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Instructors: Prof. Agnes Whitfield
Event type:
online: Seminar
Displayed in timetable as:
05.874.410
Hours per week:
2
Language of instruction:
Englisch
Min. | Max. participants:
- | 20
Registration group: ELC 410
Priority scheme: Senatsrichtlinie
Requirements / organisational issues:
This seminar is taught by our Canadian guest lecturer from York U, Toronto (Canada).
Contents:
Grounded in oral traditions, yet open to post-modern writerly experimentation, the short story has acquired major importance as a literary form in Canada, in both English and French, since the 1960s. In English Canada, writers draw upon a rich Anglo-American tradition of the short story; in Quebec, the long history of the folkloric tale and terroir story has given way to experimental forms mixing realism, the fantastic and science fiction.
The focus in this course is on the development of the Canadian short story in English, from the literary sketches and short autobiographical narratives of the 19th century to contemporary post-modern and post-colonial short stories. At the same time, key themes in Canadian writing, such as regionalism, geography and nature, indigenous culture, immigration and inter-generational conflict will also be discussed.
Students will have an opportunity to read and reflect critically on a sampling of Canadian canonical texts within the short story genre, and, beyond the canon, to explore some of the ways contemporary Canadian authors are transforming the genre.
Recommended reading list:
Readings will include works by Emily Carr, Mavis Gallant, Thomas Chandler Haliburton, Pauline Johnston, Stephen Leacock, Susanna Moodie, Nellie McClung, Alice Munro, M. NourbeSe Philip, Charles G. D. Roberts, and Sinclair Ross.
Additional information:
The course pedagogy is learner-centred. Students will be encouraged to reflect on their own knowledge and point of view as readers and writers, to build on and enhance this knowledge through readings and discussions of Canadian short stories, and to incorporate theoretical concepts within a holistic approach to literary meaning.
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