19TH CENTURY LITERATURE

This module is part of the curriculum in English literature in the LLEAP MastersA and it is part of the EUROPEAN JOINT DEGREE IN ENGLISH AND AMERICAN STUDIES programme. It is an advanced course that builds on the students’ solid knowledge of English literary history and criticism.
Students are expected to:
1. have a very good knowledge of English Literature of the 19th century;
2. read a variety of Victorian works which are representative of the period under scrutiny;
3. handle stylistic and formal concepts, applying them to the texts in the syllabus referring to their contexts and to the impact on the readers;
4. read and discuss the critical sources in the syllabus, formulating judgements;
5. analyze and contextualize primary and secondary texts in an appropriately and autonomously.


The module examines the literature of the Victorian era, by studying a selection of key themes and texts in relation to the social and political context. The module introduces the students to some fundamental concepts, methods, and vocabulary employed in Victorian Studies. The course is part of the syllabus of EUROPEAN JOINT DEGREE IN ENGLISH AND AMERICAN STUDIES, and the competence achieved will be tested in the foreign universities where Joint Degree students spend a semester as part of the programme, in interaction with international students.

- This module engages the student in gaining a critical appreciation of Victorian literature by exploring the works of some 19th-century British authors.
- The student will develop his/her skills in critical analysis and close textual reading, and will learn to place selected works within the social, cultural and literary contexts.
- The aim is to enable the student to gain a deeper understanding of Victorian culture also in an interdisciplinary perspective, applying cultural theories, and exploring particular aspects of visual culture, such as art, architecture, book illustration.
- The student will develop his/her critical abilities and independent capacity of judgement, and reflect on the social and ethical issues at the heart of the works, reaching an advanced capacity of expressing the range of cultural and literary acquisitions in an appropriate English language, of arguing critically about them, and of communicating them clearly.

An excellent command of the English language.
Good general knowledge of the history of English literature.

Title: Mid-Victorians and the Spirit of the Age.
The course deals with some representative texts that exemplify the development of English Literature written around the1860s, in relation to themes such as intergenerational relationships, rural and urban landscape, the search for fulfillment and happiness.
1. Elizabeth Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers (1862-1864)
2. Robert Browning, "Rabbi Ben Ezra", in Dramatis Personae (1864)
3. George Eliot, Middlemarch (1871-72)

4. George Eliot, 'Art and Belles Lettres: Review of Modern Painters III', Westminster Review, April 1856.
5. John Ruskin, Modern Painters III (1856), select passages.

A list of secondary readings will be provided at the beginning of the module and, if unavailable at the library, will be uploaded on moodle platform.

The exam is composed of two parts:
1) WRITTEN ESSAY: Short paper (3000 words) on one of the topics of the syllabus to be analyzed in a critical way. To be handed in at least one week before the exam (50% of the final grade)
2) ORAL EXAM: (30 minutes) in which students will be evaluated in their ability to critically discuss the texts in correct and fluent English.

During the course students may present a text on the syllabus working in group with other students (25%of the final grade).

lezioni frontali, seminari, con presentazioni di gruppo

English

written and oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Natural capital and environmental quality" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development