(ENGLISH LITERATURE 3)
CdSLINGUE E LETTERATURE STRANIERE
Codice994LL
CFU9
PeriodoPrimo semestre
LinguaInglese
| Moduli | Settore/i | Tipo | Ore | Docente/i | |
| LETTERATURA INGLESE III | L-LIN/10 | LEZIONI | 54 |
|
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The student who completes the course will have a general knowledge of modernist and postmodernist literature. Through the analysis of highly representative texts of the two movements, she/he will become familiar with the variables and constants underlying the modernist and postmodernist poetics and will be able to identify the historical and cultural reasons behind the development of literary practices.
The final examination will assess the ability to produce coherent and insightful readings of literary texts and the skills needed to discuss theoretical, critical and literary topics.
Students will develop their capacity to
- elaborate independent thought and judgement;
- improve self-direction and independent learning;
- critically examine diverse forms of discourse, including literature, drama, literary theory and criticism, translation both linguistic and between cultures;
- compare and evaluate different interpretive perspectives;
- use their oral communication effectively;
- write coherent and well-structured papers;
- write historically and theoretically informed analyses of literary texts.
The main assessment criteria will be clarity, coherence and effectiveness of argumentation.
Students will practise their argumentative and interpretive skills in class activities and in an assignment. Independent study will help them develop the ability to retrieve relevant information from different sources and elaborate their own ideas when they try their hands at the analysis of literary texts. In accordance with the guidelines of the Cecil project, aimed at combating language impoverishment, they will improve their writing skills by completing in-course papers (recommended activity) and will showcase the skills acquired during the course in a final independently-researched essay (mandatory work). During seminars and the oral exam, they will exercise critical reasoning and apply the core skills that are needed to effectively read and contextualize literary texts.
Positive behaviors include active cooperation in group work, the ability to apply previous feedback, and the creative elaboration of ideas and projects.
A general knowledge of English literature and an adequate ability to read and discuss literary and critical texts in English.
Lecture. Seminar. Pair and group work. Written assignment. English is the course language.
COURSE TITLE: MODERNISM AND POSTMODERNISM
The course covers the modernist and postmodernist literary production (poetry, fiction and drama) from the early 20th century to the present day. Topics in contemporary literary and cultural theory will also be addressed.
Poetry
T.S. Eliot, Prufrock, The Waste Land
W.B. Yeats, Sailing to Byzantium
Craig Raine, A Martian Sends a Postcard Home
Fiction
James Joyce, from Ulysses: Episode 18, “Penelope”
Joseph Conrad, “The Secret Sharer"
Virginia Woolf, The Waves
Julian Barnes, England, England
Sally Rooney, Normal People
Drama
Mark Ravenhill, Shopping and Fucking
Interview
David Foster Wallace, "A Conversation with David Foster Wallace" by Larry Caffery, from The Review of Contemporary Fiction, Summer 1993, Vol. 13, no.2 [only the last question and its answer].
Essays
Fausto Ciompi, Mondo e dizione. La poesia in Gran Bretagna e Irlanda dal 1945 a oggi, Pisa, ETS, 2007, pp. 257-59, 271-76.*
Anna E. Clark, "Damaged Intimacies. Sally Rooney's Normal People", in Los Angeles Review of Books, March 25, 2019, https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/damaged-intimacies-sally-rooneys-normal-people/
Michael Coyle, “Fishing, with the arid plain behind me”: Difficulty, Deferral, and Form in The Waste Land”, in A Companion to T.S. Eliot, edited by David E. Chinitz, Malden, MA, Wiley-Blackwell, 2009, pp. 157-168.
Frances Dickey, “Prufrock and Other Observations: A Walking Tour”, in A Companion to T.S. Eliot, edited by David E. Chinitz, Malden, MA, Wiley-Blackwell, 2009, pp. 120-132.
Wolfgang Funk, “From Innocence to Ignorance: Julian Barnes's England, England”, in The Literature of Reconstruction: Authentic Fiction in the New Millennium, London, Bloomsbury, 2015, pp. 107-122.
Jane Garrity, “Global Objects in The Waves”, in Jessica Berman (ed.), A Companion to Virginia Woolf, Chichester, Wiley-Blackwell, 2019, pp. 121-137.
Thomas Horan, “Myth and Narrative in Mark Ravenhill’s Shopping and Fucking”, in Modern Drama, 5, 2011, pp. 251-266.
Terence Killeen, “The Writing and Publication of Ulysses” and “Penelope”, in Ulysses Unbound: A Reader’s Companion to James Joyce’s Ulysses, Gainesville, University Press of Florida, 2014, pp. 9-14, 227-245.
James Longenbach, “Radical Innovation and Pervasive Influence: The Waste Land”, in A Companion to T.S. Eliot, edited by David E. Chinitz, Malden, MA, Wiley-Blackwell, 2009, pp. 449-460.
Gerardine Meaney, “Penelope, or, myths unravelling: Writing, orality and abjection in Ulysses”, in Textual practice, Vol.14, no. 3, 2000, pp.519-529.
Nicholas Meihuizen, “Yeats, Vendler, and Byzantium”, in Irish University Review, Vol. 44, No. 2 (Autumn / Winter 2014), pp. 234-253.
Cedric Watts, “The Mirror Tale: An Ethico-Structural Analysis of Conrad’s ‘The Secret Sharer’”, in Critical Quarterly, 19, 1977, pp. 25-37
*IHP and visiting students who do not meet the language requirements for reading this essay should read: Thomas Lux, “On Craig Raine”, in Ploughshares, Vol. 13, No. 4 (1987), pp. 149-153.
Texts must be read in the original language. No specific edition is recommended. All texts will be available in Biblioteca LM2, Via S. Maria 57. The poems are available on Poetry Foundation and similar websites.
Non-attending students are required to read Jeffrey T. Nealon, “On Postmodernism”, in The Bloomsbury Handbook of Literary and Cultural Theory, edited by Jeffrey R. Di Leo, New York, Bloomsbury, 2018, pp. 151-161.
They must submit the required written assignment at least 15 days before the examination date or at the latest 10 days afterwards (see above, under “Assessment methods”, for paper length and description).
The Final exam is divided into three parts:
- a 2000-word independently-researched essay, written in either English or Italian, on a self-selected text or a topic chosen among those taught during the course. An approach taking into consideration two or more texts is also possible. The assignment is due in at least 15 days before the oral examination date or at the latest 10 days afterwards. The assignment must be submitted to the course lecturer (fausto.ciompi@unipi.it) in a PDF file.
Students can find useful critical material for their researches by using onesearch (https://onesearch.unipi.it/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?vid=39UPI_V1);
- the oral presentation in English of a topic concerning the analysis and commentary of one or more literary texts chosen by the student among those included in the reading list (the selected topic must be different from the one covered in the written assignment);
- a brief discussion, either in English or in Italian according to the student’s choice, of texts and issues analyzed during the course.
Both the written assignment and the oral exam must be completed with a score of 18 or better. The overall mark is determined by combining scores for the written assessment (40 percent of the final mark) and those for the oral exam (60 percent of the final mark).
Resits will be assessed by the same methodology.
Students who have successfully completed the written assignment and fail the oral exam do no not have to take the written test again.
Classes start on 18 September 2023.
Lecturer name and email address: Fausto Ciompi. fausto.ciompi@unipi.it
Venues: Mondays, 12-13.30, Aula Curini D1; Tuesdays, 16-17.30, aula Curini A4; Thursdays, 12-13.30, Aula Curini A 4.
Taught: Semester 1.
Course language: English.
Examination Board: Fausto Ciompi, Biancamaria Rizzardi, Simona Beccone, Laura Giovannelli (substitute), Nicoletta Caputo (substitute) Marco Petrelli (substitute).
Office hours: Thursdays, 10.15-11.45, Palazzo Scala, Via S. Maria 67. To make in-person or online appointments please email fausto.ciompi@unipi.it.
During the course, communications will be provided via the course Moodle page: https://elearning22.humnet.unipi.it/. Students are advised to register.