Universität Wien

120127 VO Survey of Literatures in English 2 (2008W)

North American Literature and Culture from 1607-1890

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 12 - Anglistik

Diese LVA gilt für das Bachelorstudium nach UG2002, das EC English and American Studies Literature nach UG2002, das Diplomstudium (UniStG) und das Lehramt UF Englisch (UniStG).

Details

Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Thursday 09.10. 15:00 - 17:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 16.10. 15:00 - 17:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 23.10. 15:00 - 17:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 30.10. 15:00 - 17:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 06.11. 15:00 - 17:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 13.11. 15:00 - 17:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 20.11. 15:00 - 17:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 27.11. 15:00 - 17:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 04.12. 15:00 - 17:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 11.12. 15:00 - 17:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 18.12. 15:00 - 17:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 08.01. 15:00 - 17:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 15.01. 15:00 - 17:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 22.01. 15:00 - 17:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Thursday 29.01. 15:00 - 17:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The course will offer an introduction to literary and cultural documents produced in North America from the early European settlements in the 17th century until the closing of the frontier and the rise of the United States to the status of an imperial power. This year the focus will be on the process of nation building in the late 18th and in the 19th centuries with the crisis of the Civil War and on the consolidation of British North America through the Confederation of 1867. Some attention will be paid to the Puritan heritage in New England and to foundational texts from the 18th century (by Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson), but the emergence of a national literature and the "American Renaissance" (R.W. Emerson, Walt Whitman, N. Hawthorne, H. Melville, etc.) seen against the background of popular forms of literature and entertainment will be in the foreground. Some attention will also be paid to early colonial prose produced in Canada (e.g. by the Strickland sisters) and to the efforts of the Confederation poets in the recently formed Dominion of Canada.

Assessment and permitted materials

ability to comment on the texts on the reading list (Reader and complete text), knowledge of the historical and sociocultural background and of prominent individual personalities presented in class

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

familiarizing students with North American Literature and Culture from the early beginnings to the end of the nineteenth century.

Examination topics

multi-media based lecture (PPT, audio and video presentations). The course will be accompanied by a tutorial (Tutor: Mag. Nicole Semmelrock, Mon 17-19, Besprechungszimmer)

Reading list

Reader and Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter (e.g Signet Classics, 1990). Students are advised to consult relevant chapters of literary histories, e.g. Richard Gray's A History of American Literature, Oxford: Blackwell, 2004, or Nordamerikanische Literaturgeschichte. Ed. Hubert Zapf (Metzler 2004).

Association in the course directory

303, 701, 1092, 9313

Last modified: We 09.09.2020 00:22