31146 - English Literature 2 (M-Z)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students will be acquainted with the lineaments of English literary history. They will be able to read, understand and translate texts from English into Italian, and to deal with some basic critical methods and tools, in order to elaborate comments and critical opinions on the literary texts read during the course.

Course contents

Romantic and Victorian Literature: from National to Transnational dimension
The module will give students a clear sense of how the Romantic and the Victorian periods fit into the longer history of English literature, attending both to the most well-known writers of the time and also to some who are less familiar. It will focus on the historical period from the French Revolution (1789), the Great Reform Act (1832) to the Vicotiran Age (1832-1901), drawing out themes that are relevant to the literature, but will also look back to the long eighteenth century and forward to the late Victorian period. Attention will be paid to the idea of Romanticism as a movement, and this will be differentiated from the period as a whole. Literature from a wide variety of genres will be introduced including some or all of the following: poetry e poetics, the Gothic tradition, the novel of manners, and the lyrical drama. Themes may include nature, the beautiful and the sublime, the city vs the countryside, addiction, slavery and abolition, political reforms and civil rights, Scottish Romanticism, the supernatural, religion, and consumer literature.

The course includes two parts:

A) English History, Literature and Culture from the Eighteenth to the Nineteenth century.

B) Readings from the following authors: William Wordsworth, Charlotte Smith, Letitia Elizabeth Landon;E. Barrett Browning; Jane Austen, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, John Keats, M.G. Lewis.

Readings/Bibliography

Readings (all extracts are included in "Materiale Didattico on-line")

Poetry:

"slavery poems" (all) + 2 male poets and n. 1 female poet from the list at your choice:

- "Slavery poems" (extracts from A. Opie; H.M. Williams; A.L. Barbauld)

- C. Smith, extracts from Elegiac Sonnets and from Beachy Head

- W. Wordsworth, extracts from The Prelude

- J. Keats, “La belle Dame Sans Mercie”; extracts from Lamia

- L.E. Landon, extracts from The Improvisatrice

- Lord Byron, extract from Childe Harold

- Elizabeth Barrett Browning, extracts from Aurora Leigh and Sonnets from the Portuguese

Novel: (1 novel at your choice from the list)

Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey; Mansfield Park; Emma

Teatro : (a complete play at your choice, OR all the extracts from the three plays - see materiale didattico on-line fro the extracts)

Lord Byron, Manfred (extracts)

P.B. Shelley, The Cenci (extracts)

M. G. Lewis, The Castle Spectre (extracts)

B) TESTI CRITICI:

ANTOLOGIE E MANUALE (literary history):

The Oxford Anthology, Vol. II (general reference for Erasmus students)

The Norton Anthology, Vol. II (general reference for Erasmus students)

English Editions (Reference only - Erasmus Students):

Romanticism. A Literary and Cultural History, eds. Carmen Casaliggi and Porscha Fermanis, 2016, Routledge.

The Broadview Anthology of British Literature, "The Age of Romanticism", second ed., Broadview Press 2010.

The Cambridge History of English Literature, ed. J. Chandler, Cambridge UP 2009.

The Cambridge Companion to Romanticism, ed. S. Curran, Cambridge University Press 1993.

The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Romanticism, gen. ed., Fredrick Burwick, (3 vols.), Blackwell 2012.

The Cambridge Introduction to British Romantic Poetry, ed., M. Ferber, Cambridge UP 2012

The History of British Women's Writing, 1750-1830, ed., J.M. Labbe, Vol. V, Palgrave 2010, gen. Ed. J. Black, Broadview Press 2010.

TESTI CRITICI PER LA POESIA (a critical essay for each poet - some articles are included in Materiale Didattico on-line):

Serena Baiesi, “Romantic Women Writers and the Abolitionist Movement: The Economics of Freedom” in La Questione Romantica “Imperialismo/Colonialismo” n. 18/19, Liguori, Napoli 2008 (pp. 33-49).

Serena Baiesi, Letitia Elizabeth Landon: The Adventures of a Literary Genius, P.Lang 2009. (Cap. 2)

Serena Baiesi, Letitia Elizabeth Landon's The Improvisatrice : the Fatal Combination of genre and gender” in Romantic Women Poets. Genre and Gender , eds Lilla Maria Crisafulli and Cecilia Pietropoli, Rodopi, Amsterdam & Atlanta 2007 (pp. 169-183).

Serena Baiesi, The influence of the Italian ‘Improvvisatrici' on British Romantic women writers: Letitia Elizabeth Landon's response” in British Romanticism in Italian Literature: Translating, Reviewing, Rewriting, eds Laura Bandiera and Diego Saglia, Rodopi, Amsterdam & Atlanta 2005 (pp. 181-191).

Serena Baiesi, "But Italy, my Italy! Can it last, this gleam? Can she live and be strong?": Elizabeth Barrett Browning e il Risorgimento italiano, in: L. M. Crisafulli (a cura di), British Risorgimento: L'Unità d'Italia e la Gran Bretagna, Napoli, Liguori Editore, 2013, pp. 113 - 130

Serena Baiesi, "Le riviste letterarie e la critica alla scrittura femminile" in Le poetesse romantiche inglesi (a cura di L.M. Crisafulli e C. Pietropoli), Carocci 2002 (pp. 202-221).

The Norton Anthology of English Literature (Vol. II) (introduzione critica ai poeti inclusi nel corso)

Antologia delle Poetesse Romantiche Inglesi, a cura di L. M. Crisafulli (2 vols.), Carocci 2003 (schede bio-bibliografiche solo delle potesse scelte e delle poesie incluse nel corso)

PER IL ROMANZO (critical introduction to JA from one of this list + a critical essay for the novel you are reading - some essays will be uploaded in Materiale Didattico on-line):

B.Battaglia, La Zitella Illiterata.Parodia e ironia nei romanzi di Jane Austen, seconda edizione, Napoli: Liguori 2008 ( cap. Introduzione e il cap. relativo al romanzo di JA a scelta).

Janet Todd, The Cambridge Introduction to Jane Austen, Cambridge UP 2006. (Introduzione e capitoli relativi al romanzo a scelta)

E.Copeland and J. McMster, The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen, Cambridge: Cambridge UP 1997.

Diego Saglia, Leggere Jane Austen, Carocci 2016. (riferimento per una introduzione generale dell'autrice e i romanzi)

PER IL TEATRO (a critical essay at your choice -  see materiale didattico on-line):

"Lord Byron. Manfred and the closet Drama" in Philip Cox, Gender, Genre and the Romantic Poets. An Introduction, Manchester UP 1996 (pp. 107-129)

"Byron and the theatre" by Alan Richardson in The Cambridge Companion to Byron, ed. D. Bone, Cambridge UP 2004 (pp. 133-149)

Della Rosa Franca (a cura di), Poetic and Dramatic Forms in British Romanticism, Editori Laterza, Bari 2006 (saggio di L.M.Crisafulli su The Cenci - p. 39).

D. Saglia e G. Silvani (a cura di), Il teatro della paura: scenari gotici del romanticismo europeo, Bulzoni 2005 (saggio di G.Silvani su "The Castle Spectre" di M.G. Lewis).

Teaching methods

Frontal lessons in English: introduction of the literary period from the eighteenth century to the Victorian age; reading and analysis of the primary sources by English writers.

Assessment methods

The evaluation of the students' competencies and abilities acquired during the course consists in a written work at the end of the course for those students who attended classes regularly. For those who do not attend classes, the exam consists in an oral examination.

The written test is divided into two parts: the first will be made of multiple choice and short open questions concerning the literary history of the period from the Eighteenth century to the Victorian period; the second part will refer to the specific reading list of the syllabus.

For those students who will not take the written test, the exam will consist in an oral interview. This oral interview has the aim of evaluating the critical and methodological ability of the students in relating literary history, critical approach to texts and authors analysed during classes. The student must demonstrate an appropriate knowledge of the literary history from the Eighteenth century to the Victorian period in order to carry out the exam with the second part, which consists in the analysis of a given text and its critical contextualization.

Those students,who are able to demonstrate a wide and systematic understanding of the issues covered during classes, are able to use these critically and who master the field-specific language of the discipline will be given a mark of excellence. Those students who demonstrate a mnemonic knowledge of the subject with a more superficial analytical ability and ability to synthesize, a correct command of the language but not always appropriate, will be given a satisfactory mark. A superficial knowledge and understanding of the material, a scarce analytical and expressive ability that is not always appropriate will be rewarded with a ‘pass' mark. Students who demonstrate gaps in their knowledge of the subject matter, inappropriate language use, lack of familiarity with the literature in the program bibliography will not be given a pass mark.

Teaching tools

Frontal lectures with power point projections and dvd.

Office hours

See the website of Serena Baiesi