English

The first half of this course covers literary prose fiction and the second half covers non-fiction, drama, and poetry. Neither fiction aimed at children/young adults nor genre fiction feature in this course. This course stresses process writing, rewriting and editing as essential to the craft. Students read aloud their prose, poetry, and drama in writers' workshops. This course is predicated on acts of practice-led research. Therefore students are required to write critical introductions, citing relevant theory, to accompany all assignments including the portfolio.

The course presents students with a study of twentieth and twenty-first century English-language literature. It focuses on the cultural and historical context of these works. Topics include: Gender at the turn of the 20th century; modernism, formal experimentation, and the horror of the Great War; protest literature; post-World War II literature; rediscovering the margins; the visibility of sexuality, ethnicity, and gender; the 21st century.

In the first part of the course, students become familiar with the basic elements of psychoanalysis (Freud) and analytical psychology (Jung). Special attention is paid to depth psychological theories on art and literature. In the second part, students read a number of widely diverging depth psychological interpretations of literary texts, such as Sophocles’ Oedipus rex, Saint-Exupéry’s Le petit prince, Goncharov’s Oblomov, Hoffmann’s The Sandman, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, several fairy tales, myths, poems, and short stories. The last part of the course is devoted to some epistemological aspects of depth psychological literary criticism. There are three main questions in this course: What types of rules are to be observed when interpreting literary texts? To what extent does depth psychological literary criticism qualify as an academic discipline? And, finally, to what extent do depth psychological theories like psychoanalysis and analytical psychology qualify as academic disciplines?

The course focuses on Modern British Literature, and in particular the relationship between literary texts and their historical, linguistic, and artistic context. Special attention is placed on the critical methodologies useful for interpreting and analyzing literary texts. Students are expected to be able to elaborate complex analyses and formulate independent reflections on specific research topics. The topics vary each term, access the University of Bologna Course Catalog for the current topic.

Why is tragedy regarded as the highest dramatic form despite the death and suffering the genre is entangled with? This course explores the genealogy of tragedy in Western theatre history, from its origins in Ancient Greece through to the crisis of the from in the modern times. While the focus of the course will be classical tragedy, we will also consider the possibility of tragic expression in modern theatre. We will read six representative works from the ancient, renaissance and modern period in their historical/cultural context, and examine the recurrent themes of human versus god, fate and free will, individual versus society to understand the concept of the tragic hero. Various multimedia resources will be used, and we will also study some theories of tragedy from Aristotle to Eagleton to consider the significance of the genre in our own times.

The course is designed to equip students with experience, knowledge, and skills for succeeding in globally interdependent and culturally diverse workplaces. During the course, students are challenged to question, reflect upon, and respond thoughtfully to the issues they observe and encounter in the internship setting and local host environment. Professional and personal development skills as defined by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), such as critical thinking, teamwork, and diversity are cultivated. Assignments focus on building a portfolio that highlights those competencies and their application to workplace skills. The hybrid nature of the course allows students to develop their skills in a self-paced environment with face-to-face meetings and check-ins to frame their intercultural internship experience. Students complete 45 hours of in-person and asynchronous online learning activities and 225-300 hours at the internship placement.