News
Iolanda Plescia is an Associate Professor of English in the department of European, American and Intercultural Studies of Sapienza University of Rome and the current director of the international MA programme in English and Anglo-American Studies. She earned her PhD in 2006 at Sapienza, where she taught English language and translation before going on to complete a two-year research fellowship at RomaTre University (2008-2010).
Among her research interests are stylistics, the history of the English language, the history of Italian-English translation, literary translation, with special regard to the early modern age and the twentieth century. While her PhD focused on the language of war and the political dimension of Virginia Woolf's use of language in her novels and essay-'writing, her main interests in the past decade have centred on Shakespeare's language and style, and more recently on intersections between literary and scientific texts and scientific translation in early modern England.
She has translated Henry VIII's Letters to Anne Boleyn into Italian (first Italian edition, Nutrimenti, 2013), and published a new translation of Shakespeare's 'Troilus and Cressida' (Feltrinelli, 2015). She is editor of the special issue of Memoria di Shakespeare 'The Shape of a Language' (2016) and co-editor of 'Elizabeth I in Writing: Language, Power and Representation in Early Modern England', Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. Her edition of Shakespeare's 'The Taming of the Shrew' was published by Feltrinelli in 2019, and her new translation of 'Flush' by Virginia Woolf was published in the Feltrinelli Classics series in 2021. Her new translation of 'Sir Thomas More', with Nadia Fusini, appeared in 2022 (Feltrinelli).
She was Visiting Professor in the Fall of 2022 at UCD - University College Dublin, School of English.
She was President of the Italian Association of Shakespearean and Early Modern Studies from 2021 to 2024.
http://www.iasems.org/
She serves on the editorial board of Memoria di Shakespeare. A Journal of Shakespearean Studies (https://rosa.uniroma1.it/rosa03/memoria_di_shakespeare) and Status Quaestionis (https://rosa.uniroma1.it/rosa03/status_quaestionis).
She also serves on the Advisory Board of the Cambridge University Press Elements in Shakespeare and Text series (Eds: C. M. Bourne and R. Loughnane)
Full list of publications available here: https://phd.uniroma1.it/web/Iolanda-Plescia_nC2335_EN.aspx
IMPORTANT May esonero results
Dear students, I have not been able to finish grading the more than 200 scripts from the end of May tests. I am now publishing the results for the English and Anglo-american MA.
Results for SLLT and LCLT will be out in the next few days and for people needing to repeat the exam I will provide a separate appello.
As an alternative you are welcome to join the end of June appello, which will be the second and last of the summer and will be registered in the first two weeks of July, in time for scholarships and other deadlines.
EXAMS
Dear students, Our exams have been pushed yet again, because of a shortage of rooms: we now have room 205 on the 12 OF JUNE at 10 am. I hope you can make it. Unfortunately this is out of my control. Those who already have their exam results and only have to register their mark will not need to come on that day. Very best IP
RICEVIMENTO/office hours (no need to book an appointment) - room 340, 3rd floor, Marco Polo building
Tuesday, June 17th, 2025, h. 9.00 am
RESULTS - APRIL 2025 - EXAM REGISTRATIONS
Results have been published for the extraordinary session. If you have your lettorato result and have passed my exam, write me an email and send me the link to the lettorato result for your total mark to be registered.
Note to students: please be patient regarding your mark registration. Course presidents are hard at work at the moment organising next year's program. Your marks will be registered in time for the summer session and for graduations.
2024-25 COURSES
PLEASE SIGN UP FOR YOUR COURSE GOOGLE CLASSROOM:
Lingua inglese III - LCLT - 6pz3yd3
Lingua e traduzione inglese I LM - Scienze Linguistiche 6 CFU - wkklv7s
Lingua e traduzione inglese I LM - Scienze Linguistiche 12 CFU - vza6fwp
English language I - EAAS - nwfed6c
My courses this year (see below) will start Monday, February 24th.
Syllabi are published in the Google classroom and on this page, under 'Insegnamenti'.
Lingua e traduzione inglese III - Lingue, Letterature, Culture, Traduzione
Fridays 10 am room 106
English Language I M - Scienze Linguistiche, Letterarie e della Traduzione - 6 CFU
Mondays 12 pm room 106
English Language I M - Scienze Linguistiche, Letterarie e della Traduzione 12 CFU
Mondays 8.30 am room 106 / Fridays 8.30 am room 106
English Language I - English and Anglo-american Studies
Mondays 2 pm room 106 / Fridays 12 pm room 106
Instructions for paper on Troilus and Cressida conference
To obtain 1 credit in Other traning activities, participating students will write a research paper of about 3,000 words. Rather than discussing the conference in general, they should pick a topic/theme/author that has been discussed and develop a research project that also addresses the problem/s discussed by the conference speaker. Students can write to me to agree on the topic for the paper. Deadline for the completed paper: June 30th, 2025
GUIDA AI CORSI DI LINGUA INGLESE 2023-24 / GUIDE TO ENGLISH LANGUAGE COURSES 2023-24:
Please note that emails requesting information available in the guide will not be answered.
EXAM sessions
Exam dates for 2023-24 have been uploaded on Infostud. If you cannot see a date, it means the booking period has not started or has expired.
LINGUA INGLESE III – IOLANDA PLESCIA (CANALE I-Z) 6cfu II sem
La storia della lingua inglese: problemi e sfide traduttive
Il modulo proposto integra l'acquisizione di competenze di analisi diacronica del testo con il lavoro di analisi e traduzione di testi di epoche lontane dall'inglese contemporaneo, mirando a permettere l'acquisizione di conoscenze sulla storia della lingua inglese e questioni di metodo relative alla comprensione di diverse tipologie testuali. In particolare si illumineranno gli aspetti formali caratteristici di alcuni momenti importanti della storia della lingua inglese, dall'Old English al Late Modern English, per elaborare efficaci strategie di comprensione ed analisi dei testi storici.
Bibliografia • Jonathan Culpeper, History of English, 2nd ed., Routledge 2015
• A.C. Baugh & T. Cable, A History of the English Language, Routledge, 2002 (ed edizioni seguenti): capp. 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10
• N. Braber, L. Cummins, L. Morrish, Exploring Language and Linguistics, Cambridge University Press, 2015: chapters 7, 8, 9, 10 (lettura consigliata)
Ulteriori informazioni e/o integrazioni saranno comunicate a lezione e sulla pagina di Facoltà della docente. METODI DIDATTICI: Lezioni frontali ed esercitazioni
FREQUENZA: Fortemente raccomandata
METODI DI VALUTAZIONE: L’esame consisterà in una prova scritta sugli argomenti del programma del modulo.
LINGUA INGLESE I PER LA MAGISTRALE / ENGLISH LANGUAGE I-M - English language and linguistics - advanced course
12 CFU (INGLESE 1° LINGUA: MODULO + LETTORATO ANNUALE)
6 CFU (INGLESE 2° LINGUA: MODULO + 1 SEMESTRE DI LETTORATO)
Il modulo proposto affronta il problema della traduzione di un testo di epoca lontana, integrando conoscenze sulla storia della lingua inglese relative al periodo dell’early modern English con questioni di teoria e metodo relative alla traduzione letteraria. Sarà prima di tutto approfondito il periodo early modern nelle sue principali caratteristiche formali e linee evolutive; il programma del modulo si concentrerà poi su alcuni testi del corpus shakespeariano, conducendo un’analisi stilistica e diacronica come preparazione necessaria alla prova della traduzione.
Bibliografia:
• A.C. Baugh & T. Cable, A History of the English Language, Routledge, 2002: CHAPTER 8
• Jonathan Hope, Shakespeare and Language, Arden, 2010: CHAPTERS 1-2-3
• David Crystal, Think on My Words: Exploring Shakespeare’s Language, CUP, 2008: CHAPTERS 1, 7, 8, 9 • Paula Blank, Shakesplish, 2018: INTRODUCTION
• Ton Hoenselaar, ed., Shakespeare and the Language of Translation, Arden, 2004: INTRODUCTION
• Susan Bassnett, Translation Studies, Routledge, 2002
• Nadia Fusini, Iolanda Plescia, trad. e cura, Sir Thomas More, Feltrinelli, 2022
Modalità di valutazione: scritta.
ENGLISH AND ANGLO-AMERICAN STUDIES, Year 1: 12 CFU II SEM.
This course will explore the issue of ‘Shakespeare’s language’, which has long intrigued critics and linguists who are now posing new questions about the popular idea of Shakespeare as the “father” of the English language. Starting from David Crystal, Jonathan Hope, and other linguists' recent work, which positions Shakespeare’s linguistic creativity within the broader socio-cultural transformations of his age, the module will concentrate on choice texts from the Shakespearean corpus, carrying out stylistic and diachronic analysis; at the same time, other early modern text type samples (especially prose) will be analysed in contrast, so as to single out the most prominent linguistic features in fictional dialogue as a speech-based text.
Reading List:
• A.C. Baugh & T. Cable, A History of the English Language, Routledge, 2002 (ch. 8)
• Jonathan Hope, Shakespeare and Language, Arden, 2010 (ch. 1, 2, 3)
• David Crystal, Think on My Words: Exploring Shakespeare’s Language, CUP, 2008 (1 5, 7, 8, 9)
• Iolanda Plescia, ed., The Shape of a Language. Memoria di Shakespeare: A Journal of Shakespearean Studies, 2016 [Editor’s Forweword (Plescia), The Shape of Early Modern English (Culpeper-Plescia), Who invented 'gloomy'? (J. Hope)]
• Nadia Fusini, Iolanda Plescia, trad. e cura, Sir Thomas More, Feltrinelli 2022
2022-23 courses
LINGUA INGLESE III (LCLT):
Programma d'esame:
Jonathan Culpeper, History of English, 2nd ed., Routledge 2015
A.C. Baugh & T. Cable, A History of the English Language, Routledge, 2002 CAPP.
3 (OLD English)
5 (Norman Conquest)
7 (Middle English)
8 (The Renaissance)
9 (The Appeal to Authority)
Mona Baker, In Other Words, new ed., Routledge 2017
CAP 2: pp. 10-46
CAP. 6: pp. 194-220
CAP. 7: pp. 235-254
Susan Bassnett, Translation Studies, Routledge, 2002
Cap. 1 (intero)
Cap. 2: pp. 60-62
Cap. 3: pp. 110-119
ENGLISH LANGUAGE I (SLLT)
Programma d'esame:
A.C. Baugh & T. Cable, A History of the English Language, Routledge, 2002: CHAPTER 8
Jonathan Hope, Shakespeare and Language, Arden, 2010: CHAPTERS 1-2-3
David Crystal, Think on My Words: Exploring Shakespeare’s Language, CUP, 2008:
CHAPTERS 1, 7, 8, 9
Paula Blank, Shakesplish, 2018: INTRODUCTION
Ton Hoenselaar, ed., Shakespeare and the Language of Translation, Arden, 2004:
INTRODUCTION
Susan Bassnett, Translation Studies, Routledge, 2002
Nadia Fusini, Iolanda Plescia, trad. e cura, Sir Thomas More, Feltrinelli, 2022
ENGLISH LANGUAGE I (EAAS)
Programma d'esame:
A.C. Baugh & T. Cable, A History of the English Language, Routledge, 2002 (ch. 8)
Jonathan Hope, Shakespeare and Language, Arden, 2010 (ch. 1, 2, 3)
David Crystal, Think on My Words: Exploring Shakespeare’s Language, CUP, 2008 (1 5, 7, 8, 9)
Iolanda Plescia, ed., The Shape of a Language. Memoria di Shakespeare: A Journal of
Shakespearean Studies, 2016 [Editor's Forweword (Plescia), The Shape of Early Modern English (Culpeper-Plescia), Who invented 'gloomy'? (J. Hope)]
Nadia Fusini, Iolanda Plescia, trad. e cura, Sir Thomas More, Feltrinelli 2022
VERBALIZZAZIONI
A message for students who need to register their marks after receiving lettorato and linguistics results.
1) If you have both marks (lettorato + linguistics), your final mark will be registered by me (you may come to my office hours if you wish, but there is no need to do so unless you need to discuss something with me). Send me proof of both results in an email to request registration. You MUST be on an Infostud verbale in order for me to do so. You should register at the beginning of the session regardless of your results.
2) If you have a doubt about your final mark, write to me or come to office hours- you will receive an answer and a request that you confirm acceptance.
3) If you write to register your result with a previous lettorato exam, please also send the link to your result.
4) If you have not passed your lettorato exam or have not requested registration, you will be marked as absent or 'rinuncia' on the register. This does not mean you have to repeat my exam. Your mark will remain valid for two years.
5) Please note that your registered marks will have to be validated by the secretariat and this takes some time as the register must first be filled and closed.
Email policy
Students should be aware that an excessive volume of email will slow down answers to urgent queries. Please take note of the following email policy:
1) Emails requesting information posted on this page will not be answered; exam results, exam dates, and office hours are posted here. If this information is not yet available, please wait for the page to be updated.
2) Thesis/dissertation requests should be made in person during office hours.
3) Requests for marks to be registered ('verbalizzazione') will be attended to as soon as possible. Please do not send multiple emails or confirmation requests, as I will not be able to answer these.
4) Anonymous, unsigned, or inappropriate emails (i.e. containing inappropriate language or register) will not be answered.
5) It is illegal, as well as inappropriate, to circulate/publish personal correspondence from a professor to Whatsapp groups and other social networks. Action will be taken whenever this conduct is suspected.