Wintersemster 2009/2010

Mi., 14:00 bis 16:00, HS 3E, Gebäude 23.21
Mi., 14:00 bis 16:00, Gebäude 23.21, R. U1.46 (nur am 18.11.2009)

Polities define the ethical and juridical conditions of social orders under which policies (political contents) can be conceived and under which politics (political performances or actions) can be put into practice. 

This lecture attempts to argue that the development of 20th century drama can be seen as performing a significant shift from a concern with policies (Shaw, O’Casey, Synge) and politics (Wesker, Osborne, Pinter) towards an intensified problematization of the ethical and institutional boundaries of polities. Similar to contemporary philosophy (Derrida, Agamben,Rancière), playwrights like Sarah Kane and Mark Ravenhill explore the discursive and interactive settings in which contemporary political legitimation and action, social bonding and imaginary concepts of community find their shaky foundation. 

Primary References: 
Sarah Kane: Complete Plays (Methuen); Mark Ravenhill: Plays 1 (Methuen)

Secondary References:
Giorgio Agamben: Homo Sacer. Sovereign Life and Bare Life (1995). Transl. by Daniel Heller-Roazen. Stanford, CA. 1998.
Jacques Derrida: Force of Law: The ›Mystical Foundation of Authority‹ (1990). In: Drucilla Cornell et al. (eds.): Deconstruction and the Possibility of Justice. London, New York 1990/1992, 3-67.
Erika Fischer-Lichte: Theatre, Sacrifice, Ritual: Exploring Forms of Political Theatre. London 2005. 

Do., 11:00 bis 13:00, Gebäude 23.21, R. U1.69

It is with spatial terms such as ›high‹/›low‹, ›far‹/›near‹, ›left‹/›right‹, ›back‹/›front‹ etc. that we orientate ourselves in our environment and establish the realities in and by which we live. In this seminar, we will concentrate on literary representations of space in poetic and narrative texts of the early 19th century in order to explore the cultural, political, epistemic and geographical coordinates of the Romantic »world«.  

Primary References: 
Lord Byron: "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" in: Selected Poems (Penguin Classic)
John Keats: "Endymion" in: Keats's Poetry and Prose (Norton Critical Editions)
William Beckford: Vathek (Oxford World's Classic)

Secondary References: 
Alan Richardson and Sonia Hofkosh (eds.): Romanticism, Race, and Imperial Culture, 1780–1834. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996.

Jörg Dünne et al. (eds.): Raumtheorie. Grundlagentexte aus Philosophie und Kulturwissenschaften. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 2006 [Editors‘ »Introduction«].

Di., 11:00 bis 13:00, Gebäude 23.21, R. 02.26 

In contemporary sociology, »interaction« describes the dynamically inter-related field of cultural and epistemic practices and technologies from which local, or micro-social, contexts emerge (Bruno Latour). In literary theory, the concept of (aesthetic) »interaction« is used to describe how literary meaning is established through a feed-back process that involves an active reader in the dynamic structures of the literary text (Wolfgang Iser). 

Based on three case studies (Shelley’s Frankenstein, Stoker’s Dracula, James’s The Aspern Papers), the seminar will explore 

(a) what kind of socializing networks, or ›as-sociations, are represented/depicted by literary texts‹; 

(b) how the aesthetic communication between text and reader thereby constitutes a micro-logical process of (simulated) social practice and interaction; 

(c) how literary texts can be seen as cultural objects, or material artifacts, that actively participate in the productive networking of natural, human and artificial agencies which in turn constitute the self-generated economic, juridical, epistemic etc. contexts of the literary work.

Primary References: 
Mary Shelley: Frankenstein (Norton Critical Edition)
Bram Stoker: Dracula (Penguin Classics)
Henry James: The Aspern Papers (Penguin Classics)

Secondary References: 
Wolfgang Iser: The Act of Reading. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980.

Bruno Latour: Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Aufbau-/Mastermodul/Hauptseminar

(mit Katja Kremendahl)

Die Popularität der Literatur (Blockseminar zum Symposium)

Fr. 16.10.2009, 10:00-12:00, Raum 23.32.04.23 +
Fr. 11.12.2009, 09:00-17:00, Raum 23.11.03.21 (Teil 1)

Fr. 08.01.2010 – So. 10.01.2010, Malkasten Düsseldorf (Teil 2)

Das Blockseminar besteht aus einer eintägigen Veranstaltung zu theoretischen und praktischen Aspekten der Populärkultur  sowie der aktiven Teilnahme an der Konferenz »Die Popularität der Literatur«  (7.-10.1. 2010 im Düsseldorfer »Malkasten«). Im Zentrum der Konferenz und des Blockseminars stehen Strategien populärer Kommunikation und Interaktion, Aspekte der historischen Entstehung und Evolution populärer Ästhetiken sowie Verfahren der (Re-)Ästhetisierung des Populären (siehe auch: www.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/anglistik4/sonstige-veranstaltungen/tagungen).

Der erste Teil des Seminares soll durch die intensive Beschäftigung mit ausgewählten Texten der Konferenz-Referenten auf das Symposium vorbereiten. In Referaten werden die verschiedenen Forschungsansätze vorgestellt und im Dialog mit aktuellen Beiträgen der Popularitäts-Theorie diskutiert. Im zweiten Teil des Blockseminares können und sollen die erarbeiteten Ideen und Fragestellungen in den Diskussionen mit den ReferentInnen und TeilnehmerInnen der Konferenz erprobt werden.

Das Seminar richtet sich an ambitionierte Master-Studierende, an Bachelor-Studierende im dritten Studienjahr (Aufbaumodul) sowie an fortgeschrittene Studierende der Magister-, Lehramt- und Literaturübersetzen-Studiengänge im Hauptstudium. 

ACHTUNG: Das Blockseminar ist auf 10 TeilnehmerInnen begrenzt. Als Voraussetzung für die Teilnahme muss bis Semesterbeginn  eine zweiseitige ausformulierte Interessensskizze zum Thema der Konferenz eingereicht werden. 

Der Beteiligungsnachweis wird durch ein Referat sowie ein Diskussionsprotokoll während der Konferenz erworben.

Die verbindliche Seminarlektüre wird zu Semesterbeginn im Elektronischen Semesterapparat bereitgestellt. Referatstexte werden in der ersten Woche des Semesters vergeben.

^{Allgemeine Literaturhinweise: Bachtin, Michail (2006): Rabelais und seine Welt. Volkskultur als Gegenkultur. 1. Aufl., [Nachdr.]. Unter Mitarbeit von Gabriele v. übers. Leupold. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp (Suhrkamp-Taschenbuch Wissenschaft, 1187); Blaseio, Gereon (2005): Popularisierung und Popularität. 1. Aufl. Köln: DuMont-Literatur-und-Kunst-Verl. (Mediologie, 13); Danto, Arthur Coleman (1996): The transfiguration of the commonplace. A philosophy of art. Seventh printing. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press.; Esposito, Elena (2004): Die Verbindlichkeit des Vorübergehenden. Paradoxien der Mode. 1. Aufl. Unter Mitarbeit von Alessandra v. Übers. Corti. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp;  Fiske, John (1990): Reading the popular. 2. impr. Boston: Unwin Hyman;  Fiske, John (1990): Understanding popular culture. 2. impression. Boston: Unwin Hyman; Fuchs, Peter /. Heidingsfelder Markus (2004): MUSIC NO MUSIC MUSIC: Zur Unhörbarkeit von Pop. In: Soziale Systeme 10 (2), S. 292–323; Habermas, Jürgen (2006): Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit. Untersuchungen zu einer Kategorie der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft ; mit einem Vorwort zur Neuauflage 1990. 1. Aufl., [Nachdr.]. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp (Suhrkamp-Taschenbuch Wissenschaft, 891); Hebdige, Dick (1979): Subculture. The meaning of style. London: Methuen (New accents); Horkheimer, Max; Adorno, Theodor W (2006): Dialektik der Aufklärung. Philosophische Fragmente. 16. Aufl., ungekürzte Ausg. Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Taschenbuch Verl. (Fischer-Taschenbücher Fischer Wissenschaft, 7404); Huck, Christian; Zorn, Carsten; Huck-Zorn (2007): Das Populäre der Gesellschaft. Systemtheorie und Populärkultur. 1. Aufl. Wiesbaden: VS Verl. für Sozialwiss.;  Luhmann, Niklas (1995): Die Realität der Massenmedien. [376. Sitzung am 13. Juli 1994 in Düsseldorf]. Opladen: Westdt. Verl. (Vorträge / Nordrhein-Westfälische Akademie der WissenschaftenG, Geisteswissenschaften, 333); Makropoulos, Michael (2008): Theorie der Massenkultur. München: Fink; Schumacher, Eckhard (2003): Gerade eben jetzt. Schreibweisen der Gegenwart. Orig.-Ausg., 1. Aufl. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp (Edition Suhrkamp, 2282); Warneken, Bernd Jürgen (2006): Die Ethnographie popularer Kulturen. Eine Einführung. Wien: Böhlau (UTB Kulturwissenschaft, 2853); Zimmermann, Hans Dieter (1982): Trivialliteratur? Schema-Literatur! Entstehung, Formen, Bewertung. 2. Aufl. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer (Urban-Taschenbücher, 299); Zizek, Slavoj (1989): The sublime object of ideology. London: Verso (Phronesis).}

Dr. Marion Fries-Dieckmann

Vertiefungs-/Aufbaumodul/Proseminar

Shakespearean Offshoots

Mi., 09:00 bis 11:00, Gebäude 23.21, R. U1.69

Since their first stagings in the late 16th and early 17th century, Shakespearean plays have been the object of adaptation. In particular, there has been a notably bustling “Shakespeare industry” in the 20th and 21st centuries, with the profound innovations in the dramatic genre; with the new media, offering new and different approaches and reaching a hitherto unprecedented spectrum of audience; with the heyday of (post)modern intertextuality, bringing forth adaptations that tend to read Shakespeare’s plays against the grain.

The seminar aims at providing a deeper insight into elements of drama as a genre and of contemporary drama in particular. Its focus will be on the function of adaptions and the context of this prolific trend.

We will start with a classic of 1967: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead by Tom Stoppard which is a rewriting of Hamlet. Other texts will be announced shortly. Apart from that, close reading of Shakespeare’s ‘originals’ will be indispensable.

Shakespeare, William: Hamlet

Students may use any of the common Shakespeare editions; the Arden or the New Cambridge Shakespeare editions are to be recommended.

Stoppard, Tom: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. London: Faber and Faber 2000 [ISBN: 978-0571081820]. 

Lawrence Gough, B.A., H.Dip.Ed.

Vertiefungsmodul/Proseminar

An Introduction to Irish (Part I)

Katja Kremendahl, B.A.

Vertiefungsmodul/Proseminar

Detective Fiction

Mi., 11:00 bis 13:00, Gebäude 23.21, R. 02.22

Detective Fiction has been one of the most popular genres in literature since its beginnings in the 19th century. Revolving around the unravelling of a crime, the genre, exuding a fascination beyond the mere interest in the “whodunit”, has formed out numerous and various subgenres – from the classic mystery to the thriller.

By means of diachronic and synchronic methods, this seminar aims at an introduction to the development of the genre from Poe to Auster, as well as at a structural analysis focussing on the popular distinction between the classical (Doyle, Christie) vs. the hard-boiled detective (Chandler, Hammett), the crucial differentiation of the detective narration into “story of crime” and “story of investigation” etc. The chosen corpus of texts will range from short stories to novellas and novels of different periods to represent the wide range of canonical detective fiction.

The seminar is open to Bachelor-Students in their second and third year (Vertiefungsmodul) and the Grundstudium of the Magister-, Lehramt- and Literaturübersetzungs-courses. Short-stories and articles will be available in the Elektronischer Semesterapparat at the start of the registration period (HISLFS).

Texts to be read during term break:

Short Stories and Articles (Elektronischer Semesterapparat): Edgar Allan Poe. “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”; Arthur Conan Doyle. “The Speckled Band”, “The Red-Haired League”; Raymond Chandler. “Red Wind”; Tzvetan Todorov. Poetik der Prosa. Frankfurt am Main: Athenäum 1972. (Kapitel 4: Typologie des Kriminalromans, 54-64).

Novels:
Agatha Christie: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Harper)
Dashiell Hammet: The Maltese Falcon (Vintage)
Paul Auster: City of Glass (Faber and Faber).

Further references will be given in the first session.

Dr. Friedrich-Karl Unterweg

Basismodul III

Introduction to English and American Literary Studies: Overview English Literature

Vertiefungsmodul/Proseminar

Shakespeare - Selected Plays (Part I)

Do., 14:00 bis 16:00, Gebäude 23.21, R. U1.46

Shakespeare is regarded by many as ‘the world's greatest author', ‘Man of the Millenium', ‘the world's most revived playwright', or ‘the English language's greatest artist'. For centuries he has entertained readers and theatregoers, and many of the themes of his tragedies, comedies, and history still fascinate young and old in different cultures as if he had written his plays especially for them and for our times.

The course aims at giving a lively introduction to the bard's life and works by looking at his life from a new angle and by studying his plays in their proper context.

During the winter term students will be given a general introduction to the Elizabethan Age, Shakespeare as playwright and actor, and the play-going habits and theatres of his times. Among the topics discussed in greater detail are the dramatic tradition, the authorship question, the editions of his works, the general features of his plays, the social and political circumstances in which his plays were written, the reception of his works, modern criticism, and the production of his plays.

The focus of the seminar will, however, be on the detailed analysis of selected plays, among them several of the texts that were adapted by postmodern authors and which are therefore discussed in Dr. Fries-Dieckmann's part of the module: Shakespearean Offshoots.

All second and third years students of all courses who are willing to read a lot and to play an active role in discussions are encouraged to participate. The seminar is also open to students of the traditional "Magister", "Lehramt", and "Literary Translation" courses.

Students wishing to take part should order the following texts as soon as possible and make sure that they are familiar with the first two plays at the beginning of term.

Hamlet

King Lear

King Richard III

The Taming of the Shrew

This seminar may be studied either as a part of the one-term module Shakespeare: Then and Now or as the first part of the two-term module "A Shakespeare Survey: Life, Works, Times" (part 2 in SS 2010).

For further information please contact: unterweguni-duesseldorfde.

Recommended literature:
The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare ed. by. Margareta de Grazia and Stanley Wells, Cambridge, New York et. al. 2001.
John Southworth, Shakespeare the Player. A Life in the Theatre. Stroud 2002
Andrew Dickson, The Rough Guide to Shakespeare 2: The Plays. The Poems. The Life. London 2009.

Vertiefungsmodul/Proseminar

Literary Genres (Part I): Satirical Novels

Mo., 14:00 bis 16:00, Gebäude 23.21, R. U1.46

Satire as a literary genre has been popular since Greek and Roman times and is fundamentally of two types: Horatian satire and Juvenalian satire. While the first type is gentle, urbane, and smiling, the latter is biting, bitter, and angry, but both types attack the corruption and evil of men and institutions and attempt to inspire a remodeling of human institutions or humanity.

English satires very often appeared in the form of "long poems" (e.g. Geoffrey Chaucer's "Nun's Priest Tale", Samuel Butler's Hudibras, Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock) or plays (e.g. Ben Jonson, the Comedy of Manners, Oscar Wilde, Bernard Shaw), but it has been the fictional narrative, particularly the novel, that satire found its chief vehicle in the modern world. Jonathan Swift, Henry Fielding, Jane Austen, William Makepeace Thackeray, Aldous Huxley, Evelyn Waugh, and Tom Sharpe are among those English authors who made their novels "the vehicles for a wide-ranging and powerfully effective satiric treatment of man and his institutions".

On the background of the rise of the genre during the 18th century - a golden age of satire - the course will focus on the detailed analysis of selected 20th century satirical novels in order to familiarize the students with the various types, methods, and development of the genre. As far as reading is concerned, the course might prove somewhat challenging for students who have problems with reading longer texts in a short period - but the texts discussed are a good reward for this effort.

Students wishing to take part are asked to have read the first three of the following works before the term starts and to order the other titles in time:

Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels

Aldous Huxley, Animal Farm

Evelyn Waugh, Decline and Fall

Evelyn Waugh, The Loved One

Tom Sharpe, Porterhouse Blue

The seminar is also open to Master students and also to students of the traditional "Magister", "Lehramt", and "Literary Translation" courses, if they have successfully passed their Zwischenprüfung or Vordiplom.

For further information please contact: unterweguni-duesseldorfde.

Dr. Ingrid-Charlotte Wolter 

Vertiefungs-/Aufbaumodul/Proseminar

Women in Short: Female Authorship and the Genre 'Short-Story' in the 19th Century

Mo., 09:00 bis 11:00, Gebäude 23.21, R. 02.22

Stories have always been told: The history of the short-story may be as old as narrative itself. But it was mainly during the 19th century that the short-story as genre developed from its 'popular' form of rather small prestige to one of cultural and aesthetic value in England. Women writers made an important contribution to this evolution of the ‘tale’ and played a vital part in the development of this form. 

Apart from exploring the genre "short-story" as such and its diverse forms and characteristics in terms of narratology, we will investigate questions of the fantastic, the comic, the tragic etc. The stories chosen serve as examples for diverging forms of narration and deal with the questions of colonialism, class or gender.

Exemplary short-stories of a variety of female authors of the 19th century will be read, some of which are well known (e. g. Maria Edgeworth, Mary Shelley, Elizabeth Gaskell), while others have today been largely forgotten or ignored (e. g. Catherine Gore, Mary Diana Dods). Some of the voices are surprisingly ‘modern’, critical or even subversive. 

We will also be reading and discussing texts concerning Cultural and Feminist Studies. 

Apart from BA students in their Vertiefungs- or Aufbaustudium, this course is also open to students of the “Magister” and the “Lehramt” courses, or the (Diploma) Literary Translation Studies. 

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