Ü-Literary and Cultural Theories: Reading the Past: Historicism, Presentism, Hauntology
Sabine Schülting
Comments
“I began with the desire to speak with the dead”, Stephen Greenblatt famously wrote in his Shakespearean Negotiations (1988), a seminal text of the New Historicism. The course will be concerned with questions raised by this quotation: How can we address the past? How should we read literary and cultural texts of previous centuries? Is this dialogue with the past always shaped by our present perspectives and concerns? Is there any reason why we should try to acknowledge the alterity of earlier periods? Are the ghosts of the past still haunting our present age and impacting the future?
We will discuss different theoretical positions that address these issues, including New Historicism, Presentism, and Hauntology. Our readings of theoretical texts will be complemented by an assessment of their usefulness for literary and cultural analysis, not least in the fields of Gender, Queer, and Postcolonial Studies.
Texts will be made available on Blackboard.
Assessment: Students will have to participate regularly, read the assigned texts, take part in the discussions, and contribute a presentation and/or short response papers.
close11 Class schedule
Regular appointments