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We Don’t Stop Here: 20 anni di MulHolland Drive
€16,00di Franco Lonati
Nel 2016, un sondaggio condotto da BBC Culture presso 177 critici specializzati di 36 nazioni ha incoronato Mulholland Drive come miglior film del XXI secolo. Una precedente indagine realizzata da Sight and Sound nel 2012, volta a determinare i 100 miglior film di sempre secondo la critica, vide il film di Lynch al 28° posto della graduatoria, unico film del nuovo millennio a comparire nella speciale classifica, che vide Vertigo scalzare Citizen Kane dalla prima posizione che ha sempre occupato in classifiche analoghe. Si tratta, naturalmente, di sondaggi da prendere con le pinze, ma che dimostrano lo status di grande film ormai raggiunto da Mulholland Drive. Nel suo piccolo, lo dimostra anche questo volume, che vuole celebrare i vent’anni dall’uscita del film e raccoglie contributi di studiosi di diversa provenienza, non solo, o non principalmente, esperti di cinema. Ognuno guarda al film da una diversa prospettiva, avanzando nuove ipotesi e proponendo suggestive letture. Perché in fondo è questa la vera grandezza di Mulholland Drive: esempio perfetto di ‘opera aperta’, il film non smette, dopo due
decenni, di suscitare domande, di incitare interpretazioni, di invitare chi lo guarda – anche per l’ennesima volta – a trovare nuove chiavi di lettura.
Presentato a Cannes nel maggio 2001 e uscito nelle sale americane nell’ottobre dello stesso anno, Mulholland Drive si è subito imposto non solo come uno dei film più ispirati di David Lynch, ma anche come una delle pellicole più enigmatiche e affascinanti della storia del cinema. A vent’anni esatti dalla sua uscita, la reputazione critica del film si è ulteriormente rafforzata, tanto che molti esperti lo considerano il film più importante di questo scorcio di terzo millennio. Il successo duraturo del film dipende certamente, oltre che dalle sue indubbie qualità visuali e narrative, dal fatto di essere un’opera aperta, passibile di letture e interpretazioni virtualmente infinite. Il presente volume raccoglie saggi di studiosi provenienti da diversi ambiti, tutti accomunati dalla passione per il film e dalla volontà di continuare a indagare i suoi labirintici meandri.
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Jude the Obscure
€20,00di Thomas Hardy
It is an exploration of the chaos that follows from excessive individualism and rationality. It is indeed the story of a difficult and tragic journey beyond culture, but the narrative point of view still evokes a moral sensibility continuous with the past
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Frankenstein
€18,00di Mary Shelley
After bringing the creature to life, Victor feels guilty that he has brought a new life into the world with no provisions for taking care of the “monster.” He runs away in fear and disgust from his creation and his conscience.
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Jane Eyre
€22,00di Charlotte Brontë
Jane Eyre is an orphan, penniless and plain, but full of courage and spirit. She has endured incredible hardship to secure her humble status as a governess in the household of her brooding employer, Mr. Rochester. Jane’s sharp wit and defiant nature meet with Rochester’s sardonic temperament. The two become enmeshed in a deep, intense bond.
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Towards Autonomy
€14,00di Sharon Hartle
Contemporary English Language Teaching is going through a period of change. This is just as true of university language teaching as it is of teaching in other contexts. By looking at language and learning theories alongside the development of both applied linguistics and language teaching in the twentieth century, a clear progression can be seen as one approach takes over from its forerunner, assimilating effective teaching practices and eschewing ineffective ones as it goes. The process, however, is not linear and the situation today reflects that. At this point in time languages are being taught in many different ways, in many different contexts. The specific context of foreign language learning in universities is only one example of these, but as far as methodology is concerned it reflects the trend towards developing autonomous learning, and the move towards creating learner-centred classrooms. These are trends that can be seen fairly generally in language teaching as a whole at this time. In this discussion the aim is to assess the development of classroom practices that are currently in use, to look at their development throughout the history of foreign language teaching from the nineteenth century to the present and to see how the way forward in teaching is moving towards a mixed syllabus focus, where both structural grammar and lexical grammar have their roles, as well as the development of skills and communicative competence. This will be examined in the light of language and learner theories, and current research in the field of language acquisition. Finally, the particular context of university language teaching in Italian university language centres will be considered and ways in which learner autonomy can be implemented successfully in this context will be examined. A blended approach would seem to be the answer, where learner-centred classroom work is combined with autonomous work, and where a balance is achieved between the communicative use of language, on the one hand, and the cognitive analysis of how language works on the other. The roles of both teacher and learner are also discussed as these too have changed over the years, as a result of research findings.
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Theoretical Description and Practical Applications of Linguistic Corpora
€14,70by Roberta Facchinetti
This book is intended primarily as an introduction to linguistic corpora for any scholar, teacher or student who approaches them for the first time. To this aim, the author has provided an overview of their most typical features and contexts of exploitation, both in theoretical and in applied linguistics, together with a discussion on key issues pertaining to corpus design, compilation, and annotation. In so doing, an attempt has been made to clarify and systematize a few still foggy areas in this field, particularly from the terminological point of view. The book also includes three appendices, listing respectively all the corpora cited in the volume in alphabetical order, the software discussed and the other computerised resources quoted in the book. Every effort has been made to present the data and material in a clear, straightforward way, so as to enable the readers to glean information, to deepen their knowledge, and most of all to boost their desire for learning, which is the core of all theoretical knowledge and practical competence.
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Lexicographers and grammarians in the history of English
€11,00by Roberta Facchinetti
This book delves into three scholars who contributed to the advancement of English lexicographic and grammar writing tradition between the 16th and the 19th century. Specifically, Peter LEVINS authored Manipulus Vocabulurom (1570), the first hardword rhyming dictionary; Anthony HUISH’s Priscianus Nascens (1660) and Priscianus Ephebus (1668) were aimed at English schoolboys learning to translate from English into Latin and vice versa; finally, Percival LEIGH’s Comic English Grammar (1840) laid bare a cross section of English socio-linguistic idiosyncrasies that could hardly be unveiled in a ‘serious’, scholarly way. From language teaching to translation, from lexicology to lexicography, from theoretical studies to socio-linguistic parody, the three scholars examined complement each other in terms of genres exploited, content analysed and methodology enacted; most of all, they testify to the fact that viewing language – particularly lexico-grammar – from different perspectives is a winning way to understand the past (and present) of language itself.
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Introduction to English Phonetics and Morphology
€11,00by Roberta Facchinetti
The book illustrates the key aspects of English phonetics and morphology, bearing in mind that competence in these two fields facilitates the mastering of languages at different levels: spelling, vocabulary, pronunciation, fluency, word recognition, origin and structure of words and, overall, text comprehension. Phonetics is the branch of linguistics that studies the sounds of human speech, how they are produced, transmitted and perceived. In turn, morphology analyses the structure of words and their parts, such as stems, prefixes, and suffixes, with special focus on the differences between derivational and inflectional affixes. Competence in these two branches of English linguistics is the first step in the full mastering of English.
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From Text to Translation and Back Again
€19,00di Sharon Hartle
This book is intended as a companion in the true sense of the work to those interested in an introduction to the broad fields of discourse analysis and translation. The book contains eight chapters that explore various aspects of language, how to analyse it and also how to approach its translation. Each chapter contains input on a specific topic such as Chapter One “Language Change” and links are provided to video material and further resources for independent study. The approach to the content is inductive, which means asking the reader to stop and think.
