Conceptions of Happiness in the British Novel

Dozent/in:

Katrin Röder

Angaben:

Hauptseminar, ECTS: 8

Termine:

Do, 16:00 - 18:00, MG2/01.02
Einzeltermin am 15.12.2022, Einzeltermin am 9.2.2023, 16:00 - 18:00, MG1/02.05
vom 27.10.2022 bis zum 9.2.2023

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)

NOT open as an Oberseminar
open for Consolidation Module Literature (seminar)
NOT open for Ergänzungsmodul

2. (De)Registration:
in FlexNow! (except for guest auditors): 01.09.2022, 10:00 23.10.2022, 23:59
guest auditors: please contact lecturer

Inhalt:

This seminar discusses the significance of different, historically situated philosophical, political and economic concepts of happiness as important hermeneutic frames, genre-shaping forces and thematic focuses in selected novels from the 18th to the 21st century. We will explore happiness as a narrative structure with specific forms of emplotment, narrative affects and temporalities and examine the ways in which literary texts raise the question of happiness as an individualist, social and political concept. Furthermore, we will problematize in how far the novels represent happiness and unhappiness as opposites or (as suggested by Sara Ahmed in The Promise of Happiness) as dialectically connected concepts and states/modes of being.

Empfohlene Literatur:

We will discuss the following texts (please buy or borrow):

Daniel Defoe: The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1719)
Samuel Johnson: The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759)
Mary Wollstonecraft: Maria: or, the Wrongs of Woman (1798)
Charles Dickens: Great Expectations (1861)
William Morris: News from Nowhere (or An Epoch of Rest) (1890)
J. M. Coetzee: Foe (1986)
Hanif Kureishi: The Buddha of Suburbia (1990)
Arundhati Roy: The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017)

All critical literature will be provided on virtual campus at the beginning of the term.

Shakespeare's The Tempest in Theory

Dozent/in:

Katrin Röder

Angaben:

Seminar/Oberseminar, 2 SWS, ECTS: 8

Termine:

Mi, 18:00 - 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)
Module Master's Thesis (Literature): Oberseminar (2 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)

open as an Oberseminar
open for Consolidation Module Literature (seminar)
NOT open for Ergänzungsmodul

2. (De)Registration:
in FlexNow! (except for guest auditors): 01.09.2022, 10:00 – 23.10.2022, 23:59
guest auditors: please contact lecturer

Inhalt:

Shakespeare’s late play The Tempest (1610/11) has provoked enthusiastic response from a particularly broad spectrum of various schools of critical theory. We will investigate readings of the play from the perspectives of New Criticism, Deconstruction, Gender and Queer Studies, New Historicism, Postcolonial Theory, Ecocriticism and Posthumanist Theory and discuss the ways in which such different approaches provide new insights about the text. The seminar offers an introduction to and discussion of the critical theories listed above but it focuses on their practical application, investigating and evaluating the productivity of the specific reading practices and methodologies they offer.

Empfohlene Literatur:

Please buy / borrow the Arden edition of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. All critical literature will be provided on virtual campus at the beginning of the term.

The Posthuman and the Transhuman in Postwar English and American Literature

Dozent/in:

Robert Craig

Angaben:

Seminar/Hauptseminar, 2 SWS, ECTS: 6, An-/Abmeldung über FlexNow: 01.08.2022 (10:00 Uhr) bis 01.11.2022 (23:59 Uhr); An-/Abmeldung zur Prüfung über FlexNow: 12.12.2022 (10:00 Uhr) bis 27.01.2023 (23:59 Uhr)

Termine:

Di, 16:00 - 18:00, LU19/00.11

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

Teilnahmevoraussetzungen/Conditions of participation:

B.A. Anglistik/Amerikanistik: Abgeschlossenes Aufbaumodul Britische und Amerikanische Kulturwissenschaft
B.A / LA GY Anglistik/Amerikanistik: Abgeschlossenes Aufbaumodul Literaturwissenschaft

Modulzugehörigkeit/Module applicability:

I. Literaturwissenschaft:

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)

Open for Consolidation Module Literature (seminar); NOT open for Ergänzungsmodul.

Please note that you can find this 'Literaturwissenschaft' seminar listed under the rubric of 'LS Britische Kultur' in FlexNow.

II. Kulturwissenschaft:

B.A. Anglistik/Amerikanistik: Vertiefungsmodul Kulturwissenschaft: Seminar (8 ECTS), Zugangsvoraussetzung: Aufbaumodul Kulturwissenschaft
B.A. Anglistik/Amerikanistik (bis einschließl. Studienbeginn zum WS 2008/09): freie Erweiterung: Seminar (6 ECTS)
M.A. English and American Studies: Master Module English and American Culture: Seminar (8 ECTS)
Profile Module English and American Culture I-VI: Seminar (8, 6, 5 or 4 ECTS)
Consolidation Module English and American Culture I-IV: Seminar (8, 6, 5 or 4 ECTS)
Erweiterungsbereich Anglistik/Amerikanistik im Rahmen anderer M.A.: Exportmodul Anglistik/Amerikanistik 1 oder 2: Mastermodul Kulturwissenschaft (Variante I): Seminar (8 ECTS)
Exportmodul Anglistik/Amerikanistik 2: Mastermodul Kulturwissenschaft (Variante II): Seminar (6 ECTS)
M.A. Literatur und Medien: Literatur-, Medien- und Kulturtheorie, Erweiterung Literatur-, Medien- und Kulturtheorie LA (alt) alle, Diplom, Magister: Hauptseminar Kulturwissenschaft, Zugangsvoraussetzung: Zwischenprüfung oder Hauptseminaraufnahmeprüfung
Joint Degree: Compulsory Subjects and Restricted Electives: Mastermodul Cultural Studies
Restricted Electives: Profilmodul Cultural Studies

The Vertiefungsmodule and Mastermodule will be examined by a term paper (3,500-4,500 and 4,500-6,000 words respectively); the Consolidation Modules will be assessed by an oral examination. Further information on the examinations can be obtained from this address: https://www.uni-bamberg.de/britcult/studium/ .

Inhalt:

“Commerce is our goal here at Tyrell. ‘More human than human’ is our motto.” Eldon Tyrell’s boast about the near indistinguishability from humans of his corporation’s latest line of ‘replicants’ sits at the heart of Blade Runner, the British director Ridley Scott’s iconic science fiction film of 1982. It’s a darkly ironic claim. Replicants are a bio-technological upgrade on their human creators: a truly posthuman form of being. But as Tyrell unwittingly reminds us, their post-humanity both embodies capitalism’s de-humanizing drive for ever-greater efficiency and productivity and reminds us of the very humanness we may have abandoned in the process.

In this seminar we will examine the contested concepts of ‘the post-human’ and ‘the trans-human’ through the lens of science fiction. In particular, we’ll be asking how these categories invite us to reconsider both ‘humanness’ and ‘the human’ itself. After laying our theoretical groundwork with the help of Stefan Herbrechter and Rosi Braidotti, we’ll turn to examine four science fiction classics. We begin with Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood’s End (1953), the tale of a benevolent alien invasion with unintended consequences. Both Philip K. Dick’s Androids (1968) and Ridley Scott’s famous film adaptation ask what it is that makes us human, anyway; and Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go (2005) extends the question into the murky realm of human cloning. Finally, Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake (2003) fast-forwards us to a future in which humanity itself is battling the existential consequences of its own technological advance.

Empfohlene Literatur:

I. Primärliteratur:

Arthur C. Clarke, Childhood’s End (London: Pan, 1990).

Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (London: Orion, 2007).

Ridley Scott (dir.), Blade Runner (1982); Denis Villeneuve (dir.), Blade Runner 2049 (2017).

Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake (New York: Anchor Books, 2003).

Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go (London: Faber & Faber, 2006).

II. Sekundärliteratur:

A list of useful secondary literature, together with a TB4 Semesterapparat, will be made available in the first week of the semester.

Please note that you alone are responsible for knowing and keeping track of information made available to you in printed documents and on the Virtual Campus. Needless to say that your active and regular participation is expected.

Suburbia

Dozent/in:

Eva-Sabine Zehelein

Angaben:

Hauptseminar, 2 SWS, ECTS: 8, Gaststudierendenverzeichnis, Studium Generale, Gender und Diversität

Termine:

Di, 12:00 - 14:00, U5/02.18

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

1. Module Allocation:

All modules including a specialization level seminar (Hauptseminar) for literary studies or cultural studies:

• BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik (Seminar 8 ECTS)
• LA GY (Seminar 8 ECTS)
• MA English and American Studies (Seminar 4, 5, 6, or 8 ECTS)
• Erweiterungsbereich English and American Studies (Seminar 8 ECTS)
• Erasmus and other visiting students (Seminar 6 or 8 ECTS)

>> OPEN for Consolidation Module literary studies and cultural studies!
>> NOT open for students requiring an “Oberseminar” for their Master Thesis Module!

2. Prerequisites for obtaining credit points:

• active participation (individual tasks and group work)
• term paper in English (following the Style Sheet)
• only Consolidation module: oral exam (see website for more information: https://www.uni-bamberg.de/en/american-studies/studies/consolidation-module-ma/)
• required only for Vertiefungsmodul: completion of the advanced level (Aufbaumodul) beforehand!

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 Participation (de)enrollment: September 01 – November 01, 2022
• ECTS/Exam (de)registration: January 01 – February 01, 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:

Suburbia is a field which is extravagantly large, complex and contested. It might even be called by some “intellectual sprawl.” This is not surprising, since suburbia is a geographical and architectural phenomenon, but also part of an economic system, a politics, an ethic, and suburbia is a place of cultural creation, reflection and negotiation, a set of values and a way of life. And this is just the reason why it has become a symbolic minefield which the American everyman ogles rather skeptically from his picture window, simultaneously perceiving himself in the glasses’ reflection. We will look at the historical genesis of suburbia and its contemporary realities and zoom in on some cultural (re)presentations.

Empfohlene Literatur:

Please buy and read: Jeffrey Eugenides, The Virgin Suicides (the novel!), T.C. Boyle, Tortilla Curtain. Course requirement: oral presentation.

Walt Whitman in American Culture

Dozent/in:

Christine Gerhardt

Angaben:

Hauptseminar, 2 SWS, ECTS: 8, Gaststudierendenverzeichnis, Gender und Diversität, Kultur und Bildung, The first half of this Blockseminar is taught by one of the world’s most renowned Whitman scholars and most outstanding teachers, Ed Folsom (University of Iowa). Registration is open!

Termine:

Einzeltermin am 21.10.2022, 14:00 - 16:00, U5/01.17
Einzeltermin am 28.10.2022, 14:00 - 17:00, U5/01.17
Einzeltermin am 29.10.2022, 10:00 - 17:00, U5/01.17
Einzeltermin am 18.11.2022, 14:00 - 17:00, U5/01.17
Einzeltermin am 19.11.2022, 10:00 - 17:00, U5/01.17
Course registration starts on August 15!!!

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

1. Module Allocation:

All modules including a specialization level seminar (Hauptseminar) for literary studies or cultural studies:

• BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik (Seminar 8 ECTS)
• LA GY (Seminar 8 ECTS)
• MA English and American Studies (Seminar 4, 5, 6, or 8 ECTS)
• Erweiterungsbereich English and American Studies (Seminar 8 ECTS)
• Erasmus and other visiting students (Seminar 6 or 8 ECTS)

>> OPEN for Consolidation Module literary and cultural studies!
>> NOT open for students requiring an “Oberseminar” for their Master Thesis Module!

2. Prerequisites for obtaining credit points:

• active participation (individual tasks and group work)
• term paper in English (following the Style Sheet)
• only Consolidation module: oral exam (see website for more information: https://www.uni-bamberg.de/en/american-studies/studies/consolidation-module-ma/ )
• required only for Vertiefungsmodul: completion of the advanced level (Aufbaumodul) beforehand!

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 Participation (de)enrollment: August 15 – October 20, 2022 (Attention: EARLY registration!)
• ECTS/Exam (de)registration: January 01 – February 01, 2023

Guest auditors: please contact Prof. Dr. Gerhardt 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:

In this course, we will read the work of one of America’s most innovative and influential poets, focusing on the ways in which his work responded to major developments in nineteenth-century American culture. Walt Whitman (1819-1892) sought to forge a living connection between a new kind of poetry and the massive changes he witnessed in the US as an evolving, conflict-ridden democracy. And indeed, throughout the various editions of Leaves of Grass (1855-92), his free-flowing lines, powerful imagery, and wide range of social, political, and sexual concerns challenged conventional notions of poetry more radically, and talked about American culture more openly and inclusively, than any other nineteenth-century poet.

In our seminar, we will begin with the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass. What was so revolutionary about this slim book of 12 poems? Who is its author, does it contain poetry at all, what does its unusual format suggest? We will move on to discuss how some of Whitman’s most iconic poems think about key events and dynamics of his time, including race, slavery, and the Civil War, changing notions of gender and sexuality, the natural sciences and beginning environmentalism, and the fate of democracy. Throughout, we will link Whitman – who always hoped to be read across space and time – to our own cultural moment, considering the resonances of his vision for the 21st century.

Empfohlene Literatur:

You need to buy a critical edition of Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, ideally this one:

• Whitman, Walt. Poetry and Collected Prose. Ed. Justin Kaplan. New York: Library of America, 1982 [or later editions].

(Alternatively, Leaves of Grass and other Writings, Norton Critical Edition, edited by Michael Moon, 2002; or the older but excellent Leaves of Grass, A Norton Critical Edition, edited by Sculley Bradley and Harold Blodgett, will also work well.)

Women's Rights in the U.S.

Dozent/in:

Johanna Feier

Angaben:

Hauptseminar, 2 SWS, ECTS: 8, Gaststudierendenverzeichnis, Gender und Diversität, Kultur und Bildung

Termine:

Di, 18:00 - 21:00, MG2/01.10
Einzeltermin am 14.2.2023, 14:00 - 15:00, U5/01.17
Classes will take place biweekly. Some of the Tuesday evening time slots in alternate weeks will be used for film screenings.

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

1. Module Allocation:

All modules including a specialization level seminar (Hauptseminar) for literary studies or cultural studies:

• BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik (Seminar 8 ECTS)
• LA GY (Seminar 8 ECTS)
• MA English and American Studies (Seminar 4, 5, 6, or 8 ECTS)
• Erweiterungsbereich English and American Studies (Seminar 8 ECTS)
• Erasmus and other visiting students (Seminar 6 or 8 ECTS)

>> OPEN for Consolidation Module literary studies and cultural studies!
>> OPEN for students requiring an Oberseminar for their Master Thesis Module!

2. Prerequisites for obtaining credit points:

• active participation (individual tasks and group work)
• term paper in English (following the Style Sheet)
• only Consolidation module: oral exam (see website for more information: https://www.uni-bamberg.de/en/american-studies/studies/consolidation-module-ma/ )
• required only for Vertiefungsmodul: completion of the advanced level (Aufbaumodul) beforehand!

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 Participation (de)enrollment: September 01 November 01, 2022
• ECTS/Exam (de)registration: January 01 February 01, 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:

By overturning Roe v. Wade in June 2022, the Supreme Court effectively ended bodily autonomy for more than half of the U.S. population. In their dissenting opinion, the liberal justices succinctly stated that young women today will come of age with fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers. In view of that historic decision, this course will explore the cultural evolution of women s rights in the U.S. While tracing texts from the American Revolution until now, we will pay particular attention to how the issue of women s rights intersects with other realms of inequality, specifically racism. In addition to several audio-visual texts, we will discuss writings from the traditional feminist canon as well as lesser-known examples by literary activists.

Classes will take place biweekly. Some of the Tuesday evening time slots in alternate weeks will be used for film screenings.
Seminar Sessions:

• 2022: Oct. 18+25; Nov. 08+22; Dec. 06
• 2023: Jan. 10+24; Feb. 07

Empfohlene Literatur:

A reader will be provided in the first week of classes.

“Daddy, is it you?” – American Father(hood)s

Dozent/in:

Eva-Sabine Zehelein

Angaben:

Hauptseminar, 2 SWS, ECTS: 8, Gaststudierendenverzeichnis, Studium Generale, Gender und Diversität, Modulstudium

Termine:

Mo, 12:00 - 14:00, U5/01.18

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

1. Module Allocation:

All modules including a specialization level seminar (Hauptseminar) for literary studies or cultural studies:

• BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik (Seminar 8 ECTS)
• LA GY (Seminar 8 ECTS)
• MA English and American Studies (Seminar 4, 5, 6, or 8 ECTS)
• Erweiterungsbereich English and American Studies (Seminar 8 ECTS)
• Erasmus and other visiting students (Seminar 6 or 8 ECTS)

>> OPEN for Consolidation Module literary studies and cultural studies!
>> NOT open for students requiring an “Oberseminar” for their Master Thesis Module!

2. Prerequisites for obtaining credit points:

• active participation (individual tasks and group work)
• term paper in English (following the Style Sheet)
• only Consolidation module: oral exam (see website for more information: https://www.uni-bamberg.de/en/american-studies/studies/consolidation-module-ma/ )
• required only for Vertiefungsmodul: completion of the advanced level (Aufbaumodul) beforehand!

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 Participation (de)enrollment: September 01 – November 01, 2022
• ECTS/Exam (de)registration: January 01 – February 01, 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:

Fathers have long been banned to the side-lines of gender(ed) research to an extent that somewhat polemically inclined writers such as D. Blankenhorn diagnosed a Fatherless America (1995) psychologist Helen Smith has spoken about Men on Strike: why men are boycotting marriage, fatherhood, and the American Dream (2013), and Susan Faludi would write some 550 pages on Stiffed: The Roots of Modern Male Rage (1999/2019).

What does all of this mean? How come? And what, indeed, has happened to men and men as fathers from the Puritan head of household via the Victorian hegemonic male to today’s partner in parenting? In other words: how have changes in the American fabric as well as within normative expectations vis à vis the American family affected manhood and the role and function of the father and of fathering as a social practice? In how far do cultural representations and social practices conform or clash, and how are these discursively framed?

In multidisciplinary fashion we will explore concepts of (toxic) masculinity and patriarchy, male identity and various definitions of father(hood)s, and discuss a variety of cultural texts—short story, poem, (graphic) novel, painting, photograph and film.

Empfohlene Literatur:

Please buy and read: Cormac McCarthy, The Road; Alison Bechdel, Fun Home; Noah Hawley, The Good Father. Course requirement: oral presentation.