ENGLISH LITERATURE 1

The course is part of the triennial teaching of English. Besides furnishing tools to improve the language competence of English (starting from a B2 level), it will introduce students to the main literary and cultural movements in England of the last three centuries. Students will enhance their skills in cultural and literary analysis as well as reading and translation skills.
In particular, the module described below will focus on the culture, literature, society and history of the Twentieth century and the new Millennium.
Students will
- be able to relate texts to their historical and cultural contexts and communicate their comments and critical reflections on them with appropriate language;
- acquire the relevant methodological competence with regard to the proposed texts;
- comment on the texts with critical precision and an increasingly appropriate language, as well as on the historical-cultural background.

The module will improve the students' critical abilities, their reading skills, their capacity to understand and interpret complex texts that are historically and culturally determined, including the texts' rhetorical and stylistics features. The students' abilities will comprise:
- the ability to contextualise a cultural object in its context;
- the ability to apply critical methods to understand the society and culture producing the given objects;
- the ability to read and translate (into Italian) a literary work and comment it through an adequate language and methodology;
- the ability to understand the historical sources within a relevant contextualisation and through a critical analysis, having in mind the historical development of cultures.

Acquired knowledge ef English, at B2 level in the European framework. A knowledge of English history and literature at school level will be helpful to better understand the front lectures.

The module will deal with the culture of England from the end of WW2 to nowadays, and the development of the post-modern novel and the so-called "historiographic metafiction" (according to Linda Hutcheon's definition).
In particular, we shall consider:
- the development of English culture, in particular through the rise of Welfare society, mass-culture, the Thatcherite Neo-liberalism, Blair's "third way";
- the ways in which writers, novelists, poets, playwrights have portrayed the most important events and the social and political atmosphere of the years between 1945 and 2000;
- the relationship between literature, History, stories in the postmodern context.

A. Primary texts:
1. John Osborne's play, "Look back in Anger" (Faber&Faber)
2. Graham Swift’s novel “Waterland” (Picador)
3. the following poems by
Philip Larkin:
- "High Windows" ( https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48417/high-windows )
- "The Whitsun Weddings" ( https://allpoetry.com/The-Whitsun-Weddings )
- "Cut Grass" ( https://allpoetry.com/Cut-Grass )
- "Annus Mirabilis" ( https://allpoetry.com/Annus-Mirabilis )
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/philip-larkin
Thom Gunn
- "Human Condition" ( https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=26688 )
- "From the Wave" ( https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52628/from-the-wave ; per un'analisi si veda: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/69315/thom-gunn-from-the-wave )

B. Cricitism. Students are asked to read:
- R. Bertinetti, "Dai Beatles a Blair : la cultura inglese contemporanea" (Carocci) - Biblioteca BALI INGLESE (ECS BER/Dai)
- M. Alexander, "A History of English Literature (Macmillan-Palgrave, 2013)": part 5: "The Twentieth Century", or, alternatively, Paul Poplawski ,"English Literature in Context" (Cambridge U.P., 2017), chapters 6 and 7: "The Twentieth Century, 1900-1939", "The Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries, 1939-2015 - Biblioteca BALI INGLESE ELH POP/Eng).

C. Shakespeare: "Macbeth"(recommended reading)

D. Non attending students will have to read, in addition to the above-mentioned, texts and essays that will be indicated in the announcements during the first semester. *(see "Altre informazioni")

E. Materials read in class: Raymond Williams, "Culture": https://aklatangbayan.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/raymond-williams-keywords.pdf pp. 87-93; e "The Analysis of Culture": https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/88660/original/Williams+-+The+Analysis+of+Culture.pdf

Written test, in 4 parts:
A) 10 multiple choice questions on the literary history of the twentieth century and the contemporary novel (based on the texts described in part 2. Cricitism). (10/30 marks) (Aim 3)

B) A short essay on one of the texts that must be read (Part A. Primary texts); the essay will have to be about one page long (10/30 marks). (Aim 2)

C) Translation into Italian of a short passage (about 200-250 words) from one of the texts in the programme (part 1. Primary texts), and a commentary (15-20 lines long) which will contextualise the passage (10/30 marks). (Aim 1)

D) 1 question on "The Merchant of Venice", with short answers ( about 3 lines) (non compulsory questions (up to additional 2 marks to the total result of A+B+C).

Time allowed: 2 hours and 30 mins max.

Italian students will give their answers in Italian (A, C, D) and either in Italian or English ( B).
Non-native speakers of Italian and Erasmus students can answers all questions in English, in which case they will be exempted from translating the passage (C) into Italian, and will be asked to provide a one-sheet commentary on the passage (C).

Answers in languages other than Italian and English will not be accepted.

Students will be allowed to use a monolingual Dictionary of English and English synonyms.
No other dictionaries are allowed during the examination.
The use of other texts, and smartphones and other devices is forbidden during the examination.

NB: due to the Covid19 emergency the format of the exam will be oral in the June session. Students will be asked to answer questions concerning the introductory and general part of the module (literary history, cultural history) and the texts in the programme, both the primary sources (literary works) and the critical texts. Students will be asked to translate into Italian a short excerpt taken from one of the literary works in the programme.

Front lectures concerning the main themes above described; seminars for the discussions of texts and videos.

Italian

Added texts for non attending students (mandatory)

- on postmodern fiction::
1. Bran Nicol, "The Cambridge introduction to postmodern fiction", Cambridge University Press, 2009, chapters: "Introduction: Postmodernism and postmodernity", and "1. Postmodern fiction: theory and practice", pp. 1-49
disponibile presso la biblioteca BALI (Palazzo Cosulich): EF/Nic/Cam

- on "Look Back in Anger" byJohn Osborne:
2. Aleks Sierz, "John Osborne's Look Back in Anger", Bloomsbury Publishing, 2008, chapters 1 (Background and Context), 2 (Analysis and Commentary), 5 (Conclusion).

- on "Waterland" by Graham Swift:
3. John Schad, "The End of the End of History: Graham Swift's Waterland", Modern Fiction Studies, 1992, Vol.38(4), pp. 911-925 :
4. George P. Landow, "History, His Story, and Stories in Graham Swift's Waterland", Studies in the Literary Imagination, Fall 1990, Vol.23(2), pp.197-211.

2, 3, 4 these are available on the University library catalogue: https://www.unive.it/pag/9756/ or through google scholar; to read and download them from remote, it is necessary to access through the university proxy or VPN; see instructions here: https://www.unive.it/pag/4759/ )

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