|
Instructors: Dr. Wolfgang Funk
Event type:
hybrid: Seminar
Displayed in timetable as:
05.874.410
Hours per week:
2
Language of instruction:
Englisch
Min. | Max. participants:
- | 30
Registration group: ELC 410
Priority scheme: Senatsrichtlinie
Contents:
In this course, we will investigate what had been – before Covid-19 began to overshadow every other political, social and cultural discourse – the most decisive and divisive issue in recent British history: Brexit. In order to understand what made Britain leave the EU, we will first examine the socio-political and historical background by looking at past relationships between the UK and ‘the continent’ before talking about the main issues in the run-up to the referendum in June 2016. The main focus of the course, however, will be on the question how this momentous event has been reflected in contemporary literature. We will analyse a broad selection of texts from various genres, before engaging with three novels in particular, which between them cover the most significant dimensions of ‘BrexLit’, from attempts to portray the ‘State-of-the-Nation’ that led to the Brexit decision (Coe), to satirical (Leavis Carroll) and dystopian (and occasionally violent) visions of the eventual outcomes of Brexit (Board). We will of course also set aside time to comment and reflect on how political events proceed ‘in real time’ in the run-up to the target date of the actual Brexit at the start of 2021.
Required Reading:
Please purchase your own copy of the following texts:
Board, Douglas. Time of Lies. Rickmansworth: Lightning Books, 2017.
Carroll, Leavis (Lucien Young). Alice in Brexitland. London: Ebury Press, 2017.
Coe, Jonathan. Middle England. Viking, 2018.
[depending on the actual format the course will take, you might be required to also read and acquire:
Du Maurier, Daphne. Rule Britannia. 1972. London: Virago Press, 2004.]
Recommended Background Reading:
Eaglestone, Robert, ed. Brexit and Literature: Critical and Cultural Responses. Abingdon/New York, 2018.
Oliver, Tim. Understanding Brexit: A Concise Introduction. Bristol: Policy Press, 2018.
O’Toole, Fintan. Heroic Failure: Brexit and the Politics of Pain. London: Head of Zeus, 2018.
Additional materials will be made available via Moodle in due course.
|
