All literature must be read as a symbolic meditation on the destiny of community. (Fredric Jameson)
Sommersemster 2009
Vorlesung
‘lesen mit thesen’: an introduction into literary theory and cultural history
Mi., 14:00 bis 16:00, HS 6E, Gebäude 26.11
Literary texts are located in historical contexts; these define the ›pragmatics‹, or speech situation, of literature. Contexts thus provide the variable patterns, contents, and structures required to establish the sometimes only too possible, sometimes, however, blatantly impossible world experiences we usually expect to ›get‹ from fictional works. From another angle, contexts can also be seen as comprising the heterogeneous ›fields‹ to which aesthetic practices react in an infinite number of ways, by subverting or confirming, by questioning or re-founding, the historical coordinates of our epistemic, socio-political, cultural, or aesthetic ›common sense‹. Apart from more descriptive forms of structural analysis, it is the (in itself, of course, highly variable) notion of socio-historically emerging contexts that allows us to determine and articulate specific functions that seem to be characteristic of aesthetic utterance modes.
This lecture aims at a survey of cultural theories that offer access to the different sources of such contextual information: 1] the historical systems of knowledge (such as studied in Michel Foucault’s discourse analysis or in Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory of society, or, more generally, in the history of ideas and the sociology of science); 2] the historical agency of media technologies (as pointed out by McLuhan, Deleuze/Guattari, Virilio, or Friedrich Kittler); finally, 3) the wide scope of basic assumptions concerning different types of political and societal order in terms of gender, class and race (cf. the works of Derrida, Rancière, Agamben, Spivak, Butler among many others). By drawing on a broad set of examples from the history of English literature, i.e. texts from Shakespeare to Mark Ravenhill, from Donne to T.S. Eliot, and from Bunyan to Zadie Smith, I hope to exemplify and illustrate some of the possible theoretical settings that help us find our way towards such a functional-historical approach.
Texts to be read during term break: L. Sterne: Tristram Shandy (penguin); W. Blake: The [First] Book of Urizen (in: The Complete Poems, ed. A. Ostriker, penguin); M. Ravenhill: Shopping and Fucking (in: M.R.: Plays 1, Methuen); further references will be given in the first session.
Vertiefung-/Aufbaumodul/Proseminar
Narrative Beginnings
Do., 11:00 bis 13:00, Gebäude 25.13, R. U1.33
The title of this seminar can be understood in three different ways. (1) By concentrating on the origins (and the subsequent development) of what the early eighteenth century began to conceptualize as the paradigm of ›the novel‹, we will attempt to explore into the socio-historical and epistemological conditions of the genre’s emergence. (2) It is usually on the first five or so pages that novels tend to establish the narrator’s voice, the type of focalization/perspective and other crucial devices which allow the reader to imagine the fictional world’s coordinates he or she is about to ›enter‹. By studying such textual beginnings, the seminar will also provide a systematic introduction into the structural analysis of narrative texts. (3) Last but not least, we will analyze the novel’s capacity of employing narratives in order to initiate new forms of individual, socio-cultural and -political experience and behavior (“Setzungskraft des Ästhetischen”).
Texts to be read during term break: D. Defoe, Robinson Crusoe (Penguin); M. Shelley, Frankenstein (Penguin); P. Melville, Moby Dick (Penguin); V. Woolf, Orlando (Penguin).
Aufbaumodul/Hauptseminar
Metaphysical Poetry
Do., 09:00 bis 11:00, Gebäude 23.21, R. U1.83
Similar to the so-called period of ›Romanticism‹, 17th century Metaphysical Poetry is a term coined after the historical fact (by Samuel Johnson among others). Authors like John Donne, George Herbert and Andrew Marvell had, of course, not the least idea of their being ›metaphysical poets‹. Nevertheless, the term provides a convenient label for a group of writers who shared a common interest in distancing themselves from the common patterns of the, albeit young, tradition of ›literature‹ and thereby produced some of the most fascinating poems in the English language. Wavering between the traditional schemata of the past and an enthusiastic strife for aesthetic innovation, between the wittiest conceits of eroticism and the most convincing confessions of Christian faith, the literary works of these writers will provoke us to deepen our historical knowledge and sharpen our analytical skills.
Texts to be read during term break: The Metaphysical Poets, ed. Helen Gardner (Penguin)
Mastermodul/Hauptseminar
Film and knowledge: on the theory of cinema
Di., 11:00 bis 13:00, Gebäude 23.21, R. U1.42
This seminar takes up the media-theoretical approach of last semester (08/09) by asking how different media technologies tend to shape, or ›pre-structure‹, the human subject and its understanding of the world. From authors like Deleuze, Bergson, or Bazin we hope to gain insight into the structural and historical conditions of visuality. In turn, this will provide us with the systematic groundwork when further exploring ›the visual‹ in intermedia-based contexts of literature such as ekphrasis, figurative speech, perspective, point of view, or cinematic forms of narration, and, of course, when studying selected film adaptations of literary works.
The AP of the module will have the form of an “Open Students’ Conference”. Therefore, organizing and preparation of this event will be part of the course as well. Included in the seminar will be talks and meetings with representatives from different fields of business like event-marketing, job application training etc.
The course is open to Master students as well as students in the last phase of their Magister-, Lehramt- or Literaturübersetzerdiplom. (Having taken part in the winter-term course(s) “Understanding Media” and/or “Dwindling Nature-Rising Science is not a prerequisite for participation, but will be helpful.).
Text to be read during term break: Gilles Deleuze: Cinema 1: The Movement Image. (Continuum). Film and text samples are provided at the beginning of next term.
The seminar forms part of the project / module Science and Literature financed by the HHU Lehrförderungsfond.
Mi., 09:00 bis 11:00, Gebäude 23.21, R. 02.54
First-person Narratives: Part II focuses on narratives of the twentieth and twenty-first century. Of major interest is the status of the narrative voice: The mainly unquestioned integrity of the first-person narrator as in writings of the eigehteenth and nineteenth century is challenged and undone in (post)modern experimental texts. However, there seems to be a tendency in more recent and contemporary literature which restores authenticity to the first-person narrator while negotiating this quality in a new way. In the seminar, we will have a closer look at the texts in terms of genre, style, epoch etc and will discuss aesthetic questions/concepts such as realism and experimentalism, fact vs fiction, unreliable narration and so forth. In particular, we will pay attention to textual signals of "renewed" authenticity.
Texts to be read include selected shorter narratives by Samuel Beckett; The Collector (1963) by John Fowles [Vintage 2004]; The Cement Garden (1978) by Ian McEwan [Vintage 1994]; and Slam (2007) by Nick Hornby [Penguin 2007]. A copy of Beckett's texts will be provided at the start of the registration period (HIS-LSF). Students are expected to be familiar with these texts by the beginning of the term.
Basismodul
Introduction to English Literature
Mo., 09:30 bis 11:00, Gebäude 23.21, Hörsaal 3H
This course is one of four obligatory courses (or basic modules) for BA students in their first year. It comprises two parts, i.e. I. English Literature and II. American Literature, and ends with a written test in July 2009. The final test will be based on the topics of both parts.
Students have a free choice among the four offered courses and are encouraged to select the one that best fits their schedule for the term. They should, however, make sure that they have completed both, the English Literature Course (Kremendahl or Unterweg) and the American Literature Course (Schiller or Uellenberg) by July 2009.
The courses will provide basic knowledge in the reading and interpretation of poetry, drama, and prose fiction and will familiarize students with the development of the genres through the periods of English and American literature from the English Renaissance to Postmodernism. The focus of interest will be on literature itself and its historical context. Consequently we will discuss poems, short stories, sermons, political pamphlets, excerpts from novels and plays and other related material by key authors in order to deepen the understanding of each period.
The courses include an introduction to the various theoretical approaches towards literature, to the research strategies and facilities with regard to secondary literature, and to the basics of scholarly work.
For further information please contact: unterweguni-duesseldorfde
Leistungsnachweis: Der Beteiligungsnachweis wird durch regelmäßige Teilnahme und die Abschlussprüfung in der letzten Vorlesungswoche erworben.
Zielgruppe: Bachelor-Studierende "Englisch" im ersten oder zweiten Studienjahr.
Aufbaumodul/Hauptseminar
20th Century Plays: Text and Performance (Part II)
Do., 14:00 bis 16:00, Hörsaal 6E, Gebäude 26.11
Twentieth Century Plays: Text and Performance (part 2)
"The twentieth century is one of the most vital and exciting periods in English Drama, rivaling the Elizabethan theatre in thematic scope and stylistic ambition." (Christopher Innes)
Part 2 of the module will familiarize students with the historical context of contemporary literature, the nature of British theatre after World War II, the trends that have influenced and changed British drama over the subsequent decades, and a variety of authors and their masterpieces.
The focus of the summer term will be on Samuel Beckett and the “Theatre of the Absurd”, the new impetus on drama and theatre by the “Angry Young Men”, the influence of “New Drama”, female authors, and political plays from the Eighties onwards, and a detailed discussion of at least five major plays, their social and political environment, first productions, and critical reception. Participants are requested to be familiar with the first two plays at the beginning of the semester.
Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot.
John Osborne, Look Back in Anger.
Robert Bolt, A Man for all Seasons.
Caryl Churchill, Top Girls.
David Edgar, The Prisoner’s Dilemma.
For additional reading the following studies are recommended:
Nadine Holdsworth and Mary Luckhurst (eds.), A Concise Companion to Contemporary British and Irish Drama, London 2008.
John Smart, Twentieth Century British Drama. Cambridge et al. 2001.
Christoph Henke and Martin Middeke (eds.), Contemporary Drama in English. Drama and / after Postmodernism.
Vertiefungs-/Aufbaumodul/Proseminar
The Development of the English Novel (Part II)
Mo., 14:00 bis 16:00, Gebäude 23.21, R. .U1.81
The Development of the English Novel, Part 2: 19th Century Novels
The novel is the most eminent literary product of the 19th Century and the most distinctive and lasting literary achievement of the Victorian period (1837-1901). After having dealt with the origins and the fascinating development of the genre throughout the 18th century in the last term, part 2 will be devoted to the further developments in narrative technique, the practice and consequences of publishing novels in monthly installments; the enlarged novel-reading public, and last but not least to the great variety of subjects and subgenres of 19th century novels.
As the primary aim of the seminar is to survey the most important authors, genres and trends in the 19th Century novel, all sessions will be based on detailed readings of excerpts or full texts of the most widely read authors of the period, among them Jane Austen, Sir Walter Scott, The Brontë sisters, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, William Makepeace Thackeray, Thomas Hardy, and Wilkie Collins.
Students who wish to take part are expected to have at least read the following novels by the beginning of term:
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey.
Charles Dickens, Hard Times.
George Eliot, Silas Marner.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray.
I also very much recommend the study of the following secondary material:
James Kilroy, The Nineteenth Century English Novel. 1. ed. Basingstoke2007.
Louis James, The Victorian Novel. Malden, Mass. et. al. 2006.
Vertiefungs-/Aufbaumodul/Proseminar
Poetic Forms – Poetic Licence
Mo., 09:00 bis 11:00 , Gebäude 23.21, R. 02.22
A course on poetry within English studies seems to have something of the character of a “myth”-buster. According to widespread belief, the sheer diversity of lyrical literature denies attempts at structural or categorised knowledge, the language seems to prohibit attempts to understanding let alone interpretation: in short, poetry is something to be avoided, at best something for the “chosen few“.
None of this is true. Using a diachronic as well as a synchronic approach, this seminar will attempt an introduction to different lyrical forms, trace the development of others (e. g. the sonnet, the ode), explore the function of poetry in different cultures and epochs (from the 15th-21st cent.),come to terms with meters and rhythms and other descriptive categories, converse with the lyrical I as the partner and explore the phantom of “poetic licence”.
The seminar is open to Bachelor-Students in their second and third year (Vertiefungs-/Aufbaumodul) and the Grundstudium of the Magister-, Lehramt- and Literturübersetzungs-courses. The material for this course which will be available in a reader at the start of the registration period (HIS-LFS).
Mastermodul/Hauptseminar
De-Naturalised, Science-Enhanced Films
Di., 09:00 bis 11:00, Gebäude 23.21, R. 02.53
Taking up the subject of science in literature already explored during the winter-term, this seminar will focus on the filmic representations of the same fundamental question(s). This course of the module will concentrate on the practical analysis of different film genres under the given topic (e.g. science fiction, documentation, drama). Text and chosen films will be announced soon.
The AP of the module will have the form of an “Open Students’ Conference”. Therefore, organizing and preparation of this event will be part of the course as well. Included in the seminar will be talks and meetings with representatives from different fields of business like event-marketing, job application training etc.
The course is open to Master students as well as students in the last phase of their Magister-, Lehramt- or Literaturübersetzerdiplom. (Having taken part in the winter-term course(s) “Understanding Media” and/or “Dwindling Nature-Rising Science is not a prerequisite for participation, but will be helpful.).
The seminar forms part of the project / module Science and Literature financed by the HHU Lehrförderungsfond.
Dipl. Dramaturg Florian Leitner (GK Bild-Körper-Medium, HFG Karlsruhe)
Mastermodul / Hauptseminar
Cinematic Reflections of Visuality – with an Introduction into Film Analysis
27.04.2009, Mo., 18:00 bis 20:00, Gebäude 23.21, R. 02.27
28.04.2009, Di., 09:00 bis 17:00, Gebäude 25.22, R. U1.72
08.06.2009, Mo., 18:00 bis 20:00, Gebäude 23.21, R. 02.27
09.06.2009, Di., 09:00 bis 17:00, Gebäude 25.22, R. U1.72
29.06.2009, Mo., 18:00 bis 20:00, Gebäude 23.21, R. 02.27
30.06.2009, Di., 09:00 bis 17:00, Gebäude 25.22, R. U1.72
Visuality is not only the basic mode of cinematic perception but also one of its recurring themes– be it in Fantasy and Science Fiction movies (cf. David Cronenberg’s Videodrome) or in more „realistic“ films (cf. Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow Up). The course is going to examine different forms in which films refer to technological media, such as photography, television, virtual reality or cinema itself. The underlying questions will be: how do these films reflect their own medial and epistemological conditions? Do they produce knowledge about the technological production of visuality in our media society and its cultural effects? In addition, the first session will provide a general introduction into film analysis covering cinematography, sound and editing.
Preparatory reading: Knut Hickethier, Film- und Fernsehanalyse, 3rd Ed., Stuttgart/Weimar: Metzler 2001, pp. 55-70 („Kategorien zur Beschreibung des filmischen Bildes) & pp. 144-168 („Montage und Mischung“).
Further references (including more obligatory reading for the first session) by March 15th. Do not forget to check your uni-duesseldorf.de accounts!
The seminar forms part of the project / module Science and Literature financed by the HHU Lehrförderungsfond.
Isabella von Klass, M.A. (LMU München)
Vertiefungsmodul / Proseminar
Literature and Film
Fr., 24.04.2009, 09:00 bis 17:00, Gebäude 23.31, R. U1.66
Fr., 08.05.2009, 09:00 bis 17:00, Gebäude 23.31, R. U1.66
Fr., 29.05.2009, 09:00 bis 17:00, Gebäude 23.31, R. U1.66
Fr., 19.06.2009, 09:00 bis 17:00, Gebäude 23.31, R. U1.66
This seminar offers an introduction to film analysis with a special focus on film adaptation of literary texts. In terms of the theory and practice of film adaptation it will provide a toolkit for film analysis and a better understanding of the complexity of the cinematic code. Another main focus of the seminar will be on the process of transformation and media differences. Patterns of film narrative and film narration will be analysed in small research groups while working on screen adaptations of selected novels.
Further references (including obligatory reading for the first session) by March 15th. Do not forget to check your uni-duesseldorf.de accounts!
Sharlene Anders, M.A.
Theater-Workshop
Mo., 18:00 bis 20:00, Gebäude 23.21, HS 3H
(Achtung! Am Montag, dem 18.5.2009 ausnahmsweise in HS 3E!)
In diesem Workshop geht es darum, dramatische Texte gemeinsam zu erarbeiten und darzustellen, mit dem Ziel, ein Stück vor Publikum zu spielen. Auf diese Art sind in den letzten zwei Jahren drei Stücke der Hiss+Boo reloaded Company entstanden, „The Nailing of Endgame“, „Love and Other Inflictions of the HyperReal“ und „Grounded“.
Neben der Vertiefung der Sprachkenntnisse werden theoretische Inhalte praxisbezogen vermittelt wie z.B. Grundlagen der Schauspielkunst (Stanislavski, Suzuki etc.) und der Dramaturgie (Brecht, Müller etc.) sowie Einblicke in das zeitgenössische Geschehen des englischsprachigen Theaters gegeben (hier vor allem die Bereiche Physical Theater, Viewpoints-Training und Improvisation).
15 Termine zu 90 Min. (Montags von 18-20)
Die Sitzungen 1-3 sind zum Kennenlernen der Teilnehmer gedacht und zur Vermittlung der Basics für Schauspieler (Haltung auf der Bühne, Atem- und Sprechtechniken, Grundregeln der Improvisation etc.)
In der 4. Sitzung werden die einzelnen Aspekte der Viewpoints-Methode dargestellt und in praktischen Übungen vertieft. (Die Viewpoints im Einzelnen sind Tempo, Duration, Kinesthetic Response, Repetition, Shape, Gesture, Architecture, Spatial Relationship, Topography)
In der 5. Sitzung kommen die Elemente der Composition dazu. Hier gelten ähnliche Regeln wie bei der Filmgestaltung (z.B. Kameraeinstellung, Editing), auf die Gegebenheiten der Bühne abgestimmt.
So gerüstet geht es ab der 6. Sitzung in die Erarbeitung von Szenen nach Vorgabe (wie z.B. Texte von zeitgenössischen Autoren wie Charles L. Mee Jr. und Josh Fox) oder das Erschaffen eigener Texte, z.B. durch Improvisation.
Im Laufe der nächsten Sitzungen werden so Szenen oder sogar ein ganzes Stück erarbeitet, je nach Motivation der Teilnehmer (für ein ganzes Stück sind zusätzliche Probentermine anzusetzen). Das Ergebnis kann in der letzten Sitzung vor Publikum aufgeführt werden, als eine Art Werkschau. Kommt es zu einem ganzen Stück sind Aufführungen im Theatermuseum Düsseldorf und/oder dem FFT Düsseldorf möglich.