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72931-01 - Proseminar: Folk Culture and the English Eerie (3 KP)

Semester Herbstsemester 2024
Angebotsmuster einmalig
Dozierende Thomas Manson (thomas.manson@unibas.ch, BeurteilerIn)
Inhalt The term 'English eerie' was popularized by Robert Macfarlane in a 2015 article for The Guardian newspaper. In it, he describes an emerging body of literature, art, music and film that “explores the English landscape in terms of its anomalies rather than its continuities, that is sceptical of comfortable notions of ‘dwelling’ and ‘belonging’, and of the packagings of the past as ‘heritage’, and that locates itself within a spectred rather than a sceptred isle” (“The eeriness of the English countryside”). In this vision of England, the folk customs of yesteryear continue to haunt the thickets and hedgerows. Rejecting the stable, pastoral image of an English countryside fortified by colonial exploit and rampant agrarian capitalism, these works instead present a fascination for all things eerie and 'wyrd'. Well-thumbed tarot decks. Dolmens and stone circles. Ancient ley lines stretching across time and space. Grotesque Yuletide rituals and intoxicating beverages. All lurking beneath England’s green and pleasant land.

This seminar will chart the various literary and cultural iterations of the current folk zeitgeist. Beginning with the fin-de-siècle horror stories of Thomas Hardy and M. R. James, we will pick our way through the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. From the occult modernism of Ithell Colquhoun and Mary Butts through to 1970s ‘Folk Horror’ cinema and contemporary novels and plays, these works challenge our ideas around environmental politics, nationhood, Britain’s colonial past, and the possibility of enchantment in a disenchanted modernity. Ultimately our discussions will lead us to consider what constitutes this strange eeriness and why it refuses to go away.

Macfarlane, Robert. “The eeriness of the English countryside.” The Guardian, Guardian News and
Media, 10 Apr. 2015, www.theguardian.com/books/2015/apr/10/eeriness-english-countryside-robert-macfarlane.
Lernziele Students will gain an understanding of key critical and methodological approaches to folk culture (with a particular emphasis on theoretical work around hauntology and ecocriticism), refining their analytical skills as well their ability to apply theory and wider-historical sources to the texts in question.
Literatur Please purchase the following texts:
- Hope Mirrlees. "Lud-in-the-Mist".
- Max Porter. “Lanny”.

All other texts will be made available on ADAM.
Bemerkungen This course will take an interdisciplinary approach, considering the works of artists, musicians and filmmakers alongside our chosen authors. For those who are interested, there will also be the opportunity to explore the topic of ‘folk culture’ through practice.
Weblink ADAM

 

Teilnahmevoraussetzungen It is strongly recommended that this course is taken only after the successful completion of the "Introduction I: Literary Studies" and "Introduction II: Literary Theory" proseminars.
Anmeldung zur Lehrveranstaltung This course is now full, please contact the instructor to be added to a waiting list, or alternatively please register for another proseminar.
Unterrichtssprache Englisch
Einsatz digitaler Medien Online-Angebot obligatorisch

 

Intervall Wochentag Zeit Raum
wöchentlich Montag 16.15-18.00 Nadelberg 6, Raum 11

Einzeltermine

Datum Zeit Raum
Montag 16.09.2024 16.15-18.00 Uhr Nadelberg 6, Raum 11
Montag 23.09.2024 16.15-18.00 Uhr Nadelberg 6, Raum 11
Montag 30.09.2024 16.15-18.00 Uhr Nadelberg 6, Raum 11
Montag 07.10.2024 16.15-18.00 Uhr Nadelberg 6, Raum 11
Montag 14.10.2024 16.15-18.00 Uhr Nadelberg 6, Raum 11
Montag 21.10.2024 16.15-18.00 Uhr Nadelberg 6, Raum 11
Montag 28.10.2024 16.15-18.00 Uhr Nadelberg 6, Raum 11
Montag 04.11.2024 16.15-18.00 Uhr Nadelberg 6, Raum 11
Montag 11.11.2024 16.15-18.00 Uhr Nadelberg 6, Raum 11
Montag 18.11.2024 16.15-18.00 Uhr Nadelberg 6, Raum 11
Montag 25.11.2024 16.15-18.00 Uhr Nadelberg 6, Raum 11
Montag 02.12.2024 16.15-18.00 Uhr Nadelberg 6, Raum 11
Montag 09.12.2024 16.15-18.00 Uhr Nadelberg 6, Raum 11
Montag 16.12.2024 16.15-18.00 Uhr Nadelberg 6, Raum 11
Module Modul: Introduction to Anglophone Literary and Cultural Studies (Bachelor Studienfach: Englisch)
Prüfung Lehrveranst.-begleitend
Hinweise zur Prüfung Regular attendance, active participation and written assignment.
An-/Abmeldung zur Prüfung Anmelden: Belegen; Abmelden: nicht erforderlich
Wiederholungsprüfung keine Wiederholungsprüfung
Skala Pass / Fail
Belegen bei Nichtbestehen nicht wiederholbar
Zuständige Fakultät Philosophisch-Historische Fakultät, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch
Anbietende Organisationseinheit Fachbereich Englische Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft

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