Universität Wien

123225 SE Literature Seminar / BA Paper / MA American/North American Lit./Studies (2014W)

North American Novels of Surveillance

11.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 12 - Anglistik
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. 20 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Tuesday 14.10. 10:00 - 12:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Tuesday 21.10. 10:00 - 12:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Tuesday 28.10. 10:00 - 12:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Tuesday 04.11. 10:00 - 12:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Tuesday 11.11. 10:00 - 12:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Tuesday 18.11. 10:00 - 12:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Tuesday 25.11. 10:00 - 12:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Tuesday 02.12. 10:00 - 12:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Tuesday 09.12. 10:00 - 12:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Tuesday 16.12. 10:00 - 12:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Tuesday 13.01. 10:00 - 12:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Tuesday 20.01. 10:00 - 12:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Tuesday 27.01. 10:00 - 12:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

David Lyon has famously argued that surveillance has become “the dominant organizing practice of late modernity;” it is the structural principle on which western societies rely for their functionality and sustenance. Especially with recent debates about state control and secret services, surveillance has emerged as both the central modus operandi of contemporary governance and as a site of ideological struggle, in which privacy is pitted against security, and epistemological uncertainty is equated with public risk and menace. As popular TV serials such as The Wire, Homeland, or The Americans demonstrate—in audiovisual equivalents of the short story format—the nexus between visual perception and political power has become a dominant topos of the twenty-first century.
This seminar will look at the development of surveillance as it has been represented in North American novels over the past 60 years; from Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 to Dave Eggers’s recent The Circle. We will explore current theories of surveillance from a variety of different disciplines, placing particular focus on the connections between the visual and power, between technologies of observation and governance, as well as between dystopian imaginaries and fictional scenarios of resistance.

Assessment and permitted materials

active participation; in-class presentation, possibly reading quizzes, final seminar paper

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

This interactive course will provide students both with an overview of surveillance culture (in both North American literature and film) and with detailed knowledge of some of the most pertinent theories of the field (by Michel Foucault, David Lyons and others). In addition, we will practice methods of close reading and contextualize the novels especially with regard to their political topicality.

Examination topics

Interactive discussions in class, team work, buzz groups, creative tasks, presentations, research and composition

Reading list

Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451; Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (vol. 1); Dave Eggers, The Circle.
Optional texts include George Orwell’s 1984; Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale; and William Gibson’s Neuromancer.

Association in the course directory

Studium: UF 344, BA 612, MA 844;
Code/Modul: UF 4.2.4-322, BA10.2, MA5, MA7;
Lehrinhalt: 12-0375

Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:33