Of Graves, Churchyards and Epitaphs

Dozent/in:

Chiara Manghi

Angaben:

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

Termine:

Do, 14:00 - 16:00, U9/01.11
Einzeltermin am 4.6.2018, 16:00 - 18:00, U2/00.26

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

1. Module Allocation:

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

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:

Graveyards in literature have a variety of functions and can be the location of quite unexpected activities. Apart from (quite customary and obvious) reflections on the ephemeral nature of life, mortality and death, while reading the texts for this class, we might come across the occasional close encounter with ghosts (such as in Dickens A Christmas Carol), but it is usually the living who tend to do really messy things in cemeteries.
From making out on a former lover s tomb, to an unlikely fight between scholars on a writer s grave, we will encounter a wide range of quite unforgettable literary moments. Cemeteries and tombs can be the place of separation, but adjacent tombs can also lead to unforeseen friendship, as is the case in Tracy Chevalier s Falling Angels. Some cemeteries have more stories to tell than others, like the churchyard of St. Pancras Old Church with Thomas Hardy s tree; Edinburgh s Greyfriars Kirkyard with its many familiar names, legends and mortsafes, and the Victorian Highgate Cemetery in London, featured in Audrey Niffenegger s Her Fearful Symmetry and Tracy Chevalier s Falling Angels.
In this class we will explore some classics of Graveyard Poetry, such as Robert Blair s The Grave, Edward Young s Night-Thoughts (also in William Blake s illustrated version), Thomas Gray s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, as well as a selection of Thomas Hardy s poetry on epitaphs, graveyards and death. Moreover, we will read one contemporary novel (from the selection below) that revolves on graveyard scenes, and excerpts from the remaining two.

Empfohlene Literatur:

Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol

Excerpts from:
Robert Blair The Grave
Edward Young The Complaint: or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality
Thomas Gray Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
Thomas Hardy (selection of poems)
E. L. Masters Spoon River Anthology

One novel + excerpts from the remaining two:
A.S. Byatt Possession
Tracy Chevalier Falling Angels
Audrey Niffenegger Her Fearful Symmetry