ENGLISH LITERATURE OF THE RENAISSANCE (SHAKESPEARE)
Stampa
Enrollment year
2017/2018
Academic year
2018/2019
Regulations
DM270
Academic discipline
L-LIN/10 (ENGLISH LITERATURE)
Department
DEPARTMENT OF HUMANITIES
Course
MODERN LANGUAGES AND CULTURES
Curriculum
Linguistico-filologico-letterario
Year of study
Period
2nd semester (25/02/2019 - 05/06/2019)
ECTS
6
Lesson hours
36 lesson hours
Language
English
Activity type
ORAL TEST
Teacher
GUERRA LIA SIMONETTA (titolare) - 6 ECTS
Prerequisites
A good knowledge of the English language is required. The lectures will be in English and Shakespeare's text will be analyzed in detail in the original.
Learning outcomes
The main goal of the course is to show through particularly significant texts those themes and motives that characterize the dynamic quality of the English Renaissance, its stirrings and changes .
Course contents
Shakespeare's Macbeth has been chosen as a case study for analysing the topics of magic, power, violence and national history. The language of Shakespeare's drama will receive full attention in its multifarious aspects including metaphors, images, and rethorical figures through which themes and crucial aspects of the English world are foregrounded.Part of the lessons will be devoted to discussing the contexts where Shakespeare set his play, his literary and cultural sources, his audiences' expectations and the resonance these topics had in his own time.
A close reading of the text will provide many hints at many of these aspects and students will be asked to be familiar with it in the original.
Teaching methods
Mainly lectures provided by the teacher. Eventually an expert will be invited to give a lecture during the course.
Reccomended or required readings
Primary sources:
William Shakespeare Macbeth, ed.by K.Muir, The Arden Shakespeare, 2006. The edition provides a critical introduction and Appendixes that are part of the program. If you choose a different edition, please make sure you retrieve the Introduction and appendixes in the edition mentioned above.
Secondary sources:
Giorgio Melchiori, Shakespeare. Genesi e struttura delle opere, Bari, Laterza, 1998: “Introduzione”, pp.3-25; cap.1 “L’universo tragico”, pp.467-472; “Macbeth”, pp.499-510.

available on Google books:
Harold Bloom, “Introduction” to William Shakespeare’s Macbeth New Edition, Yale University, 2010 Bloom’s literary criticism , pp.1-6; plus one essay from the collection (of your choice)

Available on JSTOR: choose two among the following:
Mary Floyd-Wilson “English Epicures and Scottish Witches” Shakespeare Quarterly
Vol. 57, No. 2 (Summer, 2006), pp. 131-161

David L. Kranz “The Sounds of Supernatural Soliciting in "Macbeth"” Studies in Philology
Vol. 100, No. 3 (Summer, 2003), pp. 346-383

W. B. Worthen "The written troubles of the brain": "Sleep No More" and the Space of Character
Theatre Journal
Vol. 64, No. 1 (MARCH 2012), pp. 79-97

Bryan Lowrance "Modern ecstasy": Macbeth and the meaning of the political” ELH
Vol. 79, No. 4 (WINTER 2012), pp. 823-849


People who do not intend to follow the lessons are required to follow the above instruction, and to make sure they can afford to read the text in the original
as for criticism, they should read all the JSTOR articles listed above, and
Agostino Lombardo, Lettura del Macbeth, Neri Pozza, Vicenza 1983
Assessment methods
Students will be tested orally. The interview will be in English and is meant to check on the comprehension of the primary source and on the capacity to discuss the critical suggestions provided by the Secondary sources.
Further information
Sustainable development goals - Agenda 2030