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53969-01 - Research seminar: History of the Essay: From Montaigne to Coates (4 CP)
| Semester | spring semester 2019 |
| Course frequency | Irregular |
| Lecturers | Philipp Schweighauser (ph.schweighauser@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | Literary, scholarly, opinionated, and often deeply personal, the essay is an iridescent genre that takes on a multiplicity of shapes and colors yet is often assigned but a negative label: non-fiction. This graduate seminar invites students to enjoy the verbal virtuosity and discuss the pointed arguments of major essays penned across centuries and nations: from Michel de Montaigne's blistering critique of colonialism in "Of Cannibals" (c. 1580) to Ta-Nehisi Coates's reckoning with Donald J. Trump in "The First White President" (2017). Along the way, we will encounter Virginia Woolf's feverish "On Being Ill" (1926), George Orwell’s deeply ambivalent reflections on his own role in British colonialism in "Shooting an Elephant" (1936), and James Baldwin's searing The Fire Next Time (1963), whose lessons on race relations in the United States resonate powerfully today. We will also read and discuss a few texts - essays themselves - that seek to capture the nature of this elusive yet exciting genre, among them Theodor W. Adorno's "The Essay as Form" (1958). |
| Learning objectives | To provide students with an overview of major essays from the sixteenth to the twenty-first century; to gain an understanding of the various forms essayists have used across centuries and nations. |
| Bibliography | Virginia Woolf's "Selected Essays", George Orwell's "Facing Unpleasant Facts", James Baldwin's "The Fire Next Time", and Ta-Nehisi Coates's "We Were Eight Years in Power" should be read before the beginning of the term. We will proceed chronologically and start with Woolf. The Labyrinth bookstore on Nadelberg 17 has copies for sale. Consider supporting a local bookstore. Additional texts are made available on ADAM. |
| Weblink | ADAM |
| Admission requirements | This MA course is a research seminar for MA students, PhD candidates, and post-docs. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | Online, mandatory |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
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No dates available. Please contact the lecturer.
| Modules |
Modul: Anglophone Literary and Cultural Studies (Master's degree subject: English) Modul: Literaturgeschichte (Master's degree program: Literary Studies) Modul: Research in Anglophone Literary and Cultural Studies (Master's degree subject: English) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | no more than two absences, weekly readings, active participation |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | as often as necessary |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Englische Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft |