Unit ENGLISH LITERATURE II
- Course
- Foreign languages and cultures
- Study-unit Code
- 35308009
- Curriculum
- In all curricula
- CFU
- 9
- Course Regulation
- Coorte 2018
- Offered
- 2019/20
- Learning activities
- Caratterizzante
- Area
- Letterature straniere
- Academic discipline
- L-LIN/10
- Type of study-unit
- Opzionale (Optional)
- Type of learning activities
- Attività formativa monodisciplinare
ENGLISH LITERATURE II - Cognomi A-L
| Code | 35308009 |
|---|---|
| CFU | 9 |
| Teacher | Francesca Montesperelli |
| Teachers |
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| Hours |
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| Learning activities | Caratterizzante |
| Area | Letterature straniere |
| Academic discipline | L-LIN/10 |
| Type of study-unit | Opzionale (Optional) |
| Language of instruction | ITALIAN |
| Contents | Proto-psychology and extreme mental states in Romantic and Victorian Literature While true psychology would not become a discipline for several decades yet, Romantic-era artists were fascinated by madness, grief, and other extreme emotional and mental states. Though the association between poetic inspiration and mental degeneracy is a longstanding and enduringly popular idea that goes back to classical antiquity, it was given new life at the turn of the nineteenth century. As depictions of madness in nineteenth-century English literature paralleled the growth of the scientific and medical study of insanity, the multitude of ways in which madness was treated in literary texts reflects nineteenth-century society's fascination—bordering on obsession—with madness. The course examines not only the link between creativity and insanity, but the presence of extreme states and mental disorder in Romantic and Victorian poetry and fiction. |
| Reference texts | 1- Charlotte Brontë, “Jane Eyre”. 2- Henry James, “The Turn of the Screw”. 3- Daphne Du Maurier, Rebecca. |
| Educational objectives | This teaching aims to provide a basic knowledge of the English Victorian literature, and a deep, accurate acquaintance and comprehension of two influential texts of the second half of the 19th century and one sensational novel of the early XXth century. Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to do the following: 1. Demonstrate detailed knowledge of the primary texts and of their historical framework. 2. Identify aesthetic principles of literature, arts and humanities. 3. Select and use the vocabulary of the humanities at an appropriate intellectual level. 4. Demonstrate the skill of reading, translating and commenting on the texts. |
| Prerequisites | In order to be able to know how to tackle the course, students 1. must have an in-depht knowledge of history and geography of Great Britain; they must also have a basic knowledge of World history and geography; 2. are expected to be able to read primary texts in their original language; 3. must be able to read critically and formulate relevant conclusions (critical thinking); 4. must have acquired proficiency in communication (writing, reading, listening skills). These are competences that the student should have already acquired in his/her school curriculum. These preconditions are valid both for attending and not attending students. |
| Teaching methods | Class, primary resources, slides, PowerPoint presentations, video clips, films. |
| Other information | contacts: francesca.montesperelli@unipg.it |
| Learning verification modality | WRITTEN EXAM + ORAL EXAM. For the I and II modulo, the exam will be written and oral. WRITTEN EXAM: The exam is intended to be in Italian, and consists in a list of 4 close stimulus questions regarding the main topics explained during the course and 2 close stimulus questions on the historical context of the examined works. Open-ended answers will be short essays on the subjects, that prove a detailed knowledge of the primary texts and of their historic-literary context. Answers will be expected to be comprehensive, rigorously discussed, and correctly written in Italian. Notes and books are not allowed during the examination. Available time: 2 hours per modulo. ORAL EXAM: The exam is a reading, translation and comment on passages taken from the primary texts. The duration of the exam varies depending on the performance of the exam itself. Students can attend the oral exam only if the mark received from the written exam belongs to a determined range (18/30-30/30). The exam for the III modulo will be only oral. The final assessment of the examination will emerge from the average of the evaluations obtained in the aforementioned phases. Students are reminded that they are supposed to have an in-depht knowledge of history and geography of Great Britain and a basic knowledge of World history and geography. The date scheduled in the official timetable is that of the written examination. Usually, students sit the oral exam two or three days after the written one. The course program is valid only for one academic year. |
| Extended program | THE GOVERNESS IN THE GOTHIC FICTION (XIXth and early XXth century). The governess was one of the most familiar figures in Victorian life and literature. The 1851 Census revealed that 25.000 women earned their living teaching and caring for other women’s children. Infact, the governess represented a crisis for Victorian definitions of bourgeois femininity (which centered on middle-class women's financial dependence and apparent leisure), because she was a middle-class woman who earned her own living. Blurring the boundary between separate spheres, her anomalous position disturbed the Victorians’ stereotypes of class and gender. She was a lady, and therefore not a servant, but she was an employee, and therefore not of equal status with the wife and daughters of the house. She was a surrogate mother who had no children of her own, and a family member who was sometimes mistaken for a servant. Between and betwixt, she didn’t quite fit anywhere, and was seen as a burden and restrain in society. Just like an orphan, she was a blank slate onto which all possibilities were open, so that novelists could write any plot that they wanted. This is one of the reason why the governess is such a familiar figure to the reader of Victorian novels. Immortalized in Jane Eyre and Vanity Fair, she has made frequent appearances also as the protagonist of many lesser known novels, usually as heroine but sometimes as villain. This teaching aims to provide a basic knowledge of the English Victorian literature, and a deep, accurate acquaintance and comprehension of two influential texts of the second half of the 19th century and one sensational novel of the early XXth century. |
ENGLISH LITERATURE II - Cognomi M-Z
| Code | 35308009 |
|---|---|
| CFU | 9 |
| Teacher | Annalisa Volpone |
| Teachers |
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| Hours |
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| Learning activities | Caratterizzante |
| Area | Letterature straniere |
| Academic discipline | L-LIN/10 |
| Type of study-unit | Opzionale (Optional) |
| Language of instruction | Italian |
| Contents | Science in Romantic literature |
| Reference texts | the reading list will be given on the first class |
| Educational objectives | Students will acquire an exhaustive vision of the subject. Such vision will help them to orient themselves in European past and present history about a subject that concerns them deeply. Through the reading of literary texts and their historical contextualization the students will acquire a good controll of their own language capable of communicating fluently and persuasively. |
| Prerequisites | In order to understand and face the course the student must possess the general notions concerning the history of European and English literature and culture that she/he should have acquired in her/his scholastic path. |
| Teaching methods | Lectures and seminars. Discussions, comments |
| Other information | Attendance is not mandatory. |
| Learning verification modality | written text |
| Extended program | The course intends to offer a survey of the romantic pdriod |