Universität Wien
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480092 SE BA Seminar on Literature (2026S)

Poetics of the Urban: The City in Central European Literatures of the 20th and 21st Centuries

10.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 48 - Slawistik
Continuous assessment of course work
Moodle

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. 25 participants
Language: German

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

Political turning points, emigration, expulsion, destruction, reconstruction, gentrification—cities in Central and Eastern Europe undergo multiple transformations in the 20th and 21st centuries that have a lasting impact on the cityscape and urban communities. This seminar introduces key texts of urban and spatial theories (e.g., Löw, Lefebvre, Bakhtin, Lotman) in order to examine the West Slavic (Polish, Czech, Slovak) context: How does literature position itself in relation to urban transformations? Which traces of the past does it preserve and which does it overwrite? How does it participate in urban discourses and what futures does it envision for urban communities?

The goal of this bachelor studies seminar is to prepare students for their bachelor's thesis in literary and cultural studies. Students have the opportunity to choose the topic of their bachelor's thesis according to their own interests, based on the theoretical foundations developed together. The research question and outline for the bachelor's thesis will be developed by students during the course of the semester. Following the seminar, students will independently write their bachelor's thesis by September 4, 2026.

  • Monday 02.03. 09:45 - 11:15 Seminarraum 6 Slawistik UniCampus Hof 3 2P-O1-27
  • Monday 09.03. 09:45 - 11:15 Seminarraum 6 Slawistik UniCampus Hof 3 2P-O1-27
  • Monday 16.03. 09:45 - 11:15 Seminarraum 6 Slawistik UniCampus Hof 3 2P-O1-27
  • Monday 23.03. 09:45 - 11:15 Seminarraum 6 Slawistik UniCampus Hof 3 2P-O1-27
  • Monday 13.04. 09:45 - 11:15 Seminarraum 6 Slawistik UniCampus Hof 3 2P-O1-27
  • Monday 20.04. 09:45 - 11:15 Seminarraum 6 Slawistik UniCampus Hof 3 2P-O1-27
  • Monday 27.04. 09:45 - 11:15 Seminarraum 6 Slawistik UniCampus Hof 3 2P-O1-27
  • Monday 04.05. 09:45 - 11:15 Seminarraum 6 Slawistik UniCampus Hof 3 2P-O1-27
  • Monday 11.05. 09:45 - 11:15 Seminarraum 6 Slawistik UniCampus Hof 3 2P-O1-27
  • Monday 18.05. 09:45 - 11:15 Seminarraum 6 Slawistik UniCampus Hof 3 2P-O1-27
  • Monday 08.06. 09:45 - 11:15 Seminarraum 6 Slawistik UniCampus Hof 3 2P-O1-27
  • Monday 15.06. 09:45 - 11:15 Seminarraum 6 Slawistik UniCampus Hof 3 2P-O1-27
  • Monday 22.06. 09:45 - 11:15 Seminarraum 6 Slawistik UniCampus Hof 3 2P-O1-27
  • Monday 29.06. 09:45 - 11:15 Seminarraum 6 Slawistik UniCampus Hof 3 2P-O1-27

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

Political turning points, emigration, expulsion, destruction, reconstruction, gentrification—cities in Central and Eastern Europe undergo multiple transformations in the 20th and 21st centuries that have a lasting impact on the cityscape and urban communities. This seminar introduces key texts of urban and spatial theories (e.g., Löw, Lefebvre, Bakhtin, Lotman) in order to examine the West Slavic (Polish, Czech, Slovak) context: How does literature position itself in relation to urban transformations? Which traces of the past does it preserve and which does it overwrite? How does it participate in urban discourses and what futures does it envision for urban communities?

The goal of this bachelor studies seminar is to prepare students for their bachelor's thesis in literary and cultural studies. Students have the opportunity to choose the topic of their bachelor's thesis according to their own interests, based on the theoretical foundations developed together. The research question and outline for the bachelor's thesis will be developed by students during the course of the semester. Following the seminar, students will independently write their bachelor's thesis by September 4, 2026.

Assessment and permitted materials

1) Reading of core reading assignments and active participation in the seminar (maximum 3 absences)
2) Development of an exposé with research question and outline of the bachelor's thesis by the last session of the lecture period (submission deadlines for intermediate assignments will be communicated at the beginning of the seminar)
3) Oral presentation of your research question in the seminar
4) Literary studies bachelor's thesis (specific format requirements will be provided in the seminar) - submission deadline by September 4, 2026

Information regarding the use of AI services: The generation of the research question, outline, and creation of the BA thesis may not be done with the help of AI-supported tools. Use of AI services is only permitted for editorial post-processing of the text in the sense of proofreading (typos, spelling errors, comma errors).

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

The overall grade is composed as follows: Bachelor's thesis (80%) + performance during the semester (20%)

The assessment of the bachelor's thesis includes:
Knowledge of academic/scholarly work, knowledge of literary and cultural studies methods and approaches, ability to independently develop an academic research question based on the theories and topics discussed in the bachelor's seminar

Examination topics

You will develop the topics for your bachelor's theses independently during the seminar. The written papers will be graded according to the criteria mentioned above.

Reading list

The reading corpus will be published on Moodle.

Association in the course directory

B-64-P, B-64-Q, B-64-T

Last modified: Mo 01.06.2026 10:08