ENGLISH LITERATURE 1
- Academic year
- 2019/2020 Syllabus of previous years
- Official course title
- LETTERATURA INGLESE 1
- Course code
- LT001P (AF:310487 AR:168543)
- Modality
- On campus classes
- ECTS credits
- 6
- Subdivision
- Surnames M-R
- Degree level
- Bachelor's Degree Programme
- Educational sector code
- L-LIN/10
- Period
- 1st Semester
- Course year
- 1
- Where
- VENEZIA
- Moodle
- Go to Moodle page
Contribution of the course to the overall degree programme goals
Expected learning outcomes
Pre-requirements
Contents
Aim of this module is to introduce students to the culture of the novel in the United Kingdom from the rise of the novel to the crucial moment when the newly born genre – the eighteenth-century novel – had to face the problematic and often contradictory issues raised by the Romantic revolution at the beginning of the nineteenth-century, i.e. the century which was to become the golden age of the European novel and was to establish , at the same time, the foundations of the essential contradictions still haunting our modern conscience and life.
Starting with a brief outline of the essential elements of the rise of the novel with the publication of 'Robinson Crusoe' in 1719 (and of its development in the course of the eighteenth century), this course will investigate and discuss the crucial issue of the relationship between the individual and the world in the Bildungsroman and in the culture of the Romantic age through a close reading of Jane Austen’s 'Emma'. An over-active imagination is clearly the mark of excellence of the young Romantic protagonists, yet it is at the same time a possible source of corruption in the process of their Bildung: nearly a century after the first eighteenth-century English novel Robinson’s deserted island had become the island of Emma’s imagination.
An ideal attendance requires the reading of at least 'Emma', and possibly of the other chosen novel too, before the beginning of the lessons.
Referral texts
To read in English and be able to translate into Italian*:
Jane Austen, 'Emma', ed. F.Stafford, Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1996.
Students should also read ( in Italian or English) a second novel to be chosen between:
Daniel Defoe, 'Robinson Crusoe', ed. J.Richetti, Harmondsworth, Penguin, 2004.
Jane Austen, 'Northanger Abbey', ed. J.Davies and T.Castle, New York, Oxford University Press, 1998.
Students must also read:
W.Shakesperare, “Macbeth”, tr. e cura di Agostino Lombardo (con testo inglese a fronte), Milano, Feltrinelli, 2001 (to be read in Italian or English)* .
CRITICAL READING:
I.Watt, 'The Rise of the Novel', [1957], Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1977 (o la traduzione italiana: I.Watt, 'Le origini del romanzo borghese', Milano, Bompiani, 2002) ( Capitoli I, II, III e X).
F.Moretti, 'Il romanzo di formazione', Torino, Einaudi, 1999 (capitolo I, "Il Bildungsroman come forma simbolica",pp. 3-82)*.
L.Trilling, " ‘Emma’ and the Legend of Jane Austen", in 'Beyond Culture' [1955], New York, The Viking Press, 1968, pp. 31-55 (pp. 24).
T.Tanner, 'Jane Austen', Basingstoke, Macmillan, 1986 (Chapter 6, " The Match-Maker:‘Emma’ ", pp.176-207, and Chapter 2, "Anger in the Abbey: ‘Northanger Abbey’ ", if Northanger Abbey is among the chosen readings).
Students who choose 'Northanger Abbey' will also read:
T.Tanner, 'Jane Austen', Basingstoke, Macmillan, 1986, Chapter 2, "Anger in the Abbey: "Northanger Abbey" " .
Students who choose' Robinson Crusoe' will also read:
E.Villari, 'La tentazione fanatica di Robinson', in A.Cagidemetrio e R.Mamoli Zorzi a cura di, 'A Goodly Garlande', numero speciale degli “Annali di Ca’ Foscari”, XLII, 4, 2003, pp. 361-367.*
Additional readings will be available in MOODLE (http://moodle.unive.it )
(* Erasmus students may refer to the lecturer if they need a different syllabus, or a syllabus in a different language)
Assessment methods
Teaching methods
Teaching language
Further information
Type of exam
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals
This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development