Content

The course is an interactive seminar designed as a combination of lectures complemented by reading/watching assignments and discussion moments. The class starts with an introductory module that makes the students familiar with the historical complexity of the region and the various geographical and geopolitical designations that have been used to label and delineate it. After the introduction, the course shifts focus to a series of case studies (presented by the teacher and by guest lecturers). Topics will change annually, but possible themes include:

• urban palimpsests: the city of Danzig/Gdańsk in literary fiction and film
• the legacy of the Holocaust (through the lens of the second and third generation)
• (post)colonialism and (post)communism
• shifting representations of East-West migration
• communist-era and post-communist road cinemas
• border-zone and border-crossing narratives
• memory conflicts in the field of cultural production
• Euro-orientalism and Balkanism
• modernism and modernization in the Eastern Bloc
• performance in Central and Eastern Europe
• ecocritical approaches to Central and Eastern European literatures and cinemas

During the subsequent classes, a variety of theoretical and methodological issues shall be discussed and addressed. English translations (or subtitled versions) of the works under discussion will be provided. Over the course of the term, the students are expected to identify a specific topic on which they will prepare a presentation and a paper.

Course material

Reading and viewing materials on Toledo.

Explanation

Participation during the term (20%), presentation of paper topic (10%), final paper (60%), oral exam (=discussion of final paper; 10%)

Information about retaking exams

Paper (80%), oral exam (=discussion of paper; 20%)

Content

This course treats a specific topic from Irish literature (e.g. a specific genre, theme, historical period or contemporary trend). After a brief literary-historical and literary-theoretical introduction, a series of literary texts will be analysed, discussed and interpreted against this specific perspective. Students are expected to submit a number of written preparations for these texts and to actively participate in the class discussions.

In 2023-2024 we will be studying the interaction between Irish short stories and periodical culture. We'll trace the development of the Irish short through the periodicals in which the stories appeared. We'll read and discuss a variety of periodicals: little magazines, women's magazine's, children's magazines, mainstream magazines and consider the way they shape the reception of the stories they publish. We'll read stories by authors such as L.T. Meade, Elizabeth Bowen, Mary Lavin, Frank O'Connor, Wendy Erskine and Kevin Barry.

Course material

Theoretical articles and primary sources will be made available on toledo

Format: more information

interactive seminar: students are expected to prepare for every class, to work on group presentations and to actively participate in the class discussions

Explanation

50%: written preparations, presentation and active participation during class; 50% final paper

Information about retaking exams

Only the part for which the student received no passing grade (i.e. final paper / process evaluation) needs to be resubmitted. For the participation in the class discussion no second attempt is possible.

Content

Literature and Human Rights: Contemporary Refugee Writing in English

This course pursues an in-depth exploration of the relation between literature and forced displacement, with special focus on contemporary refugee writing (conceived as literature written by refugees) in English.

We will discuss the representation of forced displacement, border crossings, refugee detention, statelessness and refugeehood in contemporary (post-2015) literature in English produced across the globe, including co-authored texts and texts in translation. Central questions that will be discussed include: Which genres and narrative strategies do refugee writers employ to represent their experiences? What are the intended effects of this writing, ranging from the solictiation of empathy to the evocation of traumatic experience, to the articulation of a political critique of their condition? How does this writing pursue formal experiments in order to address present-day forms of displacment and rightlessness? To what extent does this writing complicate nationally defined literatures and instead presents a literature that is fundamentally transnational and global? How does literature relate to the juridical discourse on human rights and what role can it play in the current crisis that international humanitarian law finds itself in?

Taking our cue from recent critical and theoretical scholarship on literature, human rights and forced displacement, we will discuss works across a wide range of forms and genres, ranging from memoirs, autofiction and camp writing to graphic novels, poetry and (collections of) short stories. The main objective is to provide students with a sound and critical understanding of contemporary forms of refugee writing and, more generally, of the interaction between literature and human rights.

Course material

The novels that will be discussed in class will have to be bought by the students. They will be announced before the start of the second term. Additional materials will be made available on Toledo.

Format: more information

After an introductory session, the course will consist of biweekly sessions during which a number of novels will be closely analysed and discussed. Each session is thoroughly prepared: students work in groups and prepare reading reports on the basis of study questions and secondary reading materials. The reports are then presented in class and serve as the basis for an extensive discussion of the novel in question.

Information about retaking exams

In case the student fails the course, he/she will write an extended paper for the second exam period.

Content

Heritage is an omnipresent, global phenomenon in today’s late-modern society. Traces of the past manifest themselves in many different contexts and actions, with wide-ranging functions. How individuals and communities relate to these objects, places, traditions, stories… reveals more about contemporary social and cultural values and ambitions for the future than about the past itself. Heritage is indeed a process in which the past regularly receives new meanings, often resulting in multiple and even conflicting narratives. Such a dynamic approach of heritage implies an interdisciplinary integration of theories, practices and a wide range of actors.

After introducing the historical development of the notion ‘cultural heritage’, this course presents and analyzes a series of key concepts and debates, offering challenges to heritage scholars and practitioners alike. These can include the abundance/inflation of heritage, the reception of the past, ownership, identity formation, authenticity and commodification, globalization and decolonization, sustainability, controversial heritage, digital agendas, gender…

Course material

• Literature (articles/book chapters)
• PowerPoint slides
• Toledo

Format: more information

Discussion - Flipped classroom

This course is partly based on the principle of flipped learning: students prepare themselves for each class by means of reading assignments. Scholarly texts (in English), the reading of which is guided by focused questions on the Perusall platform, are the basis for discussion and elaboration, both online and in class. The presence and active participation of the students in these sessions is expected and essential in order to successfully conclude the course.

Explanation

Participation in the discussions (both online and in class) counts for 30% of the grade. The remaining 70% is to be earned during a written open book exam.

Information about retaking exams

There is only a new exam; the original result for participation is retained.

Content

This course provides an introduction to the field of computational creativity. We will examine different approaches to the computational modeling of creativity, and see how they relate to theories of human creativity. The course focuses primarily on computational creativity from a language-oriented perspective. As such, we will examine different applications of creative language generation (such as metaphor, humor, neologisms, poetry, and stories) from a computational perspective. Additionally, cross-modal and multi-modal approaches to computational creativity will be explored. Along the way, we will discuss a number of crucial topics, such as the preconditions of computational creativity, the evaluation of computationally creative systems, and the ethical implications.

Course material

The course material consists of presentation slides, scientific papers on computational creativity, and interactive programming exercises.

Language of instruction: more information

This course will be taught in English, in order to be accessible for foreign students who want to follow it as an elective course.

Format: more information

The format of the course consists of seven lectures and six practical sessions; a considerable part of the course is deliberately reserved for practical sessions, during which the students apply the acquired knowledge to the implementation of computational models for various creative applications.

Explanation

The evaluation consists of three assignments during the academic year, as well as a group work in which students develop, implement, and evaluate their own model of computational creativity for a given creative application.

The assignments count for 30% (6 points) of the final mark; the group work counts for 70% (14 points) of the final mark. The final mark is expressed as a whole number out of 20.

Information about retaking exams

Partial passes (at least 3/6 for the assignments, and 7/14 for the group work) can be carried over to the second examination period. The group work is replaced by an individual paper in case of resit.

Content

(By way of introduction, literary terms and concepts are introduced as well as figures from Classical (Greek and Roman) literature. The Gaelic strand in European literature (6-12th century) is compared to the position of women in "continental" forms of medieval literature. Further highlights will be picked from mediaeval, Spanish, French, German, Austrian, Belgian, Italian, Russian and British literature.

Course material

Articles and Literature

Format: more information

A session starts with an introduction to the period under scrutiny; then we discuss texts. There will be guest professors, so the format may change between sessions.

Explanation

1. Written exam (50%)

2. Paper (50%)

More detailed information on both the exam and the paper can be found on Toledo.

Information about retaking exams

If the student passes (5/10) either the paper or the exam in the 2nd examination period (June 2018), that grade can be transferred to the 3rd examination period.

For the written exam in the 3rd examination period, the same materials should be studied and the same type of questions can be expected. Also for the paper the same guidelines apply. More detailed information on deadlines etc. can be found on Toledo.

Content

Through concrete examples and a series of guided exercises students will become acquainted with different aspects of the 'ars edendi', on an advanced level. They will learn - 'hands on' and guided - how to produce a critical edition of a medieval or early modern text in Latin, French and Dutch.

Course material

Articles and literature
Examples and samples
Toledo/e-platform

Format: more information

Practical guided exercises concerning diverse aspects of a critical edition (e.g. paleography, codicology, transcription, the critical apparatus, ratio edendi etc.).

Explanation

The students are expected to attend and participate in all sessions, as they will be graded on the basis of a portfolio: a series of shorter written assignments that are closely connected to each session. Absence without acceptable reason will lead to a fail.

Information about retaking exams

The required attendance of the sessions during the semester is a condition for retaking examination during the 2nd period. A sufficient revision of the portfolio is then the only requirement.

Content

Este curso va dedicado a las 'culturas viajeras' dentro y en relación con América Latina (escrituras diaspóricas, estéticas turísticas, hibridez genérica, conceptos viajeros). La lengua de instrucción es el español.

El contenido exacto será comunicado a través de Toledo al inicio del año académico.

Course material

Los materiales de estudio se especificarán al inicio del año académico en el sitio de Toledo.

Content

In-depth reading and discussion of a limited number of crucial texts and debates on theatre and theatricality from the nineteenth and twentieth century in which fundamental culture-theoretical and culture-critical views are developed. On the programme are among others: Nietzsche,, Artaud, Brecht, Benjamin, Adorno, Butler, Rancière, Agamben, Latour.

Course material

A reader and a reading list will be available at the beginning of the year.

Language of instruction: more information

English

Format: more information

More specific information on this course as well as on Performance Analysis (second semester) will be given during the introductory session on Cultural Studies at the beginning of the semester.  

Explanation

Students have the choice between an oral exam or a paper. The oral exam is a presentation of research results. Research questions (probably 5 or 6) will be distributed at the end of the course. Students have to prepare answers and results on at least four questions and discuss one question that I will pick out. 
paper: students will first have to write a short paper proposal to be handed in in December. It will of course have to deal with one or several of the themes, topics, texts, authors etc.that were dealt with in class. After agreement they elaborate their topic in a paper of ca. 15-20 pages .

When writing the paper students respect the faculty's policy on plagiarism.

Content

The class begins with Pushkin and ends with Putin. We analyze a selection of Russian literary texts (in translation) that are considered representative of the Silver Age of Russian Poetry, the experimental prose of the New Economic Policy, Soviet Prison-camp literature, and underground literature. Also "Russian chanson," including criminal songs ("blatnye pesni") and the Russian bards, and post-Soviet poetry are accounted for. Special attention will be paid to the ongoing debate about the responsibility of (classic) Russian literature for the Russian-Ukrainian war.   

Course material

• Reader of Russian poems and short stories (available in translation, as well as in the original Russian language);
• Powerpoint presentations

Language of instruction: more information

The working language is English. The lessons are built around the analysis of Russian literary texts, that the students ought to read beforehand. The students are not expected to understand Russian, they can read the texts in translation.

Explanation

• 2 individual writing assignments (40%)
• 1 peer review report (10%)
• Oral exam with written preparation (50%)

Information about retaking exams

Students that passed for a paper but not for the whole, do not have to resubmit the paper in question in the third examination period. To make up the grade for a failed paper, students must hand in, after consultation with the lecturer, a new assignment.

Content

The idea of ‘Western Literature’ is first defined, conceptualized and contextualized through the study of key literary critical texts. The course also encourages an insight into and critical reflection on the emergence, development, roles and impact of the concept of ‘Western Literature’ and of the canon that corresponds to that concept. The concept of ‘Western Literature’ is then problematized through the study of critiques coming from postcolonial studies, feminism and theories of globalization. The course thus provides insight into the relations between ‘Western Literature’ and ‘European Literature’, ‘Orientalism’, ‘World Literature’ and ‘Minority Literatures’.

Course material

• reader with basic texts
• Toledo

Format: more information

• DURING the classes:
o background will be given on the different authors, on the paradigm in general
o texts will be situated and discussed
o further discussion of the texts, of relationships between the texts etc. will be held, on the basis of the questions on Toledo AND on the basis of your personal questions, observations, critical input!
o Conclusion: your personal input is essential

Explanation

• Written
• Open book - 4 hours
• Three questions (7-7-6 points)
• Exam language: English or Dutch
• Aim: testing the students' insight in the issues dealt with, his/her critical assimilation of the course, his/her ability to establish links throughout the material etc.

Content

This ‘blended’ course opens with a series of on-campus lectures, after which is made available online a series of representative case-studies relating Western-European literatures to the social sciences and humanities, the life sciences and medicine, and the physical sciences and engineering. The course is closed with a student conference during which students present a case-study of their own.

This course is in English, but student can compose their final exam paper, based on their presentation, in the language of their choice.

Course material

Reader: texts and secondary literature.

Content

To read, or in the case of movies watch, and discuss a number of works dealing with the issues raised under "aims".
 

Course material

Novels, stories or movies related to the issues raised under "aims". 

Format: more information

seminar 

Explanation

written exam: 15/20 – participation: 5/20.

Information about retaking exams

Written exam. The score  for partication is transferred to the resit (15/20 written exam - 5/20 participation).

Content

This course presents multilingualism and translation as two essential elements of literary history and contemporary literature. As a response to globalization, language diasporas and a growing awareness for the preservation of language diversity and linguistic ecology, the course revisits monolingual approaches to the national canon and highlights the importance of translation for the circulation of literary texts. The concepts of literary plurilingualism and translation will be studied both theoretically and analytically on the basis of examples chosen from a number of European and non-European texts. The course includes group assignments, discussions of the reading materials and student presentations of individual case studies. 

Course material

A list of reading material will be distributed at the start of the course and uploaded on Toledo.

Explanation

An oral presentation and a written paper based on this presentation. Both are commented upon during an oral examination that will also deal with the lectures.

Content

La asignatura se centrará cada año en una corriente o una problemática específica que permita ilustrar la circulación de modelos estéticos dentro del sistema literario hispánico. Ejemplos: la herencia cervantina en la literatura latinoamericana, lo barroco y lo neobarroco, el discurso panhispánico en literatura...

2013-2014:

El Circuncaribe en la primera mitad del siglo XX.
Historia, cultura y literatura.

Dr. Enrique Camacho Navarro.
Centro de Investigaciones sobre América Latina y el Caribe (CIALC)
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
camnav@unam.mx

El objetivo general de este curso es realizar un acercamiento al estudio y al análisis del proceso histórico, cultural y literario del Circuncaribe, geografía que se compone por aquella zona del Continente Americano que es bañada por el Mar Caribe. Se hará una presentación sobre la vinculación que existe entre el desarrollo histórico y los acontecimientos políticos, entre la trayectoria del modelo económico liberal y las repercusiones sociales que tuvo el mismo entre los pobladores de la región. Como aspecto medular se considerará un tratamiento de las imágenes visuales dentro de la región del Circuncaribe como herramienta indispensable para su conocimiento. Dentro de los procesos políticos, económicos, sociales y culturales, que se han vivido en esta zona geográfica, los cuales son expresados con maestría a través de la literatura, las imágenes visuales han jugado un papel muy importante en la construcción de imaginarios, en la definición que se ha dado a la zona y a los acontecimientos que en ella se han llevado a cabo. Por ello, en este curso se posibilita el uso de materiales que a través de sus representaciones visuales puedan estimular el desarrollo del conocimiento. Así, a partir de la lucha independentista cubana de fines del siglo XIX, hasta llegar al triunfo de la Revolución en Cuba, en 1959, se realizará un recorrido por la intromisión estadounidense en el territorio latinoamericano y caribeño. Se analizará el asentamiento de capitales foráneos, con el caso de la United Fruit Company en particular. Se atenderá el caso de la resistencia nacionalista de Augusto C. Sandino, impulsada con un carácter regional desde Las Segovias de Nicaragua; se mostrará el paso que va de la práctica del intervencionismo norteamericano a la existencia de “gendarmes necesarios”, quienes velando por los intereses foráneos se consolidarían como parte del proceso que dio origen a los dictadores circuncaribeños, siendo necesario ilustrar esa situación con los tristemente célebres ejemplos de los Somoza, de Leónidas Trujillo, y Jorge Ubico, en Nicaragua, República Dominicana y Guatemala, respectivamente. Ligado a este fenómeno dictatorial será importante mencionar el caso de la conocida como Legión del Caribe, iniciativa que actuó como contrapoder de los sistemas que no permitían el buen desarrollo democrático en toda el área. En la parte final del curso se atenderán los casos de la Revolución Guatemalteca (1944-1954), el asalto al cuartel Moncada en Cuba (26 de julio de 1953) y la culminación de un proceso político social que cambiaría el rumbo del Circuncaribe, teniendo impacto a nivel continental y mundial, con el triunfo de la revolución castrista. De este último caso, se realizará un ejercicio iconológico en el cual Fidel Castro figura de manera central al cierre de nuestro estudio.
Cabe destacar que a lo largo del curso, por obvias razones, las referencias y el tratamiento a obras literarias serán una constante que contribuirá al mejor entendimiento de los contextos en que se desarrollaron importantes creaciones de la literatura latinoamericana. Como se ha mencionado antes, el espacio temporal fundamentalmente abarcará de principios del siglo XX a la década de 1950, dedicando en la parte final del curso atención al movimiento insurreccional cubano.
 

Content

Attention, emotion! This year’s course explores critical theories that focus on the role of feelings and affects in modern and contemporary Western culture. Key questions we will address include: Why do people feel what they feel? What function(s) do affects perform in culture and society? And what role(s) do literature and the arts play as media shaping, promoting and critiquing emotions?

According to most critical theorists we will discuss, the feelings and affective states people experience (such as fear, indignation, happiness or excitement) are neither a purely natural, universal given, nor mere social or cultural conventions. Social groups across different periods and cultures can indeed be shown to experience similar emotions, yet this does not mean that emotions are always culturally coded in a similar fashion. The names social groups give to emotions, the causes they relate them to, the feelings they value and endow with significance, the ways in which they gender and racialize emotions, and the extent to which they (consciously) allow affects to determine their everyday lives indeed differ widely. As a layer in cultural communication located between what social groups think (thought) and do (practice), feelings thus perform a key role in forging and maintaining, but possibly also altering, cultures.

It is widely established that since the 18^th century, with the rise of the bourgeoisie in the West, now canonized art and literature began to play a major role in the history of emotions. In its attempt to upend the ruling aristocracy’s impersonal system of traditional kinship, the bourgeoisie came to place the cultivation of personal feelings towards others high on the agenda. Thus, it was during the “Age of Reason” that personal passions and emotions as well came to prominence in the West—and while, oversimplifying, it was left to the philosophers to challenge individuals to think for themselves, it was to literature and the arts that the bourgeoisie turned to pattern and install a new emotional sensibility for modern subjectivity. In the later course of canonized Western literary and art history, the key role of affect was often downplayed again or deliberately opposed—think of the 19^th century call to objective (emotionless) observation in Realism, or the 20^th century modernist demand of impersonal, objective form, etc. Yet in Western culture more broadly (and in less canonized creative practice), the conscription of affect continued to play a vital role. Not only did modern bourgeois culture, for example, come to exclude or alienate large (class, gender and racial) groups from its new affective economy. Capitalism, the new (and now global) economic system installed by the bourgeoisie, also came to commodify affects: at the expense of reason and informed practice, media culture and politics increasingly became governed by (negative) emotions that sell. Foregrounding theorists who since the 18^th century have critically approached the function(s) of affect in Western society, this course aims to highlight the continued significance of literature and the arts in elucidating what we feel, how we feel, and why we feel it.

Course material

Reader with theoretical texts.

Format: more information

An introductory series of lectures, followed by group presentations and discussions.

Explanation

- Presentation (30%) and paper (70 %)
 

Information about retaking exams

- For those finishing in September: the score for the presentation is retained; the paper is handed in again.

Content

The central concern of this course is to explore the various ways in which 20th- and 21st-century fiction in English has responded to the challenge of the political by re-articulating or dismembering models of human community.

Course material

Study of a selection of representative English literary texts of the modern period in their historical and ideological context.

Explanation

Students are assessed on a final 5.000-word paper on a topic to be agreed on. In addition, they are given course-work assignments throughout the term in preparation of class discussion. The final paper may only be submitted when the course-work assignments have been completed.
 

Content

In 2024-25, the module will explore how the portrayal of continental European settings and/or a European ‘Other’ affects the representation of multiple, layered British/Irish identities in fictional works ranging from the 19th to the 21st centuries. After a series of general introductions to such topics as British Isles (also known as ‘four-nations’ or ‘archipelagic’) history, imagology,  the constitution of English/British identity in relation to a continental Other, and Anglo-Irish literature, the module will invite students to investigate specific case studies in which exposure to a continental ‘Other’ prompts the expression or, in some cases, the suppression of a layered sense of English/British identities in fictional characters, narrators and/or authorial selves.

Course material

A handbook containing general introductions and practical information will be made available at the beginning of term. A reading list will be advertised on Toledo.

Language of instruction: more information

English

Format: more information

Seminars in which aspects of the set text(s) are discussed through position papers and questions on those papers. Students can choose to either (co-)write a position paper or to ask a question on such papers during term. The requirements for the oral exam vary according to the kind of input (paper or questions) that the student chose during term. 

Explanation

Students are assessed as follows (2 possibilities, A or B)
A.
- A written report on one of the selected cases is discussed during contact hours (50% of the final mark). The report can be written collectively by groups of up to 3 students, depending on the size of the whole group.
- At the oral exam, the student discusses a text selected by him/herself and relates it to one of the cases discussed in class during term (50% of the final mark)

B.
- Students who do not wish to write a report during term are required to ask questions about reports written by their fellow students (30% of the final mark).

- At the oral exam, the student discusses a text selected by him/herself and relates it to cases studied during term (70% of the final mark).

Information about retaking exams

Students who received a pass mark for a position paper or a question will keep that mark if they have to take or resit the exam in August/September.

In all other situations, a resit in August/September will yield a mark based on the student's performance at the oral exam only.

Content

Contemporary American Literature and the Anthropocene

This course explores the relation between contemporary American literature and the increasingly popular idea of the Anthropocene. Coined by the Dutch chemist Paul Crutzen in 2000, the notion of the Anthropocene captures the human’s dramatic impact on the globe’s chemical composition and climate, which makes it necessary to acknowledge human life as a geological force in its own right, and to officially recognize the Anthropocene as the successor of the Holocene in the natural history of the Earth. In the last decade or so, the term has served as a catalyst for discussions over the environmental impact of human action and the role of human life in the current ecological crisis as it is apparent in phenomena such as global warming, ocean acidification, species extinction, deforestation, and overpopulation.

Inviting a far-reaching reconsideration of the relation between human life and the natural environment, the Anthropocene has also become an important concern in contemporary American literature. In this course, we explore how literature has responded to the ethical, political, and imaginative challenges of the Anthropocene, even if it has contributed to making such non-localized and abstract notions as climate change and species extinction imaginable in the first place. What happens to literary realism when human life is no longer only a psychological and biological entity, but also a geological force? How does literature represent a natural environment that is never not touched by human action? How does a “human-scaled” genre like the novel imagine life on a nonhuman time scale of millions of years? What happens to narrative when the future of our current civilization cannot be taken for granted? What genres can be mobilized to make the Anthropocene imaginable? What literary affects constitute a proper response to it—tragedy, comedy, or even horror?

This course will bring critical and theoretical reflections on the Anthropocene to bear on a selection of prominent twenty-first century works that not only engage with the Anthropocene in thematic ways, but also through formally interesting strategies. Cumulatively, the different seminars will provide you with a good general understanding of the development of American literature in the last decade and with a detailed knowledge of theories of the Anthropocene and of literary strategies for engaging it.

Course material

The reading list is subject to change--make sure to wait for a definitive list before ordering your books! 

Works we discussed in previous years include:

- William Gibson, The Peripheral (2014)
- N.K. Jemesin, The Fifth Season (2015)
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road (2006)
- Evelyn Reilly, Styrofoam (2009)
- Juliana Spahr, “Gentle Now, Don’t Add to Heartache” (2005) (Toledo)
- Jeff VanderMeer, Annihilation (2014)
- Jesmyn Ward, Salvage the Bones (2011)

You will be expected to get copies of five novels. We have negotiated a competitive price for the whole package with local booksellers, so the whole course shouldn't set you back more than 65 euros. 

Format: more information

After a few introductory sessions, which will frame the general topic, the seminar will consist of biweekly sessions, which you prepare in group meetings. Each group of four or five students will receive a (set of) question(s) to discuss in a group meeting, and each group will hand in a short two- to three-page paper on the basis of that meeting that will form the basis of the seminars. Each group member takes responsibility for at least one group paper in the course of the term.

Explanation

Group papers and participation: 10/20

Oral exam with preparation: 10/20

Information about retaking exams

Students who do not pass the first exam opportunity have to pass the oral exam in August/September and to hand in a new assignment.

Contenu

2022-2023: Légitimation et tabou - écritures au féminin du Classicisme au Romantisme

Ce cours a pour objectif l’approfondissement historique et analytique de la littérature française, du Classicisme au Romantisme, par le biais d’une étude contextualisée de ses enjeux et dispositifs spécifiques. En 2022, seront analysées les modalités d'autoreprésentation de l’auctorialité féminine, et cela suivant trois axes de recherche complémentaires: (1) l'institutionnel, l'idéologique et le socioculturel; (2) l'(auto)biographique (lettres, mémoires, journaux, paratextes, etc.); (3) l'imaginaire fictionnel.

Le cours s’articulera donc sur un programme d’étude en trois volets, dans l’objectif d’examiner les (dis)continuités qui ont marqué les activités littéraires, intellectuelles et esthétiques (au sens large) des femmes (écrivains, philosophes, politiques, ...). L’argumentation du cours s’appuiera sur des théories et des approches diverses (sociologie de la littérature, traductologie, analyse du discours, études de réception, gender studies, narratologie), ainsi que sur une série de concepts-clés (« cause des femmes », « voix », « espace public », « sociabilité », « légitimaton/tabou », « portraits et postures », etc.) pour répondre entre autres aux questions suivantes :

- Comment les femmes écrivains françaises, se positionnent-elles dans un contexte littéraire dit "prémoderne" et/ou romantique qui les exclut à plusieurs égards de l'espace public et de toute formation intellectuelle ?

- Quelles stratégies discursives et rhétoriques utilisent-elles pour se façonner une voix légitime et un profil d'auteure, d'intellectuelle et/ou d'artiste à travers des textes non-fictionnels (philosophiques, politiques, esthétiques, didactiques,...)  et/ou pour penser et réaliser, dans la fiction, un imaginaire au féminin ?

- Comment comprendre, sur les plans historique et historiographique, la disparation (temporaire), voire l'invisibilité de certaines de ces femmes?

Le cours prendra la forme (I) d’une série de cours magistraux, focalisés sur des cas de figure représentatifs (des "salonnières" (Scudéry, Lafayette, du Boccage) aux "révolutionnaires" (Olympe de Gouges, Germaine de Staël) et George Sand pour l'époque romantique;  (II) de séminaires de discussion et d'ateliers de lecture, lesquels seront basés sur une sélection de textes primaires (Marei de Gournay, Lafayette, Charrière, Genlis, Sand, de Gouges, mais aussi Diderot, Laclos, Rousseau et Condorcet) et secondaires. Les étudiants seront familiarisés avec plusieurs méthodes de travail (visite au tabularium et aux archives; rédaction de blogs; peer assessment; commentaire composé).

Matériel de cours

Lecture obligatoire

Mme de Lafayette, La princesse de Clèves

Isabelle de Charrière, Trois femmes

Stéphanie de Genlis, La femme auteur

George Sand, Pauline

Une anthologie d'articles théoriques et de textes primaires sera mise à la disposition des étudiants sur Toledo.

Explanation category

Le cours se compose d'une série de cours magistraux et de séminaires de discussion. La participation active des étudiants est recommandée.

Les étudiants préparent plusieurs commentaires composés à remettre au cours du quadrimestre; la rédaction d'un travail écrit est optionnelle et prend la forme d'un "dossier d'auteure" inédit.

Explications

L'examen comportera deux volets:

a) 50 % pour la partie "évaluation permanente", basée sur la participation active aux séminaires de discussion et une série de commentaires composés.
b) 50 % ou bien pour la rédaction d'un travail écrit (ca. 2500 mots), portant sur une oeuvre spécifique ou sur un dossier d'auteure, ou bien pour un examen oral portant sur la matière (primaire et secondaire) étudiée. L'examen oral est à livre ouvert.

Des consignes plus précises seront affichées sur Toledo et communiquées au début du semestre.

Information about retaking exams

Les résultats des modules (commentaires, examen oral ou essai) pour lesquels une note de minimum 10/20 a été obtenue en janvier peuvent être gardés pour la session de rattrapage.

Contenu

Ce cours se fonde directement sur les acquis méthodologiques du cours de littérature française moderne de Bachelor 3 (F0AF5A). Il s’agit de procéder à l’analyse d’une œuvre particulière, de la situer dans un projet d’auteur, en fonction des enjeux culturels et socio-historiques d’une époque.

Les premières étapes du travail se feront avec tous les participants du cours. Des groupes de travail seront ensuite constitués. Chaque groupe présentera un exposé sur le livre étudié, qui fera ensuite l’objet d’une discussion avec tout le groupe.

Les étudiants devront en outre remettre un travail écrit d’une dizaine de page, soit sur le livre étudié lors du cours, soit sur une œuvre du même auteur soit, enfin, sur un travail correspondant à une partie de leur mémoire de master en littérature.

Matériel de cours

Pour leur analyse, les étudiant.e.s choisiront un texte parmi les titres suivants (tous disponibles à la bibliothèque ARTES) :  

Philippe Forest, L’enfant fossile (2014)

Emmanuelle Pagano, En cheveux (2014)

Jean-Bernard Pouy, S63 (2014)

Valérie Rouzeau, Télésco-pages (2014)

Olivia Rosenthal, Jouer à chat (2017)

Marc Villard, Hound Dog a fait un rêve (2016)

Régine Detambel, La couleur venue de la terre (2016)

Explications

Pas d'examen durant la période des examens.

L'évaluation se fera sur la base d'un exposé en petits groupes, durant le cours, ainsi que d'un travail écrit.

L'exposé (oral) comptera pour 40% de la note finale, le travail écrit pour 60%.

Information about retaking exams

Pour la troisième session d'examens (septembre), les étudiants doivent présenter (ou représenter) leur travail écrit et le résultat final sera déterminé sur la base des notes obtenue lors de l'exposé oral et du travail écrit présenté lors de la troisième session.

Contenu

Ce cours a pour objectif de conduire les étudiant.e.s à réaliser une exposition (en ligne, ou physique) à propos d’un sujet en relation avec la littérature belge de langue française. Il s’agira d’accompagner le groupe dans la découverte d’un sujet déterminé, l’élaboration d’une problématique, l’identification et le choix des documents à exposer, les demandes d’autorisations, la construction d’un parcours, l’écriture des cartels de présentation des documents et différentes parties de l’exposition. Ce cours est développé en partenariat avec les AML (Archives et musée de la littérature – Bruxelles, KBR : http://www.aml-cfwb.be/).

Matériel de cours

Archives (especially from de AML – Archives et musée de la littérature, Bruxelles), academic publications about the field of the exhibition and the chosen topic for the exhibition.

Explications

L’évaluation portera à la fois sur l’exposition (note collective : 10/20), mais également sur le processus individuel de recherche d’informations et la participation active lors des séances de travail collectives (collectes des informations, choix des document, rédaction des textes, respect des dead-lines… / note individuelle : 10/20). La participation à l’élaboration des différentes étapes de la préparation de l’exposition en groupe est nécessaire pour l’obtention de la note.

Information about retaking exams

En cas de deuxième session, un travail écrit spécifique sera demandé. Il correspondra aux aspects de la participation individuelle à améliorer (par exemple l’écriture de cartels dans un français correct). Cette note individuelle s’ajoutera à la note collective obtenue pour l’exposition. La participation à l’élaboration des différentes étapes de la préparation de l’exposition en groupe est nécessaire pour l’obtention de la note.

Content

Este curso se propone ver cómo los géneros reflexivos, argumentativos y no ficcionales como el ensayo, el documental y el podcast han contribuido y contribuyen a la construcción discursiva de identidades en España y América Latina en el siglo XX y XXI.

El curso se compone de:

- Una introducción a los géneros del ensayo, del documental y del podcast a través de unos textos teóricos (clases magistrales e interactivas).

- Unos seminarios de análisis de obras y casos, p.e. la construcción discursiva de la nación en el ensayo español o latinoamericano; la construcción identitaria (nacional, social, de género, etc.) en documentales, podcasts u obras gráficas de no ficción.

 Ejemplos de obras analizadas en los últimos años:

- ensayos de Unamuno, Ortega y Gasset, Azorín, Maeztu, Paz,etc.

- documentales de Patricio Guzmán, Albert Solé, etc.

- periodismo gráfico de Jorge Carrión y Sagar

Bibliografía indicativa (solo una breve selección de artículos y capítulos, en español e inglés, serán leídos en clase)

Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso, 1991. 

Bretz, Mary Lee. Voices, Silences and Echoes: A Theory on the Essay and the Critical Reception of Naturalism in Spain. London: Tamesis, 1992.

Castilleja, Diana, Eugenia Houvenaghel & Dagmar Vandebosch. (eds.) El ensayo hispánico: Cruces de géneros, síntesis de formas. Genève: Librairie Droz, 2012.

---, --- y --- (eds.) Ensayo y sociedad: Diálogos de un género en movimiento. Genève: Librairie Droz, 2014.

de Obaldia, Claire. The Essayistic Spirit. Literature, Modern Criticism, and the Essay. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995.

Dumont, François. Approches de l'essai. Anthologie. Québec: Nota Bene, 2003. (Con textos de Lukács, Adorno, Starobinski, Terrasse y otros)  

García Casanova, Juan Francisco (Ed.). El ensayo entre la filosofía y la literatura. Granada: Comares, 2002. 

Glaudes, Pierre (Ed.). L'essai: métamorphoses d'un genre. Toulouse: Presses universitaires du Mirail, 2002.

--- . y Jean-François Louette. L'essai, Paris: Hachette, 1999.

Hobsbawm, Eric. Nations and Nationalism since 1870: Programme, Myth, Reality. Cambridge: Cambridge U.P., 1992.

Inman Fox, E., La invención de España. Madrid: Cátedra, 1998.

Maingueneau, Dominique. Nouvelles tendances en analyse du discours. Paris: Hachette, 1987.

Maíz, Claudio. “Problemas genológicos del discurso ensayístico: Origen y configuración de un género”. Acta Literaria, núm. 28, 2003, 79-105.

Nicholson, Bill. Introduction to Documentary. Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2001.

Vandebosch, Dagmar. Y no con el lenguaje preciso de la ciencia. La ensayística de Gregorio Marañón en la entreguerra española. Genève: Librairie Droz, 2006.  

Vertovec, Steven. Transnationalism. New York: Routledge, 2009.

Weinberg, Liliana. El ensayo, entre el paraíso y el infierno. México: Fondo de cultural económica, 2001.

Course material

Selección de artículos y textos primarios puestos a disposición en la plataforma digital de la Universidad.

Explanation category

El curso consiste en una combinación de clases magistrales e interactivas, por una parte, y una serie de seminarios de análisis discursivo de ensayos propuestos por los estudiantes, por otra.   

Explanation

Esta asignatura contiene una parte de evaluación permanente (1/3 de la nota final; basada en la participación en los seminarios, las presentaciones orales y el trabajo de grupo) y una parte de evaluación periódica durante el período de exámenes (2/3 de la nota final). Para esta parte, los  estudiantes pueden elegir entre dos formas de examen: 
- un examen oral 'libro abierto' sobre la materia del curso y presentación de una antología personal de ensayos
o 
- un paper con discusión oral.

qInformation about retaking exams

La nota correspondiente a la evaluación permanente se mantiene para los estudiantes que vuelven a presentarse para la convocatoria de agosto-septiembre del mismo año lectivo.
 

Content

El contenido de esta asignatura varía cada año: el realismo mágico y lo fantástico, lo neobarroco, el modernismo, la novela del dictador, la literatura de testimonio etc.

Content

We start with an introduction to the human being as an interactional creature, whose life starts in the relations with the parents. In 12 sessions we look at how parent-child relations changed from the Old Testament to the Gospels and further till contemporary art. In each session we discuss ca. 10 paintings in detail, using concepts from philosophy, psychology and art history, relating them to the mentality of their era, moving from Antiquity to the posthuman. This allows us to recapitulate the history of Europe in a nutshell with focus on the changes in emotionality.  These paradigm shifts have a vital effect on the different languages used in paintings: body, gestures, clothes (fashions), images, words and spatial expression.

Course material

The paintings & articles to interpret them are always available on Toledo in advance of the session in class.

For students who are totally unfamiliar with European art E.H. Gombrich's The Story of Art will be an excellent introduction.

Language of instruction: more information

Students should have very good English as we move at a rapid pace.

Format: more information

The idea(l) is that students interact a lot during the sessions in class. In order to monitor individual progress students are asked to keep a diary about their learning process in which they refer to the literature provided.

Is also included in other courses

F0BQ2A : European Art and Culture: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives

Explanation

The evaluation consists of continuous assesment (learning diary) with an exam outside of the normal examination period. The exam counts for 40% of the final grade and the learning diary for 60%.

Information about retaking exams

The exam will be replaced by a paper in the third examination period. The paper will count for 40% of the final grade. The grade for the learning diary achieved in the first exam chance (60% of final grade) will be brought over to the final grade in the third examination period. 

Explanation

Specific guidelines and arrangements concerning the Master’s Thesis.

Students have to obtain at least 10/20 for this course in order to succeed for the master’s programme.

Students have to participate in the master's thesis presentations in order to submit their dissertation.

Content

This course offers an introduction to the historical development of feminist literary theory, feminist literary criticism and gender studies since the 1970s. In addition, it zooms in on some crucial topics in these disciplines through a reading of relevant theoretical and literary texts. The central question in this respect concerns the representation of gender and gender relations in literature and the role of gendered differences and hierarchies in the literary system. Aspects of queer theory, feminist psychoanalysis and intersectional theory will also be addressed. 

Course material

Used Course material: a reader with texts will be available at Alpha Copy.

Format: more information

After an initial, introductory class, the classes will be structured around the reading and discussion of a selection of theoretical articles and literary texts. Students are expected to read articles and texts before classes.

Is also included in other courses

F0XI3B : Gender, Literature and Theory

Format: more information

After an initial, introductory class, the classes will be structured around the reading and discussion of a selection of theoretical articles and literary texts.

Explanation

open book exam

Content

The class is designed as a combination of lectures complemented by reading and watching assignments and discussion moments. It consists of two introductory modules (one on theory and one on European film) and three case studies:

1. General introduction to the course: theories and concepts

2. European film and Europeanization, then and now

3. European film, identity and mobility: case studies

  a) migration-themed cinema

  b) border movies and multi-location movies

  c) road cinema

Course material

Reading materials on Toledo.

Format: more information

Students attend on a regular basis (cfr. The course schedule) the activities of the various modules (preparatory reading, weblectures, forum discussions) and write a short assignment for each module.

Explanation

participation/discussion (20%), paper (60%), oral Exam (20%).

Information about retaking exams

paper, oral exam

Content

After an introductory class about the Bible as a literary text, a series of classes taught by different lecturers will be devoted to the literary influence of the Bible throughout the centuries. This influence will be demonstrated by means of a selection of representative case studies from the different traditions of Western literature, against the background of relevant historical and theoretical contexts.

Course material

All necessary research literature will be announced at the start of the classes.

Explanation

-Paper: 75%
-Presentation: 25%

Information about retaking exams

The presentation cannot be redone in the second exam period; the paper can be rewritten and resubmitted.

Content

The course consists in a series of seminars that each focus on a crucial work in the Western literary tradition and is taught by a lecturer with exceptional expertise on the work. During the seminar, the lecturer situates the work in its cultural, social, and literary historical contexts with reference tot he concepts that are developed in “Western Literature: Concepts and Questions (B-KUL-F0UX8A).” There is special emphasis on processes of canonization, historical change, intercultural transfer, and the tension between consolidation and contestation of the tradition. After the opening discussion, students have a chance to engage in dialogue on the basis of their thorough written preparation.  

Course material

The students read the assigned works in a language of their choice. Secondary texts will be made available on Toledo.

Language of instruction: more information

The seminars will take place in English.

Format: more information

The course consists in interactive seminars.

Content

The course consists in a series of seminars that each focus on a crucial work in the Western literary tradition and is taught by a lecturer with exceptional expertise on the work. During the seminar, the lecturer situates the work in its cultural, social, and literary historical contexts with reference tot he concepts that are developed in “Western Literature: Concepts and Questions (B-KUL-F0UX8A).” There is special emphasis on processes of canonization, historical change, intercultural transfer, and the tension between consolidation and contestation of the tradition. After the opening discussion, students have a chance to engage in dialogue on the basis of their thorough written preparation.  

Course material

The students read the assigned works in a language of their choice. Secondary texts will be made available on Toledo.

Language of instruction: more information

The seminars will take place in English.

Format: more information

The course consists in interactive seminars.

Explanation

Evaluation on the basis of the written preparations,active participation in the seminars and the essay assignments.

Information about retaking exams

essays for which an insufficient mark (10/20) was obtained have to be remade and resubmitted.