67173 - English Literature / Literature of English-speaking Countries 1(LM)

Learning outcomes

The student has huge knowledge of the history of modern English literature and the development of non-European literatures in English, with particular attention to the relationship between literary texts and the historical, artistic and linguistic context. He knows and can use practical methodologies for the analysis and interpretation of literary texts.

Course contents

Arrivals and departures: migrant flows to and from the UK in the postcolonial literature

The course will deal with the concepts of home/homeland, migration and homecoming in Black British literature. Moreover, it will focus on the evolution of the traditional postcolonial notions of identity, hybridity, and community in order to highlight how the literary and social image of the Black British migrants and the idea of “home” have been changing from 1950s onwards.

Indeed, the evolution of postcolonial studies and the development of a transnational approach in literary studies have led to a renewed interest towards the subaltern voices, especially in relation to the phenomena of migration and diaspora as they have been depicted by Black British authors. The aim is to reconsider the image of “subaltern people” in Black British literature through the investigation of the literary and personal experiences of Caribbean and South Asian migrants of first and second generation. In particular, the focus will be on the phenomena of “migration” and “return migration”, according to which the diasporic subjects who came to live to the UK after the World War II have then decided to come back to their ancestral homelands.

In fact, the racial and mental stereotypes imposed by the English mother-country have allowed to build an image of England as a perfect socio-political place, at the expense of its colonies which started to look at it as a model and an ideal of “home”, thus contributing to shaping stereotypes about the superiority of England. This situation and the hope for a better future pushed many colonized people to migrate to the former mother country at the end of World War II. This was the beginning of the era of the great migrations, signed by the arrival of the Empire Windrush in 1948, as well as by the myth of Great Britain as a welcoming country. However, life in England for migrants was very different, and the difficulties persuaded many people to come back “home”. The approach used during the course will permit to examine how postcolonial authors from the former colonies have portrayed England, with a focus on the diaspora and migrant phenomena and on the literary journeys of diasporic writers.

Readings/Bibliography

Primary sources

Students are expected to study four of these texts, which will be discussed in class:

Desai Kiran, The Inheritance Of Loss, London: Hamish Hamilton, 2006.

Kohli Hardeep, Indian Takeaway, Edinburgh: Canongate Books, 2008.

Levy Andrea, Fruit Of The Lemon, London: Review, 2000.

Naipaul V. S., (1967), The Mimic Men, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1969.

Phillips Caryl, A State Of Independence, London, Boston: Faber & Faber, 1986.

Selvon Samuel, Moses Migrating, Harlow: Longman, 1983.

Critical sources

Compulsory reading:

McLeod John, Beginning Postcolonialism, Manchester; New York: Manchester University Press, 2000 (for all the students).

Loomba Ania [et al.] (eds.), Postcolonial Studies and Beyond, Durham, NC and London: Duke University Press, 2005. (selected passages for students who cannot attend lessons)

Students will also have to study four of these essays (according to the elected primary works):

Brown J. D., “A State of Interdependence: Caryl Phillips and the Postwar World Order”, in Ariel, 44.2&3, 2013, pp. 85-111.

Nyman Jopy, “Culinary Border Crossings in Autobiographical Writing. The British Asian Case”, in (eds.) Goodson I., Antikainen A., Sikes P., Andrews M., The Routledge International Handbook on Narrative and Life History, London: Routledge, 2016, pp. 190-201.

Phukan Atreyee, “Landscapes of Sea and Snow: V.S. Naipaul’s "The Mimic Men"”, in Journal of Caribbean Literatures, Vol. 5, No. 2, (Spring 2008), pp. 137-152.

Ramchand Kenneth, “The Other Selvons”, in Journal of West Indian Literature, Vol.20, No. 2 (April 2012), pp. 6-23.

Rizvi Nuzhat F., “Conflicts of Globalization: A Study of Kiran Desai’s “The Inheritance of Loss””, in IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science (IOSR-JHSS), 2014, pp. 16-19.

Toplu Sebnem, “Home(land) or ‘Motherland’: Translational Identities in Andrea Levy’s Fruit of the Lemon”, in Anthurium: A Caribbean Studies Journal, Volume 3, Issue 1, 2005, pp. 1-16.

Bibliography and further information will be provided also during the lessons (and published on Virtuale). Students who cannot attend lessons must contact the lecturer via e-mail before the exam.

Teaching methods

Reading and analysis of the primary works; slides and extracts from movies or on-line representations.

Assessment methods

The oral exam - which will last around 20 minutes - aims to evaluate the students' critical and methodological skills. In order to assess these skills, students will be invited to discuss the literary and critical texts that will have been presented during the course.
Grades:
Excellent: Students' high capability to elaborate on the existing debates on the topics chosen, originality of thought and excellent knowledge of the theories and of the texts chosen for the exam, their ability to read them within an intersectional perspective, using also the theories employed during the course and showing comprehension of the bibliography chosen, accurate and appropriate language.
Very good level: Students' capability to elaborate on the existing debates on the topics chosen, originality of thought and very good knowledge of the theories and of the texts chosen for the exam, their ability to read them within an intersectional perspective, using also the theories employed during the course and showing comprehension of the bibliography chosen, and accurate and appropriate language.
Good level: Students' capability to elaborate on the existing debates on the topics chosen, knowledge of the theories and of the texts chosen for the exam, using also the theories employed during the course and showing comprehension of the bibliography chosen, and appropriate language.
Pass: Mnemonic and superficial knowledge and understanding of the material, a sufficient analytical ability, non-satisfactory use of appropriate language.
Fail: Student's lack of knowledge of the theories employed during the course, incapability to critical reading of the novels, inappropriate and inaccurate language.

Teaching tools

The Powerpoint slides that will be shown during the course will be made available for students on Virtuale.

Office hours

See the website of Alessia Polatti