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| Semester | fall semester 2009 |
| Course frequency | Irregular |
| Lecturers | Regula Hohl Trillini (r.hohl@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | Shortly after the publication of Henry Fieldings "Tom Jones" in 1745, two earthquakes hit London, and some people saw them as divine punishment for this "motley history of bastardism, fornication, and adultery". Fielding himself claimed to promote moral education and a responsible representation of "Human Nature" in his lively young hero and his hypocritical adversaries. What has probably kept this novel in print for 220 years is, however, the narrator figure. The "Author" opens the novel as a modest innkeeper who offers a menu to browsing readers so that they can leave in time if they dont like the fare. He calls critics "little reptiles" and his fiction a kingdom where he can do as he pleases, inserts an absurdly poetical chapter to show "what we can do in the Sublime" and worries about how to get his readers down from a steep hill. In a period when prose fiction was being established as a morally and artistically acceptable literary genre, such games undermine the narratorial and ethical authority which they claim to establish, and the tension between a perfect plot and "postmodern" instability continues to fascinate. |
| Learning objectives | Students exercise and expand the range of skills they have acquired in the first year. A more informed engagement with primary and critical texts will enable them to write their first (shorter) seminar paper at the end of the spring term and to make an informed decision regarding their further course of studies. Students will become familiar with Fielding's novel, with the literary and historical context of the mid-eighteenth-century "rise of the novel" and with the concepts and vocabulary of selected critical approaches. |
| Bibliography | Henry Fielding: "Tom Jones: The Authoritative Text, Contemporary Reactions, Criticism". Norton & Company. (ordered at "Labyrinth" bookshop). Critical texts will be made available on the course server. |
| Comments | Note: Participants must have read the complete novel by the beginning of the semester. |
| Admission requirements | For students who have successfully completed their 1st year courses in Literature and Culture Studies. |
| Course application | Enrol by email to alex.van-lierde@unibas.ch indicating your first and second choice proseminar. The first 18 to enrol are guaranteed a place in the course of their first choice; others may be shifted to one of the other two courses (23059, 23060). |
| 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 (Ausbildung zur Lehrperson für die Sekundarstufe I) Modul Refining Skills in Literature and Culture for SLA teachers (Sek-I-Fach: Englisch) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | ● regular attendance and active participation incl. short group presentation ● format of further assignments / assessments t.b.a. |
| 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 | Englisches Seminar |