Shakespeare Reading Group

Dozent/in:

Kerstin-Anja Münderlein

Termine:

Do, 18:00 - 20:00, Raum n.V.

Inhalt:

William Shakespeare's works are well known, 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 per semester, we will also provide a platform for discussion or even stage a few scenes to further our understanding of what is going on (corona providing). If you want to join us, you need not have any previous knowledge, only bring a copy of the play and sign up via e-mail to the lecturer to get access to Teams.
For more information on the Shakespeare Reading Group, please also see here: https://www.uni-bamberg.de/englit/extracurriculare-aktivitaeten/shakespeare-reading-group/

Empfohlene Literatur:

William Shakespeare. Julius Caesar.
William Shakespeare. Henry VI, part I.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

Dozent/in:

Beatrix Hesse

Termine:

Di, 16:00 - 18:00, Raum n.V.

Inhalt:

tba

Empfohlene Literatur:

tba

American Dystopia: From Classical to Feminist and Young Adult Dystopian Literature

Dozent/in:

Yildiz Asar

Termine:

Di, 14:00 - 16:00, Raum n.V.
Einzeltermin am 22.11.2021, 19:00 - 21:00, Raum n.V.

Inhalt:

Dystopian accounts of non-existent places worse than the ones we live in are more popular today than ever before. But why? According to Tom Moylan in Scraps of the Untainted Sky, dystopian narrative is largely the product of the terrors of the twentieth century. A hundred years of exploitation, repression, state violence, war, genocide, disease, famine, ecocide provided more than enough fertile ground for this fictive underside of the utopian imagination (xi). In this course, we will inspect the dystopian turn in contemporary American literature. We will examine dystopia s form, central themes and subject-matters and its relation to the prevailing and shifting cultural discourses. Indeed, with the terrifying worlds that it portrays, dystopia can voice our worst contemporary fears and anxieties, cast a critical eye on the pressing global issues, warn and frighten, and also fill us with hope for a change, or perhaps a better future.

Starting from the post-WW2 era, we will first examine the rise of the Classical Dystopia (which British titles like Orwell s 1984 and Huxley s Brave New World came to embody) through Ray Bradbury s Fahrenheit 451 (1953), followed by the Feminist Critical Dystopia, focusing on Margaret Atwood s The Handmaid s Tale (1985) and Octavia Butler s Parable of the Sower (1993), and end with today s popular Young Adult Dystopia, with Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games (2008) as a key example.

In our readings, we will particularly pay attention to how gender, race, age, class and environmental issues are depicted in these texts. By the end of the semester, we will hopefully have a good grasp of the reasons behind dystopia s ever-increasing appeal for older and younger audiences and its relevance for our contemporary times.

Empfohlene Literatur:

Primary Readings:

• Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
• Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid s Tale
• Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower
• Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Only the first novel, but I would highly recommend the entire trilogy if you have the time!)

Throughout this course, we will also briefly refer to several other titles and critical texts which are to be announced.

American Literature of the 19th Century

Dozent/in:

Eva-Sabine Zehelein

Termine:

Di, 10:00 - 12:00, Raum n.V.
Class starts in the second week of term!

Inhalt:

This is a survey lecture aiming to introduce or help review major American developments, socio-cultural themes and literary genres, as well as a diverse choir of American literary voices of the "long 19th century."

Selected literary texts (to be found on VC) will be discussed together – seminar-like! – in class.

Empfohlene Literatur:

All readings will be provided via the VC.

From Know-It-All to Clearly Clueless: Exploring the Narrator in US-American and Canadian Fiction

Dozent/in:

Nicole K. Konopka

Termine:

Di, 12:00 - 14:00, U2/01.33
Class starts in the second week of term!

Inhalt:

No one likes a know-it-all – except perhaps when reading a story. Narrators often seem to know everything and share it with their eager audience – or do they? In this class will study models that describe the various options of how to tell a story, in order to understand how meaning is created and communicated.

We will discuss key texts on narrative typologies by Roland Barthes, Franz Karl Stanzel, Gérard Genetté, Mieke Bal, and Monika Fludernik, to understand the underlying models and principles those scholars observed and developed. We will also explore how narrative communication actually works in a wide variety of literary examples, most of which will be selected from the reading list of the American Studies department (https://www.uni-bamberg.de/amerikanistik/studium/leseliste/) and with reference to the "Staatsexamen" in Literary Studies.

The goal of this class is to develop a firm understanding of various models of narrative communication, while gaining a comprehensive insight into the development of North American literature and its socio-political and historical context.

Empfohlene Literatur:

While all shorter readings (essays, short stories, single chapters) will be provided via the VC (registered participants will be signed up for the VC course by the instructor in the first week of the semester!), the following novels will have to be purchased by each student in advance:

• Toni Morrison, A Mercy (2008)
• James Hannaham, Delicious Foods (2018)

Make sure to read the novels before the first session of this class!

In addition, the following textbook is strongly recommended as companion reading to this class: Monika Fludernik, An Introduction to Narratology (2009).

Introduction to English and American Literary Studies (A)

Dozent/in:

Kerstin-Anja Münderlein

Termine:

Mo, 14:15 - 15:45, Raum n.V.
Students will be added to Teams and the VC manually during the first week of term
ab 25.10.2021

Inhalt:

This course provides a concise introduction to major themes and methods in the study of English and American Literature. We will discuss key features of the main literary genres poetry, prose fiction and drama, explore selected approaches in literary theory and criticism as a basis for analyzing and interpreting literary texts, and survey the main periods and developments of predominantly English literary history.

Please note that all Introductions to English and American Literary Studies prepare students for the analysis and interpretation of both English and American literature. The only difference is that the Introductions taught by members of the English Literature section use literary examples from a primarily British context, and those taught by members of the American Studies section use primarily American examples. Choosing one or the other Introduction does not mean that you specialize in English or American literature, and you don t have to take your later courses in the same area.

The following applies only to students whose Basismodul Literaturwissenschaft contains both the Introduction to Literary Studies and a lecture:
As of now, the final written exam of this Introduction to Literary Studies is also the module exam for the Basismodul Literaturwissenschaft. The exam will contain questions about both the content of the Introduction and the lecture (free choice: English or American Literature lecture). Students, therefore, are advised to take the introductory class either after attending the lecture OR in the same semester.

Empfohlene Literatur:

Meyer, Michael. English and American Literatures. Tübingen: Francke, 2011. (4th edition!)

Introduction to English and American Literary Studies (Course B)

Dozent/in:

Nicole K. Konopka

Termine:

Do, 14:00 - 16:00, Raum n.V.

Inhalt:

This course provides a concise introduction to major themes and methods in the study of English and American literature with a focus on American literature.

We will discuss key features of the main literary genres poetry, prose fiction, and drama, explore selected approaches in literary theory and criticism as a basis for analyzing and interpreting literary texts, and survey the main periods and developments of American literary history. The focus, however, will be on the discussion of textual examples from these various vantage points. The goal of this course is to enable you to articulate up-to-date readings of texts from different genres, in their cultural contexts, informed by key theories and analytical methods.

Please note that all Introductions to English and American Literary Studies prepare students for the analysis and interpretation of both English and American literature. The only difference is that the Introduction taught by members of the English Literature section uses literary examples from a primarily British context, and the one taught by members of the American Studies section uses primarily American examples. Choosing one or the other Introduction does not mean that you "specialize" in English or American literature, and you don't have to take your later courses in the same area.

Empfohlene Literatur:

Required Reading:

Michael Meyer. English and American Literature. 4th ed. UTB Basic. Tübingen: Francke, 2010. (or a newer edition; Ebook welcome!)

All other readings will be provided via the VC!