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21757-01 - Proseminar: The Romance of the Road in American Literature & Film (3 CP)
| Semester | spring semester 2009 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Ladina Bezzola Lambert (ladina.bezzola@unibas.ch) |
| Content | For most of this century, Americans have treated the highway as sacred space. Roads and cars have long gone beyond simple transportation to become places of exhilarating motion, speed, and solitude. Yet the myth goes back further: at least since the adventures of Huck Finn and Whitmans Song of the Open Road, journeys across the North American continent have become journeys in search of identity both individual and national. This course focuses on the symbol of the road in its various manifestations in different periods and different media. |
| Learning objectives | Students deepen and expand their skills and prepare to write their first (shorter) seminar paper at the end of the summer term. In analyzing the American myth of the road in its historical and social contexts students will trace its relation to the definition of American identity, the dream of liberty, consumer culture, and much else. |
| Bibliography | - John Steinbeck, "Grapes of Wrath" - Vladimir Nabokov, "Lolita" - Jack Kerouac, "On the Road" - William Least Heat-Moon, "Blue Highways" - Neil Gaiman, "American Gods" (Books ordered at 'Labyrinth' bookstore.) |
| Comments | The course includes 3-4 film evenings. |
| Admission requirements | Successful attendance of the first semester of a Second-Year Course. In preparation, read AT LEAST the texts assigned for the first week (John Ford, A True Revelation; Stephen Greenblatt, Marvellous Possessions [excerpt]; both on the course server) as well as Steinbecks novel. (For more avid readers, the next longer texts on the program will be the novels by Nabokov and Kerouac.) |
| Course application | Places are assigned on a first-come-first-served basis: enrol by email to alex.van-lierde@unibas.ch, indicating your first and second choices. The first 18 students to enrol are guaranteed a place in the second-year course of their first choice; others may be shifted to one of the other two courses on offer in the interest of evening out student numbers. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|
No dates available. Please contact the lecturer.
| Modules |
Modul Refining Skills in Literature and Culture (Bachelor's degree subject: Englisch) Modul Refining Skills in Literature and Culture for SLA teachers (Sek-I-Fach: Englisch) Modul Refining Skills in Literature and Culture for SLA teachers (Ausbildung zur Lehrperson für die Sekundarstufe I) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Regular attendance, active participation, chairing a meeting including an in-class presentation |
| 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 | Englisches Seminar |