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| Semester | fall semester 2011 |
| Course frequency | Every 3rd fall sem. |
| Lecturers | Philipp Schweighauser (ph.schweighauser@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | The beginnings of European modernism reach back to the late nineteenth century and the poetry of Charles Baudelaire, but most of the texts which are central to modernist literature as we know it today were written between 1914 and 1945, the years which mark the beginning of the First and the ending of the Second World War. In the United States, too, these years saw a spectacular flowering of literary experimentation that produced works whose innovative force every succeeding generation of writers has to contend with: Gertrude Stein's difficult and ingenious mixture of prose and poetry; the radical politics and equally radical aesthetics of John Dos Passos's "Manhattan Transfer" and "U.S.A." trilogy; the African-American modernism of the Harlem Renaissance; the succinctness of Hemingway's 'hard style' as well as the powerful long sentences of William Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury;" the very different poetics of Ezra Pound's "The Cantos" and T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" on the one hand and Wallace Stevens's "Anecdote of the Jar" and William Carlos Williams's "The Red Wheelbarrow" on the other; and Djuna Barnes's dark and daring exploration of alternative sexualities in "Nightwood." We will work our way toward this defining period of American literary history by beginning with naturalist works such as Stephen Crane's "The Red Badge of Courage," which can be read both as radicalizations of realist modes of writing and proto-modernist literary experiments. |
| Learning objectives | You are introduced to a formative period of American literary and cultural history. |
| Bibliography | The seventh edition of Volumes C and D (1865-1914; 1914-1945) of Baym, Nina, gen. ed., "The Norton Anthology of American Literature." New York: W. W. Norton, 2007 need to be ordered and purchased well before the beginning of the term (ISBN 13: 978-0-393-92741-2 + ISBN 13: 978-0-393-92742-9). If you plan to attend more than one part of this four-part lecture course, it makes sense to buy all volumes (A-B + C-E) of "The Norton Anthology of American Literature" (ISBN 13: 978-0-393-92993-5 + ISBN 13: 978-0-393-92994-2). You also need to bring along the handouts for each session, INCLUDING THE FIRST. They are available on ISIS. The syllabus and lecture slides are made available on ISIS. |
| Comments | Note that I am also offering a BA/MA seminar ("Modernist American Prose and Poetry", 28840) whose topic is closely related to this course. |
| Weblink | ISIS |
| Admission requirements | None |
| Course application | Not required |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | Online, mandatory |
| Course auditors welcome |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|
No dates available. Please contact the lecturer.
| Modules |
Interphilologische Lehrveranstaltungen für die Nordistik (Bachelor's degree subject: Nordische Philologie) Interphilologische Lehrveranstaltungen für die Nordistik (MA) (Master's degree subject: Nordic Philology) Interphilologische Lehrveranstaltungen für die Slavistik (Master's degree subject: Slavic Studies) Interphilologisches Angebot: Allgemeine Literaturwissenschaft (Bachelor's degree subject: Deutsche Philologie) Modul Allgemeine Literaturwissenschaft (Master's degree subject: German Literature) Modul Allgemeine Literaturwissenschaft (Master's degree subject: Modern German Literature (Start of studies before 01.08.2013)) Modul Aufbaustudium Deutsche Literaturwissenschaft (Master's degree subject: German Literature) Modul English & American Literature (Master's degree subject: English) Modul Extending the View (Literary and Cultural Studies) (Bachelor's degree subject: Englisch) Modul Focusing on the Discipline (Literary and Cultural Studies) (Bachelor's degree subject: Englisch) Modul Learning about Literature and Culture (Ausbildung zur Lehrperson für die Sekundarstufe I) Modul Learning about Literature and Culture (Sek-I-Fach: Englisch) Modul Learning about Literature and Culture (Bachelor's degree subject: Englisch) Modul Literatur- und Kulturtheorie (Bachelor's degree subject: Hispanistik) Modul Neuere Deutsche Literaturwissenschaft I (Master's degree subject: German Language and Literature) Modul Refining Skills in Literature and Culture (Bachelor's degree subject: Englisch) Modul Research Skills in English Linguistics or Literature (Master's degree subject: English) Modul Vertiefung, Wissen, Praxis (Master's degree subject: Spanish Language and Literature) |
| Assessment format | record of achievement |
| Assessment details | Written test (90 mins) toward the end of term |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | one repetition, repetition counts |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | as often as necessary |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Englisches Seminar |