On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
1.Construct clear and coherent arguments about the evolution of the novel as a genre.
2.Analyse novels using recognised methods of literary and fashion criticism to substantiate and illustrate those arguments.
3. Competently evaluate critical references in order to support their argumentation.
4. Discuss about literary texts in relation to literary conventions, history and culture.
The aim of the course is to provide a critical-methodological introduction to the study of English literature and culture during the 19th , 20th and 21 th century.
The course will analyse fashion’s mythic dimension and suggest that fashion is a language in itself. The methodological tools offered by fashion studies will be applied to the analysis of different novels in order to explore the impact and meaning of fashion in past and contemporary culture, and to investigate how fashion’s mythologies are constructed and disseminated through fictional texts. It will also examine how fashion, as a form of fiction, can be said to constitute a “power technology”: fashion can consort with hegemonic norms as a regulating force that can incite conformity, but sometimes resistance as well.
FASHION AND FICTION IN ENGLISH LITERATURE
A) TEXTS:
-Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey (1817)
-Virginia Woolf, Orlando (1928)
- Azar Nafisi, Reading Lolita in Tehran (2003)
B) CRITICAL TEXTS:
- Peter McNeil, Vicki Karaminas, Cathy Cole, Fashion in fiction: text and clothing in literature, film, and television (2009). Chapters:
Introduction
1 Claire Hughes. The Question of Costume: Dressing for Success in the 19th century Novel
-Roland Barthes, The Language of Fashion, Translated by Andy Stafford Edited by Andy Stafford and Michael Carter Graham Allen, (2005).
Chapters:
1 “History and Sociology of Clothing: Some Methodological Observations”
2 “Language and Clothing”
3 “Towards a Sociology of Dress”
C) Andrew Sanders, The Short Oxford History of English Literature, (from Chapter 7 to Chapter 10 ).
| Author | Title | Publisher | Year | ISBN | Note |
| Peter McNeil, Vicki Karaminas, Cathy Cole, | Fashion in fiction: text and clothing in literature, film, and television . | 2009 | Introduction 1 Claire Hughes. The Question of Costume: Dressing for Success in the 19th century Novel -Roland Barthes, The Language of Fashion, Translated by Andy Stafford Edited by Andy Stafford and Michael Carter Graham Allen, (2005). Capitoli: 1 “History and Sociology of Clothing: Some Methodological Observations” 2 “Language and Clothing” 3 “Towards a Sociology of Dress” | ||
| Jane Austen | Northanger Abbey | 1817 | Any edition | ||
| Virginia Woolf | Orlando | 1928 | Any edition | ||
| Azar Nafisi, | Reading Lolita in Tehran | 2003 | Any edition | ||
| Andrew Sanders | The Short Oxford History of English Literature | Oxford, Oxford University Press | 1994 |
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).
In particular:
- the ability to discuss topics (literary trends, authors, genres) within the history of English literature ( from the Victorian period to the contemporary period)
- the ability to present a critical argumentation on topics related to the texts of the syllabus (making examples from scenes and passages)
- the ability to make connections between the topics of the course, on the basis of the critical texts indicated in the programm
Students unable to attend lectures are required to contact Prof. Battisti.
