L01003 - ENGLISH LITERATURE II

courses

ID:

L01003

Duration (hours):

54

CFU:

SSD:

LETTERATURA INGLESE

Located in:

PESCARA

Url:

Course Details:

FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES/CORSO GENERICO Year: 2

Year:

2025

Course Catalogue:

https://unich.coursecatalogue.cineca.it/af/2025?co...

Date/time interval

Primo Semestre (01/10/2025 - 15/01/2026)

Course Objectives

The course aims to provide an in-depth understanding of the development of the English novel from the Restoration to the early twentieth century, with particular focus on the rise of the bourgeois novel, the relationship between literature and science, and the evolution of narrative models between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries.
Special attention will be devoted to textual analysis and the acquisition of critical tools for literary interpretation.

LEARNING OUTCOMES
Knowledge and Understanding (Dublin Descriptor 1)
By the end of the course, students will be able to:

describe the development of the English novel from the 17th to the 20th century
identify major authors, works, and literary movements
explain the relationship between literature, science, and historical context
recognize key debates of the Long Eighteenth Century

Applying Knowledge and Understanding (Dublin Descriptor 2)

apply critical tools to the analysis of literary texts
contextualize literary works within their historical framework
use appropriate literary-critical terminology

Making Judgements (Dublin Descriptor 3)

analyze narrative structures and themes
compare literary models across different periods
critically evaluate the relationship between literature and science
develop independent interpretations supported by textual evidence

Communication Skills (Dublin Descriptor 4)

present ideas clearly and coherently
argue critical interpretations effectively
communicate disciplinary content using appropriate language

Learning Skills (Dublin Descriptor 5)

independently integrate critical sources
develop advanced textual analysis strategies

establish interdisciplinary connections

Course Prerequisites

English level: A 2

Teaching Methods

Frontal lessons

Assessment Methods

The oral final exam will consist of a number of questions (3-5) on the texts included in the syllabus, the historical context, the English culture of the Long 18th Century, and the critical bibliography in the syllabus. The exam will assess the following skills and abilities: detailed knowledge of the primary texts; ability to contextualize texts from a historical and cultural point of view; close analysis of the formal and thematic features of texts. The grading scale goes from 1 to 30 cum laude (excellent). The exam is graded: excellent (30 cum laude-30); very good (27-29); good (24-26), fair (21 -23), sufficient (18-22), insufficient (17 or below).

Texts

Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe; Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice; Rudyard Kipling, The Mark of the Beast; Herbert George Wells, The Island of Doctor Moreau; David Garnett, Lady Into Fox

The course, which lasts one semester, is organized into four modules as follows:
Section 1 (2 ECTS):Science and Pseudoscience in the English Novel of the Eighteenth Century
Primary texts:

Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, any edition in the original language.

Recommended critical texts:

Miriam Sette, Il fantastico in Robinson Crusoe. Daniel Defoe e la Ragione trasfiguratrice, Carocci, Rome 2010.

Section 2 (2 ECTS):The Social Novel between the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
Primary texts:

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, any edition in the original language.

Critical texts:

Miriam Sette, Come leggere Pride and Prejudice, Chieti, Solfanelli, 2025.

Section 3 (4 ECTS):Biological Models in English Literature between the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
Primary texts:

Rudyard Kipling, The Mark of the Beast, any edition in the original language.

H. G. Wells, The Island of Doctor Moreau, any edition in the original language.

David Garnett, Lady Into Fox, any edition in the original language.

Critical texts:

Miriam Sette, Trittico sulla metamorfosi: Kipling, Wells, Garnett, Liguori, Naples 2015.

Miriam Sette (ed.), Rudyard Kipling, Il marchio della bestia e altri racconti del fantastico, Biblion, Milan 2018.

Section 4 (1 ECTS):The Long Eighteenth Century
Recommended reference text:

Andrew Sanders, Short Oxford History of English Literature, 2021.

Further bibliographic indications will be provided during the semester.

Course Language

Italian/English

More information

As far as the period considered, ie The Long Eighteenth Century, which embraces English literary history from 1660 to 1832, the following authors are particularly relevant:

The Restoration and the Early XVIII Century (1660-1798)
John Dryden (1631-1700): "Absalom and Achitophel" (1681).
Samuel Pepys (1633-1703).
John Bunyan (1628-1688): "The Pilgrim's Progress" (1675).
William Congreve (1670-1729).
The Augustan Age
Daniel Defoe (1660? -1731).
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745).
Alexander Pope (1688-1744).
Augustan Modes in Poetry
Samuel Butler (1612-1680).
John Gay (1685-1732): "The Beggar's Opera" (1728).
The Periodical Essay
Joseph Addison (1672-1719).
Sir Richard Steele (1672-1729).
The Poetry of Sensibility
James Thomson (1700-1748): "The Seasons".
Thomas Gray (1716-1771): "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard".
William Collins (1721-1759).
Christopher Smart (1722-1771).
Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774): "The Deserted Village".
George Crabbe (1754-1832).
William Cowper (1731-1800).
Biographies
James Boswell (1740-1795): Life of Samuel Johnson (1791).
The novel (from Richardson to Austen)
Samuel Richardson (1689-1761), Pamela.
Henry Fielding (1707-1754), Joseph Andrews.
Tobias Smollett (1721-1771), Roderick Random (1748).
Laurence Sterne (1713-1768), Tristram Shandy (1759-1767).
Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield (1766).
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), Rasselas (1759).
Henry Mackenzie (1745-18319), The Man of Feeling (1771).
The Gothic Novel
Horace Walpole (1717-1797), The Castle of Otranto (1765).
William Beckford (1760-1844), Vathek (1786).
Ann Radcliffe (1764-1823), The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794).
Matthew Gregory Lewis (1775-1818), The Monk (1796).
Charles Robert Maturin (1782-1824), Melmoth the Wanderer (1820)
Domestic Fiction
Fanny Burney (1752-1840), Evelina (1778).
Jane Austen (1775-1817), Pride and Prejudice (1813).