Knowledge and skills to be acquired
Students will demonstrate their ability to argue on the topics proposed in class and on the primary materials (novels and poems) and secondary materials (the critical essays and the historical-cultural contextualisation) indicated in the bibliography.
It is important to be able to make critical links between the proposed readings and the authors' contribution to their own time.
Examination methods:
Oral exam:
Students must bring to the examination paper or computer copies of all the texts in the syllabus.
The exam will consist of four questions:
1. A topic of the student's choice on the cultural-historical part from the Elizabethan period to the first decade of the 1800s.
2. Reading and commentary on a poem from the syllabus (relating to Section 1).
3. A question on the development of the novel (relating to section 2).
4. A question on a critical essay from among those proposed for the analysis of the various works in Sections 1 and 2.
Section 1:
Commodification and social issues:
We will read the complex history of English poetry from the beginning of the nineteenth century.
We will start from the Romantic to the Victorian period, highlighting the characteristics of the authors and the issues of the turn of the century, both from a socio-political and literary point of view.
Starting with William Wordsworth, we will analyse the poetry of Alfred Tennyson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Christina Rossetti.
Section 2
From the 19th to the 20th century:
Charles Darwin, passages from the most important works.
Robert Chmabers, extracts from Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation
STUDENTS CAN CHOOSE ONE OTH THE FOLLOWING NOVELS:
Charlotte Brontee: Jane Eyre
Patrick McGrath: Asylum
STUDENTS MUST READ BOTH NOVELS:
Frances Hodgson Burnett: That Lass O’Lowrie’s
Kazuo Ishiguro: Never Let Me Go
Students will be informed during the course if additions or changes to the primary and critical materials are required.
Please note that the syllabus is a work in progress and may change, so students are encouraged to consult the syllabus before starting the course.
