ENGLISH LITERATURE 1

This course, which is linked to the three-year undergraduate English program and focused on the refinement of linguistic competencies (building upon a B2 level of proficiency), introduces students to the knowledge and comprehension of the principal literary and cultural phenomena in the English language.

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the knowledge and comprehension of the principal literary, artistic, and cultural phenomena in the English language. This foundational training must encompass: 1) the capacity to read, translate, contextualize, and critically analyze a literary text; 2) the acquisition of textual analysis methodologies suitable for the nature of the content presented; 3) the ability to communicate effectively the insights gained from the texts and historical-cultural processes, employing appropriate language.

English language proficiency at level B2 is required. A school-level knowledge of English history and literature is very useful. Enrollment in the course's Moodle page is mandatory.

Here are a few English translations of the provided Italian text:

Option 1 (More direct):

Readers in the Tempest: English Literature in the Planetary Crisis

We will journey in the company of a fundamental text of English literature – William Shakespeare's *The Tempest* – and its contemporary rewriting, Margaret Atwood's *Hag-Seed*, a novel that imagines the play being staged within a prison. We will focus on how each literary text can be analyzed from both a formal and a thematic and historical point of view, which means placing it in its era and then – as in the case of Shakespeare – observing its metamorphoses in space and time. Together, we will discover how an author often monumentalized – when not embalmed in their status as a classic – manages to re-actualize themselves in light of political and social phenomena in the most surprising ways. Through Atwood's novel and various poetic adaptations emerging from English-speaking countries that have undergone British colonial rule, we will see how *The Tempest* can speak of freedom and liberation, racism and speciesism, environmental crisis and perspectives of care, love and friendship, rebellion and utopia, empathy and identification, narratology and style, readers and interpretations. Finally, we will ask ourselves if reading literary texts can make us better interpreters of the present, of ourselves, and of others.

Reference Texts

William Shakespeare, LA TEMPESTA, Rizzoli, 2008
Margaret Atwood, HAG-SEED, Vintage, 2016
Shaul Bassi, PIANETA OFELIA, Bollati Boringhieri, 2024

Other poetic and critical texts available on the Moodle page.

Selected entries from: Living Handbook of Narratology
https://www-archiv.fdm.uni-hamburg.de/lhn/contents.html

The written exam, lasting two hours, is divided into four parts: A) Three questions testing knowledge of the Shakespeare text; B) Three questions testing knowledge of the Atwood text; C) Two questions on the main themes of the text Pianeta Ofelia (Planet Ophelia); D) Translation of a short passage from English (approximately 200-250 words) taken from the Atwood novel, and a brief contextualizing commentary on the passage (approximately 15-20 lines) in Italian. The use of a monolingual English dictionary is permitted (NOT a bilingual dictionary). During the exam, the use of any other texts and any electronic devices will not be permitted under any circumstances (under penalty of exclusion from the exam and reporting to the university).

written

Answering fewer than three questions will automatically result in a failing grade.
Inaccurate citations of names and titles will negatively impact the grade.
Adhering to the recommended length for answers (based on the space provided on the examination sheet) is essential.

Lectures and classroom discussion.

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Cities, infrastructure and social capital" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development