Anglistische Literaturwissenschaft - Department of English

Chemnitz University of Technology

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Hauptseminar: From Tom Brown's Schooldays to Another Country: Critical Visions of the English Public School in English Literature and Film

Course Description

School is an (almost) inescapable fact of life, and adults often remember their schooldays with extreme feelings of either nostalgia or hatred. In this course you will be introduced to the history of the public school and school novels. First, we will discuss developments during the nineteenth century and explore the rise of the public school novel. Then we will consider how the topic was treated in the twentieth century, a period during which, generally speaking, a critical view of the effects of a public school education was presented in serious literature.
We will begin with readings of Tom Brown's Schooldays by Thomas Hughes and include a classic film version. Then we will analyse authors representing various ideologies: F.W. Farrar, Talbot Baines Reed, Rudyard Kipling, and P.G. Wodehouse. For the twentieth century, the focus is on James Hilton, Terence Rattigan and Julian Mitchell.

Prerequisites:

Zwischenprüfung

Credit Requirements:

Regular attendance and active participation in class, a presentation or group presentation, and a final paper (15-18 pages).

Required Reading before the start of classes:

Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's Schooldays (available from the university book shop). There will be a brief test to check your textual knowledge. A Reader will be available in one of the copy shops.