English Literature (1st Year)
PROF. ARTURO CATTANEO
COURSE AIMS
The first part of the course sets out to analyse Othello by William Shakespeare to
enable the student to examine the textural, structural and stagecraft aspects of an
Elizabethan tragedy. The course will further analyse the work of Shakespeare to
develop the student’s general knowledge of Elizabethan theatre as both a literary
(stylistic and rhetorical) and a social and cultural precursor of the modern
entertainment industry.
The core of the course will use test cases and a special seminar on major literary
and cinematographic works in modern English to examine the relationship between
literary writing and cinematographic writing in the 19 th century through to the
present day.
COURSE CONTENT
SPECIAL SUBJECT MODULE
Elizabethan theatre as a cultural and social phenomenon. The theatre buildings, the
theatre companies, the actors, the audience, the relationship between “power” and
theatre. Othello by William Shakespeare: dating, printed texts, sources. The
structure and time scale of the work. Textual analysis (rhetoric, semantics,
philology) of Othello. The play’s communicative strategies: theatrical functions
and verbal functions. The theme of jealousy and the theme of the deceitful advisor.
The omnipotence and limitations of the rhetoric: the contrast between Othello and
Iago. The Elizabethan playwright’s work method: the use of sources and the
reworking/rewriting of the text in the two basic editions (the in-quarto of 1622 and
the in-folio of 1623).
SPECIAL MODULE (team-teaching approach with directors, scriptwriters and
media experts)
Shakespeare on film: how the cinema has interpreted, recreated and appropriated
Shakespeare – Othello by Orson Welles – Othello by Oliver Parker - Touch of Evil
by Orson Welles: Othello in the US-Mexican border racial conflicts – Che cosa
sono le nuvole by Pier Paolo Pasolini: Othello between art theatre and puppet
theatre.
GENERAL PART MODULE
Overview of the history and culture of the English language in the 20th-century
based on the compulsory exam reading list (taken from the Norton Anthology: see
the online reading list).
READING LIST
Reference texts
M.H. ABRAMS-S. GREENBLATT (edited by), The Norton Anthology of English Literature, W.W. Norton
& Company, New York-London, 8th ed. or any other edition (vol. 2.). (The anthology contains
the compulsory texts for Master’s degree students: see the list on Blackboard or the lecturer’s
webpage).
A. CATTANEO, A Short History of English Literature, Mondadori Università, 2011.
Special Subject Module
W. SHAKESPEARE, Othello, ed. by E. A. J. Honigman, The Arden Shakespeare, 1997 (or later
editions).
G. MELCHIORI, 'Othello' One and Two: the Importance of Swearing, in The Tragedie of Othello, The
Moore of Venice, Atti del Convegno di Gargnano 25-30 marzo 1984, Edizioni Unicopli,
Milano, 1985, [pp. 7-22 (students will find the essay on the lecturer’s webpage or
Blackboard)].
G. MELCHIORI, Shakespeare, Laterza, Bari, 1994 (or later editions); in particular, the following
chapters: “Introduzione: Shakespeare e il mestiere del teatro” and “L’universo tragico”.
Special Module
A. FUMAGALLI, I vestiti nuovi del narratore. L’adattamento da letteratura a cinema, Editrice Il
Castoro, 2004.
Any additional information on the authors and texts studied in the course will be given
in class and posted on Blackboard and the lecturer’s webpage.
Reading list for the examination (taken from Norton Anthology, 8th ed., vol. 2, or any other
edition):
The Victorian Age
Victorian Issues: The “Woman Question”: the Victorian Debate about Gender (all pieces
inclusive).
The Twentieth Century
T. HARDY, Hap, Neutral Tones, I Look into My Glass, A Broken Appointment, The Convergence of
the Twain, In Time of “The Breaking of Nations”, He Never Expected Much.
R. BROOKE, The Soldier.
S. SASSOON, Glory of Women.
I. ROSENBERG, Break of Day in the Trenches, Returning, We Hear the Larks.
W. OWEN, Dulce Et Decorum Est.
W. BUTLER YEATS, Down by the Salley Gardens, The Sorrow of Love, When You Are Old, No Second
Troy, Easter 1916, The Second Coming, Sailing to Byzantium, Leda and the Swan, Crazy Jane
Talks to the Bishop.
V. WOOLF, A Room of One’s Own, Modern Fiction.
J. JOYCE, Araby, The Dead.
D.H. LAWRENCE, Piano, Bavarian Gentians, Snake, How Beastly the Bourgeois Is.
T.S. ELIOT, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, The Waste Land, The Hollow Men, Little Gidding,
Tradition and the Individual Talent.
G. ORWELL, Politics and the English Language.
S. BECKETT, Endgame.
W.H. AUDEN, Spain, Musée des Beaux Arts, Lullaby.
D. THOMAS, The Force That Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower, Do Not Go Gentle Into that
Good Night.
P. LARKIN, Church Going, Talking in Bed, Sad Steps.
T. GUNN, Black Jackets.
D. WALCOTT, A Far Cry from Africa.
H. PINTER, The Dumb Waiter.
T. HARRISON, Heredity, Book Ends, Long Distance.
S. HEANEY, Digging, Casualty.
C. RAINE, A Martian Sends a Postcard Home.
Geographic nomenclature.
Religions in England.
Poetic forms and literary terminology.
TEACHING METHOD
This is a semester course (6 hours of lectures per week) and the language of instruction
is English. The course will include screenings of the film versions of the works studied. The
special subject part of the course is supported by a series of practical classes held by Dr.
Elisa Bolchi on the analysis and translation of the compulsory texts.
NB: The compulsory texts (see the list on Blackboard or the lecturer’s webpage) are an
integral part of the programme and will be used as exam material. The lecturer will hand out
photocopies of the hard-to-find texts and images in class, which can be downloaded from
the lecturer’s webpage and Blackboard.
ASSESSMENT METHOD
Final oral exams in English at the end of the course in the scheduled exam sessions.
Given that any serious literary and cultural knowledge is based on a knowledge of languages
and that, today, this knowledge is considered an indispensable tool for the application of
learning in the workplace, the exam will primarily test the student’s knowledge of the
significance and the exact pronunciation of the words in the course texts, after which the
student will be asked to analyse the texts in line with the basic principles of rhetorical and
stylistic analysis. In addition, the students will be expected to have a good grasp of the key
aspects of modern English civilisation and culture.
NOTES
Attending students must comply with the conduct called for by the Università Cattolica
Code of Ethics, accepted at the time of their enrolment and which they are required to read
(the Code is available online).
The course is for students enrolled in the Foreign Languages and Literature Master’s
Degree. The student must bring the course texts to lectures as progressively indicated.
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.