”Introduction to Literary and Cultural Studies” is a two-part course running over two semesters.
Part I (winter term) is a weekly lecture course all first-year students of English should attend. The essential introduction to literary and cultural theory provides in-depth coverage of the most common approaches to the study of literature and culture in English today. The lecture explains how the understanding of literature and culture and the ways we study literary and other cultural representations have changed over time. It not only gives a profound overview of seminal concepts and critical practices used in the field, but also shows how these discrete approaches respond to each other, how they are mutually exclusive, or how they can work together complementary. To illustrate these complex relations we will apply the themes and viewpoints of different theoretical trends, schools, and paradigms to the primary texts that students are required to read (see below).
Part II (summer term) will focus in more detail on the ways in which these broader theoretical, methodological, and historical considerations can be usefully applied to reading literature and other media. Using examples from a variety of primary texts, it introduces analytical tools and interpretive approaches such as genre theory, narratology, and film analysis.
All further details will be announced in the first meeting, which takes place on Oct 9th, at 6:15 pm in lecture hall H1 (Schlossplatz 46).
- Lehrende/r: Felipe Espinoza Garrido
- Lehrende/r: Markus Schmitz