Lehrende/r: Emrah Cakmak
Veranstaltungsart: Übung
Anzeige im Stundenplan: Cultural Studies IV
Semesterwochenstunden: 2
Unterrichtssprache: Englisch
Min. | Max. Teilnehmerzahl: - | 45
Anmeldegruppe: Cultural Studies IV American Studies
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
Inhalt: The Politics of Literature Emrah Efe Cakmak (Columbia University, New York; eec2119@columbia.edu) Theories of the nation and the modern literary-philosophical accounts of collective existence have long hinted at the mysterious link between the political question of collective subjectivity and "this strange institution called literature." In the post-communist, post-colonial, and according to some, also post-national world, where the question of collective subjectivity appears more urgent than ever before, the world of literature too is changing. A new discourse on "world literature" as supplementary to yet appearing above all national literatures is emerging. The seminar will analyze the link between the contemporary discourse on the modern community and the premises of this emerging institution of worldliness, and its genealogy. Walking beyond the logic of correlation, we will analyze how the modern political question of collective subjectivity has always had high stakes in the modern concept of literariness. We begin with the Romantics to untangle the curious genealogy of what we today call "the public sphere." Along the way we revisit the traditional, modernist dichotomy between community and society in order to question its relevance to our day. Progressing towards the discursive developments of the last three decades in literary criticism and postcolonial theory, we work on the unexpected role that was assigned to literature within the historical narrative of the modern community. The seminar proceeds in three progressions, each of which asks the student to view the question from a different perspective. Course requirements are: Regular attendance and active participation in the seminar; one short oral presentation; a 6-10 page research paper.
