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48669-01 - Seminar: The Essay: A Bit of Cultural History Based on One Genre (3 CP)
| Semester | fall semester 2024 |
| Course frequency | Irregular |
| Lecturers | Ladina Bezzola Lambert (ladina.bezzola@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | The essay identifies itself in its name: essays 'assay', they test, search, and ask true questions, questions to which the answer is neither foreknown, nor projected; is not even the main aim in the process of searching for it. Essays are about setting out on a journey into the unknown and about representing the process of that journey in the very process of journeying. This makes the essay both a highly personal, dialogic, and a formless form. A form that, while strongly conscious of style and thus highly aesthetic, radically defies form as it defies closure and dogma. The genre of the essay provides an airy shelter to a wide array of topics covering several centuries: texts range from philosophy, science, religion, women’s rights, literary criticism, satire, and other domains. The aim of this seminar is thus twofold: on an aesthetic level, we will assay the essay as a Protean form reflecting a process of searching, writing, and reading. The second aim is historical in nature: by including texts dating from the late sixteenth through the early twentieth century, the seminar offers insight into radical ideas and thought experiments from particular moments in history, thus allowing students to sketch a cultural and literary history based on the genre of the essay. |
| Learning objectives | Students will familiarize themselves with a wide variety of cultural concerns in the history of English (and Continental European) literature and thought. |
| Bibliography | All primary and secondary texts will be made available on ADAM. For the first meeting, students are expected to read materials in the course folder to week 1. |
| Weblink | ADAM |
| Admission requirements | This seminar is for BA students on the advanced level who have completed ALL three introductory modules (including the proseminar papers). |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | Online, mandatory |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Monday | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
Dates
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Monday 16.09.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 23.09.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 30.09.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 07.10.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 14.10.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 21.10.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 28.10.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 04.11.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 11.11.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 18.11.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 25.11.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 02.12.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 09.12.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Monday 16.12.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Modules |
Modul: Advanced Anglophone Literary and Cultural Studies (Bachelor's degree subject: English) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | presentation, 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 |