Contemporary English Literature
A.Y. 2023/2024
Learning objectives
This course explores the various developments of contemporary English literature, starting from a methodological reflection on the area of the discipline. It provides students with cultural and literary knowledge of the period ranging from the second half of the twentieth century to the present and offers reading paths and critical analysis of texts belonging to different literary currents and trends (Postmodernism, Postcolonialism, etc.). In addition, it draws attention to the continuities and discontinuities between past and present literature, to the contamination of literary genres and to the intersections between written works and other media (cinema, television, etc.).
Expected learning outcomes
KNOWLEDGE: By the end of the course, students should be able to discuss the contents of the discipline, contextualise the literary texts included in the programme within the cultural and literary background in which they were produced, and provide critical interpretations of the literary works included in the programme. LINGUISTIC AND LITERARY ABILITIES: Students should be able to read the texts and acknowledge their linguistic complexity. Students should also be able to critically analyse the texts included in the programme and be able to connect different authors, texts and literary trends. They should demonstrate understanding of the different critical approaches and of the various levels of textual interpretation. In addition, students are expected to express themselves with clarity and precision and to use the specific terminology of the discipline correctly.
Lesson period: First semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
First semester
Course syllabus
Course title: Palimpsests: places of memory in contemporary English literature.
Description: In recent decades there has been a growing interest in the spatial dimension in the humanities, also in relation to the discourse of memory and history. Places are not only an essential part of individual and collective experience, but also participate in memory and tradition: they are not mere 'containers' of memories, but rather take the form of palimpsests, constantly erased and rewritten. The course intends to explore how contemporary English literature represent historical traumas (Part I), especially the World Wars, the Holocaust and postcolonial conflicts; how it engages in unstable and subjective topographies (Part II), intertextually linked to travel and migration; how it embodies the fragmentation of identity (Part III) in relation to personal memories and emotional spaces. The course includes a general introduction concerning what is meant for contemporary English literature and examines national and transnational identities and their transformations as well as their complicated relationships with the otherness.
The course is addressed to graduate students specializing in Foreign Languages and Literatures. Students interested in the 6 credit exam can choose Part I and Part II or Part I and Part III or Part II and Part III; students interested in the 9 credit exam are required to study Part I, II and III.
The syllabus is valid until February 2025.
Description: In recent decades there has been a growing interest in the spatial dimension in the humanities, also in relation to the discourse of memory and history. Places are not only an essential part of individual and collective experience, but also participate in memory and tradition: they are not mere 'containers' of memories, but rather take the form of palimpsests, constantly erased and rewritten. The course intends to explore how contemporary English literature represent historical traumas (Part I), especially the World Wars, the Holocaust and postcolonial conflicts; how it engages in unstable and subjective topographies (Part II), intertextually linked to travel and migration; how it embodies the fragmentation of identity (Part III) in relation to personal memories and emotional spaces. The course includes a general introduction concerning what is meant for contemporary English literature and examines national and transnational identities and their transformations as well as their complicated relationships with the otherness.
The course is addressed to graduate students specializing in Foreign Languages and Literatures. Students interested in the 6 credit exam can choose Part I and Part II or Part I and Part III or Part II and Part III; students interested in the 9 credit exam are required to study Part I, II and III.
The syllabus is valid until February 2025.
Prerequisites for admission
The course is taught in English. Students are expected to read English literary texts and criticism and to discuss them in English, therefore a very good knowledge of English is required. They should also show a good knowledge of English literature from the XIX century onwards as well as a proven ability to analyse literary texts.
Teaching methods
The course employs the following teaching methods: lectures including close reading and analysis of the texts; audiovisual materials, such as sequences of television or film adaptations, documentaries, interviews, etc. Students are encouraged to actively participate in textual analysis and in the discussions in class and in the website forum.
Teaching Resources
General bibliography:
"British Fiction in a Global Frame" in A Concise Companion to Contemporary British Fiction, edited by James F. English (available on the website of the course)
"Framing the Present" in The Cambridge Companion to British Fiction 1980-2018, edited by Peter Boxall (available on the website of the course)
Further materials will be suggested in class and made available on the website.
Part I: HISTORICAL TRAUMAS
Literary texts:
M.G. Vassanji, The Book of Secrets
Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient
Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything is Illuminated
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Half of a Yellow Sun.
Part II: UNSTABLE GEOGRAPHIES
Literary texts:
Bruce Chatwin, In Patagonia
Graham Swift, Waterland
V.S. Naipaul, The Enigma of Arrival
Beryl Bainbridge, The Birthday Boys.
Part III: FRAGMENTED IDENTITIES
Literary texts:
Jenny Diski, Skating to Antarctica
Abdulrazak Gurnah, The Last Gift
Taiye Selasi, Ghana Must Go
Alexandra Fuller, Travel Light, Move Fast.
The website of the course is online on the Ariel platform (http://ariel.unimi.it): students will be able to download variuos materials. Critical essays on general questions or on specific texts will be available. The website also contains general informaioninformation on the course and is continuously updated. n (in November).
"British Fiction in a Global Frame" in A Concise Companion to Contemporary British Fiction, edited by James F. English (available on the website of the course)
"Framing the Present" in The Cambridge Companion to British Fiction 1980-2018, edited by Peter Boxall (available on the website of the course)
Further materials will be suggested in class and made available on the website.
Part I: HISTORICAL TRAUMAS
Literary texts:
M.G. Vassanji, The Book of Secrets
Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient
Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything is Illuminated
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Half of a Yellow Sun.
Part II: UNSTABLE GEOGRAPHIES
Literary texts:
Bruce Chatwin, In Patagonia
Graham Swift, Waterland
V.S. Naipaul, The Enigma of Arrival
Beryl Bainbridge, The Birthday Boys.
Part III: FRAGMENTED IDENTITIES
Literary texts:
Jenny Diski, Skating to Antarctica
Abdulrazak Gurnah, The Last Gift
Taiye Selasi, Ghana Must Go
Alexandra Fuller, Travel Light, Move Fast.
The website of the course is online on the Ariel platform (http://ariel.unimi.it): students will be able to download variuos materials. Critical essays on general questions or on specific texts will be available. The website also contains general informaioninformation on the course and is continuously updated. n (in November).
Assessment methods and Criteria
The exam consists of an oral interview. The minimum score is 18, the maximum is 30. The oral exam (in English) will entail general questions on the English novel and will also include methodological questions on the frame of contemporary literature, the literary representation of national identity, the issues concerning the literary canon as well as the main critical approaches to fiction. More specific questions will pertain to the literary texts included in the syllabus, their language and motifs, their connections and intertextual quality.
Students may accept or reject the mark, in this case it will be recorded as "ritirato".
Students may accept or reject the mark, in this case it will be recorded as "ritirato".
L-LIN/10 - ENGLISH LITERATURE - University credits: 9
Lessons: 60 hours
Professor:
Brazzelli Nicoletta
Professor(s)