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Lehrende/r: Prof. Dr. Manfred Siebald
Veranstaltungsart:
Anzeige im Stundenplan:
S Lit.N-Amerikas
Semesterwochenstunden:
2
Unterrichtssprache:
Englisch
Min. | Max. Teilnehmerzahl:
- | 30
Prioritätsschema: Senatsrichtlinie
Zulassung gemäß Richtlinie über den Zugang zu teilnahmebeschränkten Lehrveranstaltungen vom 07. März 2007.
Nähere Informationen hierzu entnehmen Sie bitte www.info.jogustine.uni-mainz.de/senatsrichtlinie
Warteliste:
Wartelistenquote: 50%
Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:
Participants (who must have passed their 'Zwischenprüfung') are expected to have read the longer texts, which have been ordered at the local bookstores, by the beginning of the semester. They will also have to write a seminar paper and to give an interactive oral presentation. In order to ensure a timely correction and grading, the paper will have to be written before or during the semester and submitted upon the date of the oral presentation. For that reason, prospective participants are asked to come to the office hours (Tuesday, 9-10) in room 01-585 as soon as possible, in order to settle on a topic for their paper and presentation.
Inhalt:
Serious readers of American literature will sooner or later realize that the Bible is one of the most important sources of themes, plots, motifs, images, and allusions for American novels, dramas, and poetry. One may even say, in the words of Northrop Frye, that without a knowledge of the Bible "the most conscientious student will be continually misconstructing the implications, even the meaning" of many literary works. This pervading biblical influence must be seen against the background of the religious origins of American civilization and the constant presence of religious ideas in all periods of American history and in many walks of life – ideas which have been based on the Bible and conversely have also shaped Americans' understanding of the Bible. These complex relationships set the agenda for our course.
After some theoretical groundwork featuring the concept of intertextuality, we will focus on the Bible itself, on its literary features, its translation into English, and its role in the formation of American society and American culture. Then, we will study the ways in which the Bible made its way into poetry, novel, and drama – and assess in how far the integrity of the Biblical contents were preserved, modified, or lost in the process. Looking at four literary works based on different biblical materials, we will compare their contents and form with the respective Old and New Testament sources. Finally, reversing the process, we will look at one biblical story and follow its way through various literary renderings, thereby exploring the ideologies and cultural forces behind the adaptations.
Ideally, we will carry home a set of tools after this course – some literary and theological concepts, some methods, and some reference materials – but then, of course, also some more comprehensive readings of a number of literary works, new projects for research, and a greater general awareness of the interrelationship of the Bible and American culture.
Empfohlene Literatur:
The main primary text for the first part of the seminar is, of course, the Bible. Though the contents and the structure should be alike in any of the numerous translations, you should bring along an Authorized (or King James) Version (to be checked out in our library) for every session of this course, since most of the quotations and allusions in American literature refer to this translation.
The other primary texts to be used include four books which will be available at the local bookstores:
Johnson, James Weldon. /God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse/. 1927. New York: Penguin, 2008.
MacLeish, Archibald, /J.B.: A Play in Verse/. 1958. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1989.
Buechner, Frederick. /The Son of Laughter/. San Francisco: HarperSanfrancisco, 1993.
Robinson, Marilynne. /Gilead/. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2004.
Other works – poems and short stories – have been assembled into a reader and will be placed on a ReaderPlus platform. For secondary sources, you will receive a selective bibliography. You can also check the Internet for computerized Bibles, commentaries and concordances (e.g., at http://www.ccel.org).
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