English

This course introduces the major authors and characteristics of British poetry in the Romantic (ca. 1785-1830) and Victorian (ca. 1830-1900) periods. By analyzing the assigned texts carefully and critically, the course recognizes how the poets experimented with traditional poetic forms and genres to suit their artistic and imaginative vision, and how they critically reflected the political and social realities of their time. The course aids in understanding the artistic and cultural perspectives presented in the poems of each period. Students are encouraged to offer their own interpretations of the works in both oral and written form.

The course focuses on the variety of ways in which, since the mid-1800s, women writers from the United States have made use of non-realist genres and modes within short fiction as a means of both protesting and celebrating women’s positioning in what was still a self-consciously new and ostensibly utopian nation. It introduces students to the imaginative and discursive breadth displayed in texts produced by female writers prior to the 1970s. In doing so, the course explores the developments and continuities in fantastic fiction by women writers from the American Civil War, though the fin-de-siècle period, and into Modernism and its immediate aftermath. In this way, the course problematizes rigid periodization, in particular by highlighting the formal innovation and conceptual range of writers who employ a range of fantastical genres to explore issues from racism and oppression to infidelity and financial ruin, from science and the senses to the very nature of reality itself.

Aging is not all about old age; it is, more broadly, to do with one’s being in time and in relation to others. For example, aging invites one to think about care, something that many experience during their lifetime, and about their relationship to the environment. Thinking about aging, therefore, raises many important questions that are central to life.
 

The aim of this course is to address some of these questions, while introducing students to literary (and cultural) studies of aging. In particular, the course will think about aging from the feminist perspective by reading contemporary (post 1980s) narratives – short stories, novels and films – that explore aging for women and are produced or set in the UK. Although the texts are primarily concerned with women’s experiences of aging in the UK/Western context, one hope for the course is to encourage students to think about aging in broader contexts and one’s temporal being.

Although there will be brief lectures, the course will be run in a seminar style, focusing on class/group discussion. Students will be required to read and/or watch the texts outside class hours; ponder questions on worksheets provided in advance, and actively participate in discussion. 

 

The course provides practice in reading and understanding English texts, and the ability to express themselves orally and in writing in correct, polished English. Writing short texts of a general nature is practiced. Training in planning work and adapting to predetermined time frames is provided.

This course focuses on the literary and cultural production that has emerged under colonial rule and its aftermath in different locations including the Caribbean, Middle East, and Latin America, as well as texts written by diasporic and repressed minorities. It discusses a theoretical approach to development studies and comparative ethno-racial studies for current considerations about the contemporary global order. 

Old English was the language spoken and preserved in written texts up to the mid-eleventh century CE in the regions of the British Isles. It developed from the languages spoken by Germanic peoples coming to Britain from the continental mainland and presents the earliest precursor of Modern English. This course focuses on Old English texts written in verse, exploring their themes, styles, meanings, and the challenges of dealing with a language surviving only in a small number of often unique and damaged manuscripts. Texts read include heroic poetry, such as Beowulf, elegies, as well as Old English versions of Biblical texts. The focus of the readings is on the question of how such texts portray concepts of gender, how they construct but also deconstruct gender roles, and how they relate to gender theory in the 21st century. Students are introduced to the grammar and pronunciation of Old English and use their knowledge to work with the original texts alongside Modern English translations.

This course dives into the history and genre of the short story by reading and analyzing several stories as well as telling short stories ourselves. Aspects and concepts such as genre, plot, beginning and endings, character, setting, point of view, narration, texture and pace, style, and reflection on the relationship between the author, the text, and the reader are examined. Academic analysis and hands-on creative writing are combined facilitating a deeper understanding of how narratives work and how they produce meanings. Peer and tutor feedback are key aspects of this course. The collection of short stories varies every year but covers a diverse range of stories and authors such as Virginia Woolf, Zadie Smith, Margaret Atwood, Kazuo Ishiguro, Chinua Achebe, Bernadine Evaristo, and Sally Rooney.

This course introduces students to key debates and texts in the field of postcolonial studies. The lectures are grouped together under headings relevant to historical and contemporary engagements with post coloniality. Each theme consists of two lectures: one that frames the conceptual, critical, and historical debates on the given topic, the other discussing a literary text. The critical and literary works scheduled for each lecture represent the focus of discussion, but related authors, themes, and texts are introduced and discussed alongside them, giving students direction for further study. In addition, and where appropriate, visual and audio material is used to illustrate as well as help generate debate.

This practice-based course develops students’ sense of nonfiction-writing as a creative act, and introduces some of the practical skills and techniques essential to a variety of forms including: memoir and the personal essay; biography; nature-writing; reportage and cultural criticism. Through studying a wide range of non-fictional texts, students explore the ways in which writers engaged in supposedly factual writing nonetheless take creative risks and make the same kinds of narrative decisions as fiction-writers. 

The course surveys the fairy tale in English from the 17th to the 21st century. Students survey the first translations of fairy tales into English by the Grimms, Perrault, and Hans Christian Andersen – and explore the context of the huge popularity of these tales. Students investigate their early reception and influence, including on novels and tales written in English, before moving on to 20th and 21st century rewritings. Students also spend time on film adaptations and book illustrations. Detailed consideration is given to a range of critical approaches including psychoanalytical and feminist readings, and the classification of fairy tale plots. Close readings, comparing the language and emphasis of different versions of the same story, is also central to the course.