551.335 (24S) Advanced Topics in Literature and Culture Studies: Fiction and Intergenerational Justice

Sommersemester 2024

Registration deadline has expired.

First course session
12.03.2024 10:00 - 11:30 N.0.27 On Campus
Next session:
18.06.2024 10:00 - 11:30 N.0.27 On Campus

Overview

Lecturer
Course title german Advanced Topics in Literature and Culture Studies: Fiction and Intergenerational Justice
Type Seminar (continuous assessment course )
Course model Attendance-based course
Hours per Week 2.0
ECTS credits 8.0
Registrations 16 (20 max.)
Organisational unit
Language of instruction Englisch
possible language(s) of the assessment English
Course begins on 12.03.2024
eLearning Go to Moodle course

Time and place

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Course Information

Intended learning outcomes

Students will gain an understanding of theories, forms, and representations of intergenerational justice and apply them to the interpretation of contemporary (climate) narratives. They will learn to articulate how central ethical debates concerning intergenerational justice and demographic and environmental crises are negotiated through fiction. Besides practicing their interpretative skills of narratives in different media (prose fiction, short story, drama), they will also deepen their theoretical knowledge in literary theory and interdisciplinary approaches (ecocriticism, cultural aging studies, ethical criticism, gender studies).

Teaching methodology

  • in-depth discussions of texts
  • short lecture inputs
  • expert groups/student-led tasks

Course content

The exponential growth of the human exploitation of nature, along with the growth of the world’s population and longevity threaten imaginations of the future. Discourses of demographic and environmental crises raise pressing questions about intergenerational justice. This comprises matters of social justice, questions of justice between the old and the young and between present and future generations. This class explores contemporary fictions that engage with these debates and negotiate issues such as old age, disease and extinction, care and responsibility, guilt and blame, reproduction, euthanasia, and gerontocide. Often, the narratives employ dark humour in the attempt to balance hope and despair. A main aim of this class is to practice interpretation skills. To do this, we will discuss a selection of different texts including two novels, Jessie Greengrass’s The High House (2021) and John Lanchester’s The Wall (2019), two plays, Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children (2016) and Tamsin Oglesby’s Really Old, Like Forty Five (2010), as well as Margaret Atwood’s short story “Torching the Dusties” (2016).

Literature

Jessie Greengrass, The High House (2021)

John Lanchester, The Wall (2019)

Please obtain your own copies of the two novels. All other materials will be made available by the instructor on Moodle.

Examination information

Im Fall von online durchgeführten Prüfungen sind die Standards zu beachten, die die technischen Geräte der Studierenden erfüllen müssen, um an diesen Prüfungen teilnehmen zu können.

Examination methodology

Participation: 30%

3 short written exercises: 20%

Final paper: 50% (2500-300 words) OR: an oral exam (duration 20 min)

Examination topic(s)

Students are free to choose their own topics for the final paper, as long as it relates to the context of the class.

Assessment criteria / Standards of assessment for examinations

Active participation, regular reading in preparation for class, taking part in discussions.


Grading scheme

Grade / Grade grading scheme

Position in the curriculum

  • Master's degree programme English and American Studies (SKZ: 812, Version: 18W.1)
    • Subject: Literature and Culture Studies (Compulsory elective)
      • 3.4 Advanced Topics in Literature and Culture Studies I ( 0.0h SE / 8.0 ECTS)
        • 551.335 Advanced Topics in Literature and Culture Studies: Fiction and Intergenerational Justice (2.0h SE / 8.0 ECTS)
          Absolvierung im 2. Semester empfohlen
  • Master's degree programme Cross-Border Studies (SKZ: 584, Version: 22W.1)
    • Subject: Anglistik/Amerikanistik / English and American Studies (Compulsory elective)
      • II.14.5 Advanced Topics in Literature and Culture Studies ( 0.0h SE / 8.0 ECTS)
        • 551.335 Advanced Topics in Literature and Culture Studies: Fiction and Intergenerational Justice (2.0h SE / 8.0 ECTS)

Equivalent courses for counting the examination attempts

This course is not assigned to a sequence of equivalent courses