ENGLISH LITERATURE

Single discipline educational activity

Course Sheet

Academic Year of enrolment:

2016/2017

Type of Course:

Related/Supplementary

Optional/Mandatory:

Optional

Degree:

Master's Degree Programme in FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES FOR CULTURAL MEDIATION AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT

Disciplinary Sector:

ENGLISH LITERATURE

Credits:

Programme Year:

Professor and Collaborators:

SALIS Loredana

Hours of classroom activity:

Prerequisites:

B1 level of English

AF code:

40X01334

Assessment Methods

Verification of learning:

Oral examination/Viva (English optional)

Assesment of:

- knowldge of the authors and their contexts;
- ability to read critically the literary text in the reading list;
- ability to analyse texts and to do so appropriately, with good critical language competence.

Students are assessed on the basis of their knowledge of the themes and the texs analysed during the course as well as the literary, critical and communicative skills they have acquired.

Teaching period

Second semester

Objectives

Students will develop three main areas of competence: (i) knowledge of different cultural paradigms as well as narrative genres, functions and modes; (ii) awareness of the various problems of reading and interpretation; and (iii) critical reading of texts informed by the knowledge of/interaction of text and context. Students will learn to understand some of the basic principles of critical theory as well as applying specific reading strategies to selected texts and to raise questions about the reading process and its contexts. The emphasis throughout is on the development of students’ critical awareness of positions, strategies and possibilities of interpretation and the ability to propose their personal reading of literary texts.

Contents

Exile narratives and (myths of) motherland

Exile can be both a physical and a spiritual condition through which individuals can trace (back) their identity as well as their cultural roots. This year’s course in English Literature explores the theme of exile and its relation to notions of motherland through a reading of selected texts from 1600s to date. Students from the LM14 and the LM38 Course Degrees will become acquainted with different notions of exile as they recur in literary works by Anglophone writers of the past while also reflecting on the contemporary significance of the exilic experience. Students will also improve their knowledge of the history of literature in the English language, they will be encouraged to develop specific reading strategies, to relate texts to contexts, they will familiarise with different narrative genres, functions and modes (especially theatre and the novel), and they will also reflect upon aspects of legacy and reception. Classes will include seminars with experts in the field who are involved in the Irish Itinerary (2016 edition) and in the 2016 Uniss Theatre Lab, both as of which are coordinated the course lecturer.

Recommended Bibliography

W. Shakespeare, The Tempest (bilingual edition, eg: Einaudi (2012); Marsilio (2006); Feltrinelli (2004); Mondadori (2002); Garzanti (2002)

D. Defoe, Robinson Crusoe (English). Italian editions: Mondadori (2012); Garzanti (1980)

J. Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man/Il ritratto dell'artista da giovane (English for LM38; Italian for LM14: transl. Franca Cavagnoli (Feltrinelli 2016)

B. Friel, Philadelphia Here I Come! (Faber, 1965);

One of the following:

M. Kingsley, Travels in West Africa: Congo Français, Corisco and Cameroons. London: Macmillan, 1897 (a selection)

D. Bolger, The Parting Glass (Stillorgan: New Island Books, 2010)

Secondary sources:

Brioschi, F., Di Girolamo, C., Fusillo, M. Introduzione alla letteratura (Roma, Carocci: 2013): chap. I (pp. 13-51); chap. II (pp. 71-75); chap. V (185-196) - (phot. material)

P. Bertinetti, Breve storia della letteratura inglese (Torino: Einaudi, 2004): pp. 38-41; 138-144; 190-197; 241-245 (phot. material)

L. Crisafulli, K. Elam (eds), Manuale di cultura e letteratura inglese (Bologna: Bononia U.P., 2008: pp. 87-97; 139-150; 280-287; 327-334; 338-339 (phot. material)

(Erasmus/non-Italian students: A. Burgess, English Literature (1974) or the Norton Anthology of English Literature [1600s, the novel & 1700s, The Victorian Age, Twentieth Century Lit.]

A. Gibson, James Joyce (London: Reaktion, 2006): Introduction + chap. 11, Ireland Made Me: A Portrait of the Artist (It. edn, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2008: Premessa (pp. 7-10); ‘Ritratto’ (pp. 101-112);

A. Roche ed., The Cambridge Companion to Brian Friel, CUP: 2006: Foreword & Chronology (pp. xii-xvi) (phot. material);

One of the following:

J. Banerjee, Mary Kingsley: Demystifying Africa (phot. material)

L. Salis, 'Goodnight and joy be with you all': Tales of contemporary Dublin city life, in P. Villar-Argaiz, Literary visions of multicultural Ireland (Manchester,MUP, 2014); pp. 243-254 (phot. material)

Teaching Methods

Frontal and interactive teaching. Classes will be taught in the English language.

Cooperative learning teaching methodology may occasionally be adopted (group work).

Contacts/More Information

Students who cannot attend classes are invited to read the following additional sources. These are meant specifically to aid them in preparing for the exam:

NON FREQUENTANTI (additional reading)

• L. Crisafulli, K. Elam (eds), Manuale di cultura e letteratura inglese (Bologna: Bononia U.P., 2008): pp. 222-225

• A. Lombardo, ‘Introduzione’, in La Grande Conchiglia: due studi su La Tempesta (Roma: Bulzoni, 2006): pp. 13-50

• C. De Petris, ‘Introduzione’ in Brian Friel. ‘Traduzioni’ e altri drammi (Roma: Bulzoni, 1996): pp. 11-96

• K. Frank, chapt. 6 ‘Exile in England’, in A Voyager Out: The Life of Mary Kingsley (Tauris Parke, 2006): pp. 89-195;

• M. E. Novak, “The Sum of Humane Misery”? Defoe’s Ambiguity toward Exile, in Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, Vol. 50, No. 3 (Summer 2010), pp. 601-623.

ENGLISH LITERATURE

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ENGLISH LITERATURE