Universität Wien

120021 SE Literary & Cultural Studies Seminar / BA-Arbeit / MA British/Irish/New English (2010W)

Impossible Texts

11.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 12 - Anglistik
Continuous assessment of course work

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 18 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Monday 11.10. 14:00 - 16:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Monday 18.10. 14:00 - 16:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Monday 25.10. 14:00 - 16:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Monday 08.11. 14:00 - 16:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Monday 15.11. 14:00 - 16:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Monday 22.11. 14:00 - 16:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Monday 29.11. 14:00 - 16:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Monday 06.12. 14:00 - 16:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Monday 13.12. 14:00 - 16:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Monday 10.01. 14:00 - 16:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Monday 17.01. 14:00 - 16:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Monday 24.01. 14:00 - 16:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Monday 31.01. 14:00 - 16:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

This course deals with texts which attempt the impossible: stories that narrate the unnarratable, films that show what cannot be shown. Anti-texts subvert aesthetic conventions and defy the most basic laws of physics, biology and human cognition. In this course, we will look at stories, plays and films which are excessively static or repetitive, show ontological framebreaking or a contradictory chronology, construct radically mutable characters or present irreducibly incompatible versions of story events. Studying radical narrative transgression will bring basic epistemological and generic conventions into focus and will challenge our perception of what is 'natural' and 'real'. In a final section we will consider 'existential denarration' (i.e. the destruction of narrative identity caused by haphazard information disseminated in extended media coverage) as a typical end-of-millenium phenomenon.

Assessment and permitted materials

Assessment will be on the basis of attendance, active participation, small assignments, an oral presentation, a short written exam, and a seminar paper.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

This course aims at a) discussing gapping, naturalisation, framebreaking and defamiliarisation as major aesthetic tools b) demonstrating these concepts' wider social relevance c) teaching a topic-related analytical toolkit d) enabling students to apply their knowledge and skills in their own projects alerting students to related issues such as possible worlds theory, cognitive narratology, immersion, meta-reference and postmodernist aesthetics and philosophy.

Examination topics

Lecture, group work, eLearning, classroom discussion, audio- and video-excerpts, small assignments, student presentations, home study, seminar paper.

Reading list

A reader with extracts from non-fictional sources and shorter literary texts will be provided. Powerpoint-presentations can be downloaded from the eLearning platform. Copies of the longer texts presented during the term will be available from one of the campus bookshops. There will be several screenings throughout the term.

Association in the course directory

Studium: Diplom 343, UF 344, BA 612, MA 844;
Code/Modul: 322, 326/328, 336/338, 426/428, 436/438, 526/528, 536/538, 721-723, 821, BA12, BA14, MA4, MA6, MA7;
Lehrinhalt: 12-0265

Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:33