What does it mean to be Scottish? Is there such a thing as “Scottishness”? For reasons to be discussed in this course, this is a much-debated issue in today’s Scotland. The re-instatement of a Scottish parliament in 1999 and perhaps even the distant possibility of Scottish independence has given an additional impulse to this debate. Such matters come up in all sorts of texts; they can feature in, for instance, crime fiction or poetry.
This course will give you a chance to get acquainted with some key aspects of contemporary Scottish culture and life - and the way these are reflected in Scottish literature. It will also give you an opportunity to improve a wide range of basic skills (analysis of culture/texts).
Texts:
Please buy: Ian Rankin, Fleshmarket Close (London: Orion) and Donny O’ Rourke (ed.), Dream State. The New Scottish Poets. 2nd Edition (Edinburgh: Polygon). You should have read as much of Rankin’s novel as possible by the beginning of the semester. Please make yourselves familiar with the website of the Scottish Poetry Library (http://www.spl.org.uk). Further material will be made available.
There will be a final exam (Abschlußklausur). |
