5+B+2012+-+2013


 * MAY 2013 **
 * The Theatre of the Absurd **
 * coming soon... **
 * MAY 2013 **

**//1984//**, a disturbing novel... In the novel //Nineteen Eighty-Four// George Orwell (pseudonym of Eric Arthur Blair) depicts a **dystopian** society. A **dystopia** is a vision of a society in which conditions of life are miserable. To better understand the concept of "dystopia", you should also consider what "utopia" means.

**Utopia**: a place, state, or condition that is ideally perfect in respect of politics, laws, customs, and conditions.

**Dystopia**: a futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control. Dystopias, through an exaggerated worst-case scenario, make a criticism about a current trend, societal norm, or political system.

**Characteristics of a Dystopian Society ** • Propaganda is used to control the citizens of society. • Information, independent thought, and freedom are restricted. • A figurehead or concept is worshipped by the citizens of the society. • Citizens are perceived to be under constant surveillance. • Citizens have a fear of the outside world. • Citizens live in a dehumanized state. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">• The natural world is banished and distrusted. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">• Citizens conform to uniform expectations. Individuality and dissent are bad. **<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">The Dystopian Protagonist (see Winston Smith) ** <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">• often feels trapped and is struggling to escape. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">• questions the existing social and political systems. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">• believes or feels that something is terribly wrong with the society in which he or she lives. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">• helps the audience recognizes the negative aspects of the dystopian world through his or her perspective.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">Download the notes on //1984// in the document below <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;"> <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">APRIL 2013 **
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">Modern Short Stories **
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">Virginia Woolf **

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">An award winning film adaptation of Joyce's short story "Araby": <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">media type="custom" key="22905304"
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">//James Joyce, DUBLINERS// **
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">E.M FORSTER **

media type="custom" key="22905236" <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Love scene from "Room with a View" (directed by J. Ivory) where George kisses Lucy in an Italian poppy field.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">MARCH 2013 **
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">ALICE's ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND **


 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">Here's the content of our latest lessons on the novel (characters, themes/motifs) **

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 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">Open the document and read the discussion questions for Thursday, 4th April. **
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">NO Group Work: it would take you too long to organize the groups and I don't want to spoil your short Easter holiday... **

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 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">Lady Bracknell grills Jack Worthing... **

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">media type="custom" key="22561338"

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">T**he Picture of Dorian Gray and Aestheticism ("tesina"-oriented material for self study)**

http://theantinietzsche.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/oscar-wildes-preface-to-the-picture-of-dorian-gray-the-threat-of-art/

http://www.booksie.com/other/essay/havok/the-role-of-aestheticism-in-oscar-wildes-the-picture-of-dorian-gray

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">**FEBRUARY 2013**

The Mid-Victorians ... coming soon! <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Mock Exam (2° prova scritta) Time: 6 hours Material: dictionary <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">** WUTHERING HEIGHTS ** <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">I promised I would provide you with a clear plot (the one given in your textbook is a bit confusing if you haven't read the novel...) and two more extracts from the novel

Wuthering Heights tells the story of two extraordinary characters, Catherine and Heathcliff ; they are attracted to each other by an irrestible, somehow irrational passion, which manifests itself through inner psychological conflicts and outburts of violent feelings. The novel begins when Catherine has been dead for many years and the plot develops through the words of __two different narrators: Mr Lockwood and Nelly Dean__. Mr Lockwood, the new tenant of Thrushcross Grange, is struck by the unusual appearance and manners of Heathcliff, his landord, and asks Nelly Dean, earlier Catherine's and now Heathcliff's housekeeper, to tell him the story of the house and its inhabitants. In the narration there are shifts in time and flashbacks, which make the book quite modern in structure, as compared with the chronologically linear development of Victorian fiction.
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">A complex narrative structure **

The title of the book is the name of an old house on the Yorkshire moors, where the Earnshow family lives. Mr Earnshow, who has two children, Hindley and Catherine, adopts an orphan child, Heathcliff. Catherine and Heathcliff share a wild childhood on the moors and a deep bond of affection, which eventually becomes passionate love. When Mr Earnshow dies, Heathcliff is treated like a servant by Hindley, now master of the house. In spite of her love for Heathcliff, Catherine thinks it would be degrading to marry him in his present situation; she is attracted by the __#|prospect__ of a comfortable and refined life with Edgar Linton, the owner of Thrushcross Grange, and agrees to marry him. When He hears of Catherine's intended marriage, Heathcliff leaves the house. He comes back a few years later, having made a fortune and wanting to revenge himself. Catherine is married to Edgar who is jealous and forbids any intercourse between his wife and Heathcliff, but Heathcliff manages to see Catherine as he marries Isabella, Edgar's sister, whom he treats cruelly. Obviously, Heathcliff doesn't love Isabella but this is part of his plan to take revenge on the Lintons. Catherine falls ill and Heathcliff manages to see her before she dies (see text below). Later on, Heathcliff becomes master of Wuthering Heights and eventually of Thrushcross Grange too, thanks to the marriage of his son to Edgar and Catherine's daughter. So his plan of revenge is successful but he has no will to live and lets himself die of starvation.
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">The plot **

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">Now __#|download__ to your desktop the document below (There's no need to print it!!), read text 1, pag 1-2, and write the answers (questions for comprehension and analysis) on a separate sheet/exercise book for Tuesday 12th Feb. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">Have a nice reading!

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 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">Reading Comprehension with KEYS **

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<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">**Wuthering Heights** was written by Emily Bronte between October 1845 and June 1846 under the psudonym "Ellis Bell". It was her first and only novel and is considered by many critics a masterpiece of Victorian literature. For sure, it is one of the best love stories ever written. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">It has inspired adaptations, including film, radio and television adaptations. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">media type="custom" key="22097324":
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">Here below, some unforgettable moments of //Wuthering Heights ,// a 1992 film based on ****<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">Emily Brontë 's masterpiece, ****<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">starring Ralph Finnies and Juliette Binoche (Heathcliff and Cathy) **
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">DECEMBER 2012 **
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">The Victorian Age **
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">To start with, click here to explore the Victorian period in a less traditional way... **
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012 **


 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">THE BRITISH ROMANTIC MOVEMENT **


 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">The "second" generation **
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">John Keats **
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">La Belle Dame Sans Merci (downloadable below) **


 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">Read and answer the questions in the final slides **
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">(Discussion) **

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'comic sans ms',cursive; font-size: 140%;"> <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">media type="custom" key="21747360"
 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">Ode to Autumn **

pronunciation / [|ˈpɜʳsi ˈbɪʃ ˈʃɛli] /
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">Percy Bysshe Shelley **

//<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">ODE TO THE WEST WIND // <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">Before planning your paper, read [|this document] which provides you with some useful ideas/hints and expressions. //<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">SONNET : ENGLAND in 1819 //

An actor reads Shelley's great revolutionary sonnet. Shelley is, of course, considered to be one of the great Romantic poets.

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<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Read the poem again (see handout) and answer the following questions for **Thursday 22nd** November: <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">1. Think about Shelley’s use of the sonnet form in “England in 1819”. How does he shape the form to his own purposes? How does his use of the sonnet break from the established traditions of the early 1800s?

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">2. How does the speaker express his own disgust with the state of the nation?

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">3. Shelley was a political radical who never shied away from expressing his opinions about oppression and injustice (he was expelled from Oxford in 1811 for applying his radicalism to religion and arguing for the necessity of atheism!). What do we learn about Shelley’s ideal vision of the human condition, as based on this political poem?



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 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">Here's the final part of the document you were provided with on 30th October ("POETRY AND IMAGINATION", from //Biographia Literaria//, 1817). Activity n.1 should be done by Thursday 8th November :-) **

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">The "first" generation: <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">**S.T. Coleridge** (1772-1834)

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<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">For Tuesday **23rd October**: What did the Mariner do after killing the albatross? How did the crew react? Read __Part 2__, "//The curse begins//..." to know more...

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">If you like heavy metal, the great Iron Maiden song can make the difference :-) while reading the Ballad!

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media type="custom" key="21186192" <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">For Tuesday **16th October**: __don't bring the textbook__ Voices and Visions, there's no need to. Just download the .pdf files below and print them. It's the RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER (Part 1) :









<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">The "first" generation: <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">**W. Wordsworth** (1770-1850)

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<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'comic sans ms',cursive; font-size: 140%;">- C//omposed upon Westminster Bridge// <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'comic sans ms',cursive; font-size: 140%;">You can download the text as well as the worksheet (activities) :





<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">Both BLAKE and WORDSWORTH described London, but in very different ways... <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">A comparison between the two "Londons" is provided here below: <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">- Some extracts from the //Preface// to the //Lyrical Ballads// for you to read <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">for next Thursday, 11th October

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<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">- After "//DAFFODILS//", another poem by Wordsworth for you to analyze

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">//MY HEART LEAPS UP// (also known as "THE RAINBOW")



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<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">Message for Isabella and Angelica: here's the link to the poem "//She dwelt among the untrodden ways//" which belongs to the so called "Lucy poems" []

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">September / October 2012 <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">Let's begin with the Early Romantic Poetry... “What’s in a name…”

Finding satisfactory labels for the poetry of the last decades of the eighteenth century has proven particularly difficult because most existing labels carry certain value judgments that diminish the worth or specificity of this poetry. Poetry from Pope's death in 1744 to the early publications of the first generation of Romantic poets in the 1790s has occasionally been defined according to its immediate past, by calling it “post-Augustan,” but more often according to the future, by calling it “pre-Romantic.”

In an important essay first published in 1956, Northrop Frye suggested that we call this period an “Age of Sensibility” rather than define it transitionally “as a period of reaction against Pope and anticipation of Wordsworth.” While the label “Poetry of Sensibility” has gained some currency among specialists, “pre- Romanticism” continues to be used for this poetry, especially by nonspecialists. Unfortunately, the label “pre-Romanticism” is seriously misleading to characterize the ends - the last poems as well as the objectives - of late-eighteenth-century poetry.

(from the //Cambridge// //Companion to Eighteenth- Century Poetry)//


 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">W. BLAKE **

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Homework for Monday 1st October

This is one of Blake’s proverbs from **//The Marriage of Heaven and Hell// : “ The tygers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction”.** This means that the anger, strength and energy of the tiger are better than the docile, "tamed" qualities of the horse. Bearing in mind this proverb and the two poems, **//The Lamb and The Tyger//**, say whether you think the poet prefers the lamb or the tiger and give reason for your answer.

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 19px;">Homework for Tuesday 2nd October


 * LONDON** by W. Blake (//Songs of Experience//)

Blake's poem on England's capital city, written in 1792, is a devastating portrait of a society in which all souls and bodies were trapped, exploited and infected.

If you want to listen to “London” while reading, open the link below

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 * LONDON **

I wander through each charter’d street, Near where the charter’d Thames does flow, And mark in every face I meet, Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

In every cry of every man, In every infant's cry of fear, In every voice, in every ban, The mind-forged manacles I hear.

How the chimney-sweeper's cry Every blackening church appals, And the hapless soldier's sigh Runs in blood down palace-walls.

But most, through midnight streets I hear How the youthful harlot's curse Blasts the new-born infant's tear, And blights with plagues the marriage-hearse.

N.B.

The speaker repeats the word "charter'd", indicating his dismay at the fact that everything in the city is owned, even the river.

After reading the poem, open the link below. It will provide you with a well written text analysis!

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