67173 - English Literature / Literature of English-speaking Countries 1(LM)

Learning outcomes

The students acquire in-depth knowledge of the history of modern English literature and the development of non-European literatures in English, with particular attention to the relationship between literary texts and their historical, artistic and linguistic context. They are familiar with and are able to use practical methodologies for the analysis and interpretation of literary texts.

Course contents

Birth, Evolution and Deconstruction of Postcolonial Theories and Literatures of English Speaking Countries

The course tackles the emergence and evolution of postcolonial literatures in English, as a cultural production that is not a mere ‘answer’ to ‘metropolitan’ literature, but an original and autonomous creation - and therefore in need of equally autonomous and original tools and theories in order to be understood. A theoretical part, which will focus on the main voices related to such critical thinking, will be followed by the analysis of a selection of case studies belonging to different geographical and cultural areas. The aim is both to complicate the category of the postcolonial and to highlight its plurality. Through an intersectional perspective, it will be emphasised how different forms of colonisation and subjugation have operated at different levels, so that equally different have been the responses and approaches that the latter invite and require.

The program is in progress. Please do check this webpage for further notice.

Readings/Bibliography

Primary Sources:

J.M. Coetzee, Waiting for the Barbarians, 1980

Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, 1958

David Malouf, Remembering Babylon, 1993

Nadine Gordimer, A World of Strangers, 1958

Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea, 1966

Tsitsi Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions, 1988

Amitav Ghosh, The Hungry Tide, 2004

Critical theories

Achebe, Chinua, “English and the African Writer”, Transition, n. 18, 1965.

Bhabha, Homi K., “Of Mimicry and Man: The Ambivalence of Colonial Discourse”, October, vol. 28, 1984, pp. 125-133.

Fanon, Frantz, “Concerning Violence”, in The Wretched of the Earth (Les Damnés de la terre, 1961), New York, Grove Weidenfeld, 1991, pp. 35-95 [THIS COUNTS AROUND 35 PAGES].

Loomba, Ania, “Gender, Sexuality and Colonial Discourse”, in Colonialism/Postcolonialism, London-New York, Routledge, 2005 (II. Ed), pp. 128-145.

McClintock, Anne, “Introduction. Postcolonialism and the Angel of Progress”, in Imperial Leather: Race, Gender and Sexuality in the Colonial Contest, London-New York, Routledge, 1995, pp. 1-17.

Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature (1981), Harare, Zimbabwe Publishing House, 1994, pp. 1-33.

Said, Edward W., “Introduction”, in Orientalism (1978), New York, Vintage Books, 1979, pp. 1-28.

Said, Edward W., “Introduction” and passages from Ch. 1 “Overlapping Territories, Intertwined Histories”, in Culture and Imperialism (1993), New York, Vintage Books, 1994, pp. xi-xxviii – pp. 3-19.

Tiffin, Helen, “Post-Colonial Literatures and Counter-Discourse”, Kunapipi, vol. 9, n. 3, 1987, pp. 17-34.

Further bibliography will be provided also during the lessons.

Secondary Sources

Silvia Albertazzi, La letteratura postcoloniali. Dall’Impero alla World Literature, Roma, Carocci, 2013, pp. 21-124.

(Available in the Department Library)

Alternatively for exchange students who do not read Italian:

Innes, C.L., The Cambridge Introduction to Postcolonial Literatures in English, Cambridge-New York, Cambridge University Press, 2007. Selected chapters: Chapter 1, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 8.

(Available in the Department Library and Online)

Further information will be provided also during the lessons (and then published in the online reading list and program). Students who cannot attend lessons must contact the lecturer via e-mail before the end of the course. Students are requested to check the online program also during the course for further notice and information.

B.A students are not admitted. Exchange students are requested to contact the lecturer before enrolling in the course.

Teaching methods

Lessons and discussions. Language: English

Assessment methods

Students are requested to read and analyse:

- 4 of the primary sources;

- about 150 pages (not from a single volume) to be chosen from the list of the Critical theories;

- one of the Secondary sources.

Please do check this web page for further notice and information

Active participation in class discussions: 20%. By participation in class we mean the ability of the student to enter the debates, contributing with questions and/or elaborations of the topics proposed by the lecturer. This participation does not aim at testing students' specific preparation in the field, rather, to favor their ability to take part in discussions and their capability to discuss in group.

Final oral exams: 80%

The final oral exam will test the student's critical capability, their knowledge of the methodologies employed, their ability to combine theories with the analyses of the case studies chosen. The close reading of the texts aims at showing the student's critical ability, their knowledge not only of the texts but also of their context of creation together with the cultural politics that inform them. Students are requested to use an appropriate language, to be able to articulate their thought in English (high level) and to have an accurate knowledge of the bibliography chosen for the exam.

Grades:

Excellent: Students' high capability to elaborate on the exiting debates on the topics chosen, originality of thought and excellent knowledge of the theories and of the texts chosen for the exam, their ability to read them within an intersectional perspective, using also the theories employed during the course and showing comprehension of the bibliography chosen, accurate and appropriate language.

Very good level: Students' capability to elaborate on the exiting debates on the topics chosen, originality of thought and very good knowledge of the theories and of the texts chosen for the exam, their ability to read them within an intersectional perspective, using also the theories employed during the course and showing comprehension of the bibliography chosen, and accurate and appropriate language.

Good level: Students' capability to elaborate on the exiting debates on the topics chosen, knowledge of the theories and of the texts chosen for the exam, using also the theories employed during the course and showing comprehension of the bibliography chosen, and appropriate language.

Pass: Mnemonic and superficial knowledge and understanding of the material, a sufficient analytical ability, non-satisfactory use of appropriate language.

Fail: Student's lack of knowledge of the theories employed during the course, incapability to critical reading of the novels, inappropriate and inaccurate language.

Teaching tools

Slides, videos

Office hours

See the website of Francesco Cattani