551.356 (20W) Advanced Topics in Literature and Culture Studies: Postmodern American Fictions

Wintersemester 2020/21

Registration deadline has expired.

First course session
14.10.2020 16:00 - 20:00 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
Course title german Advanced Topics in Literature and Culture Studies: Postmodern American Fictions
Type Seminar (continuous assessment course )
Course model Online course
Hours per Week 2.0
ECTS credits 8.0
Registrations 6 (20 max.)
Organisational unit
Language of instruction English
possible language(s) of the assessment English
Course begins on 14.10.2020
eLearning Go to Moodle course
Remarks (english)

This is a block seminar which will be taught online in altogether 6 blocked sessions. 

Attendance (online) of the first double session on October 14, 2020 is mandatory. 

Enrolled students will be informed about the exact format of the class by email in early October.

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

Students will be able to articulate the typical characteristics of postmodern literature and to understand the most important differences between modernist and postmodern fiction. They will also gain insight in the postmodern American novel’s complex engagement with historical, political, social and environmental issues in the United States and elsewhere.

Teaching methodology including the use of eLearning tools

Short lecture inputs, extensive discussions of the assigned texts. 

Course content

What do we mean when we speak of postmodern American literature? How is it different from modernist literature? What, exactly, makes a novel postmodern? In this block seminar we will concern ourselves with such questions as we try to understand a literary genre that is famous and notorious for its use of parody, irony, satire and metafiction. We will start out with John Barth’s short story “Lost in the Funhouse” (1968), which will help us better understand some of the typical characteristics of postmodern texts and consider the issue of whether such a playful mode of storytelling can ever be serious. This question will be further explored in our discussions of thre postmodern classics: Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five (1969), Thomas Pynchons's The Crying of Lot 49 (1966), and Don DeLillo’s White Noise (1985). The last two novels we will consider -- Ruth Ozeki’s My Year of Meats (1998) and Percival Everett's Watershed (1996) will help us consider how postmodern narration intersects with political issues around ethnicity, identity and social and environmental justice. 

Prior knowledge expected

This is an advanced seminar for students at the MA level. 

Literature

Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five. Any edition. 

Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49. Any edition. 

Don DeLillo. White Noise. Any edition. 

Ruth Ozeki,  My Year of Meats. Any edition.

Percival Everett. Watershed. Any edition. 

All other texts will be provided by the instructor 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

  • Master's degree programme English and American Studies (SKZ: 812, Version: 18W.1)
    • Subject: Literature and Culture Studies (Compulsory elective)
      • 3.5 Advanced Topics in Literature and Culture Studies II ( 0.0h SE / 8.0 ECTS)
        • 551.356 Advanced Topics in Literature and Culture Studies: Postmodern American Fictions (2.0h SE / 8.0 ECTS)
          Absolvierung im 2. Semester empfohlen
  • Master's degree programme English and American Studies (SKZ: 812, Version: 11W.1)
    • Subject: Film, Literature and Culture Studies (Compulsory elective)
      • Advanced Topics in „Film, Literature and Culture Studies” ( 0.0h SE / 8.0 ECTS)
        • 551.356 Advanced Topics in Literature and Culture Studies: Postmodern American Fictions (2.0h SE / 8.0 ECTS)

Equivalent courses for counting the examination attempts

This course is not assigned to a sequence of equivalent courses