Key Texts in Literary Theory

Dozentinnen/Dozenten:

Christoph Houswitschka, Kerstin-Anja Münderlein

Angaben:

Übung, 1 SWS, ECTS: 1, Studium Generale

Termine:

jede 2. Woche Mi, 14:00 - 16:00, U11/00.25

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

1. Module Allocation:

• BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik (ab Studienbeginn zum WS 14/15): Ergänzungsmodul Methoden und Theorien der Englischen und Amerikanischen Literaturwissenschaft (alle Haupt- und Nebenfächer) (1 ECTS)

• BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik (ab Studienbeginn zum SoSe 2009): Ergänzungsmodul Methoden und Theorien (1 ECTS, ab Studienbeginn zum SoSe 2012 unbenotet)

• MA Anglistik/Amerikanistik: Erweiterungsmodul 1 oder 2: Übung Literaturwissenschaft (1 ECTS)

• alle alten Studiengänge: Übung (1 ECTS)

2. (De)Registration:

in FlexNow! (except for guest auditors): 01.03.2017 (10:00) - 01.07.2017 (23:59)

guest auditors: please contact lecturer

Inhalt:

In this seminar we will study trends and schools in literary theory since the 1950s. We may discuss key texts by thinkers identified with formalism and structuralism, deconstruction and poststructuralism, gender studies and queer theory, psychoanalytical criticism, (Neo)Marxism and Cultural Materialism, New Historicism, postcolonial criticism and reader-response theory.
Depending on the participants personal interests, we may also consider more recent approaches like ecocriticism and possible-worlds theory or less "canonized" theories (e.g. systems theory).

The course is intended to assist students in both finding own approaches towards primary texts and in identifying mind-sets and methods applied in the secondary sources they read in their other seminars: "What theory demonstrates [...] is that there is no position free of theory, not even the one called common sense" (V. B. Leitch).

Empfohlene Literatur:

A course reader will be made available for download at our VC group once the schedule has been agreed upon.

Shakespeare Reading Group

Dozent/in:

Kerstin-Anja Münderlein

Angaben:

Sonstige Lehrveranstaltung

Termine:

Do, 18:00 - 20:00, U11/00.25
Einzeltermin am 13.6.2017, 18:00 - 20:00, U11/00.25
Einzeltermin am 20.6.2017, 18:00 - 20:00, U9/01.11
ab 4.5.2017

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

This course is an extracurricular course and does not offer any ECTS credits. Anybody interested in reading and discussing Shakespeare is very welcome, regardless of their course of studies.
You need not register for this course, just come along in the first session and bring a copy of the plays.

Inhalt:

William Shakespeare's works are well know, or should be well known, to all students of English literature. However, when reading Shakespeare some people struggle to fully appreciate his language or his brilliantly designed characters. This course aims at all of those students who would like to enjoy Shakespeare's works together with other students. Thus, we will not only read two pieces by Shakespeare, one comedy and one tragedy, we will also provide a platform for discussion or even stage a few scenes to further our understanding of what is going on. If you want to join us, you need not have any previous knowledge, only bring a copy of the play and comfortable shoes.

Empfohlene Literatur:

William Shakespeare. Much Ado About Nothing.
William Shakespeare. Anthony and Cleopatra.

Thomas Hardy

Dozent/in:

Kerstin-Anja Münderlein

Angaben:

Proseminar/Übung, 2 SWS, ECTS: 6, Studium Generale, Erweiterungsbereich

Termine:

Mi, 18:00 - 20:00, MG1/02.06

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

1. Module Allocation:
1.1 Seminar
BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik: Aufbaumodul Literaturwissenschaft / Ergänzungsmodul Englische Literaturwissenschaft / freie Erweiterung: Seminar 6 ECTS

BA Berufliche Bildung: Basis/Aufbaumodul Literaturwissenschaft: Seminar 6 ECTS

LA GS/HS/MS/RS: Basis/Aufbaumodul Literaturwissenschaft (b): Seminar 6 ECTS

LA GY: Aufbaumodul Literaturwissenschaft: Seminar 6 ECTS

LA GY (Kombination mit Russisch): Wahlpflichtmodul Literaturwissenschaft: Seminar 6 ECTS

1.2 Reading Tutorial (Übung)
all modules including an obligatory/optional reading tutorial (Übung) for literature in
LA GS/HS/MS/RS/GY

BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik

MA English and American Studies

Erweiterungsbereich English and American Studies

2. (De)Registration:
in FlexNow! (except for guest auditors): 01.03.2017 (10:00) - 01.07.2017 (23:59)

guest auditors: please contact lecturer

Inhalt:

One of the most prolific writers of the Victorian Era, Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) is still regarded as a major influence on English literature. His novels, set in the fictional county of Wessex in Southern England, explore fundamentally human drives and experiences. At the core of Hardy’s realist fiction, we find people – their relationships, joys and sorrows – any many of his characters are still household names today, such as Tess Durbeyfield, Jude Fawley or Bathsheba Everdene. Hardy’s writing contributed enormously to the development of the realist novel and his books often expose Victorian hypocrisy and meaningless morality or religious conventions. Infidelity, illicit love, illegitimate motherhood, questionable courtship, and social ostracism are set before a backdrop of seemingly pastoral Wessex. The social fabric of his fictional towns and their inhabitants is laid open and the reader can see behind the façade of the Victorian small town.

This course will look at some of Hardy’s novels, a few stories and a few poems by discussing and analysing themes and topics in his works. While most of the novels will have to be read before the beginning of the semester, some additions to the course material will be made during the semester and via the VC course.

Trip to Dorset 04.09.2017-10.09.2017
The department of English Literature is planning a trip to Dorset in September.
We will explore the locations of John Fowles’ The French Lieutenant’s Woman (we will stay in Lyme Regis), Tracy Chevalier’s Remarkable Creatures (the story of Mary Anning, the 19th Century paleontologist who found very significative fossils along the Jurassic Coast) and Natasha Solomons’ The Novel in the Viola (we will visit the ghost town of Tyneham) as well as several places of Thomas Hardy’s Wessex.
A meeting with all details (open to everyone who is interested) will be held May 4th at 8 pm, room U5/00.24. Registration for the trip will be until 6th May.
If you are interested and you already plan to come with us to Dorset please write an email to: chiara.manghi(at)uni-bamberg.de

Empfohlene Literatur:

To read before the semester:

Thomas Hardy. Jude the Obscure (1895)

Thomas Hardy. Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891)

Thomas Hardy. Far from the Madding Crowd (1874)

Thomas Hardy. Under the Greenwood Tree (1872)

Thomas Hardy. Wessex Tales (1888) – excerpts to be announced in class

Exemplary poetry to be announced in class