RENAISSANCE ENGLISH LITERATURE

The tile of the course is "Alive in the Superunknown (Soundgarden). How to Get Lost in Shakespeare". It will deal with those Shakespearean works where the characters first get lost in unknown places (at sea, on earth, in the wood) and then finding per mare, per terra, nella foresta), relinquishing in the process also their conventional beliefs and principles of reasoning, and then find again themselves (and their selves), and in some cases also an Other who had gone lost for a while, together with a deep, undetermined truth. The works will be _The Comedy of Errors_, _Love's Labour's Lost_, _As You Like It_, _Twelfth Night_, _The Winter's Tale_, _The Tempest_.
The works will be analysed with respect to the historical and cultural contests of the early modern period, with an emphasis on literary conventions and fashions, such as pastoral, Italian Renaissance comedy, travel narratives, medieval romances. The texts will be also seen through their afterlife in contemporary culture (art, classical and pop music, cinema, tv, etc.).

If needed, further changes will be notified during the course

The literary texts are to be bought; please choose the recommended editions.

ALL critical texts, and the selection of primary works, will be available online on the course Moodle