ENGLISH LITERATURE FROM THE ORIGINS TO 1700

Through an in depth investigation of the elements of the novel and of some critical theories concerning this literary genre, the course means: 1) to improve the student’s capacity of personal reflection on the narative text; 2) to guide him/her to the knowledge of the various types of novel, with special attention to the victorian novel.

Moreover, through the close reading of emblematic sensation works, the course means: 3) to analyze the peculiarities of the sensation novel both in the context of the Victorian literary market and of the critical tradition.

Module A) Defining features of Old- and Middle-English, Elizabethan, Restoration and Augustan literature; literary movements and selected authors; close reading of excerpts from major authors' works.

Module B) In-depth analysis of Mary Wollstonecraft’s narrative works. This module will also investigate Mary Wollstoneraft’s role as an innovative writer and original thinker in the context of late 18th century literature and society. Special attention will be given to W. Godwin’s Memoirs of Mary Wollstonecraft.

Modulo A. Fondamenti (6 CFU)

P. Bertinetti ed., Storia della letteratura Inglese, Einaudi, Torino, 2000, in two volumes: I volume, Dalle origini al Settecento.

As an alternative, one of the following:

A. Cattaneo, Short History of English Literature. Vol. I: From the Middle Ages to the Romantics, Milano, Mondadori, 2011;

A. Sanders, The Short Oxford History of English Literature, London, O.U.P., 2000 (selected chapters).

Suggested reading:

L.M. Crisafulli – K. Elam (a cura di), Manuale di letteratura e di cultura inglese, Bononia University Press, Bologna, 2009, parte prima, pp. 1-180 e pp. 219-40.

Anthology: Selected literary texts and excerpts (available in the teacher's office).

Methodology and critical terms: J.A. Cuddon, The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory, London, Penguin, last ed. (selected entries); or: R. Fowler, A dictionary of modern critical terms, London, Routledge, last ed. (selected entries).

Modulo B. Approfondimenti: “Eroinismo e sperimentalismo in Mary Wollstonecraft” (3 CFU)

G. Persico, Mary Wollstonecraft tra (auto)biografia e critica sociale. La sua narrativa e il “Ritratto” di William Godwin, Lugano, Lumières internationales, 2011;

C.L. Johnson ed., The Cambridge Companion to Mary Wollstonecraft, Cambridge U.P., 2002 (1 essay);

L. Crisafulli – M. Silvani eds., Mary versus Mary, Napoli, Liguori,

2002 (1 essay);

G. Kelly, "Introduction" to M. Wollstonecraft, Mary and The Wrongs of Woman, O.U.P., last ed.;

V. Woolf, “Mary Wollstonecraft”, in Le donne e la scrittura, Milano, La Tartaruga, 1990, pp. 97-104.