AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

MA literary courses involve lectures and workshops; they aim to provide students with an in-depth knowledge of aspects/moments in the history of British literature and culture from the Renaissance to the present age. Students will also learn and discuss all the critical and theoretical issues involved in the establishment of the literary canon and in its recent revisions.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Students who attend classes regularly and actively, and study the prescribed material,

- will increase their knowledge of nineteenth-century literary and cultural history;

-  will familiarise with Lord Byron's poetry and transgressive personality, and with a selection of texts produced during the Regency period and at the fin de siècle;

- will become aware of aspects of the critical debate on "celebrity culture", the "dandy" and the "vampire";

- will be able to analyse the formal and thematic features of a circumscribed corpus of texts.

TEACHING METHODS

This course will include introductory lectures in English, group work and class activities on selected literary texts and relevant critical material.  It will be taught on TEAMS.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

This module surveys a selection of literary texts from the Regency period (by Byron, Caroline Lamb, Polidori, Edward Bulwer)  and the late Victorian/early modernist period (Max Beerbohm, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, Henry James).  It aims at highlighting the Regency's legacy to the modern imaginary. Its main focus is on the rise of celebrity culture, and the iconic figures of the "vampire" and the "dandy".

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Students who choose to attend regularly and participate in class work actively will have to study the selection of texts and critical materials that will be made available in aulaweb. 

The other students will be allowed to choose between the standard reading list, or an alternative reading list that will cover the Regency/Byron/Celebrity (through a selection of texts and critical materials), plus one theme chosen between the "vampire" (from Polidori's The Vampyre to Bram Stoker's Dracula) or the "dandy" (from E. Bulwer's Pelham to Oscar Wilde & Max Beerbohm, texts to be defined). Critical and contextual materials will be made available in the Departmental library and/or on aulaweb.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

LUISA VILLA (President)

LAURA COLOMBINO

STEFANIA MICHELUCCI (President Substitute)

DENYS EDWARD JONES (Substitute)

ANNA SBORGI (Substitute)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

October 4th, h. 14-15.

Class schedule

ENGLISH LITERATURE AND CULTURE MOD.1

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

For all students assessment will be based on a written guided report (50%) and an oral examination (50%). 

ASSESSMENT METHODS

ORAL EXAMINATION: Students will be asked to demonstrate their knowledge of primary texts and critical bibliography, their understanding of cultural and theoretical issues and their ability to analyse and contextualise extracts from literary texts. Discussion of their written report will be part of the exam. The quality of their oral English will also be taken into account. 

GUIDED REPORT: Students are asked to write a report on a text/theme related to their reading list.  Students will be expected to show their ability to deploy their knowledge of themes/works/authors/critical theories studied in the course in analysing one literary text. Their ability to write in English will also be taken into account. Report titles, instructions and deadlines for submission will be made available on aulaweb well before the Christmas holidays.

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

Attendance is strongly recommended. At the beginning of the course students will have to enrol on AulaWeb. Enrolment for exams is online on the University of Genova website.

This syllabus is valid till February 2023.