552.280 (21S) Topics in Anglophone Literary Studies:(American) Contemporary American Retellings of British Classics

Sommersemester 2021

Registration deadline has expired.

First course session
02.03.2021 12:00 - 14:00 online Off Campus
... no further dates known

Overview

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it may be necessary to make changes to courses and examinations at short notice (e.g. cancellation of attendance-based courses and switching to online examinations).

For further information regarding teaching on campus, please visit: https://www.aau.at/en/corona.
Lecturer
LV Nummer Südostverbund ENL04001UL
Course title german Topics in Anglophone Literary Studies:(American) Contemporary American Retellings of British Classics
Type Proseminar (continuous assessment course )
Course model Online course
Hours per Week 2.0
ECTS credits 3.0
Registrations 13 (25 max.)
Organisational unit
Language of instruction English
Course begins on 02.03.2021
eLearning Go to Moodle course
Remarks (english)

Class sessions run for the full 2 hours.

Time and place

Please note that the currently displayed dates may be subject to change due to COVID-19 measures.
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Course Information

Intended learning outcomes

Through intertextual engagements with British classics and contemporary U.S. American retellings, students will develop an understanding of how various aspects of identity such as gender, sexuality, class, race, and mental health are portrayed in literature across space and time. They will also learn to critically discuss the literary aesthetics of realism, romance, and modernism.

Teaching methodology including the use of eLearning tools

online class sessions will be held via BBB on Moodle; 

short lecture inputs;

in-depth discussion of assigned primary texts;

student presentations

Course content

In this class, we will read two British classics side by side with two updated and “Americanized” retellings. We will begin with Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (1813) and her explorations of social class and gender expectations for women in early nineteenth-century rural England. Next, we will discuss Virginia Woolf’s modernist classic Mrs. Dalloway (1925) and examine her complex use of stream of consciousness to portray the psychology of her characters and explore issues around gender, sexuality, and mental illness. We will then consider two modern American retellings of both novels. We will examine how Ibi Zoboi’s Afro-Latinx retelling Pride (2018), set in modern-day Brooklyn, reimagines Pride and Prejudice through a contemporary look at identity, race, class, and gentrification. Finally, we will turn to Michael Cunningham’s The Hours (1998), which not only reimagines Mrs. Dalloway but incorporates Woolf—who suffered from mental illness herself—as a character in the novel. Spanning from the 1920s to the late 1990s, Cunningham’s retelling explores the lives of his protagonists in relation to shifting attitudes toward gender, queerness, and mental health in U.S. American society.

Curricular registration requirements

Introduction to Literary Studies II

Literature

Primary texts (you will be able to choose two out of four novels):

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Any edition.

Zoboi, Ibi. Pride. Any edition.

Woolf, Virginia. Mrs. Dalloway. Any edition.

Cunningham, Michael. The Hours. Any edition.


All other material will be provided on Moodle. 

Examination information

Im Fall von online durchgeführten Prüfungen sind die Standards zu beachten, die die technischen Geräte der Studierenden erfüllen müssen, um an diesen Prüfungen teilnehmen zu können.

Grading scheme

Grade / Grade grading scheme

Position in the curriculum

  • Bachelor-Lehramtsstudium Bachelor Unterrichtsfach Englisch (SKZ: 407, Version: 17W.2)
    • Subject: Anglophone Literary Studies II: Historical Surveys, Terminology and Practice of Interpretation (Compulsory subject)
      • ENL.004 Topics in Anglophone Literary Studies ( 2.0h PS / 3.0 ECTS)
        • 552.280 Topics in Anglophone Literary Studies:(American) Contemporary American Retellings of British Classics (2.0h PS / 3.0 ECTS)
          Absolvierung im 7., 8. Semester empfohlen
  • Bachelor-Lehramtsstudium Bachelor Unterrichtsfach Englisch (SKZ: 407, Version: 15W.2)
    • Subject: Anglophone Literary Studies II: Historical Surveys, Terminology and Practice of Interpretation (Compulsory subject)
      • ENL.004 Topics in Anglophone Literary Studies, Lehrveranstaltung ( 2.0h PS / 3.0 ECTS)
        • 552.280 Topics in Anglophone Literary Studies:(American) Contemporary American Retellings of British Classics (2.0h PS / 3.0 ECTS)
          Absolvierung im 3., 4. Semester empfohlen
  • Bachelor-Lehramtsstudium Bachelor Unterrichtsfach Englisch (SKZ: 407, Version: 19W.2)
    • Subject: Anglophone Literary Studies II: Historical Surveys, Terminology and Practice of Interpretation (Compulsory subject)
      • ENL.004 Topics in Anglophone Literary Studies ( 2.0h PS / 3.0 ECTS)
        • 552.280 Topics in Anglophone Literary Studies:(American) Contemporary American Retellings of British Classics (2.0h PS / 3.0 ECTS)
          Absolvierung im 7., 8. Semester empfohlen
  • Bachelor's degree programme English and American Studies (SKZ: 612, Version: 15W.3)
    • Subject: Fachliches Grund- und Aufbaustudium Literature (Compulsory subject)
      • Module: Aufbaustudium Literature
        • 5.5 Topics in Anglophone Literary Studies ( 0.0h PS / 3.0 ECTS)
          • 552.280 Topics in Anglophone Literary Studies:(American) Contemporary American Retellings of British Classics (2.0h PS / 3.0 ECTS)
            Absolvierung im 4. Semester empfohlen

Equivalent courses for counting the examination attempts

There is no equivalent course for the purpose of counting examination attempts.