AJ24093 Nature, Ethics and Politics in Modern Writing 1760-2010

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2015
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 2 credit(s) (plus 3 credits for an exam). Recommended Type of Completion: zk (examination). Other types of completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Stephen Paul Hardy, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B.A.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Supplier department: Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
each odd Monday 15:50–17:25 G21
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 20 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/20, only registered: 0/20
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
This semester's will focus primarily on developments in the historical novel from Scott's 'Waverley' through to works by more contemporary writers such as John Berger, John Cowper Powys,and Thomas Pynchon, though with some emphasis on relations with 'natural' history, particularly with respect to broader notions of time than that of human history. In each case, relations between national, social, and sexual politics will be comparatively analysed and discussed. The aims of the course will to be introduce participants to an appreciation of the sensibility and implications of writing (and reading) about a substantially different historical era in relation to its own present and to our own and the ways in which serious artistic writing seeks, among other things, to critique and transcend the limitations of 'factual' history writing.Students will be asked to read and discuss a series of novels from these perspectives and then to produce an analytical essay focused on an area related to this thematic.
Syllabus
  • Seminar 1.Walter Scott: Waverley Seminar 2 Herman Melville: Moby Dick Seminar 3:John Cowper Powys: Porius Seminar 4:John Berger: G Seminar 5:Thomas Pynchon: Gravity's Rainbow
Literature
    required literature
  • SCOTT, Walter. Waverley. London: Caxton Pub., 382 s. info
  • Pynchon, Thomas Against The Day London Vintage 2007
  • POWYS, John Cowper. Porius : [a novel]. Edited by Judith Bond - Morine Krissdóttir. 1st pub. New York: Overlook Duckworth, 2007, 751 s. ISBN 9781585673667. info
  • ELIOT, George. Romola. London: Oxford University Press, 1916, 688 s. info
  • PATER, Walter. Marius the Epicurean : his sensations and ideas. Vol. 1. Library ed. London: Macmillan, 1910, 242 s. info
  • PATER, Walter. Marius the Epicurean : his sensations and ideas. Vol. 2. Library ed. London: Macmillan, 1910, 223 s. info
    not specified
  • FOWLES, John. The french lieutenant's woman. London: Vintage, 2004, 445 s. ISBN 0099478331. info
  • JAMES, Henry. The Princess Casamassima. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1977, 526 s. ISBN 0-14-004102-8. info
  • CONRAD, Joseph. Nostromo : a tale of the seaboard. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1963, 462 s. info
  • BYRON, George Gordon Byron. The complete poetical works of Byron. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1933, xxi, 1055. info
Teaching methods
The course will be taught through seminars. Teaching will take the form of seminar discussion and close-reading of required texts. The outcome will take the form of an essay in which aspects of the literature discussed will be analysed - partly in relation to perspectives derived from teaching in the seminar, though participants will also be asked to thnk for themselves
Assessment methods
Assessment will be by class contribution (attendance and oral participation) (40%) and a 6-10 page essay (60%).The essay must relate to one or more of the texts taught on the course.Essays must be submitted in hard copy form.
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2011, Autumn 2012, Autumn 2013, Autumn 2016.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2015, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2015/AJ24093