The course aims at providing students with a firm understanding of the literary, cultural and historical scene of the twentieth century. It wants to show students how to study selected literary texts and tropes through time. During the course students will acquire the necessary linguistic and critical tools to analyze the periods in question, and will be encouraged to make autonomous judgments.

Twentieth Century Literature: A selection

·  T. Hardy (selected poetry)

·  W.B. Yeats (selected poetry)

·  selected poetry of the First World War

·  E.M. Forster - A Passage to India

·  D.H. Lawrence (selected poetry)

·  T.S. Eliot (selected poetry)

·  W.S. Maugham - The Narrow Corner

·  W.H. Auden (selected poetry)

·  D. Thomas (selected poetry)

·  G. Greene - The Power and the Glory

·  P. Larkin (selected poetry)

·  J. Le Carré - The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

·  J. Betjeman (selected poetry)

·  T. Hughes (selected poetry)

Knowledge and understanding: students will acquire a good understanding of the essential social-historical and social-cultural factors underpinning the periods of study, and will be able to approach English Literature with the appropriate critical instruments and methods.

Applying knowledge and understanding: students will have the linguistic, cultural and critical abilities to describe, analyse and understand cardinal aspects of English Literature.

Making judgements: students will acquire the critical ability to judge and evaluate aspects of English Literature and will be able to express autonomous opinions on social-cultural subjects of the twentieth century.

Communication skills: students will be trained to have an open and unprejudiced attitude to different realities and historical periods and express themselves in appropriate language.

Learning skills: students will possess the basic methodological skills, the critical abilities and bibliographical knowledge to continue their studies in the field.

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Students are invited to visit my page on Blended Learning Uniurb for further study materials. Use of audiovisual aids is an integral part of the programme. The course will be held in English.

Teaching

Lectures; audiovisual aids

Innovative teaching methods

CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning)

Course books

E.M. Forster - A Passage to India (Penguin Classics, ISBN 978-0241540428)
W.S. Maugham - The Narrow Corner (Vintage Classics, ISBN 978-0099286882)
G. Greene - The Power and the Glory (any edition) (Penguin Classics, ISBN 978-0143107552) J. Le Carré - The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (Penguin Classics, ISBN 978-0141194523) a selection of poetry will be made avaiable on my Moodle Blended Learning page

Sudents are invited to visit my page on Blended Learning Uniurb for further study materials. Although I cover much background information during my lectures, students might like to check the multifarious facets of the different literary period in The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries. This is recommended reading only.

Assessment

Written exam. Students are given 6 open questions, of which they should answer 5. At least two should be answered in English. Time allowed: 50 minutes.

Assessment is based on knowledge and understanding, as well as on a coherent and correct expression of such knowledge and understanding. Students can score up to a maximum of 6 points per answer. Those who score at least 2 points for each of the five answers will be awarded 1 extra point; students who score at least 3 points for each of the five answers will be awarded 2 extra points.

The programme above is valid only till January/February 2026.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Teaching

Self study: non-attending students are expected to check out historical and cultural contexts on the internet; detailed textual and contextual analyses of the texts are freely available on the web as well. They are invited to visit my page on Blended Learning Uniurb for further study materials. To approach the multifarious facets of the different literary period I strongly recommend The Norton Anthology of English Literature, volume 2.

Course books

E.M. Forster - A Passage to India (Penguin Classics, ISBN 978-0241540428)
W.S. Maugham - The Narrow Corner (Vintage Classics, ISBN 978-0099286882)
G. Greene - The Power and the Glory (any edition) (Penguin Classics, ISBN 978-0143107552) J. Le Carré - The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (Penguin Classics, ISBN 978-0141194523) a selection of poetry will be made avaiable on my Moodle Blended Learning page

Sudents are invited to visit my page on Blended Learning Uniurb for further study materials. Although I cover much background information during my lectures, students might like to check the multifarious facets of the different literary period in The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries. This is recommended reading only.

Assessment

Written exam. Students are given 6 open questions, of which they should answer 5. At least two should be answered in English. Time allowed: 50 minutes.

Assessment is based on knowledge and understanding, as well as on a coherent and correct expression of such knowledge and understanding. Students can score up to a maximum of 6 points per answer. Those who score at least 2 points for each of the five answers will be awarded 1 extra point; students who score at least 3 points for each of the five answers will be awarded 2 extra points.

The programme above is valid only till January/February 2026.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

The course will be taught entirely in English. The final exam and the bibliography are in English.