How to prepare for this exam

1. Dates and Events: make sure you know the dates contained in the twentieth-century chronologies and timelines in the Norton Anthology (vol. 2) and in The Routledge History of Literature In English by Carter and McRae; concentrate on all the most important dates, but do not overlook those that may seem less relevant at first sight. It is important that you do not merely memorize dates: you must also know something about the events they are related to. e.g., do not just memorize ‘1956: Suez (Canal) Crisis’; you are also expected to know what this Crisis was, and its historical and political repercussions both at a national and an international level.

2. Literary History: using Carter/McRae, enrich your knowledge of the periods and authors covered in class; at the same time, develop your knowledge of those movements, authors and other literary manifestations that have not been covered in class. The aim is to have an idea of the general development of British literature and culture between the 1900s and the 1990s. You should know something about the lives and productions of the main literary figures, their most important works, the literary and historical context in which they operated, and the general outline of the development of literature in its genres (prose fiction, poetry and drama) during the twentieth century. You should aim to be able to answer questions such as: How does poetry develop after 1945?; Discuss some of the main women novelists from the 1970s onwards; What was the ‘Movement’?; Could you define the importance of Dylan Thomas in the development of twentieth-century poetry?; ‘What is the ‘campus novel’?; Illustrate T.S. Eliot’s literary activities after The Waste Land. In addition, give careful consideration to the sections entitled ‘Language Notes’ contained in Carter/McRae. In this case, you should aim to be able discuss topics such as: Ezra Pound and ‘logopoeia’; the syntax of modernist verse; the use of everyday language in drama; Irish English and Scots in contemporary literature.

3. Coursework: the authors, periods, materials and texts examined in class must be studied with the help of your notes; at the same time, however, you must supplement these notes using a variety of sources, especially if you see that they are not as accurate or extensive as you would like them to be. In this case, use the resources indicated in the bibliography and webliography in this website. You must make sure you know all relevant contextual information about the period, author and work in question. Also, make sure you can read the literary passages properly by checking the pronunciation of new or unfamiliar words. You must also be able to translate the passage into Italian. In addition, you must be ready to discuss the literary structure of the text (how the passage is organized and constructed), as well as its main themes, motifs, symbols and intertextual references. You must be able to explain what the text wants to tell its reader/s and why. In general, it is essential that you avoid a mere description of the textual features, and that you always try to explain and discuss texts – their contents and how they are conveyed; the author’s intentions but also the text’s deep-lying, implicit or seemingly invisible motivations and aims; the links between text and context (history, politics, the economy, an author’s lived experience, etc) You should aim to be able to answer questions such as: What is metafiction? Can you discuss it through one or more examples?; Talk about the Angry Young Men; What is the function of the intertextual elements in Eliot’s The Waste Land?; Discuss the structure of Hardy’s ‘The Darkling Thrush’ in relation with its message about history and humanity; Is John Braine’s Room at the Top an entirely realistic novel?; Explain the function of symbolism in Heart of Darkness; What is the importance of the final word ‘frightening’ in Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls?; Assess the importance of the ‘word’ for modernist writers (e.g. Pound, Joyce, Woolf and Eliot)?

4. Home Work: In this section of the exam programme, you have to choose a number of literary texts (usually novels and plays) that you will study and analyze by yourself. Use the same general indications given in point 3.

5. Critical Essays: A list of critical essays is provided in this part part of the programme. Choose among them freely on the basis of your own interests – that is, whether you want to concentrate on an author or a text you were not familiar with before the course, whether you feel your preparation is weak on a certain aspect, or whether you simply want to know more about an author/text you find particularly interesting.