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Instructors: Dr. Frank Obenland
Event type:
online: Seminar
Displayed in timetable as:
05.866.410
Hours per week:
2
Language of instruction:
Englisch
Min. | Max. participants:
- | 30
Registration group: AS 410
Priority scheme: Senatsrichtlinie
Requirements / organisational issues:
It is strongly recommended that students have taken the following classes before signing up:
- at least one (pro)seminar in literary studies
- Written English I
All students will be given the opportunity to register for a term paper as modular exam in the course of the semester.
Contents:
In recent decades, climate change fiction, or "cli-fi," has emerged as a distinct genre in contemporary American literature. Authors have turned to the topic of climate change in order to map the impact of the ongoing biophysical transformation of the world's climate on societies, individuals, and regional ecosystems. In this class we will focus on novels that exemplify the development of this particular genre. We will study, how literary storytelling is used in order to address complex and long-term developments, as well as issues of environmental politics and activism for preserving a livable climate on the planet inhabited not only by human beings, but also by a rapidly declining number of other species.
Recommended reading list:
We will mostly focus on the following novels. Please purchase a copy before the beginning of the semester:
Barbara Kingsolver, Flight Behavior, 2012.
Ian McEwan, Solar, 2010.
T.C. Boyle, A Friend of the Earth, 2001.
Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower, 1993.
Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake, 2003.
Jonathan Safran Foer, We Are the Weather, 2019.
Additional texts and critical readings will be made available on ILIAS at the beginning of the semester.
Digital teaching:
This class will be taught online. This means that assignments for self-study will alternate with live video conferences. Students will also be given group assignments to collaborate on.
Study materials will be made available through the university's ILIAS platform. For live digital interactions we will use MS Teams.
Please make sure that you have access to both platforms via your university login (Email, Jogustine, etc.) at the beginning of the semester. A detailed schedule will be made available on the syllabus at the beginning of the semester.
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