Course Catalogue

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This course explores how Italian contemporary fiction portrays a plurilingual reality embedded in issues of migration and what happens to this complex linguistic dimension when these works are adapted into films/tv series. Issues discussed include language as a political tool, cultural translation, language and marginality, and the target readerships of these texts.

1 x 2 hour seminar over 11 weeks as scheduled in MyCampus.

Available to all students fulfilling requirements for Honours entry into one of the SMLC Honours programmes, and by arrangement to visiting students or students of other Honours programmes who qualify under the University's 25% regulation.

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Type of Assessment

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. Where, exceptionally, reassessment on Honours courses is required to satisfy professional/accreditation requirements, only the overall course grade achieved at the first attempt will contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

This course aims to:

■ Examine the political use of language in literary texts and their adaptation 

■ Investigate the use / reference to dialects, minority languages and migrant languages in relation to marginality 

■ Explore intermedia adaptation as a form of translation and its capacity to increase/ diminish the multilingual dimension of the text  

■ Evaluate the ideological effects that inclusion/ exclusion of different languages might achieve  

■ Encourage students to think critically about how texts and adaptations can contribute to the sustainability of dialects and minority languages 

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Question the connection 'language/ nation', understand the process of centralisation and suppression of minority languages and dialects in the shaping of standard Italian

■ Evaluate the inclusion/ exclusion of languages in novels and films, and the ideological effects and social criticism of these choices 

■ Analyse critically the studied texts in relation to their respective historical and socio-political context 

■ Undertake independent research, engage with secondary sources and apply critical tools to the analysis of primary texts 

■ Communicate research findings effectively and concisely both orally and in writing  

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.