“Literary Paths in English Prose and Poetry”
Module 1: “The Nineteenth-century Novel: texts, contexts and narrative modes” (6 credits).
Module 1 will focus on nineteenth-century English culture and society through the analysis of some great English novels (Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, Charlotte Brontë, Charles Dickens). They will be studied in their relationship with the most important topics of the period, the social context, the relations literature/science and literature/philosophy, the women condition and the aesthetic debate.
Module 2: “Philip Larkin and the English Poetry of the 1950s” (3 credits).
Module 2 will investigate the cultural context following the Second World War, which will be the starting point to discuss Philip Larkin's poetry, whose poetic renovation is tied to a return to pre-modernist poetic diction and style. The poetry of the Movement and, in particular, of Philip Larkin will be studied with ad hoc methodological and critical tools.
Primary sources:
Novels:
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Oxford University Press;
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus, Oxford University Press;
Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Oxford University Press;
Charles Dickens, Hard Times, Oxford University Press,
Poetry:
Philip Larkin, Collected Poems, Faber, 2003
Secondary sources:
D. Saglia, Leggere Austen, Carocci, 2016
F. D’Alfonso, F. Marroni (a cura di), Jane Austen: silenzi, lacune, allusioni, Carabba, 2018
F. Saggini, A. E. Soccio (eds.), Transmedia Creatures. Frankenstein’s Afterlives, Bucknell University Press and Rutgers University Press, 2018
F. Marroni, Come leggere Jane Eyre, Solfanelli, 2013
A. E. Soccio, Come leggere Hard Times, Solfanelli, 2014
A. E. Soccio, Philip Larkin. Immaginazione poetica e percorsi del quotidiano, Carocci, 2008.
Further articles and essays will be given during the course directly by Professor Soccio. The above-mentioned texts materials andare for both attending and non-attending students. Non-attending students must contact Professor Soccio and ask for course further study materials.
Course structure:
63 hours of class lectures; conferences and seminars will be organized throughout the semester.
