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PL30078: Italian national option IT3: Scrittrici Italiane del ventesimo secolo

[Page last updated: 05 August 2021]

Academic Year: 2021/2
Owning Department/School: Department of Politics, Languages and International Studies
Credits: 6 [equivalent to 12 CATS credits]
Notional Study Hours: 120
Level: Honours (FHEQ level 6)
Period:
Semester 2
Assessment Summary: CW 33%, ES 67%
Assessment Detail:
  • Presentation (CW 16%)
  • Write up (CW 17%)
  • Essay (ES 67%)
Supplementary Assessment:
Like-for-like reassessment (where allowed by programme regulations)
Requisites:
Aims: To further the knowledge of Italian women's writing acquired in Year 1 and Year 2, and provide students with an overview of 20th Century women's writing in relation to the situation of women Italian literature, culture, and society; an in-depth knowledge of four narrative texts by major Italian women writers; and a set of critical and theoretical tools necessary for a gendered reading of the texts which can be transferred to the analysis of other discourses.

Learning Outcomes: By the end of the unit students should be able to:
* evaluate the position of women in Italy as producers of literature over the 20th Century;
* understand the role of 1970s feminism in changing Italian women's position vis-à-vis the institution of literature;
* produce a gendered reading of a literary text by making use of different modes of textual analysis, including feminist theory;
* evaluate the extent women writers have revised and subverted traditional genres;
* identify themes in Italian women's writing as represented in the set texts.

Skills: Skills in critical analysis, conceptual thinking, precision in the use of written and spoken language, exercise of independent judgment, reasoned argument, teamwork and the planning/conduct/reporting of non-quantitative research are developed and assessed in this unit.

Content: Four set texts. Lectures and seminars will focus on: artistic vocation and femininity, sex and gender, equality and difference, sexuality, patriarchal relations, relationships between women, mother-son/mother-daughter relationship, gender and genre (autobiography, romance, etc.), writing and sexual difference. New editions of the texts are currently in print. Taught partly in Italian.

Programme availability:

PL30078 is Optional on the following programmes:

Department of Politics, Languages and International Studies
  • UHPL-AYB16 : BA(Hons) Italian ab initio and Politics with Year Abroad (Year 4)
  • UHPL-AYB08 : BA(Hons) Modern Languages and European Studies (French and ab initio Italian) with Year Abroad (Year 4)
  • UHPL-AYB06 : BA(Hons) Modern Languages and European Studies (German and ab initio Italian) with Year Abroad (Year 4)
  • UHPL-AYB20 : BA(Hons) Modern Languages and European Studies (Spanish and ab initio Italian) with Year Abroad (Year 4)

Notes:

  • This unit catalogue is applicable for the 2021/22 academic year only. Students continuing their studies into 2022/23 and beyond should not assume that this unit will be available in future years in the format displayed here for 2021/22.
  • Programmes and units are subject to change in accordance with normal University procedures.
  • Availability of units will be subject to constraints such as staff availability, minimum and maximum group sizes, and timetabling factors as well as a student's ability to meet any pre-requisite rules.
  • Find out more about these and other important University terms and conditions here.