Unit ENGLISH LITERATURE POSTCOLONIAL
- Course
- Languages, comparative literatures and intercultural translation
- Study-unit Code
- GP005156
- Curriculum
- Lingue e letterature
- Teacher
- Francesca Montesperelli
- Teachers
-
- Francesca Montesperelli
- Hours
- 36 ore - Francesca Montesperelli
- CFU
- 6
- Course Regulation
- Coorte 2019
- Offered
- 2020/21
- Learning activities
- Affine/integrativa
- Area
- Attività formative affini o integrative
- Academic discipline
- L-LIN/10
- Type of study-unit
- Opzionale (Optional)
- Type of learning activities
- Attività formativa monodisciplinare
- Language of instruction
- Italian
- Contents
- "Palace of the Peacock" and the narratives of Empire.
"Palace of the Peacock" (1960) is the first novel by Guyanese writer Wilson Harris, who is considered one of the most original and innovative voices in postwar literature in English. The novel is set in the sixteenth century and presents the narrative of a group of men from different ethnic backgrounds making their way up a dangerous and turbulent river within the jungles of Guyana. The party is led by a man named Donne (as the metaphysical poet), a cruel second-generation European colonialist who was born in Guyana, and who is hunting for a woman called Mariella. - Reference texts
- W. Harris, "Palace of the Peacock"
- Educational objectives
- This teaching aims to provide a basic knowledge of the English post-colonial literature, and in particular of the Caribbean literary production, through the reading of a narrative text, a canonical text in Caribbean Literature. 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, history 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 the basic notions of the history and geography of the Western world;
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 and university curriculum. These preconditions are valid both for attending and not attending students. - Teaching methods
- Seminars, primary resources, slides, PowerPoint presentations, video clips.
- Other information
- contacts:
francesca.montesperelli@unipg.it - Learning verification modality
- The course will have a combination of lectures, seminars and self-study. While lectures are intended to introduce specific topics, raise related issues, and consider differing theoretical perspectives, seminars perform close textual analysis and consider critically aspects of the primary texts. Self-study is an essential part of the course, since it allows the students to prepare for lectures and seminars, gaining the most benefit from them. Students who have regularly attended lectures and seminars, will be evaluated throughout the course and WILL NOT therefore SUSTAIN ANY FINAL EXAM. Students who will not regularly attend lectures and seminars, will be required to take a FINAL EXAM on the whole syllabus.
The final exam can be written or oral.
The course program is valid only for one academic year. - Extended program
- "Palace of the Peacock" and the narratives of Empire.
"Palace Of The Peacock" (1960) is the first novel by Guyanese writer Wilson Harris, who is considered one of the most original and innovative voices in postwar literature in English. The novel is set in the sixteenth century and presents the narrative of a group of men from different ethnic backgrounds making their way up a dangerous and turbulent river within the jungles of Guyana. The party is led by a man named Donne (as the metaphysical poet), a cruel second-generation European colonialist who was born in Guyana, and who is hunting for a woman called Mariella.
Harris’novel -- a sort of rewriting of" Heart of Darkness" (J. Conrad) -- is a very important early postcolonial novel and a canonical text in Caribbean Literature. The narrative follows the diverse crew on its phantasmal journey upriver into the heart of British Guyana and far from the coastal city of Georgetown. In this voyage in a sort of metaphysical landscape, the plot interweaves past and present, tales and echoes of conquest with the stories of the conquered, the quest for land with the quest for the legendary woman. Dream and reality become inseparable, and characters are fluid, changing from one persona to another.