Courses
Courses in summer semester 2012
2.1 Introduction to Literature / 2b. Introduction to Cultural Studies
This introduction to cultural studies and the analysis of literary texts will give a survey of the history and genres of English and to a lesser degree American Literature and the New Literatures in English. It will also include a survey of theoretical approaches to reading and interpreting literature, such as New Criticism, Psychoanalytical Criticism, Feminism, New Historicism and Post-Structuralism. Compulsory set book: Michael Meyer. English and American Literatures. Tübingen: UTB, 3rd or 4th edition
Credit will be given for regular attendance, written exam (Klausur). Every participant will have to read Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five.
Registration: at the first meeting of the class – 23rd April 2012.
Background Reading: the latest edition of Michael Meyer, English and American Literatures. Tübingen: UTB.
The History of English in Ten Minutes
Chaucer: Prologue to the Canterbury Tales
Text and questions on Chaucer and his Age
Text and questions on Shakespeare and his Age
Wordsworth: I wandered lonely as a cloud
Text and questions on Romanticism
T.S. Eliot: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
English resources on the Internet
Hauptseminar Cultural Studies: Shakespeare and the Elizabethan Age
This third-year seminar will be looking at a selection of Shakespeare's works within the historical and cultural context of the second half of the 16th century.
Works to be discussed: the following plays representing a cross-section of his work:
Midsummer Night's Dream
Richard III
Julius Caesar
King Lear
A Winter's Tale
These texts can be purchased separately, or you might wish to buy one of the inexpensive collections of Shakespeare's works on the market. Individual books, however, have the advantage of containing detailed commentaries, for example the Arden or Oxford Shakespeare series.
There is no official registration for this class; the condition for participation is detailed knowledge of Midsummer Night's Dream to be tested in the first session 20th April.
Credit (6 ECTS points) will be given on the basis of regular attendance and an extended essay. For a recognised audit (Testat) students will be required to participate in a colloquium at the end of term.
