English literature I (LS) (2008/2009)

Course not running

Course code
4S00933
Credits
6
Coordinator
Silvia Bigliazzi
Teaching is organised as follows:
Unit Credits Academic sector Period Academic staff
Lezioni 4 L-LIN/10-ENGLISH LITERATURE I semestre Silvia Bigliazzi
Esercitazioni 2 L-LIN/10-ENGLISH LITERATURE I semestre Angelo Righetti

Learning outcomes

Module: Lezioni
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The course aims at presenting the students with a critical approach to the Renaissance England through an analysis of the controversial definition of `the other’ as related to the cultural and literary paradigms of madness and melancholy.


Module: Esercitazioni
-------
The course aims at presenting the students with a critical approach to the Renaissance England through an analysis of the controversial definition of ‘the other’ as related to the cultural and literary paradigms of madness and melancholy.

Syllabus

Module: Lezioni
-------
The other: figures of madness and melancholy in 16th and 17th century English literature
The course is made up of two sections of 24 teaching hours each (course + seminar) during which the Renaissance theme of `the other’ will be examined through an analysis of the various figures of madness, melancholy and folly scattered in the literary and dramaturgical texts of the Elizabethan age. The role of the stage fool, as a liminal character located between the theatre and the world, will also be under scrutiny, in that it significantly reflects and magnifies on stage the subversive function of `the other’ within the dominant cultural model. The motives behind its gradual disappearance from both the stage and the Court during the 17th century will eventually be investigated as proof that a substantial cultural change was at that time taking place.


Bibliography

1) Texts:

• Wiliam Shakespeare, Amleto, a cura di A Serpieri, Veneia, Marsilio, 1997
• William Shakespeare, Re Lear, a cura di G. Melchiori, Milano, Mondatori, 1989
• Students must choose one Shakespearean play among the following (any English or parallel text edition): The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like it, The Twelfth Night, All’s Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure.
• During the course students will be provided with integrative handouts

2) References:

• V. Gentili, La recita della follia. Funzioni dell’insania nel teatro dell’età di Shakespeare, Torino, Einaudi, 1978
• Roberta Mullini, Corruttore di parole, Bologna, Clueb, 1983
• M. Foucault, Storia della follia nell’età classica, Milano, BUR, [1976] 1994, pp. 11-82

To facilitate textual reading, students may refer to any of the following handbooks of rhetoric, stylistics, poetics and semiotics:

• Bice Mortara Garavelli, Manuale di retorica, Milano, Bompiani, 1999
• Maria Pia Ellero, Introduzione alla retorica, Firenze, Sansoni Editore, 1997
• Angelo Marchese, Dizionario di retorica e stilistica, Milano, Mondadori, 2002
• Angelo Marchese, L’officina della poesia, Milano, Mondadori, 1997
• Keir Elam, Semiotica del teatro, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1988 (or English edition)

Additional references for non-attending students

• Thomas Middleton – William Rowley, I Lunatici, a cura di Valerio Viviani, Venezia, Marsilio, 2004
• John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi (any English or parallel text edition)


Module: Esercitazioni
-------
The other: figures of madness and melancholy in 16th and 17th century English literature
The course is made up of two sections of 24 teaching hours each (course + seminar) during which the Renaissance theme of ‘the other’ will be examined through an analysis of the various figures of madness, melancholy and folly scattered in the literary and dramaturgical texts of the Elizabethan age. The role of the stage fool, as a liminal character located between the theatre and the world, will also be under scrutiny, in that it significantly reflects and magnifies on stage the subversive function of ‘the other’ within the dominant cultural model. The motives behind its gradual disappearance from both the stage and the Court during the 17th century will eventually be investigated as proof that a substantial cultural change was at that time taking place.


Bibliography

1) Texts:

• Wiliam Shakespeare, Amleto, a cura di A Serpieri, Veneia, Marsilio, 1997
• William Shakespeare, Re Lear, a cura di G. Melchiori, Milano, Mondatori, 1989
• Students must choose one Shakespearean play among the following (any English or parallel text edition): The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like it, The Twelfth Night, All’s Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure.
• During the course students will be provided with integrative handouts

2) References:

• V. Gentili, La recita della follia. Funzioni dell’insania nel teatro dell’età di Shakespeare, Torino, Einaudi, 1978
• Roberta Mullini, Corruttore di parole, Bologna, Clueb, 1983
• M. Foucault, Storia della follia nell’età classica, Milano, BUR, [1976] 1994, pp. 11-82

To facilitate textual reading, students may refer to any of the following handbooks of rhetoric, stylistics, poetics and semiotics:

• Bice Mortara Garavelli, Manuale di retorica, Milano, Bompiani, 1999
• Maria Pia Ellero, Introduzione alla retorica, Firenze, Sansoni Editore, 1997
• Angelo Marchese, Dizionario di retorica e stilistica, Milano, Mondadori, 2002
• Angelo Marchese, L’officina della poesia, Milano, Mondadori, 1997
• Keir Elam, Semiotica del teatro, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1988 (or English edition)

Additional references for non-attending students

• Thomas Middleton – William Rowley, I Lunatici, a cura di Valerio Viviani, Venezia, Marsilio, 2004
• John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi (any English or parallel text edition)

Assessment methods and criteria

Module: Lezioni
-------
The exam will consist in a discussion in English of the topics dealt with during the course and the seminar.


Module: Esercitazioni
-------
The exam will consist in a discussion in English of the topics dealt with during the course and the seminar.

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