Charles Dickens: David Copperfield, Great Expectations and the Way of the World

Dozent/in:

Simon Edwards

Angaben:

Hauptseminar, 2 SWS, ECTS: 8

Termine:

Einzeltermin am 22.6.2018, 12:00 - 20:00, U9/01.11
Einzeltermin am 23.6.2018, Einzeltermin am 24.6.2018, 10:00 - 20:00, U9/01.11

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

1. Module Allocation:

BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik:
Vertiefungsmodul Literaturwissenschaft: Seminar (8 ECTS)

BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik (bis einschließl. Studienbeginn zum WS 2008/09):
freie Erweiterung: Seminar 6 ECTS

LA GY:
Vertiefungsmodul Literaturwissenschaft: Seminar (8 ECTS)

MA English and American Studies:
Master Module English and American Literature: Seminar (8 ECTS)
Profile Module English and American Literature I-VI: Seminar (8, 6, 5 or 4 ECTS)
Consolidation Module English and American Literature I-IV: Seminar (8, 6, 5 or 4 ECTS)

Erweiterungsbereich English and American Studies:
Master Module or Profile Module I or III English and American Literature: Seminar (8 ECTS)

Erasmus and other visiting students:
Seminar (6 or 8 ECTS)

2. (De)Registration:
in FlexNow! (except for guest auditors): 08.03.2018 (10:00) - 08.06.2018 (23:59)
guest auditors: please contact lecturer

Inhalt:

In this course we are going to look closely at those two of Dickens’s novels which have most in common with the European Bildungsroman or the ’coming -of-age’ novel of the 19c. These are stories of the education of the individual, his or her entry into a wider but divided society from childhood and youth to full adulthood. In Dickens’s case these are both first-person narratives and contain elements of what we often think of, more generally, as ‘autobiographical fiction’. Dickens’s narrative focus, however, is never narrowly personal, but rather the pretext for imagining fully the lives of others and revealing the dynamics of a whole society undergoing vital but disturbing change. Thus Dickens’s takes his place among the great artists of the 19c in the sheer scope and inventiveness of the novel form.
Both novels are utterly absorbing and offer us the deep and intimate pleasure of reading itself as a formative act in our world of mass literacy, not least through their powerful rendering of the experience of childhood and our passage into a troubled maturity. They both extend and challenge the romantic idealisation of childhood. Dickens described David Copperfield as the ‘favourite child’ among his novels, while Great Expectations has always attracted praise even from those critics who have been hostile to his work. The earlier novel may be seen as the most explicitly autobiographical and Dickens was careful to re-read it before embarking on Great Expectations, not merely to avoid repetition but also to undertake a radical revision of his earlier perspectives.

Secondary reading
Criticism of Dickens’s work is produced on an industrial scale in both Britain and the USA. Extremely popular in his time, a veritable institution, his work fell out of critical favour in the early 20c, but from the 1940s it has been consistently rehabilitated, not least by the work of American critics. It has been subjected to Marxist, feminist, psychoanalytic, new historicist, deconstructionist, post -colonial and queer theory. You can find examples all of these in for example in the 47 volumes of the Dickens Studies Annual, published every year since 1970 (and available on J-Stor). I hesitate to make particular recommendations of individual critics, though a couple (who shall be nameless) I would suggest you avoid!
Perhaps the most useful introductions are to be found in two relatively recent (and complementary) biographies:
Michael Slater, Charles Dickens, (2009)
Claire Tomalin, Charles Dickens: A Life, (2011)
These will both provide you with a strong sense of the personal, social and economic conditions under which Dickens worked and lived in mid-Victorian Britain, as well as the amazing energy which he brought to both his life and work.

Since Simon Edwards is a visiting professor, students who sign up for this course will receive information about the requirements for the course via e-mail in the first week of the semester.

Empfohlene Literatur:

Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.

Frankenstein

Dozent/in:

Christoph Houswitschka

Angaben:

Hauptseminar, 2 SWS, ECTS: 8, Erweiterungsbereich

Termine:

Mi, 18:00 - 20:00, U9/01.11, LU19/00.13

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

1. Module Allocation:
BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik:
Vertiefungsmodul Literaturwissenschaft: Seminar (8 ECTS)

BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik (bis einschließl. Studienbeginn zum WS 2008/09):
freie Erweiterung: Seminar 6 ECTS

LA GY:
Vertiefungsmodul Literaturwissenschaft: Seminar (8 ECTS)

MA English and American Studies:
Master Module English and American Literature: Seminar (8 ECTS)
Profile Module English and American Literature I-VI: Seminar (8, 6, 5 or 4 ECTS)
Consolidation Module English and American Literature I-IV: Seminar (8, 6, 5 or 4 ECTS)

Erweiterungsbereich English and American Studies:
Master Module or Profile Module I or III English and American Literature: Seminar (8 ECTS)

Erasmus and other visiting students:
Seminar (6 or 8 ECTS)

2. (De)Registration:
in FlexNow! (except for guest auditors): 08.03.2018 (10:00) - 08.06.2018 (23:59)
guest auditors: please contact lecturer

Inhalt:

Mary Shelley (1797 1851), the daughter of the radical writer William Godwin and the feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, wrote Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus in the course of a writers contest among Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron and John Polidori at the Villa Diodati by Lake Geneva in Switzerland in 1814. Mary Shelley was not aware that she had created not just a classic of British literature, but a myth that would live on in literature, film and other media.
Victor Frankenstein is a young and ambitious scientist who assembles a creature from body parts. The creature turns against his creator. A lonesome and deplorable being ends up as an atrocious monster.
In the seminar we will discuss the original, its second 1831 edition, a collaborate effort of Mary Shelley and her husband, the dramatizations in the 19th century and some 20th-century filmings. Frankenstein will also be read in the context of the epic poem that inspired it, John Milton s Paradise Lost (1667) and some contemporary novels and films that continue its main argument, the flawed relationship between creator and creature.

Empfohlene Literatur:

Frankenstein: or The Modern Prometheus, ed. by Marilyn Butler (Oxford World's Classics)
or
Frankenstein, ed. by J. Paul Hunter (Norton Critical Edition)

IMPORTANT: The edition you read MUST be that of the 1818 publication

How Criseyde became Cressida: From Middle English Chaucerian romance to Early Modern English Shakespearean drama

Dozentinnen/Dozenten:

Gabriele Knappe, Christoph Houswitschka

Angaben:

Seminar/Hauptseminar, 2 SWS, benoteter Schein, ECTS: 8, Zentrum für Mittelalterstudien

Termine:

Do, 12:15 - 13:45, LU19/00.09
In the second week of term, MA students as well as BA/Lehramt students in their Vertiefungsmodul are expected to take part in an introduction to research methods (unless they have already participated in the Übung Methods and Theories in Linguistics ). Thus, these participants are required to reserve the following times and dates: Mo, 16 April 2018, 8 10 h OR 10 12 h OR 12 14 h AND Thu, 19 April 2018, 10 16 h OR Fri, 20 April 2018, 8 14 h. To coordinate course dates and times, please register for the following Virtual Campus course by 12 April at the latest and take part in the survey you will find there: https://vc.uni-bamberg.de/moodle/course/view.php?id=26997. You will receive notice of the time slots you have been allotted on 13 April.

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

General organization

1. Modules:
BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik: Vertiefungsmodul Sprachwissenschaft: Seminar (8 ECTS)
BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik: Vertiefungsmodul Literaturwissenschaft: Seminar (8 ECTS)
BA Interdisziplinäre Mittelalterstudien/Medieval Studies: Aufbaumodul Anglistik: Seminar (6 ECTS)
BA Interdisziplinäre Mittelalterstudien/Medieval Studies: Aufbaumodul Anglistik: Übung (6 ECTS)
BA Interdisziplinäre Mittelalterstudien/Medieval Studies: Vertiefungsmodul Anglistik: Seminar (8 ECTS)
LA GY: Vertiefungsmodul Sprachwissenschaft: Seminar (8 ECTS)
LA GY: Vertiefungsmodul Literaturwissenschaft: Seminar (8 ECTS)
LA GY: Wahlpflichtmodul Englische Sprachwissenschaft bei Kombination mit dem Fach Russisch: Seminar (6 ECTS)
MA English and American Studies: Master Module English Linguistics: Seminar (8 ECTS)
MA English and American Studies: Master Module English and American Literature: Seminar (8 ECTS)
MA English and American Studies: Profile Module English Linguistics I-VI: Seminar (8, 6, 5 or 4 ECTS)
MA English and American Studies: Profile Module English and American Literature I-VI: Seminar (8, 6, 5 or 4 ECTS)
MA English and American Studies: Consolidation Module English Linguistics I-IV: Seminar (8, 6, 5 or 4 ECTS)
MA English and American Studies: Consolidation Module English and American Literature I-IV: Seminar (8, 6, 5 or 4 ECTS)
MA English and American Studies: Erweiterungsbereich, Master Module or Profile Module I or III English Linguistics: Seminar (8 ECTS)
MA English and American Studies: Erweiterungsbereich, Master Module or Profile Module I or III English and American Literature: Seminar (8 ECTS)
MA Interdisziplinäre Mittelalterstudien/Medieval Studies: Mastermodul I Anglistik: Seminar (6 ECTS)
MA Interdisziplinäre Mittelalterstudien/Medieval Studies: Mastermodul I Anglistik: Übung (1 ECTS)
MA Interdisziplinäre Mittelalterstudien/Medieval Studies: Mastermodul II Anglistik: Seminar (7 ECTS)
MA Interdisziplinäre Mittelalterstudien/Medieval Studies: Intensivierungsmodul II Anglistik: Seminar (5 ECTS)
Erweiterungsbereich Anglistik/Amerikanistik im Rahmen anderer MA: Master Module or Profile Module I or III English Linguistics: Seminar (8 ECTS)
Erasmus and other visiting students: Seminar (max. 8 ECTS)

2. Registration and Deregistration:
IMPORTANT On FlexNow! you can register at the Department of English Literature or the Department of English Linguistics, depending on where you would like to obtain credit points from this class.

Registration dates for students who would like to obtain their credit points in English Linguistics:
Registration via FlexNow from 19 March 2018, 10:00h, to 12 April 2018, 23:59h.
Deregistration via FlexNow from 19 March 2018, 10:00h, to 30 April 2018, 23:59h.

Registration dates for students who would like to obtain their credit points in English Literature:
Registration and deregistration via FlexNow from 08 March 2018, 10:00h, to 08 June 2018, 23:59h.

A limited number of places will be reserved for visiting students, students who have changed universities and students who need this class urgently as they are approaching the end of their studies. If the seminar is overbooked, the teachers will decide which students will be accepted.

3. Requirements for successful completion of the course:
1 ECTS: regular active participation in class
2 ECTS: regular active participation in class + short oral presentation
4 ECTS: regular active participation in class + oral presentation + short assignment of c. 2000 words
5/6/8 ECTS in MA English and American Studies Consolidation Module English Linguistics I/II/III: regular active participation in class + oral exam
5 ECTS MA Interdisziplinäre Mittelalterstudien/Medieval Studies Intensivierungsmodul II: oral examination (30 minutes)
5 ECTS in other programmes or modules: regular active participation in class + oral presentation + assignment of c. 3000 words
6 ECTS: regular active participation in class + oral presentation + seminar paper of c. 4000 words
6 ECTS BA Interdisziplinäre Mittelalterstudien/Medieval Studies: Aufbaumodul (Variante A): oral presentation (c. 30 minutes, ungraded) + written paper of c. 3000 to 4000 words
6 ECTS MA Interdisziplinäre Mittelalterstudien/Medieval Studies: Mastermodul I: oral presentation (c. 30 minutes, ungraded) + written paper of c. 3500 to 4500 words
6 ECTS in other programmes or modules: regular active particiption in class + oral presentation + seminar paper of c. 4000 words
7 ECTS: regular active participation in class + oral presentation + seminar paper of c. 4000 to 5500 words
8 ECTS BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik Vertiefungsmodul: oral presentation (c. 30 minutes, ungraded) + seminar paper of 3500 to 4000 words
8 ECTS BA Interdisziplinäre Mittelalterstudien/Medieval Studies Vertiefungsmodul: oral presentation (c. 30 minutes, ungraded) + seminar paper of c. 4000 to 5500 words
8 ECTS in other programmes or modules, Hauptseminar and visiting students: regular active participation in class + oral presentation + seminar paper of 4500 to 6000 words

4. Language of instruction:
English

Inhalt:

Description:
Set against the backdrop of the Trojan War, the love story of Troilus and Criseyde was to become one of the favourite stories in medieval literature. It was adapted in French and Italian before it was tackled by Geoffrey Chaucer in the mid 1380s. This linguistic and literary masterpiece is the focus of attention in this seminar. We will discuss both the linguistic and the literary makeup of the text on the basis of close reading. Starting from there, we will also investigate central topics of medieval literature such as providence, fate and free will; human (courtly) love and divine love; friendship; and the role of women. On this basis, William Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida (c.1601) will be discussed with respect to the interplay of tradition and innovation, both in terms of literature and language. Other English adaptations of the story, such as Robert Henryson's Testament of Cresseid (c.1470), will also be considered briefly.

Students can earn credits for either literary studies or linguistics, depending on their focus in the presentation in class and the seminar paper.

Before our first meeting, students are asked to familiarize themselves with the story as told by Chaucer in a modern-language translation, either in Modern English (Coghill 1971; Windeatt 1998) or Modern German (Obst / Schleburg 2000). Warning: Translations which are available on the internet are not necessarily reliable! The critical edition which we will use in class is The Riverside Chaucer, ed. by Benson et al. (1987); the original text and other material will be made availabe on Virtueller Campus.

For those who are planning to choose Middle English in the written Staatsexamen: The first two books of Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, together with ten of the Canterbury Tales, make up the corpus of texts on which the exam is based.

Also, Shakespeare's drama should become familiar to the students, at the latest in the course of the semester.

The Übung by Prof. Knappe which accompanies the seminar (Wednesday, 14:15-15:00) is designed to discuss linguistic project work and other assignments individually and/or in small groups. Individual arrangements will be made also, if necessary, concerning the time of the Übung. Therefore clashes with other courses scheduled for the same time slot as the Übung can be avoided.

In addition, for those who wish to study the Middle English language in more depth in order to fully appreciate the original texts, the seminar "Introducing Old and Middle English" (https://univis.uni-bamberg.de/form?__s=1113&dsc=anew/lecture_view&lvs=guk/angl/engls/explor&anonymous=1&founds=guk/angl/engls/explor&__e=1&sem=2018s&codeset=utf8) (taught by Prof. Dr. Gabriele Knappe) will be interesting. Guests are welcome!

On July 15-20 a study trip to Oxford and London will be organized for students with historical interests (cf. https://univis.uni-bamberg.de/form?__s=1113&dsc=anew/lecture_view&lvs=guk/angl/engls/studyt&anonymous=1&founds=guk/angl/engls/studyt&__e=1&sem=2018s&codeset=utf8). The number of places is limited. If you are interested in joining the trip, please write an email with a brief statement of your motivation to gabriele.knappe@uni-bamberg.de before February 13, 2018.

Empfohlene Literatur:

Recommended reading:

• Coghill, Nevill (transl.) 1971. Geoffrey Chaucer: Troilus and Criseyde. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

OR

• Windeatt, Barry (transl.) 1998. Geoffrey Chaucer: Troilus and Criseyde. A new translation. Oxford: University Press.

OR

• Obst, Wolfgang / Floran Schleburg (übers.). 2000. Geoffrey Chaucer: Troilus und Criseyde. Frankfurt: Insel.

AND ALSO:

• Bevington, David M. (ed.) 2015. William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida. Revised ed. London: Bloomsbury.
• Boitani, Piero (ed.) 1989. The European Tragedy of Troilus. Oxford: Clarendon Press, Introduction.
• Horobin, Simon. 2013. Chaucer's Language. Second ed. Heidelberg: Winter, chapters 1-3.

"What about us:" Reproductive Justice in America (Literary Studies)

Dozent/in:

Eva-Sabine Zehelein

Angaben:

Hauptseminar, 2 SWS, ECTS: 8, Studium Generale

Termine:

Einzeltermin am 22.6.2018, 12:00 - 20:00, U5/01.17
Einzeltermin am 23.6.2018, 10:00 - 16:00, U5/01.17
Einzeltermin am 30.6.2018, 9:00 - 17:00, U5/01.18
Einzeltermin am 1.7.2018, 10:00 - 16:00, U5/01.18

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

1. Modulzuordnung und Zugangsvoraussetzung / Part of modules resp. courses of study:

BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik:

• Vertiefungsmodul Literaturwissenschaft: Seminar (8 ECTS), Zugangsvoraussetzung: Aufbaumodul Literaturwissenschaft

BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik (bis einschließl. Studienbeginn zum WS 2008/09):

• freie Erweiterung: Seminar 6 ECTS

LA neu GY: -Vertiefungsmodul Literaturwissenschaft: Seminar (8 ECTS), Zugangsvoraussetzung: Aufbaumodul Literaturwissenschaft
MA English and American Studies:

• Master Module English and American Literature: Seminar (8 ECTS)
• Profile Module English and American Literature I-VI: Seminar (8, 6, 5 or 4 ECTS)

Erweiterungsbereich Anglistik/Amerikanistik im Rahmen anderer MA:

• Master Module or Profile Module I or III English and American Literature: Seminar (8 ECTS)

LA alt (alle), Diplom, Magister:

• Hauptseminar Literaturwissenschaft, Zugangsvoraussetzung: Zwischenprüfung oder Hauptseminaraufnahmeprüfung

Erasmus and other visiting students: Seminar (6 or 8 ECTS)

2. Voraussetzungen für Punktevergabe / Prerequisites for obtaining credit points:

• active participation
• presentation
• term paper in English (following the Style Sheet)

3. An- und Abmeldung / Enrollment:

• via FlexNow (Students without access to FlexNow (Erasmus or Joint Degree) please send an email to Dr. Nicole Konopka)
• An-/Abmeldung zur Lehrveranstaltung: 1.3.-27.4.2018
• An-/ Abmeldung zur Prüfung: 4.6.-4.7. // 4.6.-30.8.2018

Für Studienortwechsler, Erasmusstudenten sowie Studierende, die den Leistungsnachweis zur baldigen Prüfungsanmeldung benötigen, werden im begrenzten Umfang Plätze freigehalten. Bei Teilnahmewunsch trotz Überbuchung des Seminars wenden Sie sich bitte per Email an Dr. Konopka.

Studierende, die an der Lehrveranstaltung als Gäste teilnehmen wollen, melden sich bitte nicht über FlexNow! sondern per Email an und erscheinen zur ersten Sitzung; erst dann kann endgültig geklärt werden, ob Gäste aufgenommen werden können.

Information on how to solve problems with your registration: https://www.uni-bamberg.de/anglistik/studium/informationen-zu-flexnow/*

Inhalt:

The term “reproductive justice” was coined in 1994 by black American feminists. As a concept, it moves the center of attention and activism away from reproductive rights and the narrow focus on pro-choice (the legal right to abortion, symbolized by the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v Wade ) both towards an intersectional analysis of race, class, gender, sexuality, nationality and age, and towards activism for enhanced public resources and governmental spending, especially when it comes to comprehensive (reproductive) health care, jobs and wages, education and child care, housing, civil rights and social services.
In this compact course, we will investigate some of these issues and look at academic and socio-political discourses as well as a broad variety of cultural texts (e.g. songs, novels, graphic novels, podcasts, journalism, memoirs, film and TV-series) to highlight and discuss current RJ discourses in North America.

Empfohlene Literatur:

Please buy and read BEFORE class:

• Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale (to be read for June 22!!! you may also want to watch the Emmy-award winning TV series on Hulu; season 2 will premiere on April 25, 2018)

• Damian Duffy, John Jennings, Octavia E. Butler’s ‘Kindred’ . NY: Abrams ComicArts, 2017 (to be read for June 23!!! This is the graphic narrative version of Butler’s 1979 novel – which you may also want to read

• Annie Weatherwax, All We Had . NY: Scribner, 2014.

• All other texts we will discuss in class will be made available as PDF or can be found online (as indicated in the course syllabus).

Gardens and Poetry (Literary Studies)

Dozent/in:

Melissa Zeiger

Angaben:

Hauptseminar, 2 SWS, benoteter Schein, ECTS: 8, Studium Generale

Termine:

Einzeltermin am 22.9.2018, 9:00 - 17:00, U9/01.11
Einzeltermin am 23.9.2018, 10:00 - 16:00, U9/01.11
Einzeltermin am 6.10.2018, 9:00 - 17:00, U9/01.11
Einzeltermin am 7.10.2018, 10:00 - 16:00, U9/01.11

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

1. Modulzuordnung und Zugangsvoraussetzung / Part of modules resp. courses of study:
BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik:

• Vertiefungsmodul Literaturwissenschaft: Seminar (8 ECTS), Zugangsvoraussetzung: Aufbaumodul Literaturwissenschaft

BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik (bis einschließl. Studienbeginn zum WS 2008/09):

• freie Erweiterung: Seminar 6 ECTS

LA neu GY:

• Vertiefungsmodul Literaturwissenschaft: Seminar (8 ECTS), Zugangsvoraussetzung: Aufbaumodul Literaturwissenschaft

MA English and American Studies:

• Master Module English and American Literature: Seminar (8 ECTS)
• Profile Module English and American Literature I-VI: Seminar (8, 6, 5 or 4 ECTS)

Erweiterungsbereich Anglistik/Amerikanistik im Rahmen anderer MA:

• Master Module or Profile Module I or III English and American Literature: Seminar (8 ECTS)

LA alt (alle), Diplom, Magister:

• Hauptseminar Literaturwissenschaft, Zugangsvoraussetzung: Zwischenprüfung oder Hauptseminaraufnahmeprüfung

Erasmus and other visiting students: Seminar (6 or 8 ECTS)

3. Voraussetzungen für Punktevergabe / Prerequisites for obtaining credit points:

• active participation
• presentation
• term paper in English (following the Style Sheet)

4. An- und Abmeldung / Enrollment:

• via FlexNow (Students without access to FlexNow (Erasmus or Joint Degree) please send an email to Dr. Nicole Konopka)
• An-/Abmeldung zur Lehrveranstaltung: 1.3.-27.4.2018
• An-/ Abmeldung zur Prüfung: 4.6.-4.7. // 4.6.-30.8.2018

Für Studienortwechsler, Erasmusstudenten sowie Studierende, die den Leistungsnachweis zur baldigen Prüfungsanmeldung benötigen, werden im begrenzten Umfang Plätze freigehalten. Bei Teilnahmewunsch trotz Überbuchung des Seminars wenden Sie sich bitte per Email an Dr. Konopka.

Studierende, die an der Lehrveranstaltung als Gäste teilnehmen wollen, melden sich bitte nicht über FlexNow! sondern per Email an und erscheinen zur ersten Sitzung; erst dann kann endgültig geklärt werden, ob Gäste aufgenommen werden können.

Informationen on how to enrol via FlexNow: http://www.uni-bamberg.de/englit/news_englische_literaturwissenschaft/anmeldung_zu_lehrveranstaltungen_und_studienbegleitenden_leistungsnachweisen/

Inhalt:

What do gardens have to do with sexuality, empire, race, class, environmental degradation, the history of poetry, the social role of religion, and the future of art? In discussion of various literary, critical, theoretical, and eco-critical texts, we will consider the broad reach of garden writing and garden practice over the course of two seminar weekends (Blockseminar).

While based in literary readings (see required texts), the course supplements and contextualizes these with other readings and websites. We will also consider broader issues and discourses connecting humans and the environment

Empfohlene Literatur:

Please buy the following book, start reading as soon as possible, and bring it to every class (required): Garden Poems, ed. by John Hollander (between 19 and 25 Euros).

Please Note: There will be NO VC-Course for this course, since most of the required readings will be in the book by John Hollander. Therefore, please make sure to buy the book!

All other readings will be provided by the instructor of the course in the form of printed material.

The American Presidency: History, Literature, Culture (18th-21st Century) - Literary Studies [HS]

Dozentinnen/Dozenten:

Christine Gerhardt, Sabine Freitag

Angaben:

Hauptseminar, 2 SWS, benoteter Schein, ECTS: 8, Studium Generale

Termine:

Blockveranstaltung 12.8.2018-19.8.2018 Mo-Fr, Sa, So
Das Blockseminar findet von 12.-19.08.2018 in Manigod im Chalet Giersch, Frankreich, statt.
Vorbesprechung: Donnerstag, 19.4.2018, 16:00 - 18:00 Uhr, U5/01.18

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

1. Modulzuordnung und Zugangsvoraussetzung / Part of modules resp. courses of study:

BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik:

• Vertiefungsmodul Literaturwissenschaft: Seminar (8 ECTS), Zugangsvoraussetzung: Aufbaumodul Literaturwissenschaft

BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik (bis einschließl. Studienbeginn zum WS 2008/09):

• freie Erweiterung: Seminar 6 ECTS

LA neu GY: -Vertiefungsmodul Literaturwissenschaft: Seminar (8 ECTS), Zugangsvoraussetzung: Aufbaumodul Literaturwissenschaft

MA English and American Studies:

• Master Module English and American Literature: Seminar (8 ECTS)
• Profile Module English and American Literature I-VI: Seminar (8, 6, 5 or 4 ECTS)
• Consolidation Module English and American Literature I-IV: Seminar (8, 6, 5 or 4 ECTS)

Erweiterungsbereich Anglistik/Amerikanistik im Rahmen anderer MA:

• Master Module or Profile Module I or III English and American Literature: Seminar (8 ECTS)

LA alt (alle), Diplom, Magister:

• Hauptseminar Literaturwissenschaft, Zugangsvoraussetzung: Zwischenprüfung oder Hauptseminaraufnahmeprüfung

Erasmus and other visiting students: Seminar (6 or 8 ECTS)

3. Voraussetzungen für Punktevergabe / Prerequisites for obtaining credit points:

• active participation
• presentation
• term paper in English (following the Style Sheet)

4. An- und Abmeldung / Enrollment:

• via FlexNow (Students without access to FlexNow (Erasmus or Joint Degree) please send an email to the teacher of this class.)
• An-/Abmeldung zur Lehrveranstaltung: 1.3.-27.4.2018 (course registration)
• An-/ Abmeldung zur Prüfung: 4.6.-4.7. // 4.6.-30.8.2018 (grade registration)

Für Studienortwechsler, Erasmusstudenten sowie Studierende, die den Leistungsnachweis zur baldigen Prüfungsanmeldung benötigen, werden im begrenzten Umfang Plätze freigehalten. Bei Überbuchung des Seminars fällt die Entscheidung über die Teilnahme in Rücksprache mit der Dozentin/dem Dozenten.

Studierende, die an der Lehrveranstaltung als Gäste teilnehmen wollen, melden sich bitte nicht über FlexNow! sondern per Email an und erscheinen zur ersten Sitzung; erst dann kann endgültig geklärt werden, ob Gäste aufgenommen werden können.

Informationen on how to enrol via FlexNow: http://www.uni-bamberg.de/englit/news_englische_literaturwissenschaft/anmeldung_zu_lehrveranstaltungen_und_studienbegleitenden_leistungsnachweisen/

Inhalt:

The American presidency forms a central institution and pillar of the American political system, and individual presidents have shaped American and international history in powerful ways. As such, the American presidency and the individuals who have held this office – from George Washington to Barack Obama – hold a prominent place in America’s historical memory and its literary/cultural imagination, and the distinction of the two is often blurry.
This upper level seminar addresses the American Presidency in a decidedly interdisciplinary fashion, combining theoretical concepts and approaches from the fields of History and Historiography with those of American Literary and Cultural Studies. From this combined perspective, we will discuss key presidential figures, such as George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, Ronald Reagan, and Barack Obama, in the historical contexts that have shaped their work and that have been shaped by them – by their actual achievements as much as by their visions. We will also discuss the changing role of the First Lady, with a focus on Eleanor Roosevelt, Hillary Clinton, and Michelle Obama. Our readings will include historical documents, inaugural addresses, and speeches, as well as poems, short stories, novels and autobiographies, and a number of motion pictures, biopics, and parts of popular TV series.

Organization:

This compact seminar (Blockseminar), taught by Prof. Christine Gerhardt (American Studies) and Prof. Sabine Freitag (Modern and Contemporary History), offers a unique chance to study a formative aspects of American political culture in the special atmosphere of a study retreat in the French Alps (Chalet Giersch, Manigod), from August 12-19, 2018. We can accommodate 18 students (ideally 9 from History, 9 from English and American Studies).

Seminar dates:
Pre-meeting (attendance required) 19.4., 16-18.00, Room U5/01.18 Sunday 12.8. – Sunday, 19.8.2018

Requirements:

The seminar will be held in German and English, so students need to be able to read and discuss texts in both languages. Each student will give a 20-minute presentation and write a final research paper.

Empfohlene Literatur:

Our preliminary reading list includes:

• Thomas Jefferson, “The Declaration of Independence” (1776)
• William Wells Brown, Clotel; or the President’s Daughter (1853)
• Walt Whitman, popular “O Captain! My Captain!”, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” (1865)
• Barack Obama, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance (1995)
• Philip Roth, The Plot Against America (2004)

Please note that this is only a preliminary list. The final reading list will be discussed during the information meeting on April 19 (see below).