ENGLISH LITERATURE B I

Università degli Studi
"G. d'Annunzio"

Chieti - Pescara

Single discipline educational activity

Course Sheet

Course code:

L0852

Academic Year of enrolment:

2020

Year of supply:

2021/2022

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 sources written in English

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 century. 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 fact 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 the nineteenth century – the century in which the novel became the primary popular genre – aims to offer a basic knowledge of the main thematic and stylistic aspects of Victorian literature and its evolving cultural context. 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 thematic and stylistic aspects. It will also enable students to reflect on crucial social themes (i.e. gender roles, ethnic and class discriminations), as well as 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 some knowledge of English culture and Victorian literature, with special attention for the works and the thematic and stylistic peculiarities of two women writers;
ability to understand 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 methodologies 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, the diffusion of this literary genre in Victorian England and the gender models it conveyed.
Basic knowledge of the main feminist theories, from Mary Wollstonecraft to the twentieth century.
The English novel of formation and the main characteristics (themes and styles) of the Victorian novel.
The literary representation of gender identity in works by Charlotte Brontë and Ellen Wood: strategies and themes.
Filmic adaptations of literary texts: the case of “Jane Eyre”.

Extended Syllabus

Female Protagonists and Women Writers: Gender Challenges and Limits in Queen Victoria’s England (6 CFU)
The course will open 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 ethnic problems. The condition of Victorian women will also be examined, especially with regard to female education, marriage, sexuality and women’s limited professional opportunities. The choice of two women writers who became famous despite their society’s opposition to female professionalism aims to reveal the limits and challenges women had to face at the time, and still have to face today.
Students will also be introduced to the development of the European fairy-tale tradition and its diffusion in England. The role fairy tales had in encoding Victorian gender roles will be explored. All these issues will later be discussed in relation with “Jane Eyre” (1847) and “Within the Maze” (“Nel labirinto”, 1872).
Students will learn how, in “Jane Eyre” - a novel of formation considered a classic of English literature -, the heroine sets an unorthodox, rebel model of femininity. Another figure taken into account will be Bertha Mason, a minor character represented 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). The advised theoretical text is “Le filosofie femministe” (only pp. 3-115), which offers a good introduction to the main feminist theories.
The second part of the course will consist in the analysis of “Nel labirinto” (students are free to read the English version available online, if they wish). A novel of secret and mysteries, with a suspenseful detective subplot, “Nel labirinto” also deals with the difficulties that a Victorian woman faced in a society that compelled her to embody the role of obedient wife. Ellen Wood’s characterization of women is important to reflect on today’s condition of women, both in Italy and abroad. A critical guide to the novel is the Introduction to “Nel labirinto” by Mariaconcetta Costantini.

Recommended Bibliography

PRIMARY SOURCES:
-Charlotte Brontë, “Jane Eyre”, Oxford University Press (or any other edition in English)
-Ellen Wood, "Nel labirinto", introduzione e cura di Mariaconcetta Costantini, Edizioni Croce, 2021
(original English text available at www.archive.org)

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 SOURCE (for those students to wish to analyse the primary text in depth)
-Francesco Marroni, “Come leggere ‘Jane Eyre’”, Solfanelli, 2013

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.

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, including visiting professors, are foreseen, depending on the department’s and the university’s availability 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). There will be frequent class discussions on the main topics dealt with: students will be asked questions by the teacher and encouraged to answer individually.
Attendance is not 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 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

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