Universität Wien

120160 AR Travel Writing and the Experience of Cultural Difference (2007W)

Interdisciplinary Course 501

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

für AHStG-Studienpläne anrechenbar als Vorprüfungsfach K701.

Details

Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

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

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The detailed observations of travelers through remote and inaccessible parts of the world have always attracted a large readership. But in what ways did the concerns of travelers from different periods and social backgrounds change? This course compares the style and subject matter of some extremely popular travel accounts published between the early eighteenth century and the present. Reading these narratives in the light of theories about the representation of the cultural other, we will seek to identify the messages they communicated and continue to communicate to their readers. In particular, we will ask to what extent they either created an emotionally uninvolved armchair reader, fired an enthusiastic desire (especially) in their young readers to see the world for themselves, or utilized their comparative vantage point to criticize the habits of their own cultural background.

Assessment: students will give a short oral presentation and sit a written examination in the last week of the semester.

Assessment and permitted materials

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

The aim of this course is to explain the nature of cultural borderlines traversed in travel literature. It will also improve the students' understanding of the impact of cross-cultural encounters on the traveler's sense of identity.

Examination topics

Short introductions to relevant critical concepts will be complemented by student presentations, textual interpretations and discussion.

Reading list

Students need to purchase: V. S. Naipaul, India: A Wounded Civilization; and The Virago Book of Women Travellers, eds. Mary Morris and Larry O¿Connor. Extracts from other travel accounts (such as Charles Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle) and critical background material will be available electronically and/or in a Reader.

Association in the course directory

501, 701; K701

Last modified: We 09.09.2020 00:22