American Literature II (Realism-Postmodernism)

Dozent/in:

Christine Gerhardt

Angaben:

Vorlesung, 2 SWS, ECTS: 2, Gaststudierendenverzeichnis, Studium Generale, Gender und Diversität

Termine:

Mo, 14:00 - 16:00, KR12/02.18
Einzeltermin am 24.7.2023, 14:00 - 16:00, U9/01.11

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

1. Module Allocation:

All modules including an obligatory or optional lecture (Vorlesung) for 2 or 4 ECTS in LITERARY studies:

• BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik
• Erweiterungsbereich English and American Studies
• Lehramt GS/HS/MS/RS/GY
• MA English and American Studies
• MA Berufliche Bildung
• MA WiPäd
• Studium Generale (not BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik!)

>> Open for Consolidation Module LITERARY studies (LECTURE)!

2. Prerequisites for obtaining credit points:

• only Consolidation module: oral exam (see website for more information: https://www.uni-bamberg.de/en/american-studies/studies/consolidation-module-ma/)
• only Studium Generale: written test on pass/fail basis (options: 2 ECTS=45 minutes; 4 ECTS= 90 minutes)
• only Erasmus/exchange students: graded written test (options: 2 ECTS=45 minutes; 4 ECTS= 90 minutes)

3. FlexNow-Registration:

Please register for this class on FlexNow via the following section (Lehrstuhl): Professur für Amerikanistik. In case of problems contact flexnow.amerikanistik(at)uni-bamberg.de.

• Course (de)enrollment: March 1st May 1st, 2023
• ECTS (de)registration: June 1st July 1st, 2023

Guest auditors: please contact lecturer via e-mail.

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

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

Inhalt:

This lecture provides an overview of US-American literary history from the 1870s until today, highlighting characteristic features of realism, naturalism, modernism, and post-modernism, as well as key trends in 21st-century literary production. For each of these periods, the thematic, formal, and stylistic elements of a wide range of novels, stories, poems, plays, and essays will be discussed in connection with broader cultural and political developments.

Several questions that revolve around the tensions between coherence and difference will guide our explorations. For one, we will investigate how from the end of the Civil War until today, various groups of American writers have engaged, and frequently exploded, the possibilities of specific literary genres to re-imagine the world. This also means that we will discuss the ways in which changing notions of gender, sexuality, race, class, religion, and region have intersected with the development of American literature as a pluriform, multi-voiced field of expression. Finally, we will interrogate the significance of core thematic and conceptual concerns that have been identified in American literature over the years, including processes of modernization and the ideal of democratization, a sense of national self in relation to other cultures, and the challenges of living with the natural environment without destroying it.

Empfohlene Literatur:

All readings will be provided via the VC!