Teaching SS 02

Seminar: "William Faulkner: The Art of the Modernist Regionalist".

Tue, 16:00-18:00, Room 5, K 521, K 522, D
This seminar will consider short fiction and two mature novels of the Nobel Prize winner forty years after his death. Unlike other North American fiction writers, Faulkner has not only stood the test of time but as an extremely versatile and experimental writer has elicited a wide range of theoretical responses which have recently highlighted his role-playing and his preoccupation with the role of the artist, while exploring his struggle with the social, economic and racial problems of his region. In addition to short fiction and experimental prose ('A Rose for Emily', 'Dry September', 'Wash', 'Spotted Horses', 'Carcassonne') the two masterpieces Absalom, Absalom! and The Hamlet will be discussed.

Vorlesung: "American Literature 1910-1940".     (click for details)

Thu, 16:00-18:00, Unterrichtsraum, K 524 The lecture course will present the gradual rise of American literature (both fiction and poetry) from the innovations of the international modernist movement to the end of the 1930s. Among the poets considered will be R. Frost, T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, the Fugitive poets, and e. e. cummings. The diversity of realist and modernist American fiction will be represented by Sherwood Anderson (stories from Winesburg, Ohio), Sinclair Lewis (Babbitt), F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby), John Dos Passos (Manhattan Transfer), Ernest Hemingway (some Nick Adams-Stories, A Farewell to Arms), and novelists and short story writers from the American South, like Thomas Wolfe (sections from Look Homeward, Angel), William Faulkner (As I Lay Dying or The Hamlet) and Katherine Anne Porter. Attention will also be paid to ethnic fiction by Jewish-American (Anzia Yezierska) and African-American writers (Richard Wright).

"Introduction to the Study of Literature in English".

Wed, 10:00-12:00, Unterrichtsraum, K 223
The aim of this course is to make students familiar with basic problems of literary studies and the critical analysis of literature. Students will be introduced to the essential concepts and terms of practical criticism and to a variety of literary forms and genres from various periods and countries (a number of texts chosen also reflect the diversity of geographical and cultural regions in the United States and Canada). Students will have to write regular reports and will be given some assignments to practice the skills taught and mediated in the course. There will also be a written final test on the topics discussed in class. The bulk of the texts chosen will deal with the experience of adolescents and young adults confronted with new situations.

"Specialized Seminar for M. A. and Ph. D. Candidates".

Mon, 16:00-18:00, Room 5, K 801 The class is intended as a discussion forum for students presently working on a diploma paper or a doctoral thesis. Participants will be expected to present their work in progress and discuss problems encountered in their research.

Impressum