gb - Englisches Seminar - Ruhr-Universität Bochum

AMERIKANISCHE LITERATUR
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Vorlesung
050 645 Freitag
American Literature and Culture: From the Civil War to World War II, 2/2,5 CP
2 st. mo 14-16 HGB 10
This is the second part of a three-part lecture series that introduces important
developments of US-American literature as part and expression of the shaping of US
American culture. Occasional references to visual and popular art are meant to
broaden the general perspective. While well-established periods and movements like
Realism, Naturalism, and Modernism will be covered, the lecture series will also
show how these periods and movements came to be canonized and what other
developments in literature and art were thereby influenced, excluded, and/or
devalued. Shorts stories, poems, and excerpts from longer texts will be supplied on
Blackboard.
Each part of the lecture cycle can be attended independently of the other parts.
Assessment/requirements: regular attendance, reading, written end-of-term test.
Seminare
050 647 Müller, M.
Vampires and Zombies in Theory and in Practice, 4 CP
2 st. do 16-18 GABF 04/614 Süd
In this class we will use literature – and at least one film – about vampires and
zombies to explore various issues of Anglophone (popular) culture(s). While the
vampire usually represents the aggressor and aggression, the zombie stands for the
victim and illustrates processes of victimization and exploitation. As outsider figures,
zombies and vampires can be put to good use in exploring power (and also gender)
relationships in a variety of social settings. Alongside the classical vampire figures of