The course aims to introduce students to the knowledge and understanding of an outline of English literature of the 18th and 19th centuries, and it will mainly focus on the genre of novel, from its rise to its profound transformation at the end of the century. D1. Knowledge and understanding. The course aims to introduce students to the knowledge and understanding of an outline of English literature of the 18th and 19th centuries, and it will mainly focus on the genre of novel, from its rise to its profound transformation at the end of the century. D2. Applying knowledge and understanding. On completion of this course, students should be able to apply knowledge and understanding of the topics developed during lessons and demonstrate how the historical contexts of British culture impact on the form and content of literary texts, as well as make reference to the main critical theories considered in the course. D3. Making judgments: By the end of the course, students should be able to read critically the texts on their reading list, make judgments based on an acquired critical awareness, and recognize the different stylistic features, cultural contexts and issues. They should also be able to identify thematic and formal correspondences of texts. D4. Communication skills: on completion of this course, students should be able to communicate effectively and competently during the exam, using adequate vocabulary and conceptual tools. D5. Learning skills. At the end of the course, students will have developed critical reading and thinking abilities which are essential to the understanding of any complex cultural text, and have enriched their capacity to work with texts and contexts at an academic level.

I year English literature exam; I year English language exam.

The course aims to introduce students to the English literary culture of the 18th and 19th centuries and enhance their critical skills through the textual analysis of some representative texts, mainly novels. The course will explore some of the main cultural issues of the two centuries such as the development of national identity, social class, gender roles, colonialism, imperialism and race. Different generic models will be considered in their rhetorical strategies, narrative techniques and cultural contexts. Along with a general introduction to the literary contexts, the course will consider the following topics and texts: Part 1: -the rise of the novel, the rise of the middle class and early colonialism (Defoe and Robinson Crusoe). -the age of sensibility ; Romanticism (W.Blake, “London”, “The Tyger”, W.Wordsworth’s “Intimations of immortality”, J.Keats “Ode to a Grecian Urn”,) - the gothic and scientific fiction (Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein), - the novel of manners, satire and social critique: Jane Austen (from Persuasion) Part 2: -The English Bildungsroman: class, crime, Victorian London, uses of the gothic (Dickens’s Great Expectations) -the romance and the female literary tradition: The Brontës (C. Bronte’s Jane Eyre, E.Brontë's Wuthering Heights) -the fin de siècle: the end-of-the-century anxieties, the crisis of imperialism, the evolution of the novel form (R.L Stevenson’s Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde; Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness). Erasmus students and non-attending students are invited to contact prof. Gefter at the beginning of the course. Further critical optional material may be provided during the course.

Primary sources: Poetry (Norton Anthology and selected translations, Moodle) W.Blake, “London”, “The Tyger” (Moodle) W.Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey”, (Moodle) J.Keats, “Ode to a Grecian Urn” Fiction Daniel Defoe. Robinson Crusoe, Oxford Classics, selected chapters (Moodle). Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (Oxford Classics). Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre (Oxford Classics). Charles Dickens. Great Expectations (Oxford Classics) R.L.Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, (Oxford Classics), Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness (Oxford Classics). Critical Reading: Ronald Carter and John McRae, The Routledge History of Literature in English - Britain and Ireland. London, Routledge, 2017. (The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; students are required to have a general knowledge of the context, main authors, and literary genres; on reserve in the Departmental Library). S. Gilbert and S.Gubar, “A dialogue of Self and Soul. Plain Jane’s Progress”. In The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination, Second Edition, pp-336-371 (Moodle). John Mullan, “Crime in Great Expectations” (The Guardian, Moodle) A Practical Reader in Contemporary Literary Theory, Chapter 6 (F.RLeavis, C.Achebe, E.Said, T.Todorov) pp. 242-283. (on Heart of Darkness, Moodle) J.G.Peters, The Cambridge Introduction to J.Conrad, Cambridge up. 2006, pp.52-62 (Moodle) Further optional and suggested critical reading may be provided during the course.

The course aims to introduce students to the knowledge and understanding of an outline of English literature of the 18th and 19th centuries, and it will mainly focus on the genre of novel, from its rise to its profound transformation at the end of the century. Primary sources: Poetry (Norton Anthology and selected translations, Moodle) W.Blake, “London”, “The Tyger” (Moodle) W.Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey”, (Moodle) J.Keats, “Ode to a Grecian Urn” Fiction Daniel Defoe. Robinson Crusoe, Oxford Classics, selected chapters (Moodle). Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (Oxford Classics). Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre (Oxford Classics). Charles Dickens. Great Expectations (Oxford Classics) Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness (Oxford Classics). R.L.Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, (Oxford Classics). Critical Reading: Ronald Carter and John McRae, The Routledge History of Literature in English - Britain and Ireland. London, Routledge, 2017. (The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; students are required to have a general knowledge of the context, main authors, and literary genres; on reserve in the Departmental Library). S. Gilbert and S.Gubar, “A dialogue of Self and Soul. Plain Jane’s Progress”. In The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination, Second Edition, pp-336-371 (Moodle). John Mullan, “Crime in Great Expectations” (The Guardian, Moodle) A Practical Reader in Contemporary Literary Theory, Chapter 6 (F.RLeavis, C.Achebe, E.Said, T.Todorov) pp. 242-283. (on Heart of Darkness, Moodle) J.G.Peters, The Cambridge Introduction to J.Conrad, Cambridge up. 2006, pp.52-62 (Moodle) Further optional and suggested critical reading may be provided during the course. Erasmus students are invited to contact the professor at the beginning of the course.

Lectures, textual analysis, close reading. Video clips from film/television adaptations may also be included. Students are strongly encouraged to attend lessons in person regularly, ask questions, offer comments about the texts and topics that will be treated during the course.

The teaching materials produced and used during the course, which the student must consult, will be hosted on Moodle and Ms.Teams Further critical references may be provided during the course and made available on the same digital platforms. Erasmus students and non-attending students are invited to contact Prof. Gefter at the beginning of the course for any specific queries. Classes are held in person. Students with special needs (including those with disabilities, workers, athletes, adults, parents, and detainees) who are permanently or temporarily unable to attend classes in person due to particular circumstances, will be allowed to participate remotely upon request to the teacher. The request, for which the student takes full responsibility, should be sent via email to the teacher before the beginning of the course. For information about digital teaching at the university, please visit the following link: [https://www.units.it/studenti/didattica-digitale]

The exam is oral and will last approximately 25 minutes. It consists of a discussion of the topics of the course through open questions, with a section devoted to the textual analysis and commentary of relevant passages from the primary sources, and it aims at determining the level of knowledge and competence reached by the students, together with their argumentative and analytical skills. Students will be asked to prove their grounding in the main features and authors of British literary history of the 18th and 19th centuries and to answer questions concerning the main concepts, themes and contexts considered during the course. The grading system ranges from 18/30 to 30/30 cum laude. To pass the exam, students must answer correctly at least two broad questions that will engage them in discussing texts, authors, themes, and cultural contexts. Students who answer correctly only one question will not pass the exam. To earn the highest score (30/30 cum laude), students must answer all the questions very competently, be very fluent in their use of English and of specific vocabulary and demonstrate a thorough knowledge of the texts and contexts of the syllabus, a capacity for textual analysis and contextualization.

Questo insegnamento approfondisce argomenti strettamente connessi a uno o più obiettivi dell’Agenda 2030 per lo Sviluppo Sostenibile delle Nazioni Unite