Courses - Summer Term 2014

Prof. Dr. Cecile Sandten

Content:
Three decades after the end of Apartheid, Cape Town and Johannesburg still continue to be divided cities: by poverty and violence, as well as by race. There are the (mostly white) privileged gated neighbourhoods on the one hand, and the devastatingly poor, underprivileged (mostly black) areas, on the other. Topics that have been discussed in scholarship on post-Apartheid Africa include that of the Rainbow nation, transculturality, xenophobia, and the discourse of HIV/AIDS. Moreover, today, ′security′ is one of the buzz words in the streets of these cities. In this seminar, we will explore the importance of these two South African metropolises as political and cultural centres and as social microcosms reflecting the state of South Africa′s transcultural society due to its colonial past and its postcolonial present. We will investigate the political, social, cultural and architectural history of Cape Town and Johannesburg through its written and visual representations (films, literary and critical texts, photographs, and paintings).
Objectives:
In an interdisciplinary and comparative mode, borrowing concepts from gender studies, arts, music, film, sociology, or urban studies, we will tackle some of the main issues of postcolonialism (diaspora, migration, dislocation, hybridity) and become familiar with aspects related to South Africa′s recent history.
Prerequisites:
Successful completion of modules 2.3 and 2.4.
Requirements for credit/Type of Module Exam:
Apart from regular attendance, active participation will be expected. To successfully complete the course, students will have to give an oral presentation (15 minutes = PVL) and an oral exam of 30 minutes
(15 minutes Research Seminar English Literatures and Cultures and 15 minutees Research Colloquium English Literatures (=PL).
Registration
There will be a list at the door of my office (Rh 39, Zi 214). Please register there.
Set Texts:
Schonstein Pinnock, Patricia (2000): Skyline. Cape Town: David Philip Publishers.
Vladislavic, Ivan (2006): Portrait With Keys: The City of Johannesburg Unlocked.
London, New York: Norton.
In addition, a reader with set texts and seminal material on post colonialism and the metropolis will be provided at the beginning of the semester. A special film programme will be on offer.

With Excursions to the Sächsische Industriemuseum; Conference Participation Deutsch-Italienische Dialoge.
Content:
The 1840s in Britain were a time of rapid urban and economic expansion and change, great social hardship and increased social tension, which resulted in strikes, violent clashes and the emergence of "the first working-class party", the Chartists. The term "industrial novel" refers to a group of literary works (also known as "social-problem novels" or "Condition-of-England novels") written by middle-class writers concerned about both the treatment of the working class and also the threat of social instability it seemed to pose. In this seminar we will be looking at the social, economic and political history of the mid-century: the technological breakthroughs in production and distribution; social distress in the Northern English industrial towns; and issues such as the rise of the trade union movement and Chartism.
Objectives:
Our main approach is literary. How did the "working-class problem" find expression in the two novels under discussion: Charles Dickens′ Hard Times (1853), which was the "master′s" excursion into the industrial North (his "Coketown" is based on Manchester and Preston), and Elizabeth Gaskell′s Mary Barton (1848), which was not just the most influential industrial novel of its time and still the best-known of the genre but also the first novel by an author who, as a vicar′s wife, was familiar with poverty in Manchester. How are these novels significant – aesthetically and ideologically – 160 years later? During the industrial revolution, factories were established, and by the early nineteenth-century Chemnitz had become an industrial centre, the so-called "the Manchester of Saxony". Thus, we will also go on an excursion to the "Sächsische Industriemuseum" in order to become familiar with the exhibits that pay tribute to the particular temporal setting of the two novels – thus providing us with the "cultural encounter". Films on the "Industrial Revolution" as well as Brian Percival′s (dir. 2004) adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell′s novel North and South will round up this seminar.
Prerequisites:
Master-students need to have successfully completed their BA in English as well as the seminar pertaining to the MA-Modul 4, "Cultural Encounters" (except for students of other areas and ERASMUS / exchange students).
Requirements for credits:
The format of this seminar will consist of oral presentations and discussions. Each student will give an oral presentation (approx. 20 minutes), and chair a session or prepare questions for discussion (PVL). For the PL, students have to write a substantial seminar paper (15-20 pages).
Set Texts:
Charles Dickens (1994 [1853]): Hard Times. London: Penguin Popular Classics.
Elizabeth Gaskell (1997 [1948]): Mary Barton: A Tale of Manchester Life. London:
Penguin Classics.
Further recommended reading:
Friedrich Engels (1845): Die Lage der arbeitenden Klassen in England. Manchester;
also available in Penguin translation as The Condition of the Working Class in
England.
Louis Cazamian (1973): The Social Novel in England 1830-1850. London:
Routledge.

Content:
The Forschungskolloquium/Examenskolloquium is open to students preparing for their final and for their intermediate oral and written exams. It is intended to give students the opportunity to present their research projects and to raise specific questions and/or difficulties at an early stage. Further, students are encouraged to engage in critical debates over approaches and topics with their peers. We will also revise general and specific topics required for intermediate and final exams and discuss required reading lists.
Requirements for credits:
Apart from regular attendance, active participation will be expected. To successfully complete the course, students will have to give an oral presentation (15 minutes = PVL) and an oral exam of 30 minutes (15 minutes "Research Seminar English Literatures and Cultures" and 15 minutes Research Colloquium English Literatures (= PL).
Registration:
There will be a list at the door of my office (Rh 39, room 214). Please register there. A Reader will be provided at the beginning of the semester.

Content:
This course aims to provide support for post-graduate students who are developing their dissertation ideas and first draft outlines. The focus of this seminar will be on research in English Literature (including close readings of secondary theoretical texts and primary texts, but also the students’ own written work). Post-graduate candidates who engage in interdisciplinary approaches beyond English Literature are most welcome to participate to enhance the group’s interdisciplinary awareness.
Objectives:
This seminar will also offer special supervision through individual counseling. Moreover, the seminar will support doctoral and post-doctoral candidates on a professional level, especially with regard to topics such as scholarly writing for publication, pedagogic issues of teaching at university level, as well as information on how to apply for positions in the job market. In addition, support to present their work at (international) conferences will be given, as well as information on careers and funding support for scholarship applications and opportunities for gaining key supplementary qualifications (in cooperation with the Forschungsakademie Weimar).
Prerequisites:
Participants must have completed a Magister, Master or Doctoral thesis graded at least 2.0.
Requirements for credits:
In order to participate, doctoral and post-doctoral candidates are requested to hand in a title, an outline and/or a chapter from their research one week prior to the first meeting.
Set Texts/Required Reading:
Close readings of secondary theoretical texts and primary texts, but also the students’ own written work provided in due course.
Registration:
with Prof. Dr. Cecile Sandten

Pavan Malreddy

Content:
This course provides an accessible introduction to the theories and methods in literary studies. Some of the major theoretical movements covered by the course include, but are not restricted to: new criticism, structuralism, Marxism, psychoanalysis, modernism, postcolonialism, feminism, and postmodernism. Through a selection of short stories, parables, and novel excerpts, the course provides a literary platform to explore the diverse socio-political contexts of the theories and methods involved.
Objectives:
Students will be able to identify the major theoretical movements of twentieth century literature, including the empirical contexts that underpin them. Furthermore, students will be able to apply respective theories and methods to literary texts.
Prerequisites:
Successful completion of ‘Introduction to the Study of Literatures in English&lrquo;.
Requirements for credits:
Active participation and regular attendance is expected; a 20-minute oral presentation (PVL) and hand in a term paper (PL).
Set Texts:
A Reader will be provided
Tutorial:
The course will be accompanied by a 90-minute weekly tutorial. Attendance is optional but is strongly recommended. Time and venue will be announced at the first meeting.
Registration:
There will be a list on the door of my office (Rh 39, room 215). Please register there.

Content:
The adventure fiction of the Victorian and Edwardian eras (1837-1910) has played a crucial role in developing tropes of masculinity and gentlemanly traits, and in remapping the ethical and aesthetical parameters of European colonialism in the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. Taken together, the Victorian and Edwardian periods witnessed a prolific output of adventure literature by writers such as Rudyard Kipling, R.M. Ballantyne, R.L. Stevenson and Joseph Conrad, among others. This course aims to provide an introduction to both canonical and non- canonical adventure fiction, with a special attention to ′postcolonial adventures′. As the very term ′adventure′ connotes a hegemonic relationship towards its subject – one that is to be explored, tamed, and conquered – this course aims to contextualize whether postcolonial adventure fiction challenges or reinforces the aesthetic impulses of the Victorian and Edwardian eras.
Objectives:
Students will be familiarized with the socio-economic and cultural contexts that inspired the Victorian and Edwardian adventure literature. In the process, students will be introduced to the political anxieties and crises that inspired the masculine reassertion of (colonial) power both at home and in the colonies.
Prerequisites:
Master-students need to have successfully completed their BA in English as well as the seminar pertaining to the MA-Modul 5.3, "Advanced English Literatures" (except for students of other areas and ERASMUS / exchange students).
Requirements for credits:
Active participation and regular attendance is expected; a 20-minute oral presentation (PVL) and hand in a term paper (PL).
Set Texts:
Ballantyne, Robert Michael. The Coral Island: A Tale of the Pacific Ocean.
Hard Press, 2006 [1884].
Krakauer, Jon. Into thin air: A personal account of the Mount Everest disaster.
Random House LLC, 2009
Registration:
There will be a list on the door of my office (Rh 39, room 215). Please register there.

Mandy Beck

Content:
This seminar introduces major notions of feminist theory and gender studies in the second half of the 20th century, which are essential in the context of post-modern fiction. It will explore Angela Carter’s playful approaches to femininity as well as her provocative presentations of sex and gender in three novels.The focus of the course lies in the reconsideration of traditional notions regarding femininity/masculinity, sexuality, and identity.
Objectives:
Students are provided with a basic framework for analysing notions of sex and gender, and are furthermore encouraged to develop their own interpretive approaches. In addition, students are made aware of issues represented in post-modern fiction, such as historical constructs, social myths, and subversive strategies.
Prerequisites:
In order to participate, students of Anglistik/Amerikanistik need to have completed the lecture course “Introduction to the Study of Literatures in English” successfully
Requirements:
The format of this seminar will consist of oral reports and discussions. Each student will present an oral report (approx. 15 minutes), chair a session or prepare questions for a discussion and write a substantial seminar paper (12-15 pages).
Set Texts:
Carter, Angela. ([1984] 2006). Nights at the Circus. London: Vintage.
Carter, Angela. ([1967] 1998). The Magic Toyshop. London: Virago.
Carter, Angela. ([1982] 2006). The Passion of New Eve. London: Virago.
Registration:
There will be a list on the door of my office (Rh 39, room 213). Please register there.

Tobias Schlosser

Content:
Margaret Atwood is often called the most eminent Canadian writer. Though best known for her novels, she also writes poetry, criticism and short stories. In her work she focuses on human relationships, mostly between men and women. The Observer even called her “an outstanding correspondent on the war between the sexes”.
Objectives:
In this course students will analyse the way Atwood constructs male and particularly female characters and their interaction. Students will find out how she enforces or undermines stereotypes. Of special interest will be Atwood’s much praised use of language applied to her poetry, short stories and prose fiction. By looking at a selection of her poetry, short stories (here: The Wilderness Tips, 1998) in detail, as well as one of her most recent novels, namely Year of the Flood (2009), as an example of both her writing and dystopian fiction in /and on Canada, students will get an in-depth knowledge of Atwood’s literary work as a Canadian writer. Since her dystopian novel depicts a corrupt capitalist system in which business groups led by men who degrade women, and in which the female characters find shelter in a sect, it also raises crucial questions about the power of discourse in both religious and professional life.
Prerequisites:
In order to participate, students of Anglistik/Amerikanistik need to have completed the lecture course “Introduction to the Study of Literatures in English” successfully.
Requirements:
The format of this seminar will consist of oral reports and discussions. Each student will present an oral report (approx. 15 minutes), chair a session or prepare questions for a discussion and write a substantial seminar paper (12-15 pages). A reader with poems will be provided.
Set Texts:
Atwood, Margaret (1998). Wilderness Tips. London: Virago.
Atwood, Margaret (2009). Year of the Flood. New York: Anchor.
Registration:
There will be a list on the door of my office (Rh 39, room 213). Please register there.