L0852 - ENGLISH LITERATURE B I

courses

ID:

L0852

Duration (hours):

48

CFU:

SSD:

LETTERATURA INGLESE

Located in:

PESCARA

Url:

Course Details:

FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES/LETTERARIO-CULTURALE Year: 1

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

Learning Objectives:Students are expected to develop critical thinking skills and the ability to engage in analytical reasoning with regard to the texts under study, establishing meaningful connections with the thematic frameworks of the historical and cultural context.

Course Prerequisites

None

Teaching Methods

Lectures are supported by the use of instructional tools, such as multimedia presentations;
the adoption of the flipped classroom approach is envisaged in order to foster active and collaborative learning.

Assessment Methods

Oral Exam.

Texts

For the study of the historical context, the primary reference text will be:RONALD CARTER and JOHN McRAE, The Routledge History of Literature in English. Britain and Ireland, New York and London, Routledge (general outlines from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century).
Required Texts:

William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus (bilingual English-Italian edition)

William Shakespeare, Othello (bilingual English-Italian edition

Ben Jonson, Volpone or The Fox (optional)

Mary Wollstonecraft: Excerpts from 'Vindication of the Rights of Woman' (provided by the teacher).

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1818)

Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (1847)

Anne Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848)(optional)

Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White (1859)(optional)

Supporting Critical Readings (sections will be indicated during the course):

Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar, The Madwoman in the Attic (selected excerpts)

Elaine Showalter, A Literature of Their Own

Sandra Gilbert, “Plain Jane’s Progress”

Historical and Literary Context:
The course traces the development of literature from the Elizabethan era through the nineteenth century, providing an overview that situates the works within their respective cultural and historical frameworks. For the study of the historical context, the primary reference text will be:RONALD CARTER and JOHN McRAE, The Routledge History of Literature in English. Britain and Ireland, New York and London, Routledge (general outlines from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century).
Section 1: Theatre
The themes analysed include moral manipulation and corruption, satire of greed and social corruption, the theatre of masks and deception, the role of women and control over the female body, as well as the study of master-servant dynamics, with particular attention to reciprocal strategies of manipulation.
Section 2: Women, Otherness, and Power in Nineteenth-Century English Narrative
The purpose of this section is to provide a detailed analysis of the representation of the female figure, otherness, and power dynamics in nineteenth-century English fiction. This analysis will be conducted through the study of selected works.
Supporting Critical Readings.