67245 - English Literature / Literature of English-speaking Countries 2 (LM)

Learning outcomes

Studentsare requested to enter critical debates on postcolonial theories and methodologies, gender studies and methodologies, to elaborates on the relationship between texts and contexts, literary genres and literary theories in a transnational perspective.

Course contents

Narrating Absence in Literature and Visual Studies.

The course will be introduced by lessons on critical theories and methodologies of gender and postcolonial studies. Lessons will focus on the concept of “Absence” in diverse narratives. They will explore absence both from epistemological and thematic view points. Absence will include notions of lack, loss, alienation, amnesias, aphasias and silences. The course will also investigate the function of absence in diverse literary genres within a gender and postcolonial perspective. Section1. Aesthetics of absence. Loss, amnesias, aphasias and silences in colonial, postcolonial literature and dystopias. Section 2. Displacement of reality and (im)possible reconciliation. Section 3. Absence and politics of the body.

Readings/Bibliography

Testi/Bibliografia

Primary sources:

J. Conrad, Heart of Darkness, 1899 (translation in Italian Cuore di Tenebra)

E. M. Forster, A Passage to India, 1924 (translation in Italian Passaggio in India available in many editions)

J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace, 1999, (translation in Italian Vergogna, Einaudi, 2000)

K. Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go, 2005 (translation in Italian Non lasciarmi, Einaudi, 2006) (optional)

Movies:

Apocalypse Now, Director Francis Ford Coppola, U.S, 1979

La vita segreta delle parole, (La vida secreta de las calabra), Director Isabel Coixet, Spain, 2005

Never Let Me Go, Director Mark Romanek, U.S and Great Britain, 2010

Postmemory and visual texts: analyses of visual ‘narratives' and photographs within a gender perspective. Analisi di ‘narrative visuali': La traccia e l'assenza nella fotografia dell'inimmaginabile e del ripetibile (dopo Abu Ghraib) in una prospettiva di genere.

Bibliography of Secondary texts (essays, articles, volumes). Lesson will make reference to the following critical sources:

(Students will be requested to choose texts/essays/articles from the following list and the ones proposed during the course).

Achebe, Chinua. "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness'" Massachusetts Review. 18. 1977. Rpt. in Heart of Darkness, An Authoritative Text, background and Sources Criticism. 1961. 3rd ed. Ed. Robert Kimbrough, London: W. W Norton and Co., 1988, pp.251-261. Reperibile anche online http://kirbyk.net/hod/image.of.africa.html (25 ottobre 2010).

Baccolini, Raffaella, 2005, Le prospettive di genere. Discipline, soglie e confini. Bologna: BUP (selected chapters). Reperibile in biblioteca.

Braidotti, Rosi Nomadic Subjects. Embodiment and Sexual Difference in Contemporary Feminist Theory. New York: Columbia UP, 1994. Soggetto Nomade. Femminismo e crisi della modernità. Trad. A.M. Crispino e T. D'Agostini. Roma: Donzelli, 1995. Reperibile in biblioteca. Versione originale reperibile c/o Biblioteca Italiana delle Donne.

Butler , Judith, 1993, Bodies that Matter. On the Discoursive Limits of “Sex”. New York and London: Routledge, 1996, Corpi che Contano. I limiti discorsivi del “sesso”, trad. S. Capelli. Milano: Feltrinelli (selected chapters and Introduction of the Italian version by A. Cavarero). Reperibili in biblioteca.

Fortunati, Vita, Gilberta Golinelli, Rita Monticelli (a cura di) Studi di genere e memoria culturale. Women and Cultural Memory. Bologna: Clueb, 2004 (selected chapters). Reperibile in biblioteca.

Griffith, John W., Joseph Conrad and the Anthropological dilemma: ‘Bewildered Traveller'. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995, capitolo “Transcultural Identification: The Anthropological Dilemma in Heart of Darkness and Victorian Anthropology”, pp. 13-45 e “Nordau's Degeneration and Lombroso's Atavism in Heart of Darkness and ‘Falk'”, pp. 153-178. Reperibile in biblioteca.

Haraway, Donna J. "Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective" in Feminist Studies 14 (3), pp. 575-99, 1988. Reperibile online http://www.staff.amu.edu.pl/~ewa/Haraway,%20Situated%20Knowledges.pdf (25 ottobre 2010).

Hirsch, M., 2001, "Surviving Images: Holocaust Photographs and the Work of Postmemory", <<The Yale Journal of Criticism>>, n. 14, 1, pp. 5-37. Reperibile online http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/yale_journal_of_criticism/v014/14.1hirsch.html (25 Ottobre 2010).

Hirsch, Marianne, Smith, Valerie, a cura, 2002, <<Signs>>, n. 28, 1 (Spec. Issue Gender and Cultural Memory). (selected essays, GEMMA students only). Reperibile in biblioteca.

Irigaray, Luce Etica della differenza sessuale. Trad. L. Muraro e A. Leoni. Milano: Feltrinelli, 1985 Ethique de la difference sexuelle Paris: Minuit, 1984. Reperibile presso la Biblioteca Italiana della Donna (Gemma).

Jay, Betty (Ed.) “‘Centuries of Carnal Embracement': Forster's Sexual Politics” in E.M. Forster A Passage to India. Icon Books, 1998, pp. 90-120. Reperibile nel Reader.

Monticelli R. (2009). “Lo sguardo pubblico e l'immagine intrusa: fotografia e trasmissioni del trauma”. Cecchin, D.; Gentilini, M. (a cura), Mass media e memoria. La memoria strappata: contese e (con)testi. Atti del convegno internazionale di studi, Trento 2 Dicembre 2008. Trento: Fondazione Museo Storico del Trentino. Reperibile nel Reader.

Monticelli R. (2009). “Once We Were Female Warriors: donne, violenza e guerra”,
In Golinelli G. (a cura), L'ambiguità dell'amazzone in una prospettiva di genere. Decostruzione e riappropriazione di un mito, pp. 193–211, Bologna: Emil di Odoya. Reperibile in biblioteca.

Monticelli, R. Amnesie, Afasie, (in)dicibilità del primitivo, in Golinelli, G., (a cura), Il primitivismo e le sue metamorfosi. Archeologia di un discorso culturale, Bologna, CLUEB, 2007, pp. 67 - 82 (Collana del Dipartimento di Lingue e Letterature Straniere Moderne, Università di Bologna). Reperibile in biblioteca.

Monticelli, R. “La fotografia del trauma nella comunicazione mediatica”, in Ascari, M., Fortunati, V., Fortezza, D. (a cura) Conflitti. Strategie di rappresentazione della guerra nella cultura contemporanea, Roma, Meltemi, 2008, pp. 103-110. Reperibile in biblioteca.

Monticelli, Rita, 1997, sezione "Soggetti corporei", in Baccolini, R., Fortunati, V., Fabi, M.G., Monticelli, R., a cura, Critiche femministe e teorie letterarie, Bologna: Clueb, pp. 205-255 (selected essays). Reperibile in biblioteca.

Parry, Benita “E. M Forster: A Passage to India” in Delusions and Discoveries: Indiain the British Imagination. London: Verso, 1972, 1998. Reperibile in biblioteca.

Ramadanovic, Petar, 2001, Forgetting Futures: On Memory, Trauma, and Identity. Lanham, New York: Lexington Books, chapter 5 “When “to die in freedom' Is Written in English”, pp. 81-96. Reperibile nel Reader.

Rich, Adrienne, 1979, “When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Re-vision” in On Lies, Secrets, and Silence. New York: Norton. Reperibile nel Reader.

Rivisiting Feminism: Cultural trajectories ed. Kalpana Das and Fréderique Apffel Marglin. iim, InterCulture, Intercultural Institute of Montreal, n. 150. INTERCULTURE. vol. 150. anno 2, n. 6. Edizione italiana della rivista canadese dell'Intercultural Institute of Montreal. (selected essays, GEMMA). Disponibile in biblioteca presso scaffale Monticelli.

Said, Edward W. (1993) Culture and Imperialism. London: Vintage. Introduzione e capitolo I, sezione III “The visions in Heart of Darkness” pp. 19-30. Reperibile in biblioteca.

Sharpe, Jenny (1991) “The Unspeakable Limits of Rape: Colonial Violence and Counter-Insurgency” in Genders, 10, pp. 25-46. Reprinted in P. Williams, L. Chrisman (eds.), Colonial discourse and post-colonial theory: a reader , Hampstead: Routledge, 1993, pp. 221-243. Reperibile in biblioteca.

Sontag, Susan, “Regarding the Torture of Others”, published NY May 23, 2004. reperibile online http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/23/magazine/regarding-the-torture-of-others.html (25 ottobre 2010) e nel Reader.

Spivak, Gayatri C., 2003, Death of a Discipline, New York: Columbia UP. Trad. it. 2003, Morte di una disciplina, Roma: Meltemi (selected chapters). Reperibile in biblioteca.

Herron, Tom The Dog Man: Becoming Animal in Coetzee's Disgrace, available online (Jstor)

Ferreccio, Giulina e Carmen Concilio (a cura di) J. M Coetzee, percorsi di lettura tra storia e narrazione, Iesa: Gorée, 2009

BIBLIOGRAPHY IN PROGRESS: Please do check this web page for further notice and information.

Gli studenti e le studentesse di Letteratura Inglese/Letteratura dei Paesi di lingua inglese 2 LM dovranno analizzare 3 testi primari (da scegliersi tra quelli in elenco) e saggi/ capitoli di volumi/articoli da scegliere tra le fonti critiche in elenco per un numero di 200/220 pagine. E' inoltre richiesta l'analisi di uno dei film proposti, e della parte del programma sul rapporto letteratura/cultura visuale.

Students of the course Letteratura Inglese/Letteratura dei paesi di lingua inglese 2 LM are requested to analyse 3 primary texts (to be chosen amongst the volumes in the Reading list of the primary sources) and articles/essays/chapters (about 200/220 pages) from the Reading list of the Secondary sources; the analysis of one of the movies proposed, the analysis of the section: postmemory and visual texts.

Le studentesse e gli studenti Gemma del I Anno (Feminist Theory between Difference and Diversity) dovranno analizzare 3 testi primari (da scegliersi tra quelli in elenco) e saggi/ capitoli di volumi/articoli da scegliere tra le fonti critiche in elenco per un numero di 250 pagine. E' inoltre richiesto lo studio di uno dei film proposti e della sezione: postmemoria e arti visive. Le studentesse e gli studenti e del primo anno Gemma possono anche preparare un programma alternativo, in accordo con la docente.

Gemma students (First Year) are requested to analyse 3 primary texts (to be chosen amongst the volumes in the Reading list of the primary sources) and articles/essays/chapters (about 250 pages) from the Reading list of the Secondary sources; the analysis of one of the movies proposed, the analysis of the section: postmemory and visual texts. Students can also choose an alternative program in accordance with the lecturer.

Gemma students (Second Year) are requested to analyse 2 primary texts (to be chosen amongst the volumes in the Reading list of the primary sources) and articles/essays/chapters (about 150 pages) from the Reading list of the Secondary sources; the analysis of one of the movies proposed, the analysis of the section: postmemory and visual texts.

All students (divided in groups) are requested to present the text Disgrace by Coetzee, within diverse critical perspectives (to be chosen in accordance with the lecturer) in a date to be confirmed.

Please do check this web page for further notice and information

Teaching methods

Bibliography and critical tools will be also provided during the course. For this reason some critical sources might be changed during lessons. Languages requested: English AND Italian. Fort further notice please do check this web pageduring the course. This course is intended for graduate students only. Erasmus students are kindly requested to contact the lecturer before the beginning of the course.

Assessment methods

Final oral exam.

Active participation in class: 25%

Students' presentation: 25%

Final oral exam: 50%

Teaching tools

Texts: literary and visual; videos, power point, movies.

Office hours

See the website of Rita Monticelli