Università Roma Tre

The course explores the theme of psycho-emotional closure and the opposite desire for affective (re)connection with the world in works from different historical periods and literary genres. Starting with some early modern short poems by William Shakespeare and John Donne, in which the human need to be in loving communion with others is dealt with, the course focuses, first, on two works set on two physical islands, Shakespeare’ s drama "The Tempest" (1610), whose protagonist moves from physical and mental segregation to compassionate feelings, and Daniel Defoe’s novel "Robinson Crusoe" (1719), dedicated to a lonely castaway hungry for human company, then on the short play by Samuel Beckett "Krapp’s Last Tape" (1958), which focuses on the conflict between life, affection and artistic narcissism, and Margaret Atwood’s novel "Hag-seed" (2016), a contemporary rewrite of "The Tempest" set in a real prison, in which the relationship between imprisonment and liberation (not only from one’s own demons) becomes literal. The very recent drama "Girl in the machine" (2017) by Stef Smith, describing the damages produced on a 'real' love relationship by the immersive isolation in 'virtual' life, will be considered within a workshop-based path.

William Shakespeare, Sonnets 8, 29, 30, 62 [1594-1600], available online.
John Donne, No Man Is an Island [1624], available online.
William Shakespeare, The Tempest / La Tempesta [1610], Milano, Feltrinelli, 2019.
Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe [1719], Italian edition Milano, Feltrinelli, 2014.
Samuel Beckett, Krapp's Last Tape [1958], available online.
Margaret Atwood, Hag-seed, Italian edition Milano, Rizzoli, 2016.
Stef Smith, Girl in the machine, 2017, provided by the teacher.

Monstrous Bodies in English Literature from Shakespeare to Contemporary Fiction

This course examines key texts of English literature from the early modern period to the twenty-first century to explore the theme of the monstrous, understood as a privileged tool for decoding the culture that produces it. The course will focus in particular on the concept of the deviant body in its many forms, exploring how different historical and cultural contexts have produced – and subsequently marginalized – various types of ‘monsters’ through mechanisms of exclusion that literature has often articulated and brought to light. By analysing texts that span drama, the novel, and short fiction, the course will also provide an introduction to various literary genres.

Students are required to read the five primary texts for the course, preferably in the editions listed below:

- William Shakespeare, The New Oxford Shakespeare: The Tempest, Oxford World Classics, 2024.
- Mary Shelley, Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus, Penguin Classics, 2003.
- Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Penguin English Library, 2012 (Chapters 26–27, 36–38).
- Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories, Penguin Classics, 2015 (the selected short story will be uploaded to Moodle).
- Bernardine Evaristo, Blonde Roots, Penguin Books, 2020 (originally published in 2009).

Students enrolled in the L-11 and L-12 degree programmes must read the original English versions of these texts, using bilingual editions where available and necessary. Students enrolled in the “Lettere” degree programme may read the Italian translations. Recommended Italian editions are as follows:

- William Shakespeare, La tempesta, traduzione e cura di Agostino Lombardo, Feltrinelli, 2004 (o riedizioni successive).
- Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, traduzione a cura di Luca Lamberti, Einaudi, 2016.
- Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, edizione Feltrinelli, BUR o Einaudi.
- Angela Carter, “Lupo-Alice”, in Angela Carter, Nell’antro dell’alchimista, traduzione di Susanna Basso e Rossella Bernascone, Fazi Editore, 2019, pp. 362-73.
- Bernardine Evaristo, Radici bionde, traduzione a cura di Martina Testa, SUR, 2021.