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| Semester | fall semester 2015 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Christiane Schlote (christiane.schlote@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | Jerome D. Salinger's picaresque classic, "The Catcher in the Rye" (1951), opens with the following defiant statement by its adolescent hero, Holden Caulfield: "If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like (...) and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it." In this course, we will be interested exactly in that: literary representations of childhood, youth and adolescence. Going beyond canonical works, we will examine coming-of-age narratives and their different functions in postcolonial and diasporic contexts. We will discuss how postcolonial authors subvert and re-write the 'Bildungsroman' in a variety of genres in order to trace links between postcolonial rites of passage, specific socio-cultural and political histories and discourses of cultural change and diaspora. |
| Learning objectives | Students will explore coming-of-age narratives within a postcolonial context and will be familiarised with key debates and issues such as self-discovery, diaspora and transculturation. |
| Bibliography | Students should acquire the following text: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, "Purple Hibiscus". Theoretical and additional primary texts will be made available on ADAM. |
| Weblink | ADAM |
| Admission requirements | This seminar is open to African Studies MA students and to BA English students on the advanced level: for BA05 students those who have completed their proseminar paper in Literary & Cultural Studies; for BA13 students those who have completed ALL three introductory modules (including the proseminar papers). |
| Course application | Please register by sending an email to christiane.schlote(at)unibas.ch by 4 September 2015. Places are limited to 25. |
| 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 Advanced Anglophone Literary and Cultural Studies (Bachelor's degree subject: English) Modul Culture and Society (Master's degree program: African Studies (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)) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Regular and active participation, reading assignments, oral 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 | Fachbereich Englische Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft |