RENAISSANCE STUDIES
- Academic year
- 2021/2022 Syllabus of previous years
- Official course title
- RENAISSANCE STUDIES
- Course code
- LMJ400 (AF:356027 AR:186838)
- Modality
- Blended (on campus and online classes)
- ECTS credits
- 12
- Degree level
- Master's Degree Programme (DM270)
- Educational sector code
- L-LIN/10
- Period
- 2nd Semester
- Course year
- 1
- Where
- VENEZIA
- Moodle
- Go to Moodle page
Contribution of the course to the overall degree programme goals
Expected learning outcomes
The learning outcomes of the course are 1. development of knowledge and understanding of the literary texts and the historical period; 2. the skill to apply this knowledge and understanding to a variety of texts;, 3. the ability to formulate judgements in analyzing literary and cultural phenomena; 4. the development of advanced communication skills in English; 5. the development of learning skills.
Pre-requirements
Contents
The course will explore the cultural as well as mental world of early modern Elizabethans and Jacobeans regarding the Occult, a a society that was open to incorporating magic, witchcraft practices, astrology, alchemy etc in their "world picture". Playwrights exploited witchcraft and magic beliefs with which their audiences were familiar and brought to the stage intriguing fantasies of witches and magic rituals. Such representations show that a link developed in the minds of early modern writers between magic and theatricality. The course will investigate the way the emergence of the stage witch as a clear and recognizable stage type connected with questions of gender in the political and social realms, as well as the way adaptations/remediations of the witch plays have interpreted, refashioned and updated the discourse of witchcraft for contemporary readers and spectators. Part of the course will be devoted to analysis of adaptations of "Macbeth", "The Tempest" and "Othello" in popular culture.
Referral texts
PRIMARY SOURCES
William Shakespeare, MACBETH. (suggested edition: OUP, edited by Nicholas Brooke, 1990);
William Shakespeare, THE TEMPEST (suggested edition: The Arden Shakespeare, edited by V. Mason Vaughan, revised edition, Bloombsbury, 2011);
Ben Jonson, THE MASQUE OF QUEENS in David Lindley, COURT MASQUES. JACOBEAN AND CAROLINE ENTERTAINMENTS 1605-1640, OUP, 1995, pp. 35-53 (the text of the masque is also available online at the following address http://hollowaypages.com/jonson1692fame.htm )
William Rowley, Thomas Dekker and John Ford, THE WITCH OF EDMONTON (suggested edition: Manchester University Press, edited by Peter Corbin and Douglas Sedge, 1997);
Mary Cowden Clarke, "The Thane's Daughter" in THE GIRLHOOD OF SHAKESPEARE'S HEROINES, volume 1, CUP, 2009 (first ed. 1851), pp. 93-168 (available on Moodle)
Charles and Mary Lamb, "Macbeth" in TALES FROM SHAKESPEARE, 1807 (available in several modern editions and online
http://pinkmonkey.com/dl/library1/digi262.pdf
CONTEXT AND CRITICISM (equally compulsory)
Helen Hackett, A SHORT HISTORY OF ENGLISH RENAISSANCE DRAMA, London, I.B. Tauris, 2013.
Malcolm Gaskill, WITCHCRAFT. A VERY SHORT INTRODUCTION, 2010
Laura Tosi, "How Many Children Read Lady Macbeth? Prose Versions of the Scottish Play for Children", The Shakespearean International Yearbook, vol. 13, 2013, pp. 73-92 (available in Moodle)
Julie Sanders, ADAPTATION AND APPROPRIATION, Routledge, 2006 (pp. 1-62)
IMPORTANT: Students are advised to buy the suggested editions of the texts when indicated. In addition to the texts (primary sources, context and criticism) listed in this syllabus, students are required to download and study podcasts, articles, and videos that will be made available on Moodle. On some occasions, students will be required to download materials IN ADVANCE and bring them to class. Students are also required to engage in asynchronous online teaching where teaching materials are posted online (see "Metodi Didattici" below).
Assessment methods
The Moodle asynchronous activities are not optional or discretionary. They are part of the course and as important as synchronous classes. If you don’t complete the asynchronous activities which require you to participate actively, your final mark will be affected, which means that If you don’t take part in any of the interactive activities, or your participation will cover less than 80% of the interactive activities, you will be given 4 penalty points, so your top grade at the oral exam won’t be more than 26. Of course, if you take part in at least 80% of the asynchronous activities, at the oral exam, if you do well, you will be able to get top marks.