English literature and the other languages [ LGERM2722 ]

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- Post-renaissance literatures in English.

- Multilingualism and translation.

- Textual representations of linguistic and cultural otherness.

Students having completed all course requirements

- will have an advanced understanding of the multiple connections between language, dialect, nation and other social structures, as well as of the ways in which such links are represented in a range of English literary texts (including their translations or film adaptations) ;
- will master the terminology and the concepts - borrowed mainly from narratology, translation studies, sociolinguistics and postcolonial studies - needed for a critical discussion of the above-mentioned phenomena ;
- will have deepened their analytical skills as well as their understanding of the history of the various Anglophone literatures in a world that is increasingly characterised by mobility, globalisation and interculturality counterbalancing the forces of nationalist ideologies ;
- will also have honed their linguistic skills.

Students must be able to formulate their analyses in adequate English, showing a degree of proficiency that is worthy of a Master's degree.

Assessment: written exam.

Basic descriptive models will be provided and these will be applied to one novel, one play and a large and diverse selection of short stories and book chapters.

This course looks at English literature in its wider multilingual context ("English literature and its other languages"). A brief introduction will be given to literary translation both as a way of enriching the repertoires of English literature and as a form of literary export from English into other languages, but most attention will focus on multilingualism and translation as a striking narrative and discursive phenomenon within English literary texts.

How are different accents, foreign languages and cross-language interactions represented within fictional texts, and what kind of aesthetic and political effects does this imply?

The majority of texts will be taken from modern English literature.

course notes including a theoretical part and a selection of literary texts;

Brian Friel, Translations, 1980 (play);

George Du Maurier, Trilby, Oxford World's Classics (2009/1894)

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