123045 PS PS Literary Studies (2023S)

Literary texts that do not abide by the rules of ‘traditional’ forms of literature may captivate – but occasionally also startle or irritate – us. Such texts provide fascinating insights into the struggle for finding new ways of representing the ever-increasing complexity of human character, inspiring us to see what literature is capable of; to reflect on our own biases and expectations as readers; and to become more aware of the ever-shifting definitions of what makes ‘good’ or ‘bad’ literature (and the question of who gets to decide).

This course is organised chronologically, starting with (excerpts from) early experimental texts in English literature such as Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy to the heyday of the experimental novel in "high" modernism (Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway; [excerpts from] Joyce, Ulysses) as well as more recent experiments in hypertext and electronic fiction (Egan, "Black Box") and contemporary novels which employ experimental techniques (Evaristo, Girl, Woman, Other; [excerpts from] McCormack, Solar Bones, Plascencia, The People of Paper), we will address and discuss a range of questions and topics, including: the intricate relationship between literary form and content; experimental literature as an act of resistance; the realist novel as a quintessentially bourgeois genre; experimental literature and/as trauma narrative.

We will revise a range of analytical tools and theoretical approaches, giving students the chance to develop their analytical and academic writing skills further and providing them with basic theoretical tools for the critical analysis and interpretation of literary texts.