Universität Wien
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120132 AR Literature (Interactive Course) - American/North American Lit./Studies: Satire in North America (2008W)

Modes and Models

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

Diese LVA gilt für das Masterstudium Anglophone Literatures and Cultures nach UG2002, das Diplomstudium (UniStG) und das Lehramt UF Englisch (UniStG).

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. 30 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Wednesday 15.10. 10:00 - 12:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Wednesday 22.10. 10:00 - 12:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Wednesday 29.10. 10:00 - 12:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Wednesday 05.11. 10:00 - 12:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Wednesday 12.11. 10:00 - 12:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Wednesday 19.11. 10:00 - 12:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Wednesday 26.11. 10:00 - 12:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Wednesday 03.12. 10:00 - 12:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Wednesday 10.12. 10:00 - 12:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Wednesday 17.12. 10:00 - 12:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Wednesday 07.01. 10:00 - 12:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Wednesday 14.01. 10:00 - 12:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Wednesday 21.01. 10:00 - 12:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Wednesday 28.01. 10:00 - 12:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

In this interactive course variants of this very flexible literary form, which has a long history in Anglophone cultures and in North America in particular, will be studied and several of its models and modes will be illustrated. The affinity of satire to light-hearted humor but also to laughter which exposes incongruities or serious flaws will be dealt with and outright moral exhortation provoked in the satires by the awareness of folly and social or moral evil will be touched upon. This will become apparent in the discussion of a number of texts from North America composed primarily in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Among the texts to be studied are satires from colonial America (for instance, Ebenezer Cooke, The Sotweed Factor, or Joel Barlow's mock-heroic The Hasty Pudding) and social criticism from the early Federal period couched in the satiric mode (Hugh Henry Brackenridge, Modern Chivalry, selections). Some attention will be paid to the humor of the Old Southwest and regional variants (e.g. Thomas Chandler Haliburton's tales concerning Sam Slick) and its continuation in early tall tales by Samuel Clemens / Mark Twain. Excerpts from travel books will illustrate the perennial appeal of travelogues ridiculing foreign manners and institutions (for instance, from Clemens, The Innocents Abroad) and the suitability of travel in space and time for the satiric representation of a wide range of human types (in Herman Melville, Confidence Man and Clemens' A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court)

Assessment and permitted materials

oral presentation and submission of a short essay on the topic chosen or assigned, regular attendance, active participation in class

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

introducing students to different models of humor and satire in North American literature

Examination topics

interactive class, presentations and discussions

Reading list

The participants are expected to purchase the Reader and two novels: Herman Melville, The Confidence Man (e.g. Penguin Classics, 1991) and Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's court (e.g. Penguin Classics, 2001) (Book stores on campus will be informed of the need of participants to purchase paperback editions of these novels)

Association in the course directory

3041, 3042, 325, 326, 328, 336, 338, 722, 323, 324

Last modified: We 09.09.2020 00:22