Current Courses
Courses - Winter Term 2016/17
Prof. Dr. Cecile Sandten
Content:
Britain possesses a rich literary heritage. This lecture course will provide insights into the richness, diversity, and continuity of that tradition. The lecture will cover the canon of English literature from the Renaissance to the Romantic period. The various schools and the historical periods that represent English literature include: Renaissance and Reformation Literature 1510-1620; Revolution and Restoration Literature 1620-1690; Eighteenth-Century Literature 1690-1780; and the Literature of the Romantic Period 1780-1830. Shakespeare, a towering figure of the English literary pantheon, will take the centre-stage. In addition, the writings of other major literary figures such as Donne, Milton, Behn, Defoe, Blake or Wordsworth will remain central to the lecture course.
Objectives:
Students will learn the biographical details, and the socio-cultural contexts in which the literatures were produced. In addition, students will be able to articulate the genealogical roots of literature and literary figures between various historical periods, and their succession and continuity to present times. Excursions to a selection of museums in Chemnitz will provide additional information on particular topics that the lecture course addresses.
Prerequisites:
None.
Requirements for credits/Type of Module Exam:
As part of the credit points, regular attendance and active in-class participation are required. In addition, students are expected to read the assigned texts for the lecture course. For the successful completion of this course students have to write three essays during the course of the semester. BA_3 students must have successfully completed the lecture course of Module 2.3 English Literatures and Cultures I, History of Literatures in English: From Romanticism to the Present.
Registration:
There will be a list at the door of my office (Rh 39, room 214). Please register there.
Set Texts:
William Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream (1605)
William Shakespeare: The Tempest (1611)
Aphra Behn: Oroonoko, or the Royal Slave (1688)
Daniel Defoe: Robinson Crusoe (1719)
In addition, a reader with seminal material will be provided at the beginning of the semester.Content:
Due to its colonial legacy, today’s British society is characterized by complex social, cultural and racial encounters. By introducing students to the works of Black and Asian writers in Britain, this seminar offers historically informed literary and cultural contexts for an understanding of contemporary British multi-ethnic society. Dealing with literary representations of diasporic identities, students will engage with the questions of belonging, the search for identity, the concept of ‘home’ and the hybrid notion of living ‘in-between’ two cultures.
Objectives:
Focusing on Britain's diverse cultural heritage, we will explore a wide spectrum of literary and theoretical texts from a postcolonial perspective, ranging from Sam Selvon's novel The Lonely Londoners (1956), Buchi Emecheta's semiautobiographical text Second-Class Citizen (1974), Hanif Kureishi's filmscript (and film) My Beautiful Laundrette (1985), Meera Syal's novel Anita and Me (1996), or Chris Cleave's more recent novel The Other Hand (2008) to short stories, poems and critical essays by selected authors. Thus, students will get an in-depth knowledge of the literary, cultural and socio-historical contexts in and against which Black and Asian British literature is written and read. In addition, Meera Syal's BBC-4 Englishlanguage sketch comedy Goodness Gracious Me (1996–2001) will be discussed in greater detail as part of the idea of postcolonial laughter.
Prerequisite:
A completed BA in English.
Requirements for credit:
Active participation in every session of the class is expected. A presentation or partner or group presentation of 20 minutes (PVL) as well as a final term paper (15-18 pages) are required for the module exam.
Set texts:
Emecheta, Buchi (1974): Second-Class Citizen. Allison & Busby,London
Kureishi, Hanif (1985): My Beautiful Laundrette. Filmscript.
Selvon, Sam (1956): The Lonely Londoners. Longman
Syal, Meera (1996): Anita and Me. Flamingo.
A reader with selected poems, short stories and theoretical texts will be provided at the beginning of the semester.
Registration:
There will be a list at the door of my office (RH 39, room 214). Please register there.Content:
In this seminar, students are concerned with the cultural context and material and economic conditions for the production and reception of Shakespeare’s theatre during the English Renaissance. Starting with an introduction to Shakespeare's theatre and the world view of its audience, this seminar will then attach great importance to the major thematic concerns of three plays, Shakespeare's comedies A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado about Nothing and his tragedy Othello.
Objectives:
The aim of this seminar is to introduce students to three major Shakespearean plays that have become key texts in early modern Europe’s debate about 'class', race and ethnicity, on the one hand, and gender, on the other. While the tragedy Othello dramatises the cultural anxieties aroused by a black outsider occupying centre-stage, and discusses Europe’s relationship with Africa, the comedy Much Ado about Nothing focuses on two characters, namely Beatrice and Benedick, whose verbal combat is famous among Elizabethan dialogue between the sexes. In a Midsummer Night's Dream, concepts of different worlds (the forest or the magical world of the fairies) and manipulation are at the centre of the play. Therefore, our analysis of the three plays will have to include a discussion of the extent to which Shakespeare drew upon, contributed to, or modified notions of otherness, womanhood, and patriarchy dominating in his own day.
In a further step, this seminar addresses a number of considerations associated with 'revisioning' texts to the contemporary stage as well as to film, offering an in-depth analysis of the ways in which e.g. Kenneth Branagh’s 1993 rendition of Much Ado about Nothing, or Oliver Parker’s 1995 adaptation of Othello use imagery and filmediting techniques to capture aspects of the original script that would have been impossible on stage.
Apart from an in-depths study of drama text and film adaptation (also a few more recent ones will be selected), students will get the chance to watch – whenever possible – contemporary theatre performances of Shakespeare’s plays (excursions) and cooperate with the Carl-von-Bach-Gymnasium in Stollberg in the frame of the school's teaching and art project on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Prerequisites:
Master-students need to have successfully completed their BA in English.
Requirements for Credit:
Regular attendance as well as reading the texts is required and part of the Credit Points allocation. The format of this seminar will consist of oral presentations and discussions. Each student will present an oral report (approx. 20 minutes), chair a session or prepare questions for a discussion (PVL: MA_1, MA_3) and write a substantial seminar paper (15 – 18 pages; MA_1, PL) or take an oral exam (15 minutes; MA_3).
Registration:
There will be a list at the door of my office (Rh 39, Zi. 214). Please register there.
Set Texts:
Shakespeare, William (1998 [1604]): Othello. E.A.J. Honigmann (ed.) The Arden Edition of the Works of William Shakespeare. London: Thomson.
Shakespeare, William (2002 [1598/99]): Much Ado about Nothing. A. R. Humphreys (ed.) The Arden Edition of the Works of William Shakespeare. London: Thomson.
Shakespeare, William (1997 [1605]): A Midsummer Night's Dream. Harold F. Brooks (ed.) The Arden Edition of the Works of William Shakespeare. London: Thomson.
A reader with seminal material will be provided at the beginning of the semester.
Content:
The Research Colloquium is open to students who are preparing for their final oral and written exams. It is intended to give students a platform to present their projects and to raise questions and/or difficulties they may be facing at an early stage of their research. 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 an oral report (approx. 15 minutes), chair a session or prepare questions for a discussion (PVL).
Set Texts/Required Reading:
A reader with seminal material will be provided at the beginning of the semester.
Registration:
There will be a list at the door of my office (Rh 39, room 214). Please register there.
4-tägiges Blockseminar
233 or 022
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.
Prerequisites: Participants must have completed a Magister, Master or Doctoral thesis graded at least 2,0.Mandy Beck
Content/Objectives:
Conducting literary studies at university level, this lecture course will provide an accessible introduction to the fundamentals of literary analyses, such as terms, concepts and methods. A number of texts of different genres (i.e. poetry, drama and narrative fiction including examples from the so-called New English Literatures), covering a period from the 17th to 21st century, have been selected. Discussions in class and short assignments will emphasize close reading skills and the development of effective strategies for critical and analytical thinking. Moreover, this lecture will be paying attention to working and research techniques.
The lecture will be accompanied by a weekly tutorial (details will be announced at the beginning of the course).
Prerequisites:
None
Requirements for credits/Type of module exam:
Apart from regular attendance, active participation will be expected: as this lecture class is a community, you are asked to support that community also as part of your credit points. For the successful completion of the course there will be a 90-minute written exam at the end of the semester. Please note: Instead of the written exam, LAGS students are required to attend at least 10 sessions and write a portfolio in order to complete the course.
Required textbooks:
Ansgar und Vera Nünning (latest edition): Introduction to the Study of English and American Literature. Klett Verlag.
In addition, a reader will be provided at the beginning of the semester.
Registration:
There will be a list at the door of my office (Rh 39, room 213). Please register there.Eike Kronshage
Content:
In 2016, we are celebrating Shakespeare's 400th anniversary. This lecture course will therefore introduce students to three of Shakespeare's best-known tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear. In several close readings, we want to investigate the reasons for their canonic status and how they have inspired the work of later generations of writers (Stoppard, Davalos) and film makers (Edward Dmytryk: Broken Lance [1954]; Orson Welles: The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice [1952]; Michael Almereyda: Hamlet [2000]). In addition, this lecture course will serve as an introduction to early modern literature and society in general.
Objectives:
Genre theory (what is a tragedy?); Critical engagement with the literary canon (what is a canon?); Introduction to early modern literature (why was it such a 'golden age' for British literature?); Shakespeare in the twentieth century (films and plays inspired by Shakespeare's tragedies); Theory of intertextuality/intermediality
Set texts:
Please obtain the Arden Shakespeare Third (!) edition (no other edition!):
Hamlet (ed. Harold Jenkins, 2000) Arden Shakespeare [ISBN 978-1904271338]
Othello (ed. E.A.J.Honigmann, 2002) Arden Shakespeare [ISBN 978-1903436455]
King Lear (ed. R.A.Foakes, 1997) Arden Shakespeare [ISBN 978-1903436592]
In addition, please obtain the following two books:
Tom Stoppard. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1966) [ISBN 978-0571081820]
David Davalos. Wittenberg: A Tragical-comical-historical in Two Acts (2008) [ISBN 978-0822224426]
Prerequisites:
Students must have successfully completed the lecture course "Introduction to the Study of Literatures in English" (does not apply to visiting students, e.g. ERASMUS). Participants (BA_AA_3; B_EE_3) must have successfully completed module 2.3.
Registration:
By e-mail: eike.kronshage@…. Necessary information: Your name, semester, and status (e.g. ERASMUS).Content:
Given the Victorians' obsession with the visible world, it is hardly surprising that the nineteenth century saw the emergence of a new literary genre that features characters "whose business it is to keep a person, place, etc., under close observation" (OED, spy, n.). This seminar investigates the early twentieth-century spy novel in terms of its "visuality", its genre (how much does it owe to other genres like the detective novel or the imperial romance, where does it deviate from them?), its political context (the spy as a male European preventing the invasion of his country), its reception history (spy fiction between popular and highbrow culture), and its influence on both film and novel of the twentieth century. We will be reading the enjoyable (and challenging) work of five canonic British authors: Arthur Conan Doyle, Rudyard Kipling, John Buchan, Joseph Conrad, and W. Somerset Maugham. Three of the five texts were made into movies by British director Alfred Hitchcock, showing the genre's unbroken popularity after the Great War. We will discuss the three films by Hitchcock, using theories of intermediality to grasp their particular way of narrating spy stories, as well as their relationship to the novels.
Objectives:
Critical engagement with canonic texts and their reception; Knowledge of political history; Intermedial analysis of films based on novels; Genre theory; Visual studies
Prerequisites:
Students must have successfully completed the lecture course "Introduction to the Study of Literatures in English" (does not apply to visiting students, e.g. ERASMUS).
Requirements for credits/Type of Module Exam:
Students must read all novels and participate in classroom discussions. An oral presentation and two brief written assignments during the semester will count as PVL, a substantial seminar paper (12-15 pages) as PL.
Set Texts:
Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes stories [any edition]
"The Speckled Band" (1892)
"The Blue Carbuncle" (1892)
"The Second Stain" (1904)
"The Bruce-Partington Plans" (1912)
"His Last Bow" (1917)
Rudyard Kipling, Kim (1901) – Penguin Classics (ISBN 978-0141442372)
John Buchan, The 39 Steps (1915) – any edition
W. Somerset Maugham, Ashenden (1928) – Vintage Classics (ISBN 978-0099289708)
Joseph Conrad, The Secret Agent (1907) – any edition
Please obtain the novels in the edition mentioned above. In addition, we will watch the following four films most of them are in the public domain and available online:
Alfred Hitchcock: The 39 Steps (1935)
Alfred Hitchcock: The Secret Agent (1936) (=Ashenden)
Alfred Hitchcock: Sabotage (1936) (=Conrad's The Secret Agent)
Christopher Hampton: The Secret Agent (1996)
Registration:
By e-mail: eike.kronshage@…. Necessary information: Your name, semester, and status (e.g. ERASMUS).Tobias Schlosser
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