OVERVIEW

This is a first-year course taught in the second semester. It introduces students to aspects and issues of early modern English drama by outlining its historical, cultural, political and religious context, as well as its structural and formal characteristics, before examining William Shakespeare's Othello as an example of a complex literary text in which form, content and context work together to contribute to the creation of multiple levels of meaning.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The 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

1. can describe the literary forms and the most important personalities of early modern English literature;
2. are familiar with numerous aspects and issues of early modern English drama;
3. are acquainted with the main features of Early Modern English and are able to read and understand English texts in old spelling;
4. know analytically at least one play by Shakespeare, can describe its main features and relate them to specific historical and cultural contexts;
5. are able to analyse highly complex texts such as those by Shakespeare, recognising the main formal features of the single texts and relating them to the various historical and cultural context, as well as using the cues and ideas offered by the critical material.

PREREQUISITES

Level B1, English Language

TEACHING METHODS

Lectures in English, which will be complemented by screenings of theatrical performances in order to enable students to appreciate theatrical texts in their fullest instantiation. 

Attendance is heartily recommended.

Students who are unable to attend will have to read some supplementary material, which will be made available on aulaweb.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The course seeks to introduce the students to the study of early modern English literature. Lectures will first illustrate the historical, religious, social and cultural features of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England. They will then focus on the formal and content analysis of William Shakespeare's Othello. Particular attention will be paid to: the relevance of religious controversies on the literary, artistic and cultural production; the material conditions of the period's theatrical experience (the structure of the playhouses and the theatrical business) and the way they profoundly shaped dramatic texts that would later acquire traits of universality and atemporality. In order to locate Othello more firmly within Shakespeare's oeuvre, as well within the broader context of early modern drama, analyses of passages from other plays by Shakespeare or other playwrights of the period such as Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson and John Fletcher may be proposed.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Students will have to study

• William Shakespeare's Othello in English
• the other materials (presentations, contextual texts and critical essays) that will be made available either through aulaweb or in the Department library.

They will also have to make themselves familiar with the history of English literature 1500-1785 (reference books: L. Hopkins and M. Steggle, Renaissance Literature and Culture, Continuum, London 2006, pp. 1-96; L. M. Crisafulli e K. Elam, Manuale di letteratura e cultura inglese, Bononia UP, 2009, pp. 19-179).

Students who do not attend classes will also have to read in English either Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe or Samuel Richardson's Pamela, and they will have to read additional critical material that they will find in aulaweb.

Foreign students who cannot read Italian will be allowed to use a different reference book from Elam-Crisafulli.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

DOMENICO LOVASCIO (President)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

mid-February 2025.

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

This course is assessed by written examination on the contents of the course and the reading list, as well as other compulsory materials. Language of examination: English or Italian. Total test time: 3 hrs. The open-ended-question exam paper covers all parts of the syllabus (cultural and historical context, history of literature 1500-1785 and all the prescribed texts and critical materials). 

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The exam paper involves open-ended questions on the historical period, the cultural contexts, literary movements and main authors, and guided commentary of literary texts. The open questions test knowledge and comprehension; the guided commentary tests the students' 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 students' comprehension of, and ability to respond to, the critical materials included in the reading list.

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 Ateneo website.

This syllabus is valid until July 2026.

Students who have valid certification of physical or learning disabilities on file with the University and who wish to discuss possible accommodations or other circumstances regarding lectures, coursework and exams, should speak both with the instructor and with Prof. Sara Dickinson (sara.dickinson@unige.it), the Department’s disability liaison.