552.281 (21S) Topics in Anglophone Literary Studies:(American) Death and All His Friends - Literary Experiences of Grief and Loss
Overview
For further information regarding teaching on campus, please visit: https://www.aau.at/en/corona.
- Lecturer
- LV Nummer Südostverbund ENL04002UL
- Course title german Topics in Anglophone Literary Studies:(American) Death and All His Friends - Literary Experiences of Grief and Loss
- Type Proseminar (continuous assessment course )
- Course model Online course
- Hours per Week 2.0
- ECTS credits 3.0
- Registrations 17 (25 max.)
- Organisational unit
- Language of instruction English
- possible language(s) of the assessment English
- Course begins on 09.03.2021
- eLearning Go to Moodle course
-
Remarks (english)
Attendance of the first session on March 9 is MANDATORY
PLEASE NOTE: all class sessions will run for the whole 2 hours!
Time and place
Course Information
Intended learning outcomes
In this class, students will learn to differentiate between different major depictions surrounding the themes of death, loss, and grief in contemporary U.S. American literature. In addition, they will be able to articulate some of the themes, motifs, and stylistics of Chicanx literary productions. They will gain a better understanding of how grief is understood as a social emotion and how influential a respective society can be when someone leaves this earth. Students will also further develop their skills of interpreting texts within specific socio-cultural and literary contexts and play close attentions to issues such as gender, class, sexuality, and ethnicity.
Teaching methodology including the use of eLearning tools
Short lecture inputs, in-class discussion of assigned primary texts through close textual analysis, group discussion.
Course content
Death, a strong sense of sadness, loss, grief, and despair are not only common tropes in literature, they are unfortunately quite present during these times. In this class, however, we will look at different stages and depictions surrounding the ends of our lives. We will examine a broad range of U.S. American narratives that depict both positive and negative ‘sides’ of this topic. We will start out with watching Death Becomes Her (1992) and how humanity’s endless pursuits and hopes of eternal lives could be achieved. Next, we will turn our attention to Lisa Genova’s novel Still Alice (2007) in which we accompany the protagonist’s Alice’s struggles as she gradually loses herself as she suffers from early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Here, we will pay close attention to how the disease rapidly takes hold of the renowned professor at Harvard University, deconstructing Alice’s personality and identity and how it affects her family. Then, we will watch the 2014 adaption, allowing us to discuss differences between novel and film while we literally see Alice’s slow decay. In the second half of the semester, we will turn our attention to Chicanx literature and culture and its portrayals of the theme “Death”. First, we will read Luis Alberto Urrea’s The House of Broken Angels (2018). In this novel, the beloved and ailing patriarch Miguel Angel de La Cruz summons his entire family clan for one last legendary birthday party knowing that his time on this earth is to end in the next few days. Finally, Cherríe Moraga’s memoir Native Country of the Heart(2019) gives voice to the voiceless. Watching her mother Elvira slowly succumb to Alzheimer’s and eventually die, we also get insight into what it means to be Mexican in the United States, and into an American story of cultural loss.
Curricular registration requirements
Introduction to Literary Studies II
Literature
Lisa Genova, Still Alice (any edition)
Luis Alberto Urrea, The House of Broken Angels (any edition)
Cherríe Moraga, Native Country of the Heart (any edition)
All other texts will be made available by the course instructor.
Examination information
Examination methodology
Mid-term response paper
PS-paper
Examination topic(s)
Assessment criteria / Standards of assessment for examinations
Final Grade:
25% - active participation
25% - response paper
50% - final paper
Grading scheme
Grade / Grade grading schemePosition 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)
- 552.281 Topics in Anglophone Literary Studies:(American) Death and All His Friends - Literary Experiences of Grief and Loss (2.0h PS / 3.0 ECTS) Absolvierung im 7., 8. Semester empfohlen
-
ENL.004 Topics in Anglophone Literary Studies (
2.0h PS / 3.0 ECTS)
-
Subject: Anglophone Literary Studies II: Historical Surveys, Terminology and Practice of Interpretation
(Compulsory subject)
- 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)
- 552.281 Topics in Anglophone Literary Studies:(American) Death and All His Friends - Literary Experiences of Grief and Loss (2.0h PS / 3.0 ECTS) Absolvierung im 3., 4. Semester empfohlen
-
ENL.004 Topics in Anglophone Literary Studies, Lehrveranstaltung (
2.0h PS / 3.0 ECTS)
-
Subject: Anglophone Literary Studies II: Historical Surveys, Terminology and Practice of Interpretation
(Compulsory subject)
- 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)
- 552.281 Topics in Anglophone Literary Studies:(American) Death and All His Friends - Literary Experiences of Grief and Loss (2.0h PS / 3.0 ECTS) Absolvierung im 7., 8. Semester empfohlen
-
ENL.004 Topics in Anglophone Literary Studies (
2.0h PS / 3.0 ECTS)
-
Subject: Anglophone Literary Studies II: Historical Surveys, Terminology and Practice of Interpretation
(Compulsory subject)
- 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)
- 552.281 Topics in Anglophone Literary Studies:(American) Death and All His Friends - Literary Experiences of Grief and Loss (2.0h PS / 3.0 ECTS) Absolvierung im 4. Semester empfohlen
-
5.5 Topics in Anglophone Literary Studies (
0.0h PS / 3.0 ECTS)
-
Module: Aufbaustudium Literature
-
Subject: Fachliches Grund- und Aufbaustudium Literature
(Compulsory subject)