ENGLISH LITERATURE
cod. 1000639

Academic year 2022/23
1° year of course - First semester
Professor
- Diego SAGLIA
Academic discipline
Letteratura inglese (L-LIN/10)
Field
Lingue e letterature moderne
Type of training activity
Characterising
36 hours
of face-to-face activities
6 credits
hub: PARMA
course unit
in ENGLISH

Learning objectives

The course aims to provide students with historical-literary knowledge and to develop their critical-analytical skills at an advanced level in relation to the British cultural milieu and by focusing on authors, works and phenomena from the Middle Ages to the contemporary age (2022-23: “Historical Fiction – Imagining and Translating the Past”). In particular, part of the course will be devoted to the study of aspects of translation relevant to the specific theme. In terms of learning objectives, the student will be invited to develop and acquire: in-depth knowledge of theoretical issues, authors, works, movements and aesthetic ideas, with the support of an updated critical bibliography; the capacity to contextualize and analyze complex texts in English from a formal and a thematic-ideological point of view; the ability independently to develop research and analysis using paper and digital resources; the ability to formulate critical judgments based on a precise decoding of the text; communicative skills in English, acquiring a linguistic register and vocabulary appropriate to literary studies and the level of linguistic competence appropriate for the year of the Laurea Magistrale to which the student belongs; the ability independently to apply the skills developed during the course to other textual types, in addition to the literary one. Furthermore, in harmony with the learning-and-teaching project of the Laurea, the course aims to enable students to develop transversal communication skills, engagement and problem-solving skills, in individual and group contexts, and to acquire a diversified and transferable skill-set within a variety of professional and non-professional situations.

Prerequisites

Knowledge of written and spoken English at least at B2 level but preferably C1 of CEFR; knowledge of the main lines of development of English and British literature; familiarity with the language of literary criticism and theory.

Course unit content

The course contents focus on the British literary-historical context through a focus on authors, works and phenomena from the Middle Ages to the contemporary age. In particular, in 2022-23 classes will explore the theme of historical fiction from Walter Scott to the present (“Historical Fiction – Imagining and Translating the Past”). Part of the course will be devoted to the study of aspects of translation pertinent to the specific topic of the course. The first two lessons of each week are dedicated to aspects of the main topic of the course; the third meeting of each week, on the other hand, is a seminar class on translation. From the start of the course, the calendar with the topics covered in each class is available on the Moodle website of the course. Detailed information is provided in the introductory meeting.

Full programme

The exam syllabus is made available online via the Moodle page of the course, at the conclusion of the course.

Bibliography

Bibliographic references are provided during the course and are specified in the exam syllabus.

Teaching methods

Generally, during the lectures, held in English, the teacher introduces the main aspects of the historical-cultural context, authors and texts, with reference to the bibliography of the course and additional textual or visual materials students can find in the Library of the Foreign Languages Unit (UNIPR) or the Library of the DSLC Department (UNIMORE), or online in digital archives and the UNIMORE online teaching platform (Dolly). Students are thus encouraged to develop individual explorations and original approaches to the themes and problems raised by the teacher during the course. At the same time, in accordance with the learning-and-teaching project of the Laurea, the course combines the lectures with a number of seminar classes (concerning the translation of literary texts) in which students are invited to develop their own insights and analyses of specific themes, as well as to propose topics for discussion and analysis. In these seminars, in order to encourage the students’ development and acquisition of transversal and transferable skills, they will take part in group work, debate and discussion activities, and oral presentations.

Assessment methods and criteria

Assessment of knowledge, skills and competences is through an oral exam in English of about 20 minutes. Through (three to five) questions on different aspects of the syllabus, this test aims to verify the following: - oral competence in English corresponding to level C1-C2, as well as the acquisition of an appropriate linguistic register and the specific lexicon of literary studies; specific and in-depth knowledge of writers, texts and contexts of the periods and themes studied in the course; ability to interpret texts autonomously, re-elaborate the course contents individually, undertake further research on the topics addressed, and formulate judgments autonomously. The oral exam aims to evaluate the acquired knowledge, ability to re-elaborate and expand it, as well as to propose new and individual interpretative paths supplementing those suggested in the lectures.
Based on these premises, the evaluation will be carried out according to the following criteria: - insufficient evaluation: during the oral exam, the student does not demonstrate that s/he has acquired the level of knowledge required; does not know how to express him/herself in English as suitable for the topics under discussion and corresponding to a C1-C2 level; s/he is unable to re-elaborate contents autonomously, nor can s/he formulate judgments based on personal insights; - sufficient assessment (18-23 / 30): the student demonstrates that he/she has learned the minimum contents of the course; knows how to express her/himself in English at a level suitable to the topics under discussion and approaching the threshold of C1-C2; s/he demonstrates a level of autonomous preparation sufficient for the personal re-elaboration of the contents, as well as for the formulation of judgments based on personal in-depth analysis; - average assessment (24-27 / 30): the student demonstrates a level that is more than sufficient (24-25 / 30) or good (26-27 / 30) of all the indicators listed above; - outstanding evaluation (28-30 / 30): the student fully satisfies all the above evaluation criteria.

Other information

N/A