17865 - English Literature I (Second Language) (CL2)

Learning outcomes

The course aims to provide students with critical tools to analyze literary texts, with specific reference to the genre short story that are mainly set in Ireland. Post-colonial writers are also included.   

Course contents

The aim of the course is to enrich students' experience in the understanding and enjoyment of literary language. The course consists in the close reading and analysis of  short stories selected from collections by Irish and Indian women writers, and two stories from James Joyce's Dubliners. Specific attention will be given to the definition of the short story as a genre and to gender perspectives as they emerge from the analysis of the stories, in terms of point of view, plot, theme, character, and socio-cultural setting.

Readings/Bibliography

Gerry Adams, The Street and Other Stories, Brandon, 1992 
     "The Mountains of Mourne" pp. 45-65

 Evelyn Conlon and Hans Christian Oeser, Cutting the Night in Two. Short Stories by Irish Women Writers, Dublin: New Island, 2002:
     Frances Molloy, "Women Are the Scourge of the Earth" pp. 193-197
     Nora Hoult, “Nine Years Is a Long Time” pp.10-23 
     L. R. Finlay, "A bona fide husband" pp.59-70
     Leland Bardwell “Out-patients” pp. 107-114 
     Evelyn Conlon “Park-going days” pp. 267-74 
     Anne Devlin "Five Notes After a Visit" pp. 241-249
Evelyn Conlon, Telling, Dublin: The Blackstaff  Press, 2000 
      “Telling”,  pp. 17-21
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, The Unknown Errors of Our Lives, London: Abacus, 2001
       “Mrs. Dutta Writes a Letter” pp. 1-34
James Joyce, Dubliners, London: Penguin 
     The sisters
     Eveline
Jhumpa Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies, London: Flamingo, 2000
     Interpreter of Maladies pp.43-69
Parker, Michael, ed. The Hurt World. Short Stories of the Troubles, Belfast: The Blackstall Press, 1995
     “Walking the Dog”, pp. 154-161

Reference books:

Allen, Walter The Short Story in English, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981
Averill, Dorothy. The Irish Short Story from George Moore to Frank O'Connor, University Press of America, 2002
Boada-Montagut, Irene, Women Write Back. Contemporary Irish and Catalan Short Stories in Colonial Context. Irish Academic Press, 2002
Head, Dominic. The Modernist Short Story: A Study in Theory and Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1992.
Lohafer, Susan - Reading for Storyness. Preclosure Theory, Empirical Poetics and Culture in the Short Story. The John Hopkins UniversityPress, 2003
Ziemer, Mary - Literary Odysseys. An Interactive Introduction to the Short Story. University of Michigan Press, 2000

Teaching methods

The selected stories will be read and commented during class time, with the students' active participation, with the aim of highlighting themes, viewpouints, narrative voices, keywords, registers.

Assessment methods

During the course students will be asked to present individual or group reports on their readings. Before the end of the course they will have to sit for a mock-exam, consisting of a written test. The final exam consists in an oral interview during which candidates will be asked to contextualize, interpret and comment upon quotations from the stories discussed in class. They will also be asked to present three short stories of their choice by any author they like, in addition to the reading program discussed in class time.

Teaching tools

Overhead projector

projector and computer for PPT presentations and DVD projections.

Office hours

See the website of Rosa Maria Bollettieri