120059 PS Literature: Proseminar = Introductory Seminar (2010S)

As recent blockbuster movies such as "Shakespeare in Love" or the "Elizabeth" films and TV-series such as "The Tudors" demonstrate, the Elizabethan Age continues to play a significant role in the contemporary popular imagination. In this seminar we will explore some of the reasons for this continued fascination by studying not only literary texts of the period but also present-day adaptations and reworkings of these texts. With the help of literary and cultural theory we will attempt to analyse the forms in which the English Renaissance is present in our culture and which functions it fulfils. In our discussions centre stage will be given to the most influential but at the same time most enigmatic literary figure of the English Renaissance, William Shakespeare. We will study one of his plays, "Othello", in class and see and discuss a performance at the Akademietheater. Students’ papers will focus on contemporary adaptations in various genres of this and of other plays by Shakespeare. Ideally, students taking this course will have already completed the Survey I lecture and will have some interest in Shakespeare and the theatre.