OVERVIEW

This is a second-year course taught in the first and second semesters. It introduces to aspects of nineteenth-century literature from Romanticism to the mid- and late-Victorian periods. Language: English. Credits: 9. This course is also available as a 6-credit option (with a reduced syllabus).

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

BA courses aim to provide students with a basic knowledge of British literature and culture from the Renaissance to the present age with special emphasis on the development of modern fiction, post-colonial studies, twentieth-century modernism and post-modernism.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Students who attend this course regularly, and study the prescribed materials, will acquire a good knowledge of some aspects of nineteenth-century fiction, theatre and poetry. They will be able to analyse some literary texts, describe their main formal and thematic features and connect them to specific historical and cultural contexts.

PREREQUISITES

An acquaintance with literary periodization as customarily deployed in the study of European literatures; ability to understand English, both oral and written.

TEACHING METHODS

First semester: online teaching through Teams and Aulaweb.

Second semester: classroom teaching unless otherwise decided on the basis of the evolution of Covid-19. 

Lectures in English and seminar activities (e.g. workshops on the texts; introduction to essay writing). Attendance is heartily recommended. Students who are unable to attend will have to read some supplementary material.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

This course provides an introduction to nineteenth century literature, through an historical and cultural survey of the Romantic, the mid-Victorian and the late Victorian periods. Its main focus is on fiction and its transformations.

For students who choose this course as a 6-credit option the syllabus does not include the Romantic novel and the late Victorians.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Students will read the following works in any unabridged edition of their choice:

• Mary Shelley, Frankenstein;
• Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre;
• one novel chosen between Charles Dickens, Great Expectations and Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles;
• Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest.

Students will also have to make themselves familiar with the history of English Literature 1785-1900. Other materials (poems, essays, contextual and critical texts) will be made available through aulaweb and/or in the Department library.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

LAURA COLOMBINO (President)

DENYS EDWARD JONES

LUISA VILLA (President Substitute)

LESSONS

Class schedule

ENGLISH LITERATURE AND CULTURE II A

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

This course is assessed by written examination (the total test-time is 4 hrs; 3hrs for the 6-credit option) on the contents of the course and the reading list, including anthological selections, criticism and other materials provided during the lectures. Language of examination: Italian or English (students are free to choose either). 

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The exam paper involves open questions and guided commentary of literary texts (poems, extracts of plays and novels). The open questions test knowledge and comprehension; the guided commentary tests the student's ability to recognise and describe the main formal features of specific texts, and connect them to contextual historical and cultural information; it also tests the student's comprehension of, and ability to respond to, critical essays included in the reading list.

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

Attendance is heartily recommended. Students who are unable to attend, will have to study some supplementary or different material. Course enrolment via aulaweb is mandatory. Examination enrolment is through the unige website.