"The best is yet to be": Representations of Old Age and Ageing in Recent Fiction

Dozent/in:

Susan Brähler

Angaben:

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

Termine:

Mi, 10:15 - 11:45, U5/02.18
Einzeltermin am 23.11.2017, Einzeltermin am 11.1.2018, 16:00 - 18:00, U5/02.18

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

1. Module Allocation:

Seminar
BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik: Aufbaumodul Literaturwissenschaft / Ergänzungsmodul 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

Reading tutorial
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
MA WiPäd
Erweiterungsbereich English and American Studies

2. (De)Registration:

in FlexNow! (except for guest auditors): 10.08.2017 (10:00) - 10.01.2018 (23:59)

guest auditors: please contact lecturer

Inhalt:

According to Ageing Studies, a very young interdisciplinary field of research, old age and ageing are not simply a fixed biological or chronological process but a complex cultural and social phenomenon (Jansohn). Age is a fluid identity marker, i. e. the distinction between young and old cannot for very long be successfully thought of as a binary opposition with youth being the valued term and old age being stigmatised. One s chronological age seems to lose relevance when older people make claims for the continuity of an ageless self across their life span. (Kriebernegg/Maierhofer)

In this seminar on fictional representations of old age and ageing, we will discuss various aspects of old age: ageing and solitude vs. community in old age, ageing and agency, the ageing body, female ageing, sexuality, generation, memory and memory loss etc. Perhaps the most striking thing about recent fiction is its ability to bring aging characters to the center of awareness, away from the periphery. (Fallis) We will thus focus on some of the most prominent texts featuring elderly protagonists which have been written in recent decades and which contribute to our understanding of old age in very different ways: what is it like to be institutionalised because of bodily frailty when one s mental capacities have not declined? How can a first-person narrator suffering from Alzheimer s disease relate a coherent plot? How to read a dystopia in which the young and healthy are used as a mere stock for healthy organs which are then transplanted into the old and diseased? Where lies the (dark) comedy of five elderly people moving in together?

Empfohlene Literatur:

Obligatory Reading:

Kingsley Amis, Ending Up (1974) [978-0141194233]
Alice Munro, Mrs. Cross and Mrs. Kidd (1982)
May Sarton, As We Are Now (1992) [978-0704339217]
J. M. Coetzee, Slow Man (2005) [978-0099490623] and As a Woman Grows Older (2004)
Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go (2005) [978-0571224142]
Emma Healey, Elizabeth Is Missing (2014) [978-0241968185]

Film: Harold and Maud (dir. Hal Ashby; 1971)

Please buy only those editions indicated above (cf. ISBN numbers) so we can all refer to the same page numbers in class!

The short stories will be made available on the VC.

Love and Other Disastrous Diseases

Dozent/in:

Chiara Manghi

Angaben:

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

Termine:

Mo, 18:00 - 20:00, KR14/00.06

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): 10.08.2017 (10:00) - 10.01.2018 (23:59)

guest auditors: please contact lecturer

Empfohlene Literatur:

Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare (please read the Arden edition before the first session)
Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë
The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje

Mistresses of Mayhem: Shakespeare's Ladies as Catalysts of Mischief

Dozent/in:

Igor Almeida Ferreira Baldoino

Angaben:

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

Termine:

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

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

1. Module Allocation:
1.1 Seminar
BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik: Aufbaumodul 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

MA WiPäd: Aufbaumodul 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

MA WiPäd

Erweiterungsbereich English and American Studies

2. (De)Registration:
in FlexNow! (except for guest auditors): 10.08.2017 (10:00) - 10.01.2018 (23:59)
guest auditors: please contact lecturer

Inhalt:

Beneath the lenses of a literary microscope, Shakespeare's female characters reveal dichotomous shadows, a binary system, the contrast between the “good” and the “evil” woman. In the majority of his plays, power in the hands of women invites chaos. Empowered female characters were represented as being “unnatural” or as threat to patriarchy, hence the common association with “villainesses”. The existence of such women highlights, however, their very counterpart: the stereotypical and idealized pure, virginal, passive and submissive “lady”.
This concept becomes clear when the archetypes of the good and evil women are juxtaposed. For instance, the vengeful Tamora in contrast with the quintessential “good girl” Lavinia; the spiteful and greedy sisters Regan and Goneril opposed to the kind and devoted Cordelia; the ambitious Lady Macbeth versus the domestic wife Lady Macduff; or Cymbeline’s nameless Queen and his daughter Imogen. Even Shakespeare's comedies depict how women were expected to behave, as we see in The Taming of the Shrew (Katherine vs Bianca).
This seminar will offer an in-depth analysis of the archetype of the good and evil female characters in Shakespeare's tragedies and comedies and how female power was a synonym to the corruption of the Female. Furthermore, we will discuss themes such as revenge, ambition and greed from the female characters’ perspectives, and topics such as misogyny and double-standards from an anachronistic angle.

Empfohlene Literatur:

To read until the beginning of the semester:
William Shakespeare. Titus Andronicus.
William Shakespeare. King Lear.

To read during the semester:
William Shakespeare. Cymbeline.
William Shakespeare. Macbeth.
William Shakespeare. The Taming of the Shrew.

More material to be added in class.

The Dead Walking - Zombie Fiction Reloaded

Dozent/in:

Lisa Schädlich

Angaben:

Proseminar/Übung, 2 SWS, ECTS: 6

Termine:

Mo, 14:00 - 16:00, U9/01.11

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

1. Module Allocation:
Seminar
BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik: Aufbaumodul 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
MA WiPäd: Aufbaumodul Literaturwissenschaft: Seminar 6 ECTS
ERASMUS or visiting students: Seminar: max. 6 ECTS

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

BSc. BWL

MA WiPäd

ERASMUS and visiting students: Please contact lecturer if you wish to attend the class.

2. (De)Registration via FlexNow: 10.08.2017 (10:00) - 10.01.2018 (23:59)
guest auditors: Please contact lecturer

Inhalt:

Zombies are all around us. We can find them in TV productions, comic books, novels and of course movies. Needless to say, zombies are en vogue. Zombie fiction such as The Walking Dead, both comic books and TV series alike, or cult classics by George A. Romero focus on the human survivors battling against the ominous other. We experience the decomposition of human civilisation first hand, how the survivors battle against not only the undead but against a much more terrifying threat – other human survivors and are oftentimes faced with moral dilemma how we would react in such an extreme situation. After all, a villain is a hero in his or her own mind.

In recent years though, there has been a gradual shift from focusing on the human survivors and instead choosing zombies who narrate their own stories. In novels such as The Girl with all the Gifts (M.R. Carey, 2014) or The Passage (Justin Cronin, 2010), the zombie narrative is turned topsy turvy.

In this Seminar/Übung, we will examine the origins of zombie fiction and see how zombies have transformed in the last years. We will have a look how The Walking Dead moves beyond a zombie narrative and how zombie movies such as Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead (2002) or Jonathan Levine's Warm Bodies (2013) parody existing genre tropes.

Empfohlene Literatur:

To read before the semester:
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Frankenstein. 1818.
Justin Cronin. The Passage. 2010.
M. R. Carey. The Girl With All the Gifts. 2014.

Excerpts from other works such as Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead (2003-) or Max Brooks' World War Z (2006) will be available on the VC during the semester.

Gender Anger, or The Fruits of Feminism: The Representation and Development of Gender Roles in North-American Literature & Culture of the 20th and 21st Centuries (Literary Studies)

Dozent/in:

Henriette Seeliger

Angaben:

Proseminar, 2 SWS, ECTS: 6, Studium Generale

Termine:

Einzeltermin am 19.1.2018, 12:00 - 20:00, U5/01.17
Einzeltermin am 20.1.2018, 9:00 - 16:00, U5/01.17
Einzeltermin am 26.1.2018, 12:00 - 20:00, U5/01.17
Einzeltermin am 27.1.2018, 9:00 - 16:00, U5/01.17
Vorbesprechung: Freitag, 24.11.2017, 12:00 - 13:00 Uhr

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

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

• BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik: Aufbaumodul Literaturwissenschaft: Seminar 6 ECTS; Zugangsvoraussetzung: Basismodul Literaturwissenschaft
• BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik (bis einschließl. Studienbeginn zum WS 2008/09): freie Erweiterung: Seminar 6 ECTS
• BA Berufliche Bildung: Basismodul Literaturwissenschaft: Seminar 6 ECTS
• Lehramt neu GHS: Basismodul Literaturwissenschaft b: Seminar 6 ECTS; Zugangsvoraussetzung: Introduction to English and American Literature (= Einführung)
• Lehramt neu RS: Basismodul Literaturwissenschaft: Seminar 6 ECTS; Zugangsvoraussetzung: Introduction to English and American Literature (= Einführung)
• Lehramt neu GY: Aufbaumodul Literaturwissenschaft: Seminar 6 ECTS; Zugangsvoraussetzung: Basismodul Literaturwissenschaft
• Lehramt neu GY (Kombination mit Russisch): Wahlpflichtmodul Literaturwissenschaft: Seminar 6 ECTS
• LA alt (alle), Magister, Diplom: Proseminar II Literaturwissenschaft; Zugangsvoraussetzung: Introduction to English and American Literature
• Master Wirtschaftspädagogik, Studienrichtung II: Aufbaumodul Literaturwissenschaft 6 ECTS

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

• active participation
• term paper in English (following the Style Sheet)
• Übung "Einführung in die Datenbankrecherche für Anglisten" (one-off event, enrollment via the Virtual Campus, Bereich "Bibliothek")

3. 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: 01.09. - 20.10.2017
• An-/ Abmeldung zur Prüfung: 22.11.2017 – 22.01.2018 // 22.11.2017 – 22.03.2018

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:

Recent political developments in the United States have led to an increased awareness of women s rights and issues of gender equality. While right-wing populists devalue them, women have begun to fight for their rights again, and are supported by men whose engagement seems to turn feminism into equalism (Taylor Swift).

Reading American and Canadian novels from the 1930s to most recent publications, in this seminar we are going to trace the development of gender roles in North-American literature of the 20th and 21st centuries in order to evaluate the current state of gender equality in the United States. We will look at the representation of femininity and masculinity, ideals of motherhood and beauty, and the interrelatedness of race, class, and gender in most recent publications, such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie s Americanah and Siri Hustvedt s The Blazing World, and compare them to classics of North-American literature from Zora Neale Hurston to Margaret Atwood. Eventually we want to assess whether the concerns that inspire these classics are really so different from ours today, and how far we have really come in terms of gender equality.

The preparatory meeting on 24 November 2017, 12:00 p.m. is compulsory.

Empfohlene Literatur:

• Joyce Carol Oates: A Book of American Martyrs, 2017
• Siri Hustvedt: The Blazing World, 2014
• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Americanah, 2013
• Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid s Tale, 1985
• Sylvia Plath: The Bell Jar, 1963
• Zora Neale Hurston: Their Eyes Were Watching God, 1937

The Good, the Bad, and the Sublime: German-American Romanticism (PS Literary Studies)

Dozent/in:

Nicole K. Konopka

Angaben:

Seminar/Hauptseminar/Proseminar/Übung, 2 SWS, Gaststudierendenverzeichnis, Studium Generale

Termine:

Do, 16:15 - 17:45, U5/01.18
Einzeltermin am 11.1.2018, 16:15 - 17:45, U5/00.24

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

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

• BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik (Studienbeginn ab WS 14/15): Ergänzungsmodul Literaturwissenschaft Seminar (je nach Belegung 7, 5, oder 4 ECTS)
• BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik: Aufbaumodul Literaturwissenschaft: Seminar 6 ECTS; Zugangsvoraussetzung: Basismodul Literaturwissenschaft
• BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik (bis einschließl. Studienbeginn zum WS 2008/09): freie Erweiterung: Seminar 6 ECTS
• BA Berufliche Bildung: Basismodul Literaturwissenschaft: Seminar 6 ECTS
• Lehramt neu GHS: Basismodul Literaturwissenschaft b: Seminar 6 ECTS; Zugangsvoraussetzung: Introduction to English and American Literature (= Einführung)
• Lehramt neu RS: Basismodul Literaturwissenschaft: Seminar 6 ECTS; Zugangsvoraussetzung: Introduction to English and American Literature (= Einführung)
• Lehramt neu GY: Aufbaumodul Literaturwissenschaft: Seminar 6 ECTS; Zugangsvoraussetzung: Basismodul Literaturwissenschaft
• Lehramt neu GY (Kombination mit Russisch): Wahlpflichtmodul Literaturwissenschaft: Seminar 6 ECTS
• LA alt (alle), Magister, Diplom: Proseminar II Literaturwissenschaft; Zugangsvoraussetzung: Introduction to English and American Literature
• Master Wirtschaftspädagogik, Studienrichtung II: Aufbaumodul Literaturwissenschaft 6 ECTS

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

• active participation
• term paper in English (following the Style Sheet)
• Übung "Einführung in die Datenbankrecherche für Anglisten" (one-off event, enrollment via the Virtual Campus, Bereich "Bibliothek")

3. 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: 01.09. - 20.10.2017
• An-/ Abmeldung zur Prüfung: 22.11.2017 22.01.2018 // 22.11.2017 22.03.2018

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:

This German-American class is designed for students of English, students of German (Germanistik) and American exchange students. Together we will discuss how German and American Romanticism helped to shape distinct national ideas and identities between the end of the 18th century and the (late) middle of the 19th century. A growing awareness of home and belonging, or the horrifying lack thereof, is at the focus of many works of art of the times.

In this seminar, we will explore representations of German and American Romanticism, using the ruin as leitmotif for our analyses and discussions. To what extend can we find traces of national identity in the architecture of buildings and urban settings, despite the Romanticists' focus on wilderness and natural environment? Is the ghost town a representative of the decay of the American Dream and thus the quintessential American ruin? In order to answer those and (many more) questions we will not restrict ourselves to the reading of literary texts, but also deal with artistic folk songs and paintings of artists like Caspar David Friedrich and representatives of the Hudson River School. The seminar will also include a day trip to the Rock Garden in Sanspareil.

ATTENTION: Those interested in attending this class might also consider attending this conference before the semester starts: https://www.uni-bamberg.de/en/romanticism2017/

Empfohlene Literatur:

Note: Readings will be both in English and German. Additional short texts (poems and short stories) will be provided via the VC.

Required Readings (print or e-book):

• Adalbert von Chamiso, Peter Schlemihls wundersame Geschichte (1813)
• Ludwig Tieck, Der gestiefelte Kater (1797/1811)
• ETA Hoffmann, Der Sandmann (1816)
• Edgar Allen Poe, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838)