| Course title | Selected chapters from American literature 2 |
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| Course code | KAA/KAL2 |
| Organizational form of instruction | Seminar |
| Level of course | Master |
| Year of study | not specified |
| Semester | Winter and summer |
| Number of ECTS credits | 4 |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Status of course | Compulsory-optional |
| Form of instruction | Face-to-face |
| Work placements | This is not an internship |
| Recommended optional programme components | None |
| Course availability | The course is available to visiting students |
| Lecturer(s) |
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| Course content |
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The course will present and discuss the history of modern American drama from the emergence of Eugene O'Neill to mid- century. Besides both general and more specific information on the development of dramatic forms and performing modes in the theater, a dozen of plays will be analyzed in more detail, after their texts have been assigned for homework reading and short written comments before the debate in the class. Where possible and useful, video or film presentations will be brought into the critical discourse. The texts for critical analysis will include: Eugene O'Neill - Desire Under the Elms Eugene O'Neill - Long Day's Journey into Night Elmer Rice - The Adding Machine Maxwell Anderson - Winterset Thornton Wilder - Our Town Lillian Hellman - Little Foxes William Saroyan - The Time of Your Life Tennessee Williams - The Streetcar Named Desire Arthur Miller - Death of a Salesman Lorraine Hansberry - A Raisin in the Sun LeRoi Jones - Dutchman Edward Albee - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
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| Learning activities and teaching methods |
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| Learning outcomes |
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KAL2 for winter semester ZS 2024/25 prof. Vanderbeke block seminars - 10-11.10., 14-15.11., 12.-13.12. Curriculum Short Stories This seminar offers a survey of the history of short stories in English and American literature. We will discuss two (or occasionally three) short stories per 90-minute session, starting with texts by Edgar Allan Poe and working from there to the present. We will read various Victorian, modernist and postmodern short stories, detective stories, horror stories, science fiction stories, and whatever else there is. The texts will be provided before the beginning of the semester. Credits will be obtained by writing a short term paper (6-8 pages), analysing a short story that has not been discussed in the seminar. The selection of the short story will have to be accepted by the lecturer. The use of KI is not permitted. October 10 - Section 1: Origins: Edgar Allan Poe: "The Man of the Crowd", "The Murder in the Rue Morgue". October 10 - Section 2: American 19th century: Ambrose Bierce, "An Imperfect Conflagration", Brett Harte, "The Outcasts of Poker Flat", Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "The Yellow Wallpaper". October 11 - Section 3: Colonial encounters: Rudyard Kipling, "The Man Who Would be King", George Orwell, "Shooting an Elephant", R.K. Narayan "God and the Cobbler". October 11 - Section 4: Detective Fiction I: Arthur Conan Doyle: "The Adventure of the Speckled Band", G. K. Chesterton, "The Strange Crime of John Boulnois", Agatha Christie "Tuesday Club" November 14 - Section 5: Modernism I: James Joyce, "The Sisters", "After the Race", "Eveline". November 14 - Section 6: Modernism II: Virginia Woolf, "Kew Gardens", "The Mark on the Wall", Katherine Mansfield, "The Garden Party". November 15 - Section 7: Modernism III: Ernest Hemingway, "Hills like White Elephants", "The Short and Happy Life of Francis Macomber". November 15 - Section 8: Modernism IV: Samuel Beckett, "Dante and the Lobster", Somerset Maugham, "The Lotus Eater". December 12 - Section 9: Detective Fiction II, Dashiell Hammett: "The House on Turk Street" and "Corkscrew Canyon", Raymond Chandler, "Goldfish". December 12 - Section 10: Horror Stories: Algernon Blackwood, "The Willows", H.P. Lovecraft, "The Dreams in the Witch House", China Miéville, "Details" December 13 - Section 11: Science Fiction: Frederic Brown "Arena", Terry Carr "The Dance of the Changer and the Three". December 13 - Section 12: Postmodernism: Angela Carter, "The Bloody Chamber", Martin Amis, "The Little Puppy That Could".
The ability of students to compose a critical text in the English language dealing with the chosen literary text. |
| Prerequisites |
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Students can earn the credits provided they have a seventy-percent course attendance, write all the short assignments for every class and write a five-page critical essay on a play of their own choice, and after a colloquy over their personal reading list of plays discussed in the course during the term. The essay should be written in English, completed with bibliographical notes, and should be submitted by mid-January.
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| Assessment methods and criteria |
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Essay
Students can earn the credits provided they have a seventy-percent course attendance, write all the short assignments for every class and write a five-page critical essay on a play of their own choice, and after a colloquy over their personal reading list of plays discussed in the course during the term. The essay should be written in English, completed with bibliographical notes, and should be submitted by mid-January. |
| Recommended literature |
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| Study plans that include the course |
| Faculty | Study plan (Version) | Category of Branch/Specialization | Recommended semester | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): English Philology (2019) | Category: Philological sciences | - | Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): English for Translators and Interpreters (2024) | Category: Philological sciences | - | Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): English Philology (2024) | Category: Philological sciences | - | Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): English Philology (2020) | Category: Philological sciences | - | Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): English Philology (2019) | Category: Philological sciences | - | Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): English Philology (2024) | Category: Philological sciences | - | Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): English for Translators and Interpreters (2019) | Category: Philological sciences | - | Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): English Philology (2019) | Category: Philological sciences | - | Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): English Philology (2024) | Category: Philological sciences | - | Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: - |