English Literature (MA)
A.Y. 2021/2022
Learning objectives
This course intends to provide students with reading paths and critical analysis of texts belonging to English literature produced in different periods and places. It follows thematic clusters according to diachronic and/or synchronic perspectives and offers students several critical approaches to literary texts. In addition, it aims at reflecting on the English literary canon and on its transformations through time. It also explores intertextual mechanisms and structures through different literary genres.
Expected learning outcomes
KNOWLEDGE: By the end of the course, students should be able to discuss the main issues and questions concerning the discipline, to place the literary texts included in the course within the cultural and literary context in which they were produced, and to provide thematic and critical interpretations of the literary works included in the programme. LINGUISTIC AND LITERARY ABILITIES: Students should be able to read the texts and acknowledge their linguistic complexity. Students should also be able to critically analyse the texts included in the programme and be able to connect different authors, texts and literary trends. They should demonstrate understanding of different critical approaches and of the various levels of textual interpretation. In addition, students are expected to express themselves with clarity and precision and to use the specific terminology of the discipline correctly.
Lesson period: Second semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Lesson period
Second semester
More specific information on the delivery modes of training activities for academic year 2021/22 will be provided over the coming months, based on the evolution of the public health situation.
Course syllabus
Course title:
A society of equals? Literature, culture and equality
It is divided into three units:
A. Literature and equality in the long perspective
B. The nineteenth century: 'a religion of inequality'?
C. From the twentieth century until today: equality in theory and practice?
The course is addressed to graduate students specialising in Foreign Languages and Literatures. Students interested in the 6 credit exam can choose Unit A and Unit B or Unit A and Unit C or Unit B and Unit C; students interested in the 9 credit exam are required to study Unit A, B and C.
The syllabus is valid until February 2023.
The course will allow students to reflect on the long history of current pressing issues of equality and inequality, and in particular to see how this problem is represented and interpreted in literary texts from the late 18th century to the present. Links with other cultural media (in particular painting, photography and film) will also be encouraged. By considering in detail the political and philosophical background of these themes, students will be able to establish stronger links between specific literary texts and the complex intellectual and social history that shaped them: students will be encouraged to make a careful reading of these themes and their relation to political and philosophical texts.
A society of equals? Literature, culture and equality
It is divided into three units:
A. Literature and equality in the long perspective
B. The nineteenth century: 'a religion of inequality'?
C. From the twentieth century until today: equality in theory and practice?
The course is addressed to graduate students specialising in Foreign Languages and Literatures. Students interested in the 6 credit exam can choose Unit A and Unit B or Unit A and Unit C or Unit B and Unit C; students interested in the 9 credit exam are required to study Unit A, B and C.
The syllabus is valid until February 2023.
The course will allow students to reflect on the long history of current pressing issues of equality and inequality, and in particular to see how this problem is represented and interpreted in literary texts from the late 18th century to the present. Links with other cultural media (in particular painting, photography and film) will also be encouraged. By considering in detail the political and philosophical background of these themes, students will be able to establish stronger links between specific literary texts and the complex intellectual and social history that shaped them: students will be encouraged to make a careful reading of these themes and their relation to political and philosophical texts.
Prerequisites for admission
The course is taught in English. Students are expected to read English literary texts and criticism and to discuss them in English, therefore a very good knowledge of English is required. They should also show a very good knowledge of English literature from the XIX century onwards as well as a proven ability (acquired in BA courses) to analyse literary texts.
Teaching methods
The course will use the following methods: lectures including close reading and analysis of the texts; audiovisual materials, such as sequences of television and film adaptations or documentaries, etc. Students are encouraged to actively participate in textual analysis and in the discussions in class.
Teaching Resources
The course has a site on the Ariel online platform for teaching (http://ariel.unimi.it), to which reference is made for lecture notes and other materials provided by the teacher. For each teaching unit, specific critical essays on individual works or authors will be available on the website. The site also contains general information.
General bibliography:
Pierre Rosanvallon, 'Rethinking Equality in an Age of Inequality' http://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/19754/MWP_LS_2011_08.pdf?sequence=3
Pierre Rosanvallon, A Society of Equals
Stewart Justman, Literature and Human Equality (a selection of chapters to be provided)
Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better
Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches (a selection of chapters to be provided)
Daniel Dorling, Injustice: Why Social Inequality Persists
Other critical materials will be suggested during the course and will be uploaded on the Ariel website.
Unit A
Literary texts :
William Wordsworth, 'The Solitary Reaper'
Anton Chekhov, 'A Case History', in The Princess and Other Stories (Oxford University Press)
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah (any edition in English)
Walt Whitman, 'Song of Myself' (1855 version) and Preface to Leaves of Grass (1855) in Walt Whitman, The Complete Poems (Penguin).
Unit B
Literary texts:
Charles Dickens, Great Expectations (an edition in English with an introduction and notes, for example Penguin or Oxford University Press)
Matthew Arnold, 'Equality' in Culture and Anarchy and Other Writings (Cambridge University Press) (also available here http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/12628/pg12628.html )
Amy Levy, Reuben Sachs (any edition here)
Friedrich Nietzsche, 'What is Noble?' in Beyond Good and Evil (Oxford World's Classics) (also available here http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4363/4363-h/4363-h.htm )
Arthur Morrison, 'Lizerunt', in Tales of Mean Streets (to be made available on the Ariel website)
Joseph Conrad, The Nigger of the 'Narcissus' (an edition in English with an introduction and notes, for example Penguin or Oxford University Press)
Unit C
Literary texts:
George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia (any edition in English)
Frank O'Hara, Lunch Poems (City Lights).
Jonathan Coe, Middle England (any edition in English)
Fintan O'Toole, Heroic Failure: Brexit and the Politics of Pain (a selection of chapters will be provided)
Ken Loach, director, I, Daniel Blake (film)
General bibliography:
Pierre Rosanvallon, 'Rethinking Equality in an Age of Inequality' http://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/19754/MWP_LS_2011_08.pdf?sequence=3
Pierre Rosanvallon, A Society of Equals
Stewart Justman, Literature and Human Equality (a selection of chapters to be provided)
Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better
Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches (a selection of chapters to be provided)
Daniel Dorling, Injustice: Why Social Inequality Persists
Other critical materials will be suggested during the course and will be uploaded on the Ariel website.
Unit A
Literary texts :
William Wordsworth, 'The Solitary Reaper'
Anton Chekhov, 'A Case History', in The Princess and Other Stories (Oxford University Press)
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah (any edition in English)
Walt Whitman, 'Song of Myself' (1855 version) and Preface to Leaves of Grass (1855) in Walt Whitman, The Complete Poems (Penguin).
Unit B
Literary texts:
Charles Dickens, Great Expectations (an edition in English with an introduction and notes, for example Penguin or Oxford University Press)
Matthew Arnold, 'Equality' in Culture and Anarchy and Other Writings (Cambridge University Press) (also available here http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/12628/pg12628.html )
Amy Levy, Reuben Sachs (any edition here)
Friedrich Nietzsche, 'What is Noble?' in Beyond Good and Evil (Oxford World's Classics) (also available here http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4363/4363-h/4363-h.htm )
Arthur Morrison, 'Lizerunt', in Tales of Mean Streets (to be made available on the Ariel website)
Joseph Conrad, The Nigger of the 'Narcissus' (an edition in English with an introduction and notes, for example Penguin or Oxford University Press)
Unit C
Literary texts:
George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia (any edition in English)
Frank O'Hara, Lunch Poems (City Lights).
Jonathan Coe, Middle England (any edition in English)
Fintan O'Toole, Heroic Failure: Brexit and the Politics of Pain (a selection of chapters will be provided)
Ken Loach, director, I, Daniel Blake (film)
Assessment methods and Criteria
The exam consists of an oral test which is marked out of thirty. The test consists of an interview on the topics examined the program. The oral exam (to be taken in English) will focus on the relationship between ideas of equality and inequality and their complex representation in literature. Students have the right to refuse the grade (in this case it will be recorded as "withdrawn"). The examination methods for students with disabilities and / or with SLD must be agreed with the teacher, in agreement with the competent Office. To take the exam, it is essential to present all the literary texts on the program. To register for the exam it is recommended to always refer to the teacher who taught the course.
Unita' didattica A
L-LIN/10 - ENGLISH LITERATURE - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Unita' didattica B
L-LIN/10 - ENGLISH LITERATURE - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Unita' didattica C
L-LIN/10 - ENGLISH LITERATURE - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours