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Lehrende/r: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Klaus Peter Müller
Veranstaltungsart:
Vorlesung
Anzeige im Stundenplan:
06.008.0030
Semesterwochenstunden:
2
Credits:
3,0
Unterrichtssprache:
Englisch
Min. | Max. Teilnehmerzahl:
- | -
Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:
Vorlesungen sind immer für alle offen und grundsätzlich empfehlenswert, weil sie Ihnen einen großen Überblick über ein wichtiges Thema, eine relevante Epoche, Personen, Denk- und Handlungsweisen, Theorien etc. vermitteln. Daher sind Sie alle herzlich willkommen.
Für Vorlesungen gilt dasselbe, was für Ihre anderen Veranstaltungen gilt: sie haben nichts davon, wenn Sie sie nur gelegentlich besuchen und nebenbei laufen lassen. Planen Sie sie also so in Ihren Stundenplan ein, dass sie Relevanz erhalten. Sie erfordern auch intensive, regelmäßige Vor- und Nachbereitung. Nur so erwerben Sie andauerndes Wissen. So bereiten Sie sich auch am besten auf den abschließenden Test vor, der mit dieser Vorbereitung keinerlei Probleme bereitet.
Ziel ist es, Ihnen relevantes Wissen zu vermitteln, aber auch Kompetenzen für Studium und Beruf. Entsprechend sind Sie aktiv involviert, und wir wollen auch einen Gedanken- und Meinungsaustausch erreichen, der Sie in jeder Hinsicht weiterbringt. Viel Erfolg dabei!
Inhalt:
The 19th century is where we come from, where our contemporary culture was born. The middle classes, to which we all belong, began there. Capitalism reached its first apotheosis (climax, if you prefer simpler terms). It was also the first machine age, starting with the steam engine in the 18th century, and leading to the creation of factories, owned by rich middle class people, and the working class, which did not exist before this century. Today we are entering the second machine age. You'll know what I mean. If you don't, check http://www.fb06.uni-mainz.de/englisch/437.php with information on recent purchases in our library dealing with this topic today. In order to understand better what is happening now, it is very useful to know what happened in the first machine age. You'll see intriguing similarities and differences between then and now. In this way you'll increase your knowledge of the past as well as your understanding of the world today.
This is what literature has always done, is reflects the world, i.e. it mirrors it, but also thinks about it and even presents alternative worlds to the one we know. Dickens is the most famous writer of the 19th century with an enormous influence on authors today. He was not only a novelist, though. He wrote wonderful short stories, was a very successful journalist, and an editor of magazines. Thus he was involved in the key media of his time (even the theatre), and he knew perfectly well how to use them. Dickens was also a very political writer, fighting against injustice, making the public aware of things they often did not know about, and doing this always by delivering both information and creating strong feelings in his readers for poor people exploited by the dominant system (Oliver Twist 1837/8 is just one well-known example). The 19th century was, perhaps, even more turbulent than many other centuries, introducing significant changes in all parts of human life: economically it confirmed and enhanced industrialisation as well as the Empire, socially it produced the working class, slums, trade unions as well as the dominant middle class, politically it expanded the franchise, created compulsory school education, and even a few universities where women were accepted (but could not obtain any valid diplomas). The lecture will discuss these im¬portant developments, too.
Dickens' novels were quickly translated into German and other languages. We'll speak about various aspects of translating his and other texts and their sometimes different ideologies. George Eliot was one of the best women writers in the 19th century, whose real name was Mary Ann Evans. She was also a translator (e.g. of Ludwig Feuerbach's influential text Das Wesen des Christentums (1840, transl. 1854), and the editor of the progressive magazine Westminster Review. Her novel Middlemarch (1871-2) was instantly translated into German and offers an impressive portrait of 19th century Britain. The lecture is, therefore, intended for students with an interest in British history, culture, the media, the power of narratives and the ideologies they reflect, and translation studies.
Empfohlene Literatur:
Any of these authors' novels, e.g. Dickens, Little Dorrit (1855-57), a stunning book about the economy, politics, and the plight of women with a strong appraisal and praise of female stamina, Bleak House 1852/3), some of his short stories, esp. "The Signalman", a wonderful ghost story revealing the fear of the times with regard to this dangerous new invention, the railway. A Christmas Carol (1843) is a very different "Ghost Story of Christmas", also turned into various film and animated film versions. Eliot's Middlemarch (1871-2) or The Mill on the Floss (1860, Die Mühle am Floss 1861), but also the texts by Thomas Carlyle, e.g. Sartor Resartus (1833-4, transl. 1855-6) or his essay "Signs of the Times" (1829) which influenced both Dickens and Eliot.
Zusätzliche Informationen:
Additional reading: Gilmour, Robin, The Victorian Period. The Intellectual and Cultural Context of English Literature 1830 – 1890, London: Longman 1993; Wheeler, Michael, English Fiction of the Victorian Period 1830 – 1890, London: Longman 21994 (both in the excellent Longman Literature in English series). More texts will be mentioned during the lecture and made available to you via Jogustine.
Website info at: the 'Victorianweb' (which is quite useful) http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/dickens/index.html; 'online-literature' http://www.online-literature.com/dickens/; the 'Free Library' http://dickens.thefreelibrary.com/; http://charlesdickenspage.com/dickens_web.html; http://www.spiegel.de/thema/charles_dickens/; http://www.dickens2012.org/; http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/dickens_charles.shtml. You have access to most of Dickens' journalism at http://archive.org/details/allyearround01dick and http://archive.org/stream/householdwords01dicklond#page/362/mode/2up/search/day+in+a+pauper+palace. Check also http://www.shmoop.com/great-expectations/; http://www.dickenslive.com/; http://archive.org/details/djo; http://archive.org/stream/householdwords01dicklond#page/362/mode/2up/search/day+in+a+pauper+palace and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FROa8ozi0N0 on Dickens Journals Online.
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