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34634-01 - Seminar: Literary Non-Fiction in South Africa: Fact-Fiction-Faction (3 CP)
| Semester | fall semester 2013 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers |
Patrick Harries (patrick.harries@unibas.ch, Assessor)
Therese Steffen (therese.steffen@unibas.ch) |
| Content | Several critics have suggested that the most significant contemporary writing in South Africa is emerging in non-ficitional modes that combine the genres employed by both historians and novelists. The work of authors like Antony Altbeker, Antjie Krog, Jonny Steinberg, Peter Harris and Ivan Vladislavić come to mind. This seminar sets out to ask why such claims are being made now, and what they can tell us about the status of "the literary" in contemporary South Africa. From Tom Wolfe's The New Journalism (1973) to J.M. Coetzee's "The Novel Today" (1988) and, more recently, David Shield's Reality Hunger (2010), the relationship between ambitious non-fiction and the serious novel has often been portrayed as one of antagonism and rivalry. Yet, instances of fiction and non-fiction from South Africa have in fact for a long time been in an intense, intimate and "constitutive" dialogue with each other. This seminar offers a survey of hybrid texts between fact and fiction, looks at the narrative strategies used by historians and novelists and, in general, seeks to conceptualize "the literary" in the space in South Africa between fact-fiction-faction. |
| Bibliography | Apart from works by the authors mentioned above: Hedley Twidle, 'In a country where you couldn't make this shit up? Literary non-fiction in South Africa' Safundi 13, 1-2, 2012, pp.5-28 André Brink, 'Stories of history: reimagining the past in post-apartheid South Africa' in Negotiating the Past: The Making of Memory in South Africa (1998), eds., Sarah Nuttall, Carli Coetzee Mahmood Kooria, 'Between the Walls of Archives and Horizons of Imagination: an interview with Amitav Ghosh' Itinerario 36, 3, 2012 |
| Comments | - Zielgruppe: Fortgeschrittene Bachelor- und Masterstudierende der Geschichte und der Anglistik. |
| Admission requirements | Abgeschlossene Grundstufe Bachelor. Anmeldung über www.isis.unibas.ch ist obligatorisch. |
| Course application | Anmeldung über www.isis.unibas.ch ist obligatorisch. |
| Language of instruction | German |
| Use of digital media | Online, optional |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|
No dates available. Please contact the lecturer.
| Modules |
Aufbaumodul Neuere und Neueste Geschichte (Bachelor's degree subject: History (Start of studies before 01.08.2013)) Modul Advanced Anglophone Literary and Cultural Studies (Bachelor's degree subject: English) Modul Analysefelder: Ideen - Diskurse - Wissen (Master's degree program: European History) Modul Anglophone Literary and Cultural Studies (Master's degree subject: English) Modul Aufbau Neuere / Neueste Geschichte (Bachelor's degree subject: History) Modul Culture and Society (Master's degree program: African Studies (Start of studies before 01.08.2013)) Modul English & American Literature (Master's degree subject: English (Start of studies before 01.08.2013)) Modul Epochen der europäischen Geschichte: Neuere / Neueste Geschichte (Master's degree program: European History) Modul Ereignisse, Prozesse, Zusammenhänge (Master's degree subject: History (Start of studies before 01.08.2013)) Modul Extending the View (Literary and Cultural Studies) (Bachelor's degree subject: English (Start of studies before 01.08.2013)) Modul Fields: Knowledge Production and Transfer (Master's degree program: African Studies) Modul Fields: Media and Imagination (Master's degree program: African Studies) Modul Focusing on the Discipline (Literary and Cultural Studies) (Bachelor's degree subject: English (Start of studies before 01.08.2013)) Modul History (Master's degree program: African Studies (Start of studies before 01.08.2013)) Modul Kommunikation und Vermittlung historischer Erkenntnisse (Master's degree subject: History (Start of studies before 01.08.2013)) Modul Methoden und Diskurse historischer Forschung (Master's degree subject: History (Start of studies before 01.08.2013)) Modul Neuere / Neueste Geschichte (Master's degree subject: History) Modul Neuere und Neueste Geschichte (Master's degree subject: History (Start of studies before 01.08.2013)) Modul Profil: Geschichte Afrikas (Master's degree program: European History) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Aktive Teilnahme |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Departement Geschichte |