A reader will be made available to you for free via Moodle. You will need to read and prepare material in the reader for each session.
You will also need to buy and read two books. You will need them from the first week of the semester, so buy them now:
Michael Meyer, English and American Literatures. 4. Auflage. UTB Basics. ISBN-13: 978-3825-235505 .
Christoph Heyl, Kleine Englische Literaturgeschichte. J.B. Metzler. ISBN-13: 978-3476045096 .
It is absolutely necessary to buy the two books and to download the reader. It is also absolutely necessary to attend both the lecture course (Vorlesung) and one of the Grundkurse.
As all other obligatory introductions in the field of Anglophone Studies, the Introduction to Literary Studies is of elementary importance to all new students. It will be your first and crucial step towards becoming an expert reader of literature written in English. The more you know, the more you see; the more you see, the more you can try to understand, which makes the whole process of reading even more exciting and rewarding. This course will therefore help you to see more and to get to grips with all sorts of texts by covering topics such as:
- What is literature? Why study literature?
- The major genres of literature (poetry, drama, narrative fiction).
- Key developments in the history of these genres in English literature and their cultural contexts.
- Literary theory and critical approaches, i.e. how to do things with texts in more than one way.
- How to use essential digital resources.
- How to write a seminar paper.
- What to do when you get stuck and you absolutely don't know what to do ... and much more besides.
Yes, this is a Pflichtveranstaltung, but it is also very much about enjoying literature.
The Introduction to Literary Studies will be extremely useful for all further courses in literary as well as cultural studies you will take while at university. It will be your first step towards enjoying literature even more than you do already, and also towards writing successful seminar papers, BA and MA theses.
The Introduction to Literary Studies consists of two elements: A lecture course (Vorlesung) and seminar-type courses (Grundkurse). The lecture and the Grundkurs format alternate on a weekly basis throughout the semester. They belong together, it is essential to attend both. The lecture is taught by Prof. Heyl, the Grundkurse by members of the Introduction team.
It is still not clear how the Introduction to Literary Studies will be taught in the winter semester. It all depends on how the Pandemic develops. If things go well, there may be be a mix of online and face-to-face teaching. In this case, the lecture will have to be recorded, and the videos will be made available online, and the Grundkurse will be taught in real time and face-to-face on campus.
If things go less well and we find ourselves in a dangerous fourth-wave situation, all teaching may have to be done online. In this case, both the lecture and the Grundkurs will be conducted online and in real time throughout the semester. This will help to give your week a useful structure in times of Corona. So whatever you do, do not double-book any time slots. You cannot do two different seminars or lectures at the same time.
You must sign up for one of the Grundkurse on LSF and join the Moodle course for the lecture. The Moodle course is called Vorlesung Introduction to Literary Studies (Mo 16-18.00) and the password is IntroLiteraryStudiesWS21. You will receive further essential information on this moodle course and via e-mail. Please make sure to use and check your official university e-mail addresses at all times. This is absolutely essential. Do not use any other addresses, and do not have e-mails sent to your university address forwarded to other addresses. Our experience in the last semester has shown that using non-university addresses / forwarding mails will lead to our messages bouncing back in very many cases. |
