The specific availability for this course is not currently known. If you would like to know if this course will be offered during your session, please contact us.
Content:
Over the course of the last two decades or so, a popular issue of debate at professional meetings is what is going to happen to literary studies as a field – now that Theory is dead (or, at least, in a state of devolution). In several sub-disciplines, the ‘post-Theoretical’ lacuna has been filled variously: some scholars returned to positivistic methodologies, others speak of a turn to ethics, and others still have turned to the cognitive sciences or life sciences for (theoretical) inspiration. Rather than providing in-depth analyses of the literary schools of the past or surveying the numerous new developments, this class will focus particularly on (re-)emerging interest in history, cognition, ethics, and form, evaluating how these discourses contribute to our understanding of literary texts and of literature.
Bibliography:
A detailed reading list will be available at the beginning of March and will be emailed to you once you have signed up for the class; however, students should be familiar with key concepts and/or ‘schools’ of literary theory (for concepts, see, e.g., Jonathan Culler, Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction (1997; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000); for schools, see, e.g., Peter Barry, Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory, 2nd ed. (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002).
Prerequisites:
Introduction to Literature, willingness to work
Assessment:
participation and written assignments (60%), oral presentation (40%) for 4 ECTS-Points; participation and written assignments (30%), presentation (20%), research paper (50%) for 6 ECTS-Points; participation and written assignments (80%), oral presentation (20%) for 8 ECTS-Points
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