English

This course examines representative novels of twenty-first-century literature in English and in English translation. In what ways have these literary works of the twenty-first century reshaped the novel form in order to respond to the crises that define our present
moment? How is the distribution and circulation of these works influenced by developments in technology and social media? What are the dominant criteria of success for literary works? We will look to answer these crucial questions and many more by focusing on the form and content of several novels published between 2013 and 2023. 

This course fulfils the dual function of introducing students to various canonical French texts and films and of introducing students to the study of narrative poetics, or "narratology" an important mode of literary analysis which was largely developed in France. Beginning with a comparative analysis of the narrative techniques of a 19th-century short story by Guy de Maupassant and its film adaptation by the great director Jean Renoir, the course then turns to the medieval and early modern versions of the popular tale LA CHESTELAINE DE VERGI. Afterward, students read the crucial 18th-century novel MANON LESCAUT, the source for Puccini's opera of the same name; they shall then turn to Emile Zola's 19th-century novel THÉRÈSE RAQUIN, studying both this text and its film adaptation. Finally, students examine a contemporary text remarkable for its narrative technique: Annie Ernaux's LA PLACE. 

This course reads against the grain of those dominant narratives of colonialism as world-making by focusing on the pirate as an interruptive force, who derails the movement of peoples, goods, ideas, and laws across the maritime routes linking the Atlantic and Indian Ocean worlds. Important tools in the course are the reading practices of postcolonial theory, which will teach us to extract and assess this alternative history of the post/colonial pirate. The course also teaches students to nuance standard maritime historiographies through literary reading practices, as well as evaluate the metaphoric application of piracy to contemporary, interruptive, economic practices.

This course examines Restoration and 18th-century English theater in its social and historical contexts. Students explore a wide range of dramatic genres, from established genres - tragedy and comedy - to experimental forms like Restoration tragicomedy, heroic tragedy, and farce. Key playwrights may include Dryden, Behn, Congreve, Centlivre, and Sheridan, but students also discuss the theory and practice of performance in the period, the concurrent development of literary criticism, and the social role of the drama in this period.

This course provides a study of the history and evolution of the English language. It examines the major phases and commonly recognized periods of English, the main changes and characteristics of each phase, and the historical and cultural context in which they developed. Topics covered include: fundamentals of historical-comparative linguistics; English among the Germanic languages; migration of Germanic groups to England; Old English; Middle English; Modern English; late Modern English; Contemporary English and new perspectives on change.

This course offers a study of American literature through a selection of short stories related to major American cultural themes. Students acquire analytical, reading, and argumentative tools for written and oral expression, and learn the methods of literary criticism. 

This course on the British 19th century focuses on London and beyond. London is the neuralgic center of 19th-century England, and a key subject of study for Anglicists - making it an ideal location for a multidisciplinary, civilizational, artistic, historical, and literary approach. Complementary insights highlight the specificity of the capital in the 19th century. But London is also an invitation to travel, both spatially (the foreigners who visit London, but also, conversely, the Empire/Commonwealth elsewhere, and the orientalism they generate) and temporally: today, London is a figure, it lends itself to all the "neo" crazes, and Victorian London seems resolutely modern.

This course explores the 19th- and 20th-century development of crime fiction, with a double focus on the subgenres of detective fiction and of the psychological thriller, which flourished in relation to the relevance psychoanalysis acquired as an interpretative paradigm of the human. Its aim is to illustrate the complexity of a genre that was reductively considered in the past as structurally formulaic and critically uninteresting, but which has recently obtained increasing attention and recognition as a significant literary phenomenon.

This cross-media genre is explored as a ‘field of tension’ in order to study the changing status of both detection/detectives (due to the development of forensic science) and of crime/criminals (due to the continuous reshaping of laws and social norms). The course investigates the interplay between aspects of the detective such as mind and body (thinking machines versus vulnerable detectives), intellect and emotions (how do these apparently opposed dimensions concur to the personality of fallible and infallible detectives?). Students also utilize the critical category of gender to investigate authorial issues and characterization.

Upon completing this course, students acquire an in-depth knowledge of the history of English literature. They obtain critical insight into a selection of literary works and can evaluate their literary qualities, analyzing them with the help of precise critical metholodogies. They acquire the theoretical tools needed to recognize the formal, thematic and stylistic components of the works included in the syllabus, relating them to their historical and cultural contexts. Students discuss, translate, and relate the contents of these works from a linguistic, historical, and philological viewpoint.

In this project students engage in a deep reading of a text linked to seminal themes and issues in the humanities, social sciences, or natural sciences. Deep reading is a process of thoughtful and deliberate reading through which a reader actively works to critically contemplate, understand and ultimately enjoy a particular text to the fullest extent possible. Rather than selectively skimming for facts or speed-reading for summaries, the process of deep reading means slowing down, re-reading and even stopping periodically to more fully contemplate specific pages or passages. Having considered and recognized what a text says, deep reading goes a step further and strives to reflect upon the broader implications or consequences of the text, i.e. what does the text ‘do’? Although deep reading is a profoundly personal experience, within the context of problem-based learning the process of deep reading also rests on the premise that profound understanding and appreciation of a text emerges through group-based discussion and deliberation. A single seminal text (classic or contemporary) or cohesive set of readings will be assigned by tutors. Tutorial group meetings and individual and collaborative work. Final paper in the format of an extended book review, presentation, and reflective essay.