English Language and Literature (Year 3, Three-year Course Students,
Curriculum: Language Expert for Management and Tourism and Languages,
Communication and Media)
GR. A-K AND GR. L-Z: PROF. GIULIANA BENDELLI
COURSE AIMS
The course will analyse the poetics of English modernism that emerge in some of
the emblematic works of its most representative authors. We will examine the
work of forerunner Conrad and that of Joyce, the modernist par excellence, to
attempt to highlight the gradual departure from 19 th century conventions and the
shift towards increasingly experimental writing forms.
COURSE CONTENT
The historical and cultural scenario at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning
of the twentieth century led to a true revolution in English literature, creating the
premises for the movement known as Modernism. Experimental forms and new
writing techniques that apply philosophical and psychological theories, such as
Bergson’s concept of interior time and psychologist William James’s idea of a
stream of conscious thought. The influence on literature of the representative
techniques of the avant-garde artistic movements. The interpenetration of the
genres with special reference to the exchange between fiction and poetry. The
strong symbolic value of the description; discursive images and configurations.
Literary imagism and impressionism. The poetics of the fragment and the
epiphany. The short story. The crisis of the omniscient narrator and the growing
interpretive cooperation of the reader. The tendency of writers to base their story
on their own lives and the impersonality of art. Intertextuality: “tradition and
individual talent”.
These are the concepts that we will analyse in the following works: The Nigger of
the ‘Narcissus’ by Joseph Conrad; Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a
young Man by James Joyce.
READING LIST
Compulsory texts:
JOSEPH CONRAD, The Nigger of the ‘Narcissus’, Penguin Books
JAMES JOYCE, Dubliners, Penguin Books (the stories to be read from the collection are the
following: The Sisters, Eveline, Two Gallants, A Painful Case, The Dead.)
JAMES JOYCE, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Penguin Books
Compulsory critical reading list:
G. BENDELLI, La veglia di Joyce. Forme di sperimentazione nel romanzo irlandese del XX secolo:
Bowen, Banville, McCabe, Vita & Pensiero, Milan 2012
G. BENDELLI, Joseph Conrad. La Figura del mare:, Vita & Pensiero, Milan, 2012
VIRGINIA WOOLF, Joseph Conrad (essay from “The Common Reader”)*.
T.S.ELIOT, Ulysses, Order and Myth* in “The Dial”, 1923
G. MELCHIORI, Joyce e la tradizione del romanzo*, in I Funamboli, Einaudi, 1963-1974
* The lecturer will tell the students how to obtain the three books marked with an asterisk
during the course.
Supplementary critical reading list**:
G. CIANCI (edited by), Modernismo / Modernismi dall’avanguardia storica agli anni Trenta e oltre,
Principato Editore, Milan, 1991
D. LODGE, L’arte della narrativa, Bompiani, Milan, 1995
P. NEROZZI, Il romanzo inglese del Settecento /La poetica alle origini della narrativa moderna,
Bruno Mondadori, Milan, 2008
R. S. CRIVELLI (edited by), Letteratura irlandese contemporanea, Carocci, Rome, 2007
C. DE PETRIS - M. STELLA (edited by), Continente Irlanda / Storia e scritture contemporanee, Carocci
editore, Rome, 2001
F. ROGNONI, Di libro in libro, Vita e Pensiero, Milan, 2006
P. A. NARDI, American Literature and Culture. A selection of texts, Educatt, Milan, 2010
** Each student must study a compulsory text, choosing from: a) the text by Cianci, b) or
the two texts of Lodge and of Nerozzi, c) or the two texts of Crivelli and DePetris-Stella,
d) or both the texts of Rognoni and Nardi, according to the following indications:
The text of Cianci: 1. Introduzione (pp.15-40); 2. Marenco (pp.83-97); 3. Bianchi (pp.112122); Pajalich (pp.215-223); Bacigalupo (pp.226-239); Bacigalupo (pp.255-269);
Tagliaferri (pp.272-287); Gozzi (pp.290-311); Corti (pp.314-337); Marengo Vaglio (pp.
342-357); Sabbadini (pp.361-377); Sabbadini (pp.423-432); AA.VV. (pp.476-508).
The full text by Lodge and only the introductory parts of that of Nerozzi are compulsory
while the other texts are optional.
Choose and read any two chapters of the Crivelli text and any four of the essays contained in
DePetris-Stella.
Read the following parts of the text by Rognoni: III. Moderni (pp.127-260); IV: and choose
two of the nine chapters.
From the text of Nardi: choose four authors and the relative texts.
TEACHING METHOD
This is a semester course (three hours of classes per week) and will be taught in the
second semester.
The student will be required to analyse and translate the Reading List texts (poetry,
prose and drama) set for each year and curriculum as called for by the Faculty regulations.
NB: These texts are an integral part of the course and will be used as exam material. The
lecturer will distribute photocopies of the hard-to-find texts believed useful integrations.
ASSESSMENT METHOD
Final oral exams preceded by a written exam in the scheduled exam sessions. The
written exam will test the student’s knowledge of the General Part of the course and the
literary history of the period studied.
Given that any serious knowledge of literature and culture is based on a knowledge of
languages and that this knowledge is indispensable in the application of learning in the
workplace, the oral exam will test the student’s knowledge of the meaning and the exact
pronunciation of the words that make up the texts dealt with in the course (the student will
be asked the modern English equivalent of any archaic or obsolete words), after which the
student will be asked to analyse the texts according to the basic principles of rhetorical and
stylistic analysis. The student must also demonstrate they have a good grasp of all the work
of the three authors dealt with in the course and the historical-cultural and literary scenario
in which these are placed.
NOTES
Further information can be found on the lecturer's webpage at
http://docenti.unicatt.it/web/searchByName.do?language=ENG, or on the Faculty notice
board.
Practical English Language and Literature Classes –Curriculum: Languages,
Communication and Media, I Semester
History of English literature and culture
The 20th century.
The student should choose one of the following manuals to study the history of
20th-century English literature:
A. CATTANEO, A Short History of English Literature, Mondadori Università, 2011.
M. PRAZ, Storia della letteratura inglese, Sansoni.
D. DAICHES, Storia della letteratura inglese, Garzanti.
P. BERTINETTI, Storia della letteratura inglese, edited by P. Bertinetti, Piccola Biblioteca Einaudi,
vol. II, “Dal Romanticismo all’età contemporanea”.
In addition, they should study the introduction to the 20 th century of The Norton
Anthology of English Literature, Volume 2 (“The Twentieth Century”,
“Introduction” pp. 2271-2289), the Modernist Manifestos section (pp. 1996-2019)
and the introductions to each of the authors of the texts indicated in the programme
below.
The course texts, taken from The Norton Anthology of English Literature, are the
following:
Poetry
THOMAS HARDY, Hap; The Darkling Thrush, The Convergence of the Twain
T.S. ELIOT, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
DEREK WALCOTT, A far Cry from Africa
SEAMUS HEANEY, Digging
Prose
VIRGINIA WOOLF, Modern Fiction;
KATHERINE MANSFIELD, The Garden Party
JAMES JOYCE, from Ulysses: [Proteus] (pp.2200-2201)
T.S. ELIOT, Tradition and the Individual Talent
In addition, the students should read two novels, as indicated below:
1. the first is compulsory for all students and is the novel The Crooked Cross by
Brendan Kennelly contained in the following volume:
BRENDAN KENNELLY, The Young Are Desperate, A&A Farmar, Dublin 2012
2) the second is to be chosen from the following list:
JOSEPH CONRAD, Heart of Darkness.
FORD MADOX FORD, The Good Soldier
HENRY JAMES, Washington Square
VIRGINIA WOOLF, To the Lighthouse
ELIZABETH BOWEN, A World of Love
ELIZABETH BOWEN, The Heat of the Day
E.M. FORSTER, A Room with a View
PATRICK O’BRIAN, Master and Commander, 1970
PATRICK O’BRIAN, The Far Side of the World, 1984
JOHN BANVILLE, The Sea, Picador, London, 2005
BENJAMIN BLACK, Christine Falls, Picador, London, 2006
BENJAMIN BLACK, The Silver Swan, Picador, London, 2008
BENJAMIN BLACK, Elegy for April, Picador, London, 2010
BENJAMIN BLACK, A Death In Summer, Picador, London, 2011
BENJAMIN BLACK, Vengeance, Picador, London, 2012
PATRICK MCCABE, The Butcher Boy, 1992
PATRICK MCCABE, The Dead School, 1995
PATRICK MCCABE, Call me the Breeze, 2003
NB: In the event a student wishes to choose a 20th-century novel not included in
the list, they can do so but must notify the lecturer before the exam.
Again from The Norton Anthology of English Literature:
GEOGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE
RELIGIONS IN ENGLAND
POETIC FORMS AND LITERARY TERMINOLOGY
Practical English Language and Literature Classes –Curriculum: Language Expert
for Management and Tourism – I Semester
History of English literature and culture
The 20th century.
The student should choose one of the following manuals to study the history of
English literature in the 20th century:
A.CATTANEO, A Short History of English Literature, Mondadori Università, 2011.
M. PRAZ, Storia della letteratura inglese, Sansoni.
D. DAICHES, Storia della letteratura inglese, Garzanti.
P. BERTINETTI, Storia della letteratura inglese, edited by Paolo Bertinetti, Piccola Biblioteca
Einaudi, vol. II, “Dal Romanticismo all’età contemporanea”.
In addition, they should study the introduction to the 20th century of The Norton
Anthology of English Literature, Volume 2 (“The Twentieth Century”,
“Introduction” pp. 2271-2289), the Modernist Manifestos section (pp. 1996-2019)
and the introductions to each of the authors of the texts indicated in the programme
below.
The course texts, taken from The Norton Anthology of English Literature, are the
following:
Poetry
THOMAS HARDY, Hap; The Darkling Thrush, The Convergence of the Twain
T.S. ELIOT, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.
DEREK WALCOTT, A far Cry from Africa
SEAMUS HEANEY, Digging
Prose
VIRGINIA WOOLF, Modern Fiction;
KATHERINE MANSFIELD, The Garden Party
JAMES JOYCE, from Ulysses: [Proteus] (pp.2200-2201)
T.S. ELIOT, Tradition and the Individual Talent
In addition, the students should read two novels, as indicated below:
1. the first is compulsory for all students and is the novel The Crooked Cross by
Brendan Kennelly contained in the following volume:
BRENDAN KENNELLY, The Young Are Desperate, A&A Farmar, Dublin, 2012.
2. the second is to be chosen from the following list:
JOSEPH CONRAD, Heart of Darkness.
FORD MADOX FORD, The Good Soldier.
HENRY JAMES, Washington Square.
VIRGINIA WOOLF, To the Lighthouse.
ELIZABETH BOWEN, A World of Love.
ELIZABETH BOWEN, The Heat of the Day.
E.M. FORSTER, A Room with a View.
PATRICK O’BRIAN, Master and Commander, 1970.
PATRICK O’BRIAN, The Far Side of the World, 1984.
JOHN BANVILLE, The Sea, Picador, London, 2005.
BENJAMIN BLACK, Christine Falls, Picador, London, 2006.
BENJAMIN BLACK, The Silver Swan, Picador, London, 2008.
BENJAMIN BLACK, Elegy for April, Picador, London, 2010.
BENJAMIN BLACK, A Death In Summer, Picador, London, 2011.
BENJAMIN BLACK, Vengeance, Picador, London, 2012.
PATRICK MCCABE, The Butcher Boy, 1992.
PATRICK MCCABE, The Dead School, 1995.
PATRICK MCCABE, Call me the Breeze, 2003.
NB: In the event a student wishes to choose a 20 th-century novel not included in
the list, they can do so but must notify the lecturer before the exam.
Again from The Norton Anthology of English Literature:
GEOGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE
RELIGIONS IN ENGLAND
POETIC FORMS AND LITERARY TERMINOLOGY