English Literature I

Code:

MEAAM013

Acronym:

LI1

Instance: 2011/2012 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Anglo-American Studies
Course/CS Responsible:	Masters in Anglo-American Studies

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
EAAL	0	Course Programme	1	-	5,5	2
EAAM	0	Course Programme	1	-	5,5	2
EAAT	0	Course Programme	1	-	5,5	2
MEAA	14	Study Plan since 2007/2008	1	-	5,5	2

Teaching language

English

Objectives

Dislocations:
Space and Place in
Early Modern English Comedy

Aims

One of the most salient features of Early Modern European culture is its reconfiguration of a sense of space and place – in the perception they obtain, as much as in their representations. As a major instance of a mimetic appropriation of human experience through a plurality of semiotic systems reified in the conditions of a space (the stage), the theatre will prove a source of some of the most influential analogies that a reconfigured spatial awareness obtains in the arts.
This course aims to explore some of the implications of that epistemological and cultural shift for drama and the theatre, and in particular for comedy; and it will do so with reference to texts that illustrate the structural and modal diversity to be found in the writing and staging of comedy in the latter 16th and the early 17th century. The study of that diversity will be informed both by theoretical concerns – regarding drama, comedy and satire – and a historical awareness, so as to highlight the major conceptual and contextual determinants of the dramatic corpus under study.
Skills:
The course will address and enhance the students' capacity to offer a critical consideration of drama. Since the students' previous academic training may have been significantly diverse, the course leader will also try to ensure some levelling of their skills by offering an overview both of key notions within the semiosis of drama, and of the immediately relevant historical contexts.
Outcomes:
By the end of the semester, students should have developed the capacity to address in a critically productive way some key traits of Early Modern English drama, and to show familiarity with the operative notions and the contexts approached throughout the course.

Program

Contents

The course will centre on the study of comedies by William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and John Fletcher (see Primary Sources). Their study will be preceded and/or accompanied by a critical consideration of relevant texts for an understanding of the poetics of drama and of the cultural role of the theatre in Early Modern England.


Primary Sources

SHAKESPEARE, William. The Merchant of Venice
The Tempest
(students will be advised to read these plays in one of the following editions:
GIBBONS, Brian (gen ed.). The New Cambridge Shakespeare. Cambridge: C.U.P.
PROUDFOOT, Richard et al (gen eds.). The Arden Shakespeare. London: Thomson.
SPENCER, T.J.B. (gen ed.). New Penguin Shakespeare. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
WELLS, Stanley (gen ed.). The Oxford Shakespeare. Oxford: O.U.P.)

JONSON, Ben. Three Comedies: Volpone, The Alchemist, Bartholomew Fair, ed. Michael Jamieson. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1966

FLETCHER, John. The Sea Voyage.Three Renaissance Travel Plays, ed. Anthony Parr. Manchester: Manchester U.P., 1995.
The Island Princess, ed George Walton Williams, in Fredson Bowers (ed), The Dramatic Works in the Beaumont and Fletcher Canon, vol.V. Cambridge, C.U.P.,1982. pp.539-669.

Secondary Sources

A research bibliography list will be posted at the beginning of the semester; this should help students locate some of the relevant sources in libraries that are available to them.

Teaching methods and learning activities

Teaching Methods

As is to be expected in a graduate seminar, sessions will integrate active teaching contributions from the seminar leader – butstudents will be required to contribute actively and regularly to the seminar. Students will also be expected to carry out research assignments under the teacher's guidance, but geared towards a growing autonomy of their research effort.

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Eligibility for exams

Elements for Assessment

1) attendance: a minimum of 75% of all sessions;
2) active participation in class;
3) final oral assessment.

Calculation formula of final grade

Final Mark

The final oral assessment will be decisive, but this should adequately reflect the knowledge and skills developed by each student in the course of the semester.
Final presentation: 75%
Active participation in the seminar: 25%

Examinations or Special Assignments

not applicable

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

not applicable

Classification improvement

not applicable

Observations

Sessions will be conducted in English