English Literature I (2008/2009)

Learning outcomes

The course: “The double in Victorian Fin de Siècle Literature” will analyse a selection of the most relevant texts of the nineteenth- century fin de siècle in order to examine the concept of ‘otherness’
in its various versions, ‘within’ and ‘outside’ the self.
Educationally, the aim of the course is to facilitate the acquisition of the most salient literary, critical, historical and cultural notions covering the period from the 19th to the 21st century.

For both modules the literary period to study covers the history of literature from the Victorian to the Contemporary Age.
Required Reading

Primary bibliography:

Bram Stoker, Dracula, [1897], Penguin o Oxford

R.L. Stevenson, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde [1886], Penguin o Oxford

------------------, “Markheim”, in Short Stories Old and New, ed. C.A.
Smith,

Project Gutenberg Release #10483.
Critical bibliography:

S. Arata, Fictions of Loss in the Victorian ‘Fin de Siècle’, CUP, 1996, ch. 2, ch. 5.

John Herdman, The Double in Nineteenth-century Fiction, Palgrave, Basingstoke

2001, pp. 1-20, 127-61.

H.L. Malchow, Gothic Images of Race in 19th-Century Britain, Stanford UP, 1996, ch.

3.

Otto Rank, Il doppio: il significato del sosia nella letteratura e nel folklore, Sugarco

Milano (tr. it di Der Doppelgänger, Vienna 1925)

For the history of literature please refer to this compendium:

Norton Anthology of English Literature, vol. II, Norton, New York last ed.

Suggested further readings are: J.C. Wells, Longman Pronouncing Dictionary, Harlow, Pearson, 2000; Collins Cobuilt, English Language Dictionary, Collins, 2001; F. Picchi, Grande dizionario Inglese/ Italiano, Italiano/Inglese, Hoepli, 1999.

Modulo 3 crediti:

3-credit module

Syllabus:

For both modules the literary period to study is the Victorian age, Modernism and Postmodernism.

Required Reading

Primary bibliography:
J. Conrad, “An Outpost of Progress”, “The Secret Sharer” in The Portable

Conrad, Viking Penguin, o in altre edizioni Penguin o Oxford
and one of the literary works from the 6-credit module.
Critical bibliography:
S. Arata, Fictions of Loss in the Victorian ‘Fin de Siècle’, CUP, 1996, ch. 2, ch. 5.

J. Herdman, The Double in Victorian Fiction, Palgrave, London 2001, pp. 127-61.

For the history of literature please refer to this compendium:

Norton Anthology of English Literature, vol. II, Norton, New York last ed.

Suggested further readings are: J.C. Wells, Longman Pronouncing Dictionary, Harlow, Pearson, 2000; Collins Cobuilt, English Language Dictionary, Collins, 2001; F. Picchi, Grande dizionario Inglese/ Italiano, Italiano/Inglese, Hoepli, 1999.

oral exam