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Contemporary English Literature

A.Y. 2024/2025
9
Max ECTS
60
Overall hours
SSD
L-LIN/10
Language
English
Learning objectives
This course explores the various developments of contemporary English literature, starting from a methodological reflection on the area of the discipline. It provides students with cultural and literary knowledge of the period ranging from the second half of the twentieth century to the present and offers reading paths and critical analysis of texts belonging to different literary currents and trends (Postmodernism, Postcolonialism, etc.). In addition, it draws attention to the continuities and discontinuities between past and present literature, to the contamination of literary genres and to the intersections between written works and other media (cinema, television, etc.).
Expected learning outcomes
KNOWLEDGE: By the end of the course, students should be able to discuss the contents of the discipline, contextualise the literary texts included in the programme within the cultural and literary background in which they were produced, and provide 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 the 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: First semester

Lessons timetable

Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi

Exams calendar

Single course

This course can be attended as a single course.

Take a single course
Course syllabus and organization

Single session

Responsible
Brazzelli Nicoletta
Lesson period
First semester
Course syllabus
Course title: Shifting boundaries: geographies, identities, and narrations in contemporary English literature.
Description: The course, which includes an introduction concerning contemporary English literature and its chronological, geographical and critical frame, as well as an examination of some fundamental concepts related to the literary canon and intertextuality, intends to use the notions of boundary and frontier as keys to the interpretation of literary texts. The first part revolves around real and imaginary frontiers and investigates issues related to the representation of space and its palimpsestic nature; the second deals with postcolonial perspectives through tales that weave different points of view and multiple identities; the third focuses on the center-margin dynamics and on the stories emerging from subalternity and silence. The course analyses various narrative genres, from autobiography to dystopia to historical novel, belonging to different contexts, and aims to unfold the challenges of contamination and cultural and linguistic hybridisation which shape the contemporary scenery.
The course is addressed to graduate students specializing in Foreign Languages and Literatures. Students interested in the 6 credit exam can choose Part I and Part II or Part I and Part III; students interested in the 9 credit exam are required to study Part I, II and III.
The syllabus is valid until February 2026.
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 good knowledge of English literature from the XIX century onwards as well as a proven ability to analyse literary texts.
Teaching methods
The course employs the following teaching methods: lectures including close reading and analysis of the texts; audiovisual materials, such as sequences of television or film adaptations, documentaries, interviews, etc. Students are encouraged to actively participate in textual analysis and in the discussions in class and in the website forum.
Teaching Resources
General bibliography:
"British Fiction in a Global Frame" in A Concise Companion to Contemporary British Fiction, edited by James F. English (available on the website of the course)
"Framing the Present" in The Cambridge Companion to British Fiction 1980-2018, edited by Peter Boxall (available on the website of the course)
Further materials will be suggested in class and made available on the website.
Part I: REAL AND IMAGINARY FRONTIERS
Literary texts:
Pat Barker, Double Vision (any edition in English)
Alexandra Fuller, Scribbling the Cat (any edition in English)
Jhumpa Lahiri, 'Unaccustomed Earth' (short story available on the website)
John Lanchester, The Wall (any edition in English).
Part II: IDENTITIES IN TRANSIT
Literary texts:
J.M. Coetzee, Disgrace (any edition in English)
Abdulrazak Gurnah, Desertion (any edition in English)
Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist (any edition in English).
Part III: STORIES FROM THE MARGINS
Literary texts:
V.S. Naipaul, A Bend in the River (any edition in English)
Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go (any edition in English)
Maaza Mengiste, The Shadow King (any edition in English).
Some film adaptations of the literary texts analysed will also be used.
The website of the course is online on the Ariel platform (http://ariel.unimi.it): students will be able to download various materials. Critical essays on general questions or on specific texts will be available. The website also contains general information on the course and is continuously updated.
Assessment methods and Criteria
The exam consists of an oral interview. The minimum score is 18, the maximum is 30. The oral exam (in English) will entail general questions on the English novel and will also include methodological questions on the frame of contemporary literature, the literary representation of national identity, the issues concerning the literary canon as well as the main critical approaches to fiction. More specific questions will pertain to the literary texts included in the syllabus, their language and motifs, their connections and intertextual quality.
Students may accept or reject the mark, in this case it will be recorded as "ritirato".
L-LIN/10 - ENGLISH LITERATURE - University credits: 9
Lessons: 60 hours
Professor: Brazzelli Nicoletta
Educational website(s)
Letteratura inglese contemporanea LM (a.a. 2024/25)
Professor(s)