop in Students a capacity of analysis and argumentative abilities in relation to the various typologies of literary texts set in their literary, historical, and cultural context. At the end of the course, Student will be able to - analyse the examined literary texts setting them in their historical and cultural context; - discuss them in an argumentative way, with due consideration to contemporary literary conventions, and by applying a critical, knowledgeable, and aware approach to the specificity of the literary texts; - present the acquired competences in English, and in a coherent and clear way.

Prerequisites and basic notions

The English Literature 3 (L-11 ED) exam can only be taken after having passed the second year’s exams of English Language and Literature.

Program

Intrigues of Desire: Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing
The course introduces students to themes related to desire and the representation of erotic plots in two of Shakespeare’s Italian-set plays: the tragedy Romeo and Juliet and the comedy Much Ado About Nothing. The course will also focus on the digital renditions of these two plays in Shakespearean publishing, emphasising the intertextual relationships between the Italian sources and their rewritings/adaptations leading up to Shakespeare. Finally, it will explore the potential for studying these works through approaches that use games applied to source analysis via digital tools.
Attending and non-attending students alike are required to do all the readings indicated below. All texts in the syllabus are compulsory.
Where "optional reading" is specified within brackets, it is understood that this is functional to furthering or facilitating the study, but is not compulsory.
Further teaching material will be available for download from the Moodle repository.
Programme:
(Module 1) Prof. Emanuel Stelzer:
- Paul Poplawski, English Literature in Context, Cambridge University Press, 2017 (or later editions), chapter 2 (“The Renaissance: pp. 98-188”)
• Materials uploaded on Moodle about the Elizabethan cultural context
• For the section on the Restoration, teaching materials will be made available on Moodle.
(Module 2) Prof. Silvia Bigliazzi:
PRIMARY TEXT
• William Shakespeare, Romeo e Giulietta, a cura di Silvia Bigliazzi, Torino, Einaudi 2012
SECONDARY TEXT:
• Silvia Bigliazzi, Guida a Romeo e Giulietta, Roma, Carocci, 2022.
(Module 3) Prof. Emanuel Stelzer:
PRIMARY TEXT
• McEachern, Claire. 2016. Much Ado About Nothing, revised edition. The Arden Shakespeare. London: Bloomsbury.
SECONDARY TEXTS:
• Stelzer, Emanuel. 2024. "'The story that is printed in her blood'": Patriarchal Authority in Much Ado About Nothing and Its Sources". In Revisiting Shakespeare’s Italian Resources Memory and Reuse, edited by Silvia Bigliazzi, 198-223. London and New York: Routledge.
• Neely, Carol Thomas. 1993. Broken Nuptials in Shakespeare's Plays, 24-57. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press. (OPTIONAL)
Be advised:
- No editions other than those indicated in the syllabus are to be used. Texts are to be read in full. In the case of articles or book chapters, read the indicated page-range. Primary texts must be read in the original language.
- Any files uploaded in Moodle other than those indicated in the above list, are not intended as substitutes for the texts in the syllabus.
- Other material in Moodle not indicated in the syllabus is intended as optional.

Bibliography

Didactic methods

The course consists of face-to-face lectures with the active participation of students. The course will be held in English.

Learning assessment procedures

Knowledge acquisition will be evaluated through an oral exam, which will consist in a discussion of the topics dealt with during the modules. The assessment methods will be the same for attending and non-attending students.

Evaluation criteria

The assessment of learning outcomes is aimed at verifying:
1) knowledge of the history of English literature of the Renaissance period;
2) the understanding of the primary texts in the syllabus, within their historical and cultural context;
3) the acquisition of a critical methodology appropriate to the analysis of texts and contexts;
4) the ability of textual analysis as well as expository and argumentative analysis in English.

Criteria for the composition of the final grade

The final mark will result from the average of the grades the student will receive for each of the three modules.

Exam language

English