Kohlmann, Benjamin

The seminar offers an introduction to some key contemporary trends in critical and radical theory. What this means is that you will acquire essential skills in working with new critical and theoretical texts, while also exploring how the ideas articulated in these texts can be applied to a range of literary and cultural materials. Material discussed in the class will cover anti-/postcolonial, Marxist/anarchist, and feminist/queer/trans positions. We will approach individual texts though the close reading of selected passages, but we also aim to shed light on the key arguments and presuppositions which underpin them. As term progresses, we will build up an archive of ideas that will equip you for future classes in the fields of literary and cultural studies, broadly conceived. Critics discussed include Louis Althusser, Giorgio Agamben, Judith Butler, Frantz Fanon, José Muñoz, and Fred Moten.

This lecture course offers an overview of the literary history of the British Isles from the Anglo-Saxon period to the present day. We will focus on the development of literary forms and genres, as well as on the emergence of new sets of thematic concerns from one (literary) period to the next. Attention will also be paid to literature's interactions with, responses to, and influences on its surrounding socio-cultural contexts. The lecture course is an obligatory part of the “Basismodul Literaturwissenschaft” and hence is aimed at beginners. Course materials (including short readers) will be made available electronically and uploaded to GRIPS.  Note: This course cannot be taken as part of the MA British Studies. If the lecture is an obligatory part of the “Basismodul Literaturwissenschaft” in your course of studies, it cannot be taken for a different module.

Critical and annotated versions of the texts discussed in the lecture course can be found in the The Norton Anthology of English Literature (vols.1+2). It is recommended (though by no means mandatory) that you buy this anthology for our course. The two volumes will also come in handy during your future university studies. Since the Norton Anthology isn’t cheap (and not all students may decide to buy a copy), the essential readings for each week will also be uploaded to GRIPS.