English literature 1 [Cognomi A-L] (2019/2020)

Learning outcomes

The course, held in English, aims at intro-ducing the students to English literature (from the Victorian to the contemporary period), with specific reference to a selec-tion of canonical texts, and at presenting methodological approaches for the analy-sis of literary texts and genres. The course aims at providing a good knowledge of British literature (articulated in historical context, texts, genres, literary trends and authors) and the skills for a critical analysis and argumentation on different kinds of texts in their historical and cultural context. At the end of the course, students will be able to: - Analyse the literary texts of the programme in their historical and cultural context; - Apply an aware critical approach to literary texts and present an argumen-tation which shows knowledge of literary conventions - Express the acquired literary and critical competence in English clearly and coherently.

The lessons will offer a Medical Humanities approach to literary texts from the Victorian to the contemporary period
A) TEXTS:
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- Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, 1847.
- Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway, 1925.
- Alice Munro, “The Bear Came over the Mountains” in Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, 2001.

Film: Sarah Polley, Away from her, 2007.

B) CRITICAL TEXTS:
- Anna Krugovoy Silver, “Introduction to” Victorian Literature and the Anorexic Body, Cambridge University Press, 2002.
- Virginia Woolf, “On being ill”, 1926.
- Ana María Fraile-Marcos, “Embodied Shame and the Resilient Ethics of Representation in Alice Munro’s “The Bear Came Over the Mountain”” in Amelia DeFalco, Lorraine York (eds.) Ethics and Affects in the Fiction of Alice Munro, Palgrave, 2018

FURTHER (COMPULSORY) REFERENCES FOR STUDENTS NOT ATTENDING THE LESSONS
-Maria Giulia Marini, Narrative Medicine, Springer, 2016. The following chapters:
- Preface; Chapter 2. “Bridging from Mythology to Contemporary Care: The Art of Listening”; Chapter 4 “The Tower of Babel: The Language of Physicians, Patients, and Providers of Care” Chapter 8 “The Place of Illness-Centred Movies in Medical Humanities”
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C) Andrew Sanders, The Short Oxford History of English Literature, (from Chapter 7 to Chapter 10 ).

The lessons will be in English. The exam will be an oral discussion in English on the topic of the course and the texts in the program (parts A,B,C).


Students unable to attend lectures are required to contact Prof. Battisti.