ENGLISH LITERATURE B I

Università degli Studi
"G. d'Annunzio"

Chieti - Pescara

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Single discipline educational activity

Course Sheet

Course code:

L0852

Academic Year of enrolment:

2019

Year of supply:

2020/2021

Type of Course:

Basic

Degree:

Course of 1st Cycle Degree in LINGUISTIC MEDIATION AND INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Disciplinary Sector:

ENGLISH LITERATURE

Location:

PESCARA

Credits:

Programme Year:

Professor and Collaborators:

COSTANTINI Mariaconcetta

Cycle:

Second semester

Hours of classroom activity:

Individual study hours:

114

Prerequisites:

There are no prerequisites connected with the Curriculum structure. Students are however recommended to have a good knowledge of English, which they will need to read, understand and analyse the primary sources written in original language.

Objectives

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
A first aim of the course is that of offering students basic knowledge of socio-cultural and identity questions regarding class, gender and race, with special attention for the condition of women in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The L12 Curriculum aims to train linguistic and intercultural mediators, as well as experts in languages who are to be employed in the field of international relations. In line with these professional objectives, the course intends to investigate identity questions concerning the British world, to develop the students’ ability to pursue a critical analysis of historical and cultural phenomena that take place in foreign countries, and to draw ever-new comparisons with the Italian reality. Considering the fcat that only one exam of English Literature B is compulsory in this Curriculum, moreover, the analysis of literary texts by two British women writers belonging to two different centuries aims to offer a basic knowledge of the main thematic and stylistic aspects of Victorian to contemporary English literature and of the changing cultural contexts. Students might choose to develop these basic notions by selecting non-compulsory exams in this Curriculum or by studying English literature in an MA course later in their career. The analysis of primary sources in this course is not only meant to favour the students’ direct knowledge of literature in its main thenatic and stylistic aspects. It will also enable students to acquire and improve their linguistic skills, which are essential to the professional figures the Curriculum aims to train. The course belongs to the literary and cultural area of learning. It intends to offer good knowledge of the English literatures and cultures, and to encourage comparative and interdisciplinary approaches (thanks to the historical and filmic aspects it deals with). The primary sources in English are used to reinforce the students’ abilities to understand specialized texts in English.

LEARNING OUTCOMES
Acquisition of somel knowledge of English culture and literature from the nineteenth century to the present day, with special attention for the works and the thematic and stylistic peculiarities of two women writers; ability to undestand written specialized texts in English (literary, cultural, critical) and to interpret them from an international and intercultural perspective:
ability to analyse texts written in English from a linguistic, rhetorical, stylistic and intersemiotic perspective; ability to connect these texts to their appropriate historical and literary context and to recognize their typology;
ability to reflect on identity and cultural themes, also in relation to the students’ reality and to the contemporary world;
acquisition of knowledge of various methodologie and critical approaches to literary texts, with special attention for feminist theories;
ability to classify and synthetize data and information, to elaborate them and communicate them orally in a well-argued, critically autonomous speech in correct, formal English.

Contents

Introduction to Victorian England: historical, social and cultural aspects, with special attention for gender, class and racial identity, and with in- depth reflection on the condition of women at the time. Introduction to the fairy-tale tradition, on the diffusion of this literary genre in Victorian England and on the gender models it conveyed.
Introduction to twentieth-century England: main changes in gender, class and racial relations. Comparisons with the previous century.
Basic knowledge of the main feminist theories.
The English novel of formation between the nineteenth and the twentieth cnetury: structure and themes.
Thematic and stylistic characterists of the Victorian novel and postmodern fiction. Postmodern rewritings and parodies of the fairy-tale tradition.
The literary representation of gender identity in the works by Charlotte Brontë e Angela Carter: strategies and themes.
Filmic adaptations of literary texts: the case of “Jane Eyre”.

Extended Syllabus

Part 1: Jane Eyre as a Victorian rebel heroine (4 credits)
Part 1 opens with a theoretical introduction to gender identity and the main feminist theories developed between the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries. This introduction will be followed by a study of the Victorian socio-cultural context, with special attention for gender, class and racial problems. The condition of Victorian women will also be examined, especially with regard to female education, marriage, sexuality and women’s limited professional opportunities. Another main topic witll be the development of the European fairy-tale tradition and its diffusion in England. The role fairy tales had in encoding Victorian gender roles will also be explored. All these issues will later be discussed in relation with “Jane Eyre” (1847), a novel of formation considered a classic of English literature, whose heroine set an unorthodox, rebel model of femininity. Another figure taken into account will be Bertha Mason, a minor character repersented in terms of psychic and ethnic deviance. The reading and comment of relevant passages from the novel will be followed by a discussion of the filmic adaptation by Cary Fukunaga (2011), with specific reflections on the differences between filmic and literary texts, and on the process of filmic adaptation.
The primary text used in this part is Charlotte Brontë’s novel “Jane Eyre”. A critical guide recommended to students who wish to analyse the novel in depth is Francesco Marroni, “Come leggere ‘Jane Eyre’”. The secondary text used to study the Victorian context is Richard D. Altick, “Victorian People and Ideas” (only pp. 17-80). Advised theoretical texts are “Le
filosofie femministe” (only pp. 3-115), which offers a good introduction to the main feminist theories, and “L’officina del racconto”, a good guide to textual analysis and to the interpretation of traditional fairy tales.

Part 2: Gender roles and postmodern rewritings of fairy tales: Angela Carter’s short stories (2 credits)
The second part focuses on a specific case of postmodern rewriting of traditional texts that encode gender roles: Angela Carter’s short stories collected in “The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories”, which questions, decostructs and parodies old-fashioned roles. After an introduction to the author and her historical and literary context, with hints at Modernism and Postmodernism, Part 2 will analyse the four Carterian stories listed above, which all parody and question the ideology of gender conveyed in traditional fairy tales.
The primary source is “The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories”. A recommended guide to the stories is Anna Notaro, “Magiche rifrazioni” (only pp. 15-79). For the textual analysis of the stories and of traditional fairy tales the recommended guide is “L’officina del racconto”.

Recommended Bibliography

PRIMARY SOURCES:
-Charlotte Brontë, “Jane Eyre”, Oxford University Press (or any other edition in English)
-Angela Carter, “The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories”, Penguin (or any other edition in English). Only the following 4 stories: “The Bloody Chamber”, “The Courtship of Mr Lyon”, “The Tiger’s Bride”, “The Company of Wolves”.

SECONDARY SOURCES:
-Richard D. Altick, “Victorian People and Ideas”, Norton, 1974 (onl pp. 17- 80)
-Adriana Cavarero, Franco Restaino, “Le filosofie femministe”, Mondadori, 2002 (only pp. 3-115).

ADDITIONAL SOURCES (guides for those students to wish to analyse the
primary texts in depth)
-Francesco Marroni, “Come leggere ‘Jane Eyre’”, Solfanelli, 2013
-Anna Notaro, “Magiche rifrazioni. Angela Carter e le riscritture della tradizione”, Istituto Universitario Orientale, 1993 (only pp. 15-79) -Angelo Marchese, “L’officina del racconto”, Mondadori, 1983.

The slides of powerpoint presentations shown in class will be provided by the teacher to students who ask for them at the end of classes or during the teacher’s office hours. Students will have to carry their own USB devices to get the slides.

Teaching Methods

The course, consisting of 36 teaching hours, is mainly taught in 2-hour classes according to the university’s teaching schedule. Lectures and seminars are held by the teacher responsible for the course. Seminars held by academic experts are foreseen, depending on the department’s ability to organize them during the academic year. Lectures and seminars
will be arranged as follows: from context to text (cultural analysis); reading and comment of relevant passages from primary sources (semantic and structural analysis); discussion on films (basic intersemiotic analysis). At the end of each part of the syllabus., there will be a discussion on the main topics dealt with in class: students will be asked questions by the teacher and encouraged to answer individually. Attendance is non compulsory but advised. The exam will be the same for students who attend and students who are unable to.

Evaluation methods

Verification of learning:

Students will take an oral exam in Italian, conversing on the topics dealt with in class and listed in this syllabus. They will be asked 4-5 questions meant to assess their ability to express themselves correctly in Italian, and their knowledge of the historical context, the socio-cultural and identity issues, as well as the stylistic and thematic peculiarities of the authors’ works and contexts. The students’ ability to understand and conduct a critical analysis of the literary texts listed in this syllabus will be also assessed.
The final score will be from 0 to 30. Students will pass the exam with a sufficient score if they show a basic knowledge of the topics; they will get an excellent score if they show a very good knowledge of the topics and an ability to develop a critical discourse on them.
In particular, the exam will assess:
the students’ knowledge and understanding of historical and cultural contexts, of the literary contexts, in which the primary texts were composed, of the fairy-tale tradition in the nineteenth and twentieth cneturies, of the thematic and stylistic characteristics of the primary sources and their authors;
knowledge of different methodologies, especially of feminist theories;
the students’ ability to read. understand, analyse and sum up specialized texts written in English, to interpret them from an intercultural perspective, and to develop a critical analysis of these texts which would focus on their linguistic, rhetorical, stylistic and intersemiotic aspects; the students’ ability to reflect on identity and cultural issues, also in relation to their own reality and to the contemporary world;
the students’ ability to classify, sum up and elaborate data and information;
the students’ ability to converse and discuss the various topics of the syllabus orally in a well-argued, critically autonomous speech in correct, formal Italian.

Contacts/More Information

Incoming Erasmus students will be allowed to be examined in English if they wish so. They will however need to inform the teacher during the teaching semester. The teacher will provide study material and mentoring in English.

Università degli Studi
"G. d'Annunzio"

Chieti - Pescara

Aree

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