Growing pains, both of teens and adults, have been the source of ample literary and cultural discourse, ranging from the classic tragedy to the Bildungsroman. The course will investigate how maturity and personal development have been depicted in contemporary fiction and media, analysing their portrayal in the selected texts, as well as the cultural discourse within which these texts are embedded. Apart from the texts that can be found in the ‘Semesterapparat', the required reading is:
Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street. New York: Vintage Contemporaries, 1984.
Murakami, Haruki. Kafka on the Shore. London: Vintage, 2005
Smith, Zadie. On Beauty. London: Penguin, 2006
Students are strongly advised to read either On Beauty or Kafka on the Shore before the semester begins. The course requirements are: regular attendance, active participation in class discussions and the completion of the home assignments (mandatory). |
