ENGLISH LITERATURE

The main objective of this course is to provide students with advanced knowledge in the fields of English-speaking literatures and cultures (critical theories and methodologies, textual analysis, and cultural-historical context). The course is part of the syllabus of EUROPEAN JOINT DEGREE IN ENGLISH AND AMERICAN STUDIES, and the competence achieved will be tested in the foreign universities where Joint Degree students spend a semester as part of the programme, in interaction with international students.

1. Knowledge and understanding
1.1 Develop proficiency in nineteenth-century English literature and culture focusing in particular on the Gothic genre, while also acquiring competences in contemporary theoretical approaches to literary works including monster theory, queer and gender studies, and interdisciplinary studies.
1.2 Further develop analytic skills learnt in BA course to include knowledge of literary and cultural history, critical methodology, theory, and interdisciplinary studies.

2. Application of knowledge and understanding
2.1 Apply knowledge and understanding in classroom discussions in order to articulate and defend arguments, consider different viewpoints and textual interpretations, and evaluate evidence.
2.2 Apply knowledge and understanding to a variety of 19th-century texts and genres, including poetry, short stories, and novels.

3. Ability to formulate judgements
3.1 Ability to formulate judgements in analysing literary and cultural phenomena.

4. Communication abilities
4.1 Carry out autonomous work and discuss the results of one's own research.
4.2 Communicate results to specialist and nonspecialist audiences clearly and unambiguously.
4.3 Development of advanced communication skills in English.

5. Learning skills
5.1 Develop learning skills to allow to continue studying in a manner that may be largely self-directed or autonomous.

Students must be fluent in both written and spoken English. They will be required to read nineteenth-century texts, understand lectures, participate in classroom discussions, and take a final oral exam. Students are also expected to have a broad familiarity with 19th-century English literature and culture and their historical contexts.

Title: MONSTROUS LOVE: DEATH AND DESIRE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

This course investigates the intersection of desire and monstrosity in nineteenth-century English and American literature. Moving beyond the monster as a social or cultural alien, we will examine how notions of otherness and monstrosity are articulated within the intimate sphere of romantic and erotic love. The course explores how nineteenth-century authors used Gothic tropes to depict love not only as a sentimental feeling, but also as a transgressive, obsessive, and often predatory force that blurs the boundary between the living and the dead.
We will begin with John Keats’s poem ‘Isabella; or, the Pot of Basil’, exploring an obsessive devotion that transforms the beloved into a macabre object of cultivation. The syllabus then moves into the psychological horrors of Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories, where ‘monstrous love’ manifests as a violent, intellectualised fixation with the female body’s decay (‘Berenice’) and the supernatural return of the dead wife (‘Morella’). In Emily Brontë’s novel "Wuthering Heights", we will analyse the monstrous metaphysical bond shared by Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw; here, monstrosity is dual, encompassing Heathcliff’s role as the social/racial ‘Other’ and Catherine’s transformation into a haunting revenant. Finally, we examine Charlotte Brontë’s novel "Jane Eyre", focusing on the imagery of monstrosity Jane and Rochester use to define their own transgressive love and intellectual otherness, and the subversive vampirism and queer desire of Sheridan Le Fanu’s novella "Carmilla".

PRIMARY SOURCES (mandatory readings)
John Keats, ISABELLA; OR, THE POT OF BASIL
Edgar Allan Poe, BERENICE and MORELLA
Emily Brontë, WUTHERING HEIGHTS (edited by John Bugg, OUP, 2020)
Charlotte Brontë, JANE EYRE (edited by Margaret Smith, with an introduction by Juliette Atkinson, OUP, 2019)
Sheridan Le Fanu, CARMILLA, in IN A GLASS DARKLY (edited with an introduction by Robert Tracy, OUP, 2008)

CONTEXT AND CRITICISM (mandatory readings)
Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, ‘Monster Culture (Seven Theses)’, in “Monster Theory: Reading Culture”, pp. 3-25
Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar, ‘Looking Oppositely: Emily Brontë’s Bible of Hell’, in “The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination”, pp. 248-308
Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar, ‘A Dialogue of Self and Soul: Plain Jane’s Progress’, in “The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination”, pp. 336-371
Nina Auerbach, ‘Giving Up the Ghost: Nineteenth-Century Vampires’, in “Our Vampires, Ourselves”, pp. 11-60

IMPORTANT: In addition to the texts listed in this syllabus, students are required to download and study articles and slides that will be made available on Moodle. On some occasions, students will be required to download materials IN ADVANCE and bring them to class. Non-attending students are required to contact Dr Cabiati at least 2 months before the date of the exam.

Oral exam at the end of the course. The final oral exam will cover all issues included in assigned reading, lectures, and texts downloaded from the Moodle Platform. In the first part of the exam, students will have to read and comment on certain passages of the above texts. In the second part of the exam, students will discuss issues covered in the course. Levels of linguistic knowledge and of the ability to communicate will also be assessed.

oral

The lecturer has a duty to ensure that the rules regarding the authenticity and originality of exam tests and papers are respected. Therefore, if there is suspicion of irregular conduct, an additional assessment may be conducted, which could differ from the original exam description.

Evaluation grid:
28-30L: mastery of the topics covered in class and in the manuals; ability to hierarchize information; use of appropriate technical terminology;
26-27: good knowledge of the topics covered in class and, to a lesser extent, in the manuals; fair ability to organize information and present it orally; familiarity with technical terminology;
24-25: fair knowledge of the topics covered in class and in the manuals; orderly oral presentation; use of technical terminology is not always correct;
22-23: often superficial knowledge of the topics covered in class and in the manuals; unclear oral presentation lacking in technical terminology;
18-21: knowledge of the topics covered in class and in the manuals is at times incomplete; confused oral presentation, with little use of technical terminology.

Front lectures and class discussions.

Class attendance is highly recommended. Students are warmly invited to read Jeffrey Jerome Cohen's ‘Monster Culture (Seven Theses)’ before the beginning of the course.

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Poverty and inequalities" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development