Programme

I corsi di primo anno si tengono in italiano.

Core Documentation

Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (1847)
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness (1899)
George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)

Una selezione di poesie inglesi:

WILLIAM BLAKE (1757-1827)
“Infant Sorrow” (Songs of Experience, 1794)
“The Tiger” (Songs of Experience)

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802 (1807)
I wandered Lonely as a Cloud (1807)

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE (1797-1816)
Kubla Khan (1816)

GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON (1788-1824)
She Walks in Beauty (1813)

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY (1792-1822)
Ode to the West Wind (1819)

JOHN KEATS
Ode on a Grecian Urn (May 1819)
Ode to a Nightingale (1819)

ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING (1806-1861)
Sonnet 43

ROBERT BROWNING (1812-1889)
My Last Duchess (1842)

ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON (1809-1892)
Break, Break, Break (1842)

CHRISTINA ROSSETTI (1830-1894)
Song

EMILY DICKINSON (1830-1886)

Because I could not stop for Death —
“Hope” is the thing with feathers

RUDYARD KIPLING (1865-1936)
IF—

THOMAS HARDY (1840-1928)
The Convergence of the Twain (1912)
(Lines on the loss of the Titanic)

WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS (1865-1939)
An Irish Airman Foresees His Death
Sailing to Byzantium

EZRA POUND (1885-1972)
In a Station of the Metro

LANGSTON HUGHES (1901-1957)
Song for a Dark Girl (1927)

W. H. AUDEN (1907-1973)
Funeral Blues (1936)

STEVIE SMITH (1902-1971)
Not Waving but Drowning

GWENDOLYN ELIZABETH BROOKS (1917-2000)
We Real Cool

ROBERT FROST (1874-1963)
The Road not Taken
PHILIP LARKIN (1922-1985)
High Windows (1967)

DYLAN THOMAS (1914-1953)
Do not go gentle into that good night

ELIZABETH BISHOP (1911-1979)
One Art (1976)

ADRIENNE RICH (1929-2012)
Song (1971)

TED HUGHES (1930-1998)
Fingers (1998)

SYLVIA PLATH (1932-1963)
Mirror

DEREK WALCOTT (1930-2017)
Love After Love

CAROL ANN DUFFY (1955-)
Warming her Pearls (1955)

EAVAN BOLAND (1944-2020)
Anorexic

Type of delivery of the course

Lectures

Type of evaluation

Oral exam

Programme

Il docente ha avuto cura di scegliere tre testi attraverso i quali è possibile seguire l'evoluzione dell'arte del romanzo inglese tra la metà dell'Ottocento e la metà del Novecento. I temi sviluppati in questi tre romanzi sono (tra gli altri) la scrittura femminile e il romanzo romantico; il colonialismo europeo; una visione allucinata del destino dell'Europa, dopo la Seconda guerra mondiale. Come vedremo, a partire da questi temi sarà possibile mettere in luce alcuni tratti caratteristici della cultura inglese.

All'inizio di ogni lezione verrà letta in classe da una studentessa e analizzata una poesia. Cominceremo con i grandi romantici per giungere fino a oggi.

Core Documentation

Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (1847)
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness (1899)
George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)

A selection of poems:
WILLIAM BLAKE (1757-1827)
“Infant Sorrow” (Songs of Experience, 1794)
“The Tiger” (Songs of Experience)

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802 (1807)
I wandered Lonely as a Cloud (1807)

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE (1797-1816)
Kubla Khan (1816)

GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON (1788-1824)
She Walks in Beauty (1813)

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY (1792-1822)
Ode to the West Wind (1819)

JOHN KEATS
Ode on a Grecian Urn (May 1819)
Ode to a Nightingale (1819)

ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING (1806-1861)
Sonnet 43

ROBERT BROWNING (1812-1889)
My Last Duchess (1842)

ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON (1809-1892)
Break, Break, Break (1842)

CHRISTINA ROSSETTI (1830-1894)
Song

EMILY DICKINSON (1830-1886)

Because I could not stop for Death —
“Hope” is the thing with feathers

RUDYARD KIPLING (1865-1936)
IF—

THOMAS HARDY (1840-1928)
The Convergence of the Twain (1912)
(Lines on the loss of the Titanic)

WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS (1865-1939)
An Irish Airman Foresees His Death
Sailing to Byzantium

EZRA POUND (1885-1972)
In a Station of the Metro

LANGSTON HUGHES (1901-1957)
Song for a Dark Girl (1927)

W. H. AUDEN (1907-1973)
Funeral Blues (1936)

STEVIE SMITH (1902-1971)
Not Waving but Drowning

GWENDOLYN ELIZABETH BROOKS (1917-2000)
We Real Cool

ROBERT FROST (1874-1963)
The Road not Taken
PHILIP LARKIN (1922-1985)
High Windows (1967)

DYLAN THOMAS (1914-1953)
Do not go gentle into that good night

ELIZABETH BISHOP (1911-1979)
One Art (1976)

ADRIENNE RICH (1929-2012)
Song (1971)

TED HUGHES (1930-1998)
Fingers (1998)

SYLVIA PLATH (1932-1963)
Mirror

DEREK WALCOTT (1930-2017)
Love After Love

CAROL ANN DUFFY (1955-)
Warming her Pearls (1955)

EAVAN BOLAND (1944-2020)
Anorexic

Type of delivery of the course

Lectures

Type of evaluation

Oral exam

Programme

Beyond reason: illusions, dreams, visions, (in)sanity from Shakespeare to Woolf
This first-year course will provide a historical and cultural overview of English literature through contextualization and analysis of some canonical texts within the genres of poetry, drama, and fiction. Starting from the illusionary island of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”, through the satirical world of Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” and other writings, the vision of Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan”, to the (in)sanity of Woolf’s “Mrs Dalloway”, the course means to illustrate the nature of the literary text and to focus on the polisemy and epistemological import of these literary representations by exploring the contexts, contents and formal strategies of the selected literary works.

Core Documentation

PRIMARY SOURCES
All the volumes and articles indicated below (primary and secondary sources) are compulsory reading and will be discussed during the final exam.
Students should buy the following editions of the texts and are expected to read them before the beginning of the course.
1. William Shakespeare, “The Tempest/La tempesta”, introduzione e traduzione di Alessandro Serpieri, note di Clara Mucci, con testo a fronte, Marsilio, Venezia, 2006, ISBN: 9788831789837.
2. Jonathan Swift, “A Modest Proposal/Una modesta proposta”, a cura di Luciana Pirè, Marsilio, Venezia, 2019, ISBN: 9788831722537; other satirical writings added as learning materials in Moodle: “An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity”; “The Tatler” Number 5 (from Tuesday Jan. 23, to Saturday Jan. 27, 1710).
3. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Kubla Khan”, in “I poemi demoniaci”, a cura di Marcello Pagnini, con testo a fronte, Giunti, Firenze, 1996, ISBN: 9788809208438.
4. Virginia Woolf, “Mrs Dalloway/La signora Dalloway”, a cura e traduzione di Marisa Sestito con testo a fronte, Marsilio, Venezia, 2012, ISBN: 9788831711456. [English edition: “Mrs Dalloway”, Penguin Modern Classics, edited by S. McNichol with an Introduction by E. Showalter.]

Reference Bibliography

SECONDARY SOURCES (context and criticism) - Read all the introductions, prefatory notes and afterwards of the previously given editions. - Paolo Bertinetti (a cura di), “Breve storia della letteratura inglese”, Torino, Einaudi, 2000. Students who want to broaden their knowledge of authors and relevant historical contexts could refer to the volumes of “Storia della civiltà letteraria inglese” a cura di Franco Marenco, Utet, Torino, 1996. - Giorgio Melchiori, Part fifth, ch. “I drammi romanzeschi” (introductory part to 1.1 excluded and “The Tempest” 1.4), in G. Melchiori, “Shakespeare. Genesi e struttura delle opere”, Laterza, Bari, 2019 (first ed. 1994), pp. 560-569 e 614-626. - Attilio Brilli, “La ‘Modesta Proposta’ di Swift fra satira e ideologia”, in “Critical Dimensions: English, German and comparative literature essays in honour of Aurelio Zanco”, a cura di Mario Curreli et al., SASTE, Cuneo, 1978, pp. 283-289; Virginia Woolf, “Swift’s ‘Journal to Stella’”, in “The Second Common Reader”, A Harvest Book, Harcourt, Brace & World, INC., New York, 1960 (1932), pp. 58-67. - Marcello Pagnini, “Il clima filosofico” e “Kubla Kahn”, in Samuel T. Coleridge, “I poemi demoniaci”, a cura di M. Pagnini, con testo a fronte, Giunti, Firenze, 1996, pp. XI-XVIII, XLVI-LVII. - Marisa Sestito, “Virginia Woolf: oltre le soglie”, in Silvana Serafin e Marina Brollo (a cura di), Donne, politica e istituzioni: varcare la soglia?, Forum, Udine, 2012, pp. 75-81; Sara Sullam, “Leggere Woolf”, only from 3.5 to 3.8 included, Carocci, Roma, 2020, pp. 61-71. STUDENTS WHO DO NOT ATTEND lessons are ALSO requested to: 1. study authors and historical contexts in the relevant volumes of “Storia della civiltà letteraria inglese” a cura di Franco Marenco, Utet, Torino, 1996; 2. read the following: - Giorgio Melchiori, Introduction “Shakespeare e il mestiere del teatro”, in G. Melchiori, “Shakespeare. Genesi e struttura delle opere”, Laterza, Bari, 2019 (first ed. 1994), pp. 3-25. - Attilio Brilli, “Introduzione”, in J. Swift, “Una modesta proposta e altre satire”, Bur/Rizzoli, Milano,1994, pp. 5-24. - Massimo Bacigalupo, “Coleridge, il Marinaio e il Khan”, in S.T. Coleridge, “La rima del vecchio marinaio – Kubla Kahn”, SE, Milano, 1987, pp. 125-147. - Nadia Fusini, “Virgo, la stella”, in V. Woolf, Romanzi, Meridiani Mondadori, Milano, 1998, pp. XXII-XL. N.B. FOR ALL STUDENTS Available PDFs will be loaded on Moodle before the beginning of the course. In case of changes in the programme contents, students will be promptly informed. Students who do not attend are kindly invited to contact me during the year.

Type of delivery of the course

Lecture-style teaching (unless special measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 are applied). Students who do not attend are kindly invited to contact me during the year.

Attendance

Attendance is not compulsory but recommended

Type of evaluation

Oral exam in person, unless special measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 are applied. If needed oral and/or written tests might be assigned during the course. The exam will cover all issues and is aimed to assess expected learning outcomes. In the exam students will have to show that they have become proficient in understanding and analysing works, and relating literary texts to their historical and cultural contexts.

Programme

Beyond reason: illusions, dreams, visions, (in)sanity from Shakespeare to Woolf
This first-year course will provide a historical and cultural overview of English literature through contextualization and analysis of some canonical texts within the genres of poetry, drama, and fiction. Starting from the illusionary island of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”, through the satirical world of Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” and other writings, the vision of Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan”, to the (in)sanity of Woolf’s “Mrs Dalloway”, the course means to illustrate the nature of the literary text and to focus on the polisemy and epistemological import of these literary representations by exploring the contexts, contents and formal strategies of the selected literary works.

Core Documentation

PRIMARY SOURCES
All the volumes and articles indicated below (primary and secondary sources) are compulsory reading and will be discussed during the final exam.
Students should buy the following editions of the texts and are expected to read them before the beginning of the course.
1. William Shakespeare, “The Tempest/La tempesta”, introduzione e traduzione di Alessandro Serpieri, note di Clara Mucci, con testo a fronte, Marsilio, Venezia, 2006, ISBN: 9788831789837.
2. Jonathan Swift, “A Modest Proposal/Una modesta proposta”, a cura di Luciana Pirè, Marsilio, Venezia, 2019, ISBN: 9788831722537; other satirical writings added as learning materials in Moodle: “An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity”; “The Tatler” Number 5 (from Tuesday Jan. 23, to Saturday Jan. 27, 1710).
3. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Kubla Khan”, in “I poemi demoniaci”, a cura di Marcello Pagnini, con testo a fronte, Giunti, Firenze, 1996, ISBN: 9788809208438.
4. Virginia Woolf, “Mrs Dalloway/La signora Dalloway”, a cura e traduzione di Marisa Sestito con testo a fronte, Marsilio, Venezia, 2012, ISBN: 9788831711456. [English edition: “Mrs Dalloway”, Penguin Modern Classics, edited by S. McNichol with an Introduction by E. Showalter.]

Reference Bibliography

SECONDARY SOURCES (context and criticism) - Read all the introductions, prefatory notes and afterwards of the previously given editions. - Paolo Bertinetti (a cura di), “Breve storia della letteratura inglese”, Torino, Einaudi, 2000. Students who want to broaden their knowledge of authors and relevant historical contexts could refer to the volumes of “Storia della civiltà letteraria inglese” a cura di Franco Marenco, Utet, Torino, 1996. - Giorgio Melchiori, Part fifth, ch. “I drammi romanzeschi” (introductory part to 1.1 excluded and “The Tempest” 1.4), in G. Melchiori, “Shakespeare. Genesi e struttura delle opere”, Laterza, Bari, 2019 (first ed. 1994), pp. 560-569 e 614-626. - Attilio Brilli, “La ‘Modesta Proposta’ di Swift fra satira e ideologia”, in “Critical Dimensions: English, German and comparative literature essays in honour of Aurelio Zanco”, a cura di Mario Curreli et al., SASTE, Cuneo, 1978, pp. 283-289; Virginia Woolf, “Swift’s ‘Journal to Stella’”, in “The Second Common Reader”, A Harvest Book, Harcourt, Brace & World, INC., New York, 1960 (1932), pp. 58-67. - Marcello Pagnini, “Il clima filosofico” e “Kubla Kahn”, in Samuel T. Coleridge, “I poemi demoniaci”, a cura di M. Pagnini, con testo a fronte, Giunti, Firenze, 1996, pp. XI-XVIII, XLVI-LVII. - Marisa Sestito, “Virginia Woolf: oltre le soglie”, in Silvana Serafin e Marina Brollo (a cura di), Donne, politica e istituzioni: varcare la soglia?, Forum, Udine, 2012, pp. 75-81; Sara Sullam, “Leggere Woolf”, only from 3.5 to 3.8 included, Carocci, Roma, 2020, pp. 61-71. STUDENTS WHO DO NOT ATTEND lessons are ALSO requested to: 1. study authors and historical contexts in the relevant volumes of “Storia della civiltà letteraria inglese” a cura di Franco Marenco, Utet, Torino, 1996; 2. read the following: - Giorgio Melchiori, Introduction “Shakespeare e il mestiere del teatro”, in G. Melchiori, “Shakespeare. Genesi e struttura delle opere”, Laterza, Bari, 2019 (first ed. 1994), pp. 3-25. - Attilio Brilli, “Introduzione”, in J. Swift, “Una modesta proposta e altre satire”, Bur/Rizzoli, Milano,1994, pp. 5-24. - Massimo Bacigalupo, “Coleridge, il Marinaio e il Khan”, in S.T. Coleridge, “La rima del vecchio marinaio – Kubla Kahn”, SE, Milano, 1987, pp. 125-147. - Nadia Fusini, “Virgo, la stella”, in V. Woolf, Romanzi, Meridiani Mondadori, Milano, 1998, pp. XXII-XL. N.B. FOR ALL STUDENTS Available PDFs will be loaded on Moodle before the beginning of the course. In case of changes in the programme contents, students will be promptly informed. Students who do not attend are kindly invited to contact me during the year.

Type of delivery of the course

Gli studenti non-frequentanti sono pregati di contattarmi durante l’anno. Students who do not attend are kindly invited to contact me during the year.

Attendance

Attendance is not compulsory but recommended

Type of evaluation

Oral exam in person, unless special measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 are applied. If needed oral and/or written tests might be assigned during the course. The exam will cover all issues and is aimed to assess expected learning outcomes. In the exam students will have to show that they have become proficient in understanding and analysing works, and relating literary texts to their historical and cultural contexts.