Courses - Summer Term 2015

Prof. Dr. Cecile Sandten

Content/Purpose:
Storytelling is an ancient form of entertainment and education – from the epics by the Greek poet Homer, the medieval sagas of gods and heroes to orally transmitted folk tales in a broad range of countries. For more than 100 years cinema has been the continuation of this tradition – on celluloid. Therefore, an educational programme for children and young adults does not only include the studying of texts, but also films. Since 1996, the International Film Festival "Schlingel" has provided a great forum for this task. It offers young viewers the opportunity to watch films that would otherwise be unknown in German cinemas. The films, whose heroes are primarily children and young adults, tell exciting stories and convey profound messages that are both universal, and conversely, culturally specific. More than 130 films from a broad range of countries will be screened during the festival week. In addition, international guests (e.g. film directors, young actors) as well as an international jury will be present throughout the festival.
Objectives:
Since the Chair of English Literatures has entered into a cooperation with the "Schlingel" Film Festival this year (5 – 11 October 2015), students of this seminar will be required to participate actively in support of the festival also at times outside the regular teaching period. You will first be provided with hands-on material with regard to film analysis techniques that will help you to deepen your understanding of films and support you in the creation of educational material for children. Secondly, you will learn specific presentation, voice-over, interview and/or other techniques that are required for the active participation in the film festival.
Prerequisites:
Students must have completed the seminar pertaining to the MA-Modul 4, "Cultural Encounters".
Requirements for credits/Type of module exam:
The format of this seminar will consist of oral presentations and discussions. Each student will give an oral presentation (approx. 15 minutes), and chair a session or prepare questions for discussion (PVL). For the PL students will be engaged in hands-on activities during the Schlingel Film Festival (e.g. support and participate in the Festival, write and present film reviews, introduce films to the audience, chair Q&A sessions, provide / speak the voice-over text, or write festival reports).
Required Textbook:
A Reader will be provided.
Registration:
There will be a list on the door of my office (Rh 39, room 214). Please register there.

Content:
This seminar presents canonical as well new (i.e. postcolonial) English children's and young adult fiction, ranging from (oral) tales, picture books and novels, e.g. Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, Enid Blyton’s Famous Five, Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories, to J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter (The Philosopher’s Stone). It provides participants with practical strategies for analyzing these texts focusing on issues such as narrative techniques, the child hero, his/her quests and adventures, gender roles, as well as colonial/postcolonial conceptions.
Objectives:
Students will gain an insight into the various historical and contemporary representations of child heroes and young adults on their quests to adulthood and recognition in novels and film adaptations. In addition, literary theories such as reception theory, postcolonial theory, or narratology will be fruitfully applied.
Requirements for credits:
The format of this seminar consists of a close reading of primary, theoretical as well as secondary texts, discussions and oral presentations. Each student will present an oral report (approx. 15 minutes), chair a session or prepare questions for a discussion (PVL). The module 5.2 will be completed with an oral exam of 30 minutes (one topic taken from the research colloquium and one from this seminar). Students in Primary Teacher Education write a term paper.
Required textbooks:
Will be announced in due course.
Registration:
There will be a list on the door of my office (Rh 39, room 214). Please register there.

Content:
The research colloquium is open to Master students who are preparing for their final written exams. It is intended to give students a platform to present their research projects and to raise questions and/or difficulties they may be facing at an early stage. Further, students are encouraged to engage in critical discussions, and gain feedback from their peers concerning their research projects. We will also discuss a wide range of general topics and individual topics required for final exams.
Requirements for credits:
The format of this seminar consists of a close reading of texts, discussions and thesis presentations. Each student will present oral reports on their research topic (approx. 15 minutes).
Required textbooks:
Seminal material will be provided at the beginning of the semester.
Registration:
There will be a list on the door of my office (Rh 39, room 214). Please register there.

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, Zi. 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 and topics 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 TUC).
Prerequisites: Participants must have completed a Magister, Master or Doctoral thesis graded at least 2,0.
Registration:
with Prof. Dr. Cecile Sandten

Annika Bauer

Content:
In this seminar, students will investigate the relationship between literature and their cinematic adaptions. For this purpose, the focus will be on William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway and Vikas Swarup’s Slumdog Millionaire and their respective adaptions from 2004, 2007 and 2008. Students will be introduced to the concept of intermediality and the influence of media change with regard to different literary genres and periods. Issues such as the representation of an urban setting and the importance of the author and the director in the production process will be discussed.
Objectives:
Students will gain an insight into the development of literary adaptions. They will work with the concept of intermediality and will be able to analyse the methodological approach used in the adaptions discussed. Thus, students will be able to discern the impact and results of mixing distinct types of media.
Prerequisites:
Successful completion of “Introduction to the Study of Literatures in English”.
Requirements for credit:
Active participation and regular attendance is expected. Each student will present an oral report, chair a session or prepare questions for a discussion and write a term paper.
Required textbooks:

Registration:
There will be a list on the door of my office (Rh 39, room 022). Please register there.

Mandy Beck

Content:
This seminar introduces London as a living metropolis on which a lot of imaginative energy has been focused. Ranging from pre-war to post-war London, from modern to post-modern London, Thatcherism and New Labour, etc. we will discuss London’s transformation especially in the 20th century, which is reflected in a variety of contemporary narratives. Like the messy, medieval, organic layout of its streets London will be viewed as an accumulation of history, social myths and cultural confusion in texts by Virginia Woolf, Patrick Hamilton, Maureen Duffy, Iain Sinclair or Peter Ackroyd.
Objectives:
Borrowing from neighbouring disciplines, students are provided with an interdisciplinary framework for analysing notions such as fragmentation, disorientation, identity crisis, gender and sexuality in the city. Furthermore, students are encouraged to develop their own interpretive approaches. In addition, students are made aware of issues represented in modernist and 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 for credit:
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:
A Reader with seminal material will be provided at the beginning of the semester.
Registration:
There will be a list on the door of my office (Rh 39, room 213). Please register there.

Eike Kronshage

Content:
With the transition from feudal to mercantile economy, early modern England witnessed radical socio-economic transformations. The seminar intends to analyze the aesthetic representation, negotiation, and interrogation of mercantilist economy, by investigating five early modern plays from different genres (City Comedy, Revenge Tragedy, and so-called Problem Plays). To gain a deeper understanding of mercantilist economy, we will discuss excerpts from different economic treatises (Malynes, Misselden, Mun) about important financial innovations, such as double-entry accounting, levying of import duties, and abating of export taxes. Central issue of our investigations is the relationship between economic and literary texts: Are they related at all? If a relationship exists, is it a mutual one in which literature influences economy just as much as economy influences literature? To what extent can we understand the development of new generic forms as result of the above-mentioned socio-economic transformations? Finally, how have these plays inspired later economic theorists like Adam Smith (Wealth of Nations) and Karl Marx (Ökonomisch-philosophische Manuskripte)?
Objectives:

Students will gain a deeper insight into Elizabethan and Jacobean drama by studying five canonical comedies and tragedies. In addition, we will learn more about the complex relationship between literature and economics.

Requirements for credits/Type of module exam:
Active participation and regular attendance is expected. A short mid-term paper will count as PVL, a final term paper as PL.
Required textbooks:

We will study the following plays (in the given order):

• William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens [ISBN 978-1903436974]
• Christopher Marlowe, The Jew of Malta [ISBN 978-0199537068]
• Thomas Middleton, A Trick to Catch the Old One [ISBN 978-0140432190]
• Philip Massinger, A New Way to Pay Old Debts [any edition]
• John Webster, The White Devil [any critical edition, for instance ISBN 978-0141392233]

Please obtain the plays in the editions mentioned above! All plays are relatively short, and each can be read in a single reading session. Additional reading material will be provided at the beginning of the seminar.
Registration:
There will be a list on the door of my office (Rh 39, room 215). Please register there.

Tobias Schlosser

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 close reading of the novel Green Grass, Running Water (1993) by Canadian writer Thomas King, 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”.
Requirements for credits:
Active participation and regular attendance is expected; a 20-minute oral presentation (PVL) and a term paper (PL).
Set Texts:

King, Thomas (1993): Green Grass, Running Water. New York, Toronto, London, Sydney, Auckland: Bantam Books.

A reader with seminal material will be provided at the beginning of the semester.
Registration:
There will be a list on the door of my office (Rh 39, room 007). Please register there.