OVERVIEW

This is a first-year course for TTMI students. It is taught in the second semester. It introduces to aspects of nineteenth-century literature.

Language: English. Class hours: 36. Credits: 6

LEARNING OUTCOMES

BA courses aim to provide students with a basic knowledge of British literature and culture from the Renaissance to the present age with special emphasis on the development of modern fiction, post-colonial studies, twentieth-century modernism and post-modernism.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Students who attend this course regularly, and study the prescribed materials, will acquire a good knowledge of some aspects of nineteenth-century literature. They will be able to analyse a number of literary texts, describe their main formal and thematic features and connect them to specific historical and cultural contexts.

PREREQUISITES

An acquaintance with literary periodization as customarily deployed in the study of European literatures; ability to understand English, both oral and written.

Teaching methods

Lectures in English. Attendance is heartily recommended. Students who are unable to attend will have to read some supplementary material.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

This course provides an introduction to the literature of the nineteenth century, through an historical and cultural survey of Romantic and Victorian Literature.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Students will read the following works in any unabridged edition of their choice.

• Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
• Charles Dickens, Great Expectations or Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South

Students will also have to make themselves familiar with the history of English Literature 1785-1900. Other materials (poems, essays, contextual and critical texts) will be made available through aulaweb and/or in the Department library.

Exam Board

LAURA COLOMBINO (President)

LUISA VILLA (President)

DENYS EDWARD JONES

Teaching methods

Lectures in English. Attendance is heartily recommended. Students who are unable to attend will have to read some supplementary material.

Exam description

This course is assessed by written examination (3 hours) on the contents of the course and the reading list, including anthological selections, criticism and other materials provided during the lectures. Language of examination: English.

Assessment methods

The exam paper involves open questions and guided commentary of literary texts (poems, extracts of plays and novels). The open questions test knowledge and comprehension; the guided commentary tests the student's ability to recognise and describe the main formal features of specific texts, and connect them to contextual historical and cultural information; it also tests the student's comprehension of, and ability to respond to, critical essays included in the reading list.