English literature and culture 2 [CInt] (2017/2018)

Learning outcomes

The module aims at offering an overview of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century English literature and culture, as well as at presenting the students with the basics of textual and literary genre analysis.
On successful completion of the module, students will achieve a good knowledge of the cultural context in which the texts included in the programme were composed. They will be able to develop a coherent and detailed interpretation of the texts, apply key methods and concepts relevant to textual analysis, and provide a plausible critical interpretation in a register and style that serve the context and intention.

Original sin(s) and fictional conversions. From Milton to Richardson.

The module will deal with a selection of poetic and narrative late seventeenth- and eighteenth-century texts on the basis of the changed (and changing) notions of sin and conversion, and their representation, looking at their various literary, religious, cultural, and political aspects. Different genres will be taken into account: from epic, to spiritual autobiography, to the novel.

The programme consists in three parts: 1. Primary texts, 2. References and 3. Handbook.
Language: lectures will be in English.
Please be advised: further details on required readings and general information on bibliographical material will be provided during classes.
Futher material will be available for download from the MOODLE e-repository.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Primary texts
- J. Milton, Paradise Lost [Books I & IX], any English or parallel edition.
- J. Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, any English edition.
- D. Defoe, Moll Flanders, (ed. by D. Blewett), Penguin, 2003.
- S. Richardson, Pamela, (ed. by M. Doody), Penguin, 2003.

2. References
- B. Lewalsky, “The Genres of Paradise Lost”, in The Cambridge Companion to John Milton, ed. by D. Danielson, CUP, 1999, pp. 113-129.
- D. Danielson, “The Fall and Milton’s Theodicity”, in The Cambridge Companion to John Milton, ed. by D. Danielson, CUP, 1999, pp. 144-159.
- R. Bell, “Metamorphoses of Spiritual Autobiography”, ELH, 44:1, 1977, pp. 108-126 (available on Jstor – see MOODLE for instructions).
- N. Rosenfeld, “The Tempter in Grace Abounding”, in The Human Satan in Seventeenth-Century English Literature, Ashgate, 2008, pp. 31-52.
- R.S. Beal, “Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners: John Bunyan’s Pauline Epistle”, Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, 21:1, 1981, pp. 147-160 (available on Jstor – see MOODLE for instructions)
- I. Watt, The rise of the novel: studies in Defoe, Richardson and Fielding, Penguin, 1972, pp. 9-59 e 93-173.
- S.C. Conboy, “Fabric and Fabrication in Richardson’s Pamela”, ELH, 54:1, 1987, pp. 81-96 (available on Jstor – see MOODLE for instructions).
- L. Innocenti, “Introduzione”, in L’invenzione del vero. Forme dell’autenticazione nel romanzo inglese del ’700, a c. di L. Innocenti, Pacini, 2000, pp. 5-19.
- J. Clegg, “Defoe evidence and the eyewitness”, in L’invenzione del vero. Forme dell’autenticazione nel romanzo inglese del ’700, a c. di L. Innocenti, Pacini, 2000, pp. 21-77.

3. Handbook
As regards the literary and cultural context spanning from 1620 to 1830 (from the Revolution to Romanticism), students will refer to:
- A. Sanders, The Short Oxford History of English Literature, Oxford University Press, 2003 (third edition): from chapter 4. “Revolution and Restoration” to chapter 6. “The Literature of the Romantic Period”, included.

The exam will consist in an oral discussion (in English) that will test the knowledge of the module’s topics (texts, authors, and genres) and the literary and cultural context (3. Handbook; main authors and movements from 1620 to 1830) as well as the use of an approriate vocabulary. Students may be required to read and comment on passages taken from primary texts (Bibliography: 1. Primary texts).
There will be no mid-term tests.

STUDENT MODULE EVALUATION - 2017/2018