Kommentiertes Vorlesungsverzeichnis Anglistik Heidelberg SS 2008

5.2 Hauptseminare Literaturwissenschaft
American Literature) will be Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “The Poet”, Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Poetic
Principle” and “The Philosophy of Composition”, and Walt Whitman’s Preface to Leaves of Grass,
along with poems by each of these writers.
Registration: Please register by e-mail: dieter.schulz@urz.uni-heidelberg.de.
Text: The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym et al. Seventh Edition. New
York 2007. Vol. B.
Scheinerwerb: Regelmäßige Teilnahme (1LP); Vor- und Nachbereitung (3 LP); Referat o.ä. (1
LP); Hausarbeit (3 LP).
Kurt Vonnegut and Cultural History, 1940-2008
Prof. Thorson Donnerstag 11:15 – 12:45 114 2st.
The death of Kurt Vonnegut (Jr.) in April, 2007 brings to a close the long career of the most
important American satirist of the second half of the twentieth century. This seminar will focus on
his fiction, but will also incorporate some of his non-fictional work to illuminate his literary career.
The approach will be largely chronological with on-going references to the social, political, and
cultural contexsts in which his work was created, published, and read. Vonnegut’s use of both
conventional and revolutionary literary forms will be carefully examined to clarify his importance
as a literary figure.
First class: 17 April.
Texts: Kurt Vonnegut:
Welcome to the Monkey House
Player Piano
Cat’s Cradle
Slaughterhouse-5
Galapagos
Wampeters, Foma, and Granfaloons
Fates Worse than Death
Course Requirements: In addition to regular attendance (1 CP) and preparation/homework time (3
CP), students desiring a Schein for this Hauptseminar will be expected to develop an original idea
for a Hausarbeit in conference with the instructor. The final paper (3 CP) will use significant
secondary materials. All papers must be submitted prior to October 1, 2008.
They will be graded and returned to students shortly after that date. All students will present a
report in class on a topic to be worked out with the instructor (1 CP).
Powerful Individuals: The Contemporary American Novel and the “Human
Subject”
Prof. Schloss Montag 14:15 – 15:45 108 2st.
It seems that the American novel has rediscovered the charismatic individual. Toni Morrison’s Love
(2003) focuses on a black patriarch and entrepreneur and the ways through which he brings people
under his spell. Don DeLillo’s Cosmopolis (2003) probes the ambitions and desires of a young,
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