Course descriptions 2014-2015

1
DESCRIPTION DES COURS
DÉPARTEMENT DE LANGUE ET DE
LITTÉRATURE ANGLAISES
ANNÉE ACADÉMIQUE 2014-2015
(sous réserve de modification)
Comme il y a parfois des changements d’horaire ou de salles en cours d’année, vous êtes invité-e-s à contrôler
régulièrement l’horaire et la salle pour les enseignements qui vous intéressent, ainsi que d’éventuelles
annulations, en consultant la version officielle du programme des cours 2014-2015 sur le site de la Faculté (dès
fin juillet 2014) :
http://www.unige.ch/lettres > Enseignements > Programme des cours > «Prog. des cours 2014-2015 (avec moteur de recherche)»
A = semestre d’automne
P = semestre de printemps
AN = toute l’année
CR = cours
CS = cours-séminaire
SE = séminaire
TP = travaux pratiques
CP = complément d’enseignement
***********
Baccalauréat universitaire (Bachelor of Arts, BA)
BA1 : Littérature anglaise
3E040
1-2h/Année de CR, Introduction aux études littéraires
32E0108
CR
Introduction to the Study of Literature
L. Erne, po
A
Ma 10-12
B 111
32E0108
CR
Introduction to the Study of Literature
D. Madsen, po
P
Ma 10-12
B 111
This course is designed to introduce students to the terminology and skills required for the study of literature at the university level. It is organised into four half-semesters, each of
which is devoted to the study of a genre: poetry and drama (taught by Professor Erne in the Autumn semester) and fiction and nonfiction prose (taught by Professor Madsen in
the Spring semester). Among the texts we will study are Shakespeare's "Hamlet", a selection of poetry from the
sixteenth century to the present, and Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter".
Bibliography: It is important that students buy the following editions:
William Shakespeare, "Hamlet", Folger Shakespeare Library (Washington Square Press, 1992). ISBN 0-7434-8278-6 (copies are available from the English book section of
Librairie Payot - Chantepoulet, 5 rue Chantepoulet).
Nathaniel Hawthorne, "The Scarlet Letter: Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism". Ed. Ross C. Murfin, second edition (Palgrave Macmillan; Bedford/St Martins, 2006)
32E0109
CP
Film Club related to Introduction to the Study of Literature
Enseignants
Lettres
AN
Je 19-22
B 112
The cinematic interpretation of a literary work provides for alternative or complementary readings of that work, and the transfer of narrative from page to screen can reveal
important aspects of both media. For this reason, some seminars in the English Department include films as an integral part of their subject of study.
Organised by Anna Iatsenko the English Department Film Club provides regular screenings at a time and place independent of the seminars. Open to all members of the English
Department, the Film Club is also an informal meeting point for students outside the classroom. Students are free to attend any session they are interested in.
Films are screened on Thursday evenings in B112 starting at 7.15 p.m. For an up-to-date schedule, please consult the Department website or the posters at the English
Department and by the Library. We hope you will enjoy the screenings and feel inspired to pursue your discussion of the interpretations of texts with your fellow students
afterwards.
2
3E002 3h/Année de TP, Analyse de textes & Composition anglaise
32E0018
TP
Analysis of Texts and Composition – Group 1
Enseignants
Lettres
AN
AN
Ma 09-10
Ma 14-16
B 302
B 307
32E0018
TP
Analysis of Texts and Composition - Group 2
Enseignants
Lettres
AN
AN
Ma 12-14
Je 16-17
B 302
B 107
32E0018
TP
Analysis of Texts and Composition – Group 3
Enseignants
Lettres
AN
Ma 16-19
B 307
32E0018
TP
Analysis of Texts and Composition – Group 4
Enseignants
Lettres
AN
Ma 16-19
B 305
32E0018
TP
Analysis of Texts and Composition – Group 5
Enseignants
Lettres
AN
Ma 16-19
B 302
32E0018
TP
Analysis of Texts and Composition – Group 6
Enseignants
Lettres
AN
Je 16-19
B 307
32E0018
TP
Analysis of Texts and Composition – Group 7
Enseignants
Lettres
AN
Je 16-19
B 302
The sections of Analysis of Texts are devoted to close study of the literary texts listed in the programme for the Introduction to Literature lecture course. Each section is taught for
one semester by a single instructor, who assigns written work and administers written examinations. The section provides a forum for discussion and addresses questions of
textual analysis for a two-hour period each week; a third hour is devoted to the writing of critical prose on the literary texts studied in the course as a whole.
BA2 : Linguistique et langue anglaises
3E003 1-2h/Année de CR, Introduction à la linguistique anglaise
32E0019
CR
Introduction to English Linguistics
E. Haeberli, pas
AN
Je 12-14
B 101
This course provides an introduction to linguistics as “the scientific study of language”. After a short introduction to general issues – the aims and methods of linguistics, a brief
overview of the different fields in linguistics – the lectures will concentrate on the core areas of linguistics: semantics/pragmatics (meaning), phonetics/phonology (sounds and
sound patterns), morphology (word formation), and syntax (sentence formation). This implies acquiring the descriptive tools and illustrating how these descriptive tools can be
applied to the study of the English language. The final section of the course will focus on one area of the grammar of English, the auxiliary system, and we will study this topic
against the general background outlined in the first part of the course.
Material for the lecture course and the TPs in English linguistics will be made available on the course website (see https://chamilo.unige.ch).
3E004 2h/Année de TP, Linguistique anglaise
32E0020
TP
English Linguistics – Group 1
Enseignants
Lettres
AN
Lu 08-10
B 307
32E0020
TP
English Linguistics – Group 2
Enseignants
Lettres
AN
Lu 10-12
B 307
32E0020
TP
English Linguistics – Group 3
Enseignants
Lettres
AN
Lu 10-12
B 305
32E0020
TP
English Linguistics – Group 4
Enseignants
Lettres
AN
Lu 12-14
B 307
32E0020
TP
English Linguistics – Group 5
Enseignants
Lettres
AN
Ma 08-10
B 307
The TPs are “hands-on” sessions designed to reinforce and practice the notions introduced in the lecture course “Introduction to English Linguistics”. They also focus on the
acquisition of specific skills, such as examining linguistic data, identifying linguistic problems, solving the problems using linguistic tools, and writing short essays.
Material for the lecture course and the TPs in English linguistics will be made available on the course website (see https://chamilo.unige.ch).
3E005 2h/Année de TP, Perfectionnement de langue
32E0021
TP
Practical Language – Group 1
Enseignants
Lettres
AN
Je 08-10
A 113
32E0021
TP
Practical Language – Group 2
Enseignants
Lettres
AN
Je 10-12
A 113
32E0021
TP
Practical Language – Group 3
Enseignants
Lettres
AN
Je 14-16
B 302
3
32E0021
TP
Practical Language – Group 4
Enseignants
Lettres
AN
Je 16-18
B 214a
32E0021
TP
Practical Language – Group 5
Enseignants
Lettres
AN
Ve 12-14
B 307
Practical Language classes are designed to help students consolidate and improve their proficiency in grammar, vocabulary and language use. In addition to language practice,
the course aims to introduce a basic descriptive framework for the English language. This is designed to enable students to develop their own mastery of the language
independently, and to be useful for those who aim to go on to teach.
BA3 : Linguistique anglaise
3E041 2 x 2h/Semestre de CS, Enseignements de linguistique anglaise
32E0110
CS
The History of English
E. Haeberli, pas
A
Je 16-18
B 105
Since the Anglo-Saxon period, the English language has undergone substantial changes, and Old English, as illustrated in the example below, has become nearly unintelligible to
speakers of present-day English.
Þæs ymb iiii niht Æþered cyning & Ælfred his broþur þær micle fierd to Readingum gelæddon. (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, year 871; 'About four days later, King Ethered and his
brother Alfred led their main army to Reading.')
The phonology, morphology, syntax and lexicon of English have changed considerably over the last thousand years. The aim of this course is to provide a brief overview of the
main developments in these different domains and to identify the various traces that the English of the past has left in present-day English. Although the focus will be on the
language, relevant aspects of the political, social and cultural context will also be discussed. Furthermore, the developments in the history of English will allow us to consider the
more general question of how and why languages change.
The recommended textbook is:
Barber, C., J. Beal, and P. Shaw (eds.). 2009. The English Language: A Historical Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2nd edition.
32E0111
CS
Varieties of English
G. Puskas, pas
P
Ma 10-12
B 101
This class discusses different varieties of English. In order to consider a language a "variety" of English, we must agree on what counts as the features of a language. We will see
that beyond the lexicon, many aspects of both the phonology and the morpho-syntax of a language make it a variety of what is referred to as "standard English". Our world trip will
take us from the British Isles (Irish English, Welsh English, Scots), through the American Continent (Canadian English, Chicano English, African-American Vernacular English)
and Australia & New Zealand to Africa (South-African English, Nigerian English), India (Indian English) and Singapore (Singlish).
All documents will be available on Chamilo at the beginning of the semester: https://chamilo.unige.ch
BA4 : Langues et littératures anglo-saxonnes et médiévales
3E042 2h/Semestre de CR, Enseignement de langues et littératures anglo-saxonnes et médiévales
32E0112
CR
Medieval England
L. Perry, smer
A
Ve 10-12
B 105
This course is followed EITHER in the Autumn semester (32E0112) OR in the Spring semester (32E0113). The course content is identical.
The aim of this course is to provide an overview of the literature of the British Isles during the medieval period from about 700 to 1500, which spans both the Old English (AngloSaxon) and Middle English periods. In order to inform your interpretation of the material, during the course you should develop an awareness of the variety and evolution of
different genres (e.g. epic, chronicle, romance, lyric, and drama) and acquire knowledge of key landmarks in the historical, social and cultural contexts of medieval literary
production. Students may take the course during either the autumn semester or spring semester, but all students must attend the first lecture of the autumn, which comprises an
introduction to both the lecture course and the accompanying BA4 seminars.
Required Textbook: Elaine Treharne (ed.), “Old and Middle English c.890-c.1450: An Anthology”, 3rd edition (Malden, MA & Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009). Available from
Amazon.
32E0113
CR
Medieval England
L. Perry, smer
P
Ve 10-12
B 105
This course is followed EITHER in the Autumn semester (32E0112) OR in the Spring semester (32E0113). The course content is identical.
The aim of this course is to provide an overview of the literature of the British Isles during the medieval period from about 700 to 1500, which spans both the Old English (AngloSaxon) and Middle English periods. In order to inform your interpretation of the material, during the course you should develop an awareness of the variety and evolution of
different genres (e.g. epic, chronicle, romance, lyric, and drama) and acquire knowledge of key landmarks in the historical, social and cultural contexts of medieval literary
production. Students may take the course during either the autumn semester or spring semester, but all students must attend the first lecture of the autumn, which comprises an
introduction to both the lecture course and the accompanying BA4 seminars.
Required Textbook: Elaine Treharne (ed.), “Old and Middle English c.890-c.1450: An Anthology”, 3rd edition (Malden, MA & Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009). Available from
Amazon.
4
3E009 2h/Semestre de SE, Séminaire de langues et littératures anglo-saxonnes et médiévales
32E0086
SE
The Fallen Body in Medieval Literature
S. Brazil, as
A
Lu 10-12
B 220
The fall was one of the most central and defining events in the history of Christianity, and had continuing ramifications for the body. In this seminar we will examine the history of
the event, taking biblical scripture and early Christian interpretation into account in order to consider how both affected literature and drama in the later Middle Ages. The body
moreover is regularly presented in a figurative capacity by clothing (such as the skins of tunic Adam and Eve receive as a result of their transgression), and this association will be
explored throughout the semester.
A selection of relevant texts will be made available on Moodle.
32E0152
SE
Chaucer’s Comic Tales
L. Perry, smer
A
Me 10-12
A 109
The comic tales we will be studying are categorised as fabliaux, a medieval literary genre which flourished in France during the thirteenth century, but examples of which are
scarce in the corpus of Middle English literature, outside of “The Canterbury Tales”. Chaucer uses the genre as a foundation for some of the most entertaining and humorous
tales in English. Irreverent, bawdy, scurrilous, these tales may be read also as a critique of social and literary conventions. The tales to be studied are those of the Miller, the
Reeve, the Merchant, and the Shipman.
Text book: Larry D. Benson, ed., “The Riverside Chaucer”, 3rd edition, reissued with a new foreword by Christopher Cannon (Oxford: OUP, 2008). Available from Amazon.
32E0181
SE
Old English Religious Texts : A Reading Course
A. Brown, as
P
Me 10-12
B 302
Students in this course will study Old English texts in the original language. We will master the basic grammar and vocabulary necessary to read and translate from Old English to
modern, with a focus on religious texts, particularly the lives of women saints. Thematic issues covered will include: the role of vernacular religious texts in early medieval
England; the characterisation of holy women; the interaction of gender roles and ideals of holiness. Students enrolling in this course should be prepared to do regular translation
work as well as literary analysis.
Textbook:
Peter S. Baker, “Electronic Introduction to Old English”. We will make use of the online Anthology and grammar exercises provided at www.oldenglishaerobics.net.
Students may wish to purchase a hard copy or e-book of the “Introduction to Old English” 3rd ed. Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.
32E0153
SE
The Gawain Poet
L. Perry, smer
P
Me 14-16
A 210
The two poems studied in this seminar, ‘Pearl’ and ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’, a romance and a dream vision, are extant in one manuscript and probably composed by
one poet. We will read about Sir Gawain’s quest into unknown territories, both civilized and wild. Not only is his physical strength tested but also his chivalric and ethical codes of
conduct. The narrator of Pearl mourns the loss of someone beloved and precious. In a dream he is transported to a magical landscape where he meets a beautiful young maiden:
a consolatory poem that explores matters philosophical and theological.
Text: “Poems Of The Pearl Manuscript Pearl, Cleanness, Patience, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”, ed. by M. Andrew and R. Waldron (University of Exeter Press, 2007) - with
DVD. Available from Amazon.
BA5 : Littérature moderne des 16e, 17e et 18e siècles
3E043 2h/Semestre de CR, Enseignement de littérature moderne des 16e, 17e et 18e siècles
32E0115
CR
An Introduction to English Literature, 1500-1800
L. Erne, po
E. Kukorelly, sce
A
Ma 16-18
B 104
This compulsory lecture course, taught in the autumn and the spring semester, provides an introduction to English literature written in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth
centuries. Students are strongly encouraged to attend it before, or at least at the same time as, but not after the seminars devoted to the period covered by module BA5. Indeed,
one of the aims of this lecture course is to equip students with the knowledge of literary history upon which BA5 seminars rely. The lecture course is divided into two parts, the first
devoted to the Renaissance (ca. 1500-1660), the second to the Restoration and the eighteenth century. Among the historical and intellectual developments that will be addressed
in the first part are Humanism and the Reformation, early modern poetry (both lyric and epic), early modern drama, and English Renaissance literary theory. The second part will
examine Restoration and eighteenth-century drama, the poetry of the Augustan or neo-classical period, the periodical essay and literary theory, satire and sensibility, and the
development of prose fiction towards what is commonly known as “the novel”.
Course book: for BOTH parts, “The Norton Anthology of English Literature”, 9th ed. (2012), vol. 1 (Middle Ages Through the Restoration and the Eighteenth Century), ISBN 9780-393-91247-0. It is important that you order the 9th edition, and that you order it well before the beginning of the semester.
32E0116
CR
An Introduction to English Literature, 1500-1800
L. Erne, po
E. Kukorelly, sce
P
Me 14-16
B 104
This compulsory lecture course, taught in the autumn and the spring semester, provides an introduction to English literature written in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth
centuries. Students are strongly encouraged to attend it before, or at least at the same time as, but not after the seminars devoted to the period covered by module BA5. Indeed,
one of the aims of this lecture course is to equip students with the knowledge of literary history upon which BA5 seminars rely. The lecture course is divided into two parts, the first
devoted to the Renaissance (ca. 1500-1660), the second to the Restoration and the eighteenth century. Among the historical and intellectual developments that will be addressed
in the first part are Humanism and the Reformation, early modern poetry (both lyric and epic), early modern drama, and English Renaissance literary theory. The second part will
examine Restoration and eighteenth-century drama, the poetry of the Augustan or neo-classical period, the periodical essay and literary theory, satire and sensibility, and the
development of prose fiction towards what is commonly known as “the novel”.
Course book: for BOTH parts, “The Norton Anthology of English Literature”, 9th ed. (2012), vol. 1 (Middle Ages Through the Restoration and the Eighteenth Century), ISBN 9780-393-91247-0. It is important that you order the 9th edition, and that you order it well before the beginning of the semester.
5
3E044 2 x 2h/Semestre de SE, Enseignements de littérature moderne des 16 e, 17e et 18e siècles
32E0117
SE
Henry Fielding’s “Tom Jones”: reading for themes
E. Kukorelly, ce
A
Lu 12-14
A 211
This seminar has two goals: to acquaint you with an example of the early English novel, and, in the process of doing just that, to have a good read – by this I mean pleasure and
enjoyment. When “Tom Jones” was published in 1749, it was an immediate success, finding eager readers among a public that was avid for fictions of a new genre, one which
explored issues close to readers’ experiences. The hilarious and touching adventures of Tom Jones, a foundling, in which we follow him around the South of England as he
pursues his beloved, provide ample examples of characteristics that have come to be identified with the early novel: realism of action, characters, and time/place; plot complexity;
and a focus on the feelings, thoughts, experiences and agency of autonomous individuals.
Please purchase the Oxford World’s Classics edition of the novel.
32E0132
CP
Film Cycle Related to BA5, BA6 and BA7 Seminars
Enseignants
Lettres
AN
Ma 18-22
B 112
A
Me 14-16
A 214
This film cycle cannot be followed as a study option. Films will be announced, as and when relevant, during seminars.
32E0168
SE
Eliza Haywood : Gender, Authority and the Print Market
E. Kukorelly, sce
Early eighteenth-century London was the scene of a vibrant and varied literary scene. Writers had to follow reader taste if they wished to make a living from selling their work, as
the paradigm for literary production became increasingly reliant on market forces. Eliza Haywood’s work spans most of the first half of the century. She was amazingly prolific, and
wrote in many different genres. Furthermore, apart from a brief foray into theatre, she supported herself (as well as her children and apparently rather lazy lover) by her writing. As
such, she not only provides a good introduction to the print production of the period, but is also a fascinating example of a woman striving to compete in a world heavily dominated
by men.
During this seminar, we will read an array of her texts, in genres such as narrative fiction, conduct book, periodical, drama, poetry – and perhaps a few more besides.
Texts will be made available to download from https://chamilo.unige.ch .
32E0157
SE
Some Versions of Pastoral
O. Morgan, as
A
Je 12-14
B 214a
According to William Empson, pastoral is a process, the ‘process of putting the complex into the simple’. According to Renato Poggioli, ‘the pastoral longing is but the wishful
dream of a happiness to be gained without effort, an erotic bliss made absolute by its own irresponsibility’. According to Samuel Johnson, pastoral is ‘easy, vulgar, and therefore
disgusting’. This seminar will be a chance to test such claims in relation to a range of early modern English writing, from Spenser and Sidney to Shakespeare, Milton, and Marvell.
Students will be required to purchase a copy of As You Like It, ed. by Juliet Dusinberre, Arden Shakespeare (London: Thomson Learning, 2006). All other texts will be supplied as
PDF files.
32E0182
SE
The Atlantic Ocean in the Eighteenth Century
E. Kukorelly, ce
P
Lu 12-14
A 211
The Atlantic Ocean was an important space in the eighteenth century. The watery main dividing Europe and Africa from the Americas enabled the transportation of people and
commodities, of ideas and cultures. Articulated around a series of interrelated dichotomies – absolute freedom and total enslavement, naïve superstition and scientific rationality,
unimaginable riches and abject poverty – the British imperial project was worked out in this space. London and sea ports, coastal colonies and unknown interiors, desert islands
and ships; slavers and slaves, pirates and planters, wives and adventuresses: such will be the locations and people that we will read about during this seminar, as we try to
understand how the Atlantic Ocean was key in helping the British to imagine themselves at the dawn of the industrial era.
Texts will be provided to students on Chamilo, and will include:
Aphra Behn, “The Widow Ranter” (play); Daniel Defoe, “Captain Singleton” and “Colonel Jack” (novels); Anon. “The Female American, or the Adventures of Unca Eliza Winkfield”
(novel); “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano” (autobiography); Captain Charles Johnson, “A General History of the Pyrates;” The “Atlas Maritimus et
Commercialis” (atlas with commentary by Daniel Defoe), as well as extracts from the periodical press and some poems by Swift and Pope.
32E0183
SE
Shakespeare’s Roman Plays
V. Fehlbaum, ce
P
Me 08-10
A113
Largely drawing on Plutarch’s ‘Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans’, Shakespeare wrote several Roman plays, three of which will be studied in depth in this seminar. On the
surface the plays deal primarily with power and politics in the public arena. However, more personal issues also raise serious questions about military greatness, human integrity
and nobility. Setting the scene in Ancient Rome Shakespeare was subtly able ‘to hold as ‘twere a mirror up to’ his own contemporary world as we, too, may find many resonances
in our modern day.
Texts: ‘Julius Caesar’, ed. David Daniell (London: Arden, 1998), ‘Anthony and Cleopatra’, ed. John Wilders (London: Arden, 1995),‘Coriolanus’, ed. Peter Holland (London: Arden,
2013).
Texts will be available at the English book section of Librairie Payot - Chantepoulet, 5 rue Chantepoulet.
32E0170
SE
Metaphysical Poetry
L. Erne, po
P
Me 10-12
A 210
The late sixteenth and early seventeenth century saw the emergence of a new and bold poetic idiom which later generations came to refer to as “metaphysical.” It was practiced
by a wide range of poets of vastly different backgrounds and convictions, including John Donne, George Herbert, Richard Crashaw, Henry Vaughan, and Andrew Marvell. The
aim of this seminar is to study English metaphysical poetry and to reflect on the controversial position it has occupied in the history of English canon formation. Alongside the
primary texts, students will read a selection of important critical writings related to the specific issues under discussion.
Course book: “Metaphysical Poetry”, ed. Colin Burrow (London: Penguin Classics, 2006), ISBN 978-0-14-042444-7.
32E0198
SE
Shakespeare’s “Lyric Phase”
A. Auld-Demartin,
as
P
Ve 14-16
B 307
As the writer of two popular, indeed bestselling, narrative poems in 1593 (“Venus and Adonis”) and 1594 (“The Rape of Lucrece”), it is curious that Shakespeare did not capitalize
on that early success by continuing to publish poetry. His later poetry publications are limited to a miscellany contribution (“The Phoenix and the Turtle” (1601)), an unauthorized
and mostly apocryphal collection (“The Passionate Pilgrim” (1599)), and a potentially unauthorized sonnet sequence and narrative poem (“Shakespeare’s Sonnets” (1609)). We
will explore the possibility that, following the achievement of his narrative poems in the early 1590s, Shakespeare combined poetry and drama in three plays that are
characterized by highly stylized (“poetic”) language and embedded lyric poems. We will ask what these plays of generic diversity (a history, a tragedy, and a comedy) have in
common, and if we are justified in grouping them as a “lyric phase” in the poet-playwright’s career. In addition to the texts listed below, some material from “Love’s Labour’s Lost”
will be posted on Chamilo.
6
Shakespeare, William
———. “King Richard II”. Ed. Charles R. Forker. The Arden Shakespeare. Third Series. London: Thomson Learning, 2002. ISBN: 1903436338
———. “Romeo and Juliet”. Ed. René Weis. The Arden Shakespeare. Third Series. London: Arden Shakespeare, 2012. ISBN: 1903436915
———. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. Ed. R.A. Foakes. The New Cambridge Shakespeare. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. (Updated edition) ISBN:
0521532477
BA6 : Littérature moderne et contemporaine des 19e, 20e, et 21e siècles
3E045 2h/Semestre de CR, Enseignement de littérature moderne et contemporaine des 19e, 20 e, et 21e siècles
32E0125
CR
Modern Intellectual History
D. Madsen, po
A
Lu 10-12
B 101
This lecture course offers a survey of important philosophical and aesthetic movements of the modern era. We will begin in the late eighteenth century with the philosophy of the
Enlightenment and its influence on English cultures on both sides of the Atlantic. Lectures will deal with such movements as nineteenth-century Romanticism, Modernism of the
early twentieth century and its successor, Postmodernism, as well as the emergence of “critical theory”, focusing upon relationships between theories of art and literature and
changing aesthetic styles. A major theme of the lectures will be the concept of “modernity” and the ways in which the idea of the modern has been reinterpreted in a range of
anglophone contexts.
Texts:
All texts will be available for download from https://chamilo.unige.ch.
32E0126
CR
The First World War and Contemporary Memory
M. Leer, mer
A
Me 12-14
B 108
To mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, this course will attempt to survey the changing memorialization of the War, which became such a defining moment
in the history of modernity : the first industrial mass warfare ; the failure of traditional military thinking ; « the Cubist War » ; the first diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder
(called « shell-shock ») ; the War that reshaped the map and political systems of Europe. The centenary has already seen a remarkable shift in historians’ narratives of how the
War broke out, a growing recognition of the role of colonial soldiers in the War and appeals to see the conscientious objectors as the real heroes. This course will consider all of
these issues, but largely through the literature of « the Poets’ War ». It will examine the fading fortunes of Siegfried Sassoon and Robert Graves, the abiding appeal of Wilfred
Owen, and the growing reputations of Isaac Rosenberg, Ivor Gurney and Edward Thomas ; but we will also read novels commemorating the War : from the time, Frederic
Manning’s “The Middle Parts of Fortune” (1929) and from the present, Pat Barker’s “The Ghost Road” (1995).
32E0127
CR
Gender Performativity
D. Madsen, po
P
Lu 10-12
B 101
One of the most recent emphases in feminist literary theory has been the concept of "performativity" to analyse the processes of gender identity formation. This lecture course will
address the notion of normativity or the "being performed by" gender discourses and how the performance of gender roles variously conforms to or challenges this pressure
towards the norm. In the course of the semester, we will read closely Judith Butler's seminal work, “Gender Trouble” (1990), in conjunction with other texts that address such
issues as gender and cross-dressing, gender and sport, gender and beauty pageants, gender and queer theory. We will discuss a series of films as well as novels and plays that
engage the performance of gender.
Texts:tT
Judith Butler, “Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity” (1990)
Texts will be available from Off the Shelf and additional readings will be available on https://chamilo.unige.ch.
32E0128
CR
India: Environment and People
M. Leer, mer
P
Me 12-14
B 112
The often conflictual relationship between environment and people looms ever larger in India through dam-building, logging, conservation efforts and climate change. This course
surveys the relationship through literature – from the nature writing of the Raj (Rudyard Kipling, Jim Corbett) through the pollution and dislocation attendant on modernization,
industrialization and urbanization (as seen e.g. in Kamala Markandaya’s “Nectar in a Sieve” (1954)). The main focus, however, is on the contemporary period: the literary activism
of Arundhati Roy, particularly in connection with dam-building; logging and its human effects in Allan Sealy’s “The Everest Hotel” (1998) ; and riverine ecology and environmental
refugees in Amitav Ghosh’s “The Hungry Tide” (2001) as well as contemporary Indian documentary filmmakers.
3E046 2 x 2h/Semestre de SE, Enseignements de littérature moderne et contemporaine des 19 e, 20e, et 21e siècles
32E0132
CP
Film Cycle Related to BA5, BA6 and BA7 Seminars
Enseignants
Lettres
AN
Ma 18-22
B 112
A
Me 12-14
A 113
This film cycle cannot be followed as a study option. Films will be announced, as and when relevant, during seminars.
32E0133
SE
Victorian Poetry: An Introduction
V. Fehlbaum, ce
Sandwiched between the Romantics and the Moderns, Victorian poets are often overlooked in favour of the great prose writers of the nineteenth century. This period is indeed
more usually considered the golden age of the English novel, and yet many of the great novelists also produced some fine poetry. Through close study of a selection of poetry I
hope to show that we owe some of our finest poetry to the Victorians.
Text: “The Penguin Book of Victorian Verse”, ed. Daniel Karlin, available from the English book section of Librairie Payot - Chantepoulet, 5 rue Chantepoulet.
The text will be ordered at the English book section of Librairie Payot - Chantepoulet, 5 rue Chantepoulet.
By means of introduction, students are also encouraged to read A. S. Byatt’s “Possession”.
32E0184
SE
Virginia Woolf’s Stream of Consciousness Novels
S. MacDuff, as
A
Me 12-14
B 305
In this seminar we will study three of Virginia Woolf’s most innovative novels in the context of her autobiographical and critical writing, exploring the ways in which she employs
“stream of consciousness” techniques. Woolf’s letters and diaries record how the ideas for “Mrs Dalloway” (1925) took shape through a creative dialogue with “Ulysses” and “The
Waste Land” (both 1922), but the “tunnelling process” she devised to “dig out beautiful caves” behind her characters, caves that connect and come “to daylight at the present
moment,” led to a very personal development of the interior monologue. In “A Sketch of the Past” Virginia Woolf describes how the early loss of her mother led her to compose
“To the Lighthouse” (1927): death “unveiled and intensified” experience for Woolf, so that the “shock” became a “revelation… of some real thing behind appearances,” leading to a
new aesthetic of the modernist novel as a collection of “moments of being.” In “A Room of One’s Own” (1928), and the diary she kept in the late 1920s, Woolf developed this
aesthetic into the rich prose poetry of “The Waves” (1931), in which the lives of six characters are gradually unfolded through six extended interior monologues, interwoven with
the ebb and flow of the tides.
7
Bibliography
Woolf, Virginia. “Mrs Dalloway”. Ed. David Bradshaw. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
Woolf, Virginia. “To the Lighthouse”. Ed. David Bradshaw. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
Woolf, Virginia. “The Waves”. Ed. Kate Flint. London: Penguin Classics, 2000.
Texts are available from the English book section of Librairie Payot - Chantepoulet, 5 rue Chantepoulet.
Polycopié available in the English department.
32E0185
SE
The Graphic Novel
K. Frohreich
A
Je 12-14
B 112
The aim of this seminar will be to examine the graphic novel as a literary medium. Using Scott McCloud’s “Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art” as our theoretical basis, we
will pay particular attention to the relationship between words and images, and the way that this relationship conveys meaning. At the same time, we will consider the ways in
which the medium has developed since its popularization in the mid-1980’s with Alan Moore’s “Watchmen” and Art Spiegelman’s “MAUS”, looking at how the graphic novel has
initiated a move away from mainstream comic book art and storylines and has engaged with social, political, and historical criticism.
Seminar texts (INDICATIVE only):
Scott McCloud’s “Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art” (1993)
Alan Moore’s “Watchmen” (1986-7)
Art Spiegelman’s “MAUS” (1986/1991)
Kyle Baker’s “Nat Turner” (2008)
Howard Zinn, Mike Konopacki, Paul Buhle’s “A People’s History of American Empire” (2008)
Adrian Tomine’s “Shortcomings” (2009)
Additional reading will be available on the seminar’s page on: https://chamilo.unige.ch.
32E0135
SE
Alice Munro and the Canadian Short Story
M. Leer, mer
A
Je 16-18
B 112
To celebrate Alice Munro’s Nobel Prize in 2013, this seminar will look at her work from “Lives of Girls and Women” (1971) to “Dear Life” (2012) – in the context of the tradition of
the Canadian short story, comparing Munro to other masters of the genre from Sinclair Ross through Mavis Gallant to Alistair McLeod.
32E0173
SE
Reading Environmental Fiction
A. Barras, as
A
Ve 12-14
A 113
In the second part of the twentieth century, perceptions and representations of our surroundings have considerably changed. The exploitation of natural resources gave way to
the protection of the earth as habitat. Western contemporary societies realized that the earth was a finite sphere, and that as such, it was vulnerable and could be irremediably
altered. In this seminar, we are going to investigate the emergence of environmental fiction. More precisely we will study how the concept of "environment" has pervaded certain
narrative systems and how this may have impacted the way readers respond to works of fiction.
Reading list:
Randolph Stow's "Tourmaline" (ISBN 978-0-7022-3311-1), Margaret Atwood’s “Surfacing” (ISBN 978-0-86068-064-2) and Jane Urquhart's "A Map of Glass" (ISBN 978-0-77108727-1). Students should purchase these books from Amazon, the English book section of Librairie Payot - Chantepoulet, 5 rue Chantepoulet, or BookFinder. A corpus of
theoretical and critical texts will be made available from https://chamilo.unige.ch.
32E0193
SE
Charles Dickens: The Early Works
A. Fachard, sce
A
Ve 16-18
B 307
Journalist, short-story writer, novelist, editor, critic, popular showman: Charles Dickens was a publishing phenomenon who appealed to all classes of readers, capturing the
popular imagination and earning the admiration of his peers. He is now regarded as one of the greatest novelists in any language.
In this seminar, we will examine two of his early works: “Sketches by Boz”, a collection featuring some of his earliest literary work; and “The Pickwick Papers”, the novel that
turned Dickens into a celebrity, a status that he retained until his death.
Copies of both works – please use these editions – will be available at the English book section of Librairie Payot - Chantepoulet, 5 rue Chantepoulet. These works are long; if
you plan to attend this class, please read the ‘Tales’ section in “Sketches by Boz” as well as “The Pickwick Papers” during the summer.
32E0187
SE
The Human-Animal in Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy
B. Skibo, as
A
Ve 14-16
B 307
Studies of posthumanism demonstrate the extreme flexibility inherent within species categorizations. The idea of “human,” “animal,” “plant,” and otherwise has become tenuous at
best, if not entirely untenable. Using Margaret Atwood’s recent apocalyptic trilogy (“Oryx and Crake”, “Year of the Flood”, and “MaddAddam”), this seminar will explore the
narratological means through which the species divide (already considered by some to be a cultural, rather than biological, construct) is blurred beyond distinction. The close
analytical readings of the novels will be supplemented with theoretical articles and shorter literary texts covering areas such as anthropomorphism and “anthropodenial,” the
creation of subjectivity through language and literature, understanding Otherness, abjection, and the ethics of animal experimentation, gene-splicing, and xenotransplantation.
Primary texts will be available from the English book section of Librairie Payot - Chantepoulet, 5 rue Chantepoulet and the seminar shelf in the English Library. Additional texts will
be available for download from https://chamilo.unige.ch.
Primary texts: “Oryx and Crake”; “Year of the Flood”; “MaddAddam”
32E0201
SE
Twisted Narratives
A. Iatsenko, scc
P
Me 12-14
A 214
This seminar will look at a selection of fictional texts that operate sudden and unexpected twists and turns in narration. These moments of sudden change create deep ruptures in
meaning and, therefore, alter the reading process. What kinds of stories do such narratives tell? How these narratives do the telling? What effects do these tellings produce? In
order to help us to answer these questions during our class discussions we will focus on narrative elements, but also extend to affect, psychoanalytic and post-modern theories.
List of primary sources to be purchased by students:
Kurt Vonnegut, “Slaughterhouse 5”. Vintage, 2000. ISBN: 9780099800200
Chuck Palahniuk, “Invisible Monsters. Remix”. WW Norton & Co., 2012. ISBN: 9780393345117. Please make sure that when you order this book that the mention “Remix”
appears on the book as you will receive a completely different book without it.
8
Toni Morrison, “A Mercy”. Vintage, 2009. ISBN: 9780099502548
Haruki Murakami, “Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World”. Vintage, 2003. ISBN: 9780099448785
32E0142
SE
Borders, Territories, Walls, Fences
M. Leer, mer
P
Je 16-18
B 112
Many of the most ingrained problems and conflicts of the postcolonial world may be contributed to colonial border-drawings combined with the deterritorialization of global
capitalism. This seminar will look at various levels of these conflicts, drawing on theoretical insights from Gilles Deleuze to Reviel Netz, but mainly through literature from Africa,
South Asia and Ireland : Bessie Head’s “A Bewitched Crossroad” (1984)¸ Nuruddin Farah’s “Maps” (1986), Amitav Ghosh’s “The Shadow Lines” (1988) and Seamus Deane’s
“Reading in the Dark” (1996).
32E0202
SE
Beckett Before Beckett (1930-1945)
N. Weeks, as
P
Ve 10-12
B 305
With the ongoing publication of Samuel Beckett's letters, drafts and even the reading notes from his personal library, a wealth of material on Beckett's early career has become
increasingly available to scholars over the past few years. Surveying Beckett's early creative output, this seminar will ask the question of the death of the author for one who has
often been seen as "realizing in his words a principle of death". Among the material considered will be essays ("Dante... Bruno. Vico.. Joyce", “Proust”), articles for “Transition”,
short stories (“More Pricks Than Kicks”), poems (“Echo's Bones”) and translations of poetry (by Rimbaud, Breton, Eluard and Tzara), as well as the two early novels “Murphy” and
“Watt”.
Course book: Beckett, Samuel. “Samuel Beckett: The Grove Centenary Edition, Volume IV”. Paul Auster (Ed.). New York: Grove Press, 2006. ISBN: 0-8021-1820-8.
The rest of the material will be made available on https://chamilo.unige.ch.
Bibliography:
Beckett, Samuel. “The Collected Poems of Samuel Beckett”. Seán Lawlor and John Pilling (Eds.). London: Faber and Faber, 2012.
---. “The Letters of Samuel Beckett: Volume I 1929-1940”. Martha Dow Fehsenfeld, Lois More Overbeck (Eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
---. “The Letters of Samuel Beckett: Volume II 1941-1956”. George Craig, Martha Dow Fehsenfeld, Dan Gunn, Lois More Overbeck (Eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2011.
Hulle, Dirk Van and Mark Nixon. “Samuel Beckett's Library”. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
Rabaté, Jean Michel (Ed.). «Beckett avant Beckett: Essais sur les premières œuvres». Paris: Presses de l'Ecole normale supérieure, 1984.
Ricks, Christopher. “Beckett's Dying Words”. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.
32E0140
SE
Ecofeminism
A. Barras, as
P
Ve 12-14
A 113
Ecofeminism is a social and philosophical movement that was born at the end of the twentieth century on the premise that a similar rhetoric of alienation subtended the
exploitation of women, of the "natural" world, and of indigenous peoples. Ecofeminism both deconstructs the rhetoric of exclusion and attempts to reconstruct a way of thinking
based on creative dialogue. The multiple foci of ecofeminism render it a crucial critical tool that will enable us to reflect critically on the globalized world in which we live. In the first
part of this seminar we will investigate in depth the principles of ecofeminism as theorized by Val Plumwood. In the second part of the seminar we will apply the principles of
ecofeminism to "The Swan Book" (2013), a contemporary novel by female Aboriginal writer Alexis Wright.
Reading list:
Alexis Wright's "The Swan Book" (ISBN 978-1-922146-41-0). Students should purchase this book from Amazon, OffTheShelf, or BookFinder. A corpus of theoretical and critical
texts will be made available from https://chamilo.unige.ch.
BA7 : Langue et littérature anglaises
Demi module BA7a et BA7b : Langue et littérature anglaises
3E014
32E0143
2h/Semestre de SE, Séminaire de langue et littérature anglaises
SE
Syntax I
J. Young Shim, scc
A
Ma 10-12
L 208
This seminar, together with Syntax II, provides an introduction to the study of English grammar within the framework of Principles and Parameters Theory (P&P), the foundation of
current mainstream generative approaches to sentence structure. P&P pursues the idea that a pre-determined set of principles underlies the grammar of all languages, and
cross‐linguistic variation is due to parameters set differently on languages. After an introduction of core concepts and terms in P&P, we will then explore various types of
syntactic phenomena, including syntactic movement (A‐movement and A´-movement).
“An Introduction to English sentence structure” by Andrew Radford (Cambridge University Press) will be used as the main textbook for the course, and other reading materials will
be provided by the instructor.
32E0132
CP
Film Cycle Related to BA5, BA6 and BA7 Seminars
Enseignants
Lettres
AN
Ma 18-22
B 112
P
Je 16-18
B 305
This film cycle cannot be followed as a study option. Films will be announced, as and when relevant, during seminars.
32E0144
SE
Syntax II
E. Haeberli, pas
This seminar is the second part of an introduction to syntax and therefore presupposes Syntax I. Some phenomena introduced in Syntax I will be examined in more depth and
additional issues of syntactic analysis will be explored. We will discuss the following main topics:
- A’-movement and constraints thereon, as illustrated for example in the grammaticality contrast between ‘Where do you believe that Mary bought this book?’ and ‘*Where do
you believe the claim that Mary bought this book?’.
- A-movement as found in constructions like passives (‘John was arrested.’) and raising (‘Mary seems to like this.’)
- The syntax of non-finite clauses, with a focus on distinguishing superficially identical but syntactically distinct constructions (e.g. ‘Mary expected him to leave’ vs. ‘Mary
persuaded him to leave’ or ‘John seems to be nice’ vs. ‘John promises to be nice’).
- Split projections (ditransitive constructions, the left periphery of the clause).
Syntactic constraints on the interpretation and use of noun phrases (Binding Theory) as illustrated by constraints on reflexives in an example like ‘John’s sister admires
herself/*himself’.
9
+ TOUS LES SÉMINAIRES BA4, BA5 ET BA6 (voir descriptifs sous BA4, BA5 et BA6)
OU
BA7 : Module hors-discipline
Maîtrise universitaire (Master of Arts, MA) - Anglais
MA1-MA5 : Langue et littérature anglaises I
3E016
34E0203
2h/Semestre de SE, Séminaire de langue et littérature anglaises (dans un des domaines suivants : médiéval, moderne, contemporain, ou linguistique) : médiéval
SE
Romance and its Remediation I
D. Madsen, po
L. Perry, mer
A
Ma 14-16
A 214
This first part of the year-long seminar is pre-requisite for the second part, offered in the spring semester: “Romance and its Remediation II”. The seminar will address the
changing nature of the romance as a literary genre that spans the long historical period from the medieval to the contemporary.
Texts that we will study include: “Havelok the Dane”; “Sir Orfeo”; “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”; Malory’s “Morte D’Arthur”; Edmund Spenser, “The Faerie Queene,” Book III,
Canto 1; John Keats, “La Belle Dame sans Merci”; Robert Browning, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came”; Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Ulysses” or one book of “Idylls of the
King”; J.R.R Tolkien, “The Fellowship of the Ring”; John Gardner, “Grendel”. The kinds of topics we will discuss include: romance as narrative, romance and quest, allegory and
romance, storyworlds in romance (the relations between discourse time and story time, the functions of narrative space and diegetic place), characterization and gender, romance
and historical vision and the poetics of nostalgia.
With the exception of J.R.R Tolkien’s “The Fellowship of the Ring,” which will be available from the English book section of Librairie Payot - Chantepoulet, 5 rue Chantepoulet, all
texts will be available for download from https://chamilo.unige.ch.
34E0160
SE
The Medieval Book
L. Perry, smer
A
Me 14-16
A 210
In this seminar we will explore the evolution of the medieval book (the codex) in Britain from the adoption of the Roman alphabet in Anglo-Saxon England to the introduction of
printing at the end of the medieval period. We will consider methods and contexts of production, investigate palaeographical and codicological elements of the manuscripts, and
study texts in their material context, considering, for example, the implications of this context for our understanding of authorship and audience. For the assessment you may
"adopt" a book, and study the production and composition of the material and how this has an impact on our understanding of one or more of the texts within the manuscript.
Alternatively, you may take as the focus of your assessment the production and dissemination of works of a particular genre (e.g. romance, lyric poetry, sermons, saints' lives), an
author (e.g. Chaucer, Malory), or a work (e.g. The Bible, ‘Brut’ Chronicles, ‘The Canterbury Tales’).
Texts and images will be available via Moodle, and use of digital media will be an integral part of the seminar.
34E0209
SE
Gossip, Slander, and Dangerous Speech
M. Flannery, scc
A
Je 08-10
B 214
Literature produced between 1300 and 1600 reveals that the late-medieval period was an age deeply concerned with talk. Men and women of all social backgrounds grappled
with a wide range of issues related to the circulation of speech: Whose speech was harmless or beneficial, and whose was dangerous? How could Church and state control what
people said about God, or about rulers? How could one measure the harm done by insults or by defamation, and what kinds of remedies could be provided? Driven by anxieties
concerning different forms of deviant speech, individuals and institutions alike sought to control gossip, slander, blasphemy, and even preaching.
The aim of this course is to explore the incredibly varied discourses of ‘talk’ between 1300 and 1600. We will explore how writers of laws, sermons, chronicles, and poems
engaged with the problems surrounding dangerous speech. Throughout the course, we will be particularly concerned with the perceived links between speech and gender; the
ways in which damaging speech was evaluated by literature and the law; concepts of productive or beneficial speech; and the various means used to control speech, whether
through laws, sermons, or physical punishment.
MAIN TEXTS will be made available online and in class. Several readings will be taken from “The Riverside Chaucer”, so it may be helpful to have a copy to hand.
Primary materials will include the following (among others):
Chaucer's “Manciple's Tale”, “Summoner's Tale”, and “Tale of Melibee”
“Mum & the Sothsegger” (the edition contained in “The Piers Plowman Tradition”)
William Dunbar's “The Tretis of the Twa Mariit Wemen and the Wedo” (available in online TEAMS edition)
John Skelton's “Bouge of Court” and “Venomous Tongues”
34E0204
SE
Romance and its Remediation II
D. Madsen, po
L. Perry, mer
P
Ma 14-16
A 214
This seminar may be taken ONLY for an attestation.
The first part of this year-long seminar, “Romance and its Remediation I”, is pre-requisite for the second part. And student who wishes to join in the second semester will be
required to pass a test to demonstrate that the reading for the pre-requisite seminar has been completed. In this second part, the seminar will be taught as a blended online
learning unit. We will consider the digital presence of romance elements, especially “medievalism” or the image of the medieval that is constructed in digital media. Throughout
the seminar we will ask: how can the techniques of literary and cultural analysis transform the digital media of the internet into a body of knowledge? Topics for discussion include:
the interpretative and analytical skills required to read digital media; varieties of visual media: manuscript illuminations, sculpture, book illustrations, pre-Raphaelite art, the comic
strip, film (in particular Peter Jackson's film trilogy of “The Lord of the Rings”), video games; games and online gaming: such as “Lord of the Rings Online”.
All material will be available for download from https://chamilo.unige.ch.
10
3E017 2h/Semestre de SE, Séminaire de langue et littérature anglaises (dans un des domaines suivants : médiéval,
moderne, contemporain, ou linguistique) : moderne
34E0003
SE
Literary Research Methodologies
D. Madsen, po
A
Lu 14-16
B 307
This seminar offers an advanced introduction to the study of literature and is highly recommended for students who took their BA degree at a university other than Geneva as well
as students beginning their work on the mémoire. There are three aspects of research methodology that will be emphasized in the seminar: techniques of close textual analysis;
the identification and use of scholarly resources; and the writing of extended research projects, in particular the mémoire. Please note that this seminar can ONLY be assessed by
means of an attestation; thus, the seminar can be taken in partial fulfillment of the requirements of modules MA1, MA2, MA4 or MA5.
Texts: All texts will be available for download from https://chamilo.unige.ch.
34E0203
SE
Romance and its Remediation I
D. Madsen, po
L. Perry, mer
A
Ma 14-16
A 214
This first part of the year-long seminar is pre-requisite for the second part, offered in the spring semester: “Romance and its Remediation II”. The seminar will address the
changing nature of the romance as a literary genre that spans the long historical period from the medieval to the contemporary.
Texts that we will study include: “Havelok the Dane”; “Sir Orfeo”; “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”; Malory’s “Morte D’Arthur”; Edmund Spenser, “The Faerie Queene,” Book III,
Canto 1; John Keats, “La Belle Dame sans Merci”; Robert Browning, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came”; Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Ulysses” or one book of “Idylls of the
King”; J.R.R Tolkien, “The Fellowship of the Ring”; John Gardner, “Grendel”. The kinds of topics we will discuss include: romance as narrative, romance and quest, allegory and
romance, storyworlds in romance (the relations between discourse time and story time, the functions of narrative space and diegetic place), characterization and gender, romance
and historical vision and the poetics of nostalgia.
With the exception of J.R.R Tolkien’s “The Fellowship of the Ring,” which will be available from OfftheShelf, all texts will be available for download from https://chamilo.unige.ch
34E0205
SE
Adapting Shakespeare
L. Erne, po
A
Me 10-12
A 210
Shakespeare wrote most of his plays by adapting earlier works: novellas, prose romances, chronicle histories, narrative poems, or plays. Shakespeare’s plays have in turn been
adapted in various genres and media, including drama (e.g., Tom Stoppard’s “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead”, Aimé Césaire’s “Une Tempête”), prose (Charles and
Mary Lamb’s “Tales from Shakespeare”), film (“Gnomeo and Juliet”, “O”, “Ten Things I Hate About You”), musical (“Kiss me Kate”, “West Side Story”), opera (Purcell’s “The Fairy
Queen”, Verdi’s “Falstaff”, Gounod’s “Roméo et Juliette”), or even manga (“The Manga Shakespeare”). The aim of this seminar is to study Shakespeare adaptations in the double
sense of the word: adaptations by and adaptations of Shakespeare. Issues we will engage with include the concept of adaptation (how, on a theoretical level, do we distinguish
between “adaptation” and “work”?), the politics of adaptation (how has Shakespeare been appropriated for political ends?), or the importance of media to adaptation (how does
the medium affect the message, to ask with McLuhan). We will begin with an investigation of how Shakespeare’s “Othello” adapts a novella by Giraldi Cinthio and will later study
how Verdi and Boito’s Otello adapts Shakespeare’s play. Other plays whose adaptations we will be interested in include King Lear.
Editions:
Shakespeare, “Othello”, Arden, ed. E. A. J. Honigmann, ISBN 0-17-443464-2.
Shakespeare, “King Lear”, Arden, ed. R. A. Foakes, ISBN 0-17-443460-X.
34E0206
SE
Literature and Money I
M. Leer, mer
A
Me 16-18
B 108
As a lead-up to the 2015 SAUTE conference in Geneva entitled « Economies of English », this seminar examines the connections between literature, money and economics,
based principally on the theories of Marc Shell and David Graeber. After establishing a theoretical and historical base in Shell’s “The Economy of Literature” and Graeber’s
“Debt : The First 5,000 Years”, the seminar will survey early Modern connections (Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” as read by Shell and Adam Smith’s “The Wealth of
Nations” before examining more closely the connections between Political Economy and 19th century fiction in the work of Charles Dickens and others. Special emphasis will be
given to the connections between the Gold Standard, « the Gilded Age » and American literary realism from William Dean Howells to Theodore Dreiser, ending with the radical
breakdown of these connections in William Faulkner’s “The Hamlet” (1940).
34E0148
SE
African American Modernism: The Harlem Renaissance
A. Iatsenko, scc
A
Je 12-14
A 214
Generally described as a peak of African American modernism, the Harlem Renaissance is considered to be a pivotal moment in the history of African American artistic
production inspiring the future generations of artists. However, in this seminar, we will not look at the Harlem Renaissance as an isolated historical event, but rather as a
consequence of the build up of creative forces spurred by the Great Migration from the rural South to the urban North after the Civil War. Consequently, we will also consider
literary works from the late 19th century and the seminar will finish with a more contemporary take on the Harlem Renaissance – Toni Morrison’s novel “Jazz” – which, although
contemporary to us, will help us explore the period from a less historically distant perspective.
Most of the primary texts will be obtainable in the form of a reader. However, the students will have to purchase a copy of Toni Morrison’s “Jazz”.
34E0195
SE
Hunger Artists
D. Madsen, po
P
Lu 14-16
B 307
How does one tell the story of starvation? What kinds of stories can be attributed to the emaciated body? In this seminar, Franz Kafka's story “The Hunger Artist” (1924) offers a
number of key concepts that will guide our analysis of a range of hunger narratives: the body as spectacle, the body as commodity, the splitting of subjectivity that underlies the
telling of the story of a starving body, the fetishization of the body, the position of the figures of the author and the reader in relation to stories of starvation. These are among the
ideas that we will consider as we analyze narratives that tell the story of bodies starved in political hunger strikes, in the interests of aesthetics, and as a consequence of anorexia
nervosa. The material with which we will engage includes the writings of suffragette and also Irish republican hunger strikers, and “anorexia narratives” such as Grace Bowman's
“Thin” (2008) and Laurie Halse Anderson's “Wintergirls” (2009). We will also consider the use of starvation as a motif in texts like Samuel Richardson's “Clarissa” (1748), Emily
Brontë's “Wuthering Heights” (1847) and Sylvia Plath's “The Bell Jar” (1963), in order to question the relation between hunger as a trope and as a generic characteristic of a
particular kind of literary text.
Texts will be available from the English book section of Librairie Payot - Chantepoulet, 5 rue Chantepoulet and additional readings will be available on https://chamilo.unige.ch.
34E0178
SE
Early Modern English Literature and the Material Text
L. Erne, po
P
Ma 10-12
B 307
This seminar proposes to study early modern English literature in the context of the material text and, more generally, the early modern book trade. While we will pay attention to
some of the leading early modern English writers such as Shakespeare, Marlowe, Spenser, and Milton, our aim will not be to study their texts in their own right, but to do so from
a book-historical perspective. Topics we will devote attention to include paratext, the bibliographical construction of authorship, kinds of early modern books, and the workings of
11
the early modern book trade. We will also be interested in how the mass of forgotten or little-remembered writers and texts relate to and can throw light on the masterpieces which
have made it to the top of the literary canon. You will be asked to familiarize yourself with some of the exciting research tools modern scholarship puts at our disposal, including
EEBO (Early English Books Online), LION (Literature Online), and the ESTC (English Short-Title Catalogue). Equipped with the necessary knowledge to handle these research
tools, you will be assigned (or partly choose yourself) specific individual assignments that will allow you to do original research on aspects of early modern English literature.
Texts: the course material will be made available on https://chamilo.unige.ch.
34E0204
SE
Romance and its Remediation II
D. Madsen, po
L. Perry, mer
P
Ma 14-16
A 214
This seminar may be taken ONLY for an attestation.
The first part of this year-long seminar, “Romance and its Remediation I”, is pre-requisite for the second part. And student who wishes to join in the second semester will be
required to pass a test to demonstrate that the reading for the pre-requisite seminar has been completed. In this second part, the seminar will be taught as a blended online
learning unit. We will consider the digital presence of romance elements, especially “medievalism” or the image of the medieval that is constructed in digital media. Throughout
the seminar we will ask: how can the techniques of literary and cultural analysis transform the digital media of the internet into a body of knowledge? Topics for discussion
include: the interpretative and analytical skills required to read digital media; varieties of visual media: manuscript illuminations, sculpture, book illustrations, pre-Raphaelite art,
the comic strip, film (in particular Peter Jackson's film trilogy of “The Lord of the Rings”), video games; games and online gaming: such as “Lord of the Rings Online”.
All material will be available for download from https://chamilo.unige.ch.
34E0149
SE
Romantic Narratives
S. Swift, scc
P
Ma 16-18
PHIL 006
What we call “the Romantic period” was relatively short (c.1789-1832), yet its literature is some of the most compelling, disturbing, and, by consequence, intensively-read and
theorised work in English literary history. It is also generically diverse, ranging from the gothic novel and ballad to the verse drama and classical ode. These writings anticipate
and influence modern anxieties about, among other things, ecology and what it means to be human; war, trauma and horror; the problem of human suffering and the limits of
sympathy; and the nature of historical self-consciousness. But the Romantics also inherit from their predecessors in the Enlightenment an interest in landscape as a space of
work and aesthetic contemplation (which took many of them to Switzerland); a concern with the role played by memory and imagination in forming the self; and questions about
social and historical “progress.” In this seminar we will examine these subjects and more through a close reading of Romantic poetry by, among others, William Wordsworth,
Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Lord Byron, in the novels of Jane Austen (Persuasion) and Mary Shelley (Frankenstein), and in other prose texts. We will focus our discussion on
an inquiry into the different kinds of stories – or narratives – that Romantic texts tell, and on how these narratives shape meaning in Romantic writing. Our three texts will be
available for purchase at the English book section of Librairie Payot - Chantepoulet, 5 rue Chantepoulet.
34E0207
SE
Literature and Money II
M. Leer, mer
P
Me 16-18
B 111
This second part of a year-long seminar on the connections between money and literature will take us from the magic of money in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” (1925)
to its possible breakdown in Michael Lewis’ “The Big Short” (2010). A number of fictional texts from B.S. Johnson to Don DeLillo will be included, but the seminar will also attempt
to apply a literary critique to Modernist (Keynes) and Post-Modernist economics and to money creation from futures and options through collateral debt obligations and credit
default swaps to end-of-the-world insurance, weather derivatives and catastrophe bonds.
3E018 2h/Semestre de SE, Séminaire de langue et littérature anglaises (dans un des domaines suivants : médiéval,
moderne, contemporain, ou linguistique) : contemporain
34E0003
SE
Literary Research Methodologies
D. Madsen, po
A
Lu 14-16
B 307
This seminar offers an advanced introduction to the study of literature and is highly recommended for students who took their BA degree at a university other than Geneva as well
as students beginning their work on the mémoire. There are three aspects of research methodology that will be emphasized in the seminar: techniques of close textual analysis;
the identification and use of scholarly resources; and the writing of extended research projects, in particular the mémoire. Please note that this seminar can ONLY be assessed by
means of an attestation; thus, the seminar can be taken in partial fulfillment of the requirements of modules MA1, MA2, MA4 or MA5.
Texts: All texts will be available for download from https://chamilo.unige.ch.
34E0203
SE
Romance and its Remediation I
D. Madsen, po
L. Perry, mer
A
Ma 14-16
A 214
This first part of the year-long seminar is pre-requisite for the second part, offered in the spring semester: “Romance and its Remediation II”. The seminar will address the
changing nature of the romance as a literary genre that spans the long historical period from the medieval to the contemporary.
Texts that we will study include: “Havelok the Dane”; “Sir Orfeo”; “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”; Malory’s “Morte D’Arthur”; Edmund Spenser, “The Faerie Queene,” Book III,
Canto 1; John Keats, “La Belle Dame sans Merci”; Robert Browning, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came”; Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Ulysses” or one book of “Idylls of the
King”; J.R.R Tolkien, “The Fellowship of the Ring”; John Gardner, “Grendel”. The kinds of topics we will discuss include: romance as narrative, romance and quest, allegory and
romance, storyworlds in romance (the relations between discourse time and story time, the functions of narrative space and diegetic place), characterization and gender, romance
and historical vision and the poetics of nostalgia.
With the exception of J.R.R Tolkien’s “The Fellowship of the Ring,” which will be available from OfftheShelf, all texts will be available for download from https://chamilo.unige.ch
34E0206
SE
Literature and Money I
M. Leer, mer
A
Me 16-18
B 108
As a lead-up to the 2015 SAUTE conference in Geneva entitled « Economies of English », this seminar examines the connections between literature, money and economics,
based principally on the theories of Marc Shell and David Graeber. After establishing a theoretical and historical base in Shell’s “The Economy of Literature” and Graeber’s
“Debt : The First 5,000 Years”, the seminar will survey early Modern connections (Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” as read by Shell and Adam Smith’s “The Wealth of
Nations” before examining more closely the connections between Political Economy and 19th century fiction in the work of Charles Dickens and others. Special emphasis will be
given to the connections between the Gold Standard, « the Gilded Age » and American literary realism from William Dean Howells to Theodore Dreiser, ending with the radical
breakdown of these connections in William Faulkner’s “The Hamlet” (1940).
12
34E0148
SE
African American Modernism: The Harlem Renaissance
A. Iatsenko, scc
A
Je 12-14
A 214
Generally described as a peak of African American modernism, the Harlem Renaissance is considered to be a pivotal moment in the history of African American artistic
production inspiring the future generations of artists. However, in this seminar, we will not look at the Harlem Renaissance as an isolated historical event, but rather as a
consequence of the build up of creative forces spurred by the Great Migration from the rural South to the urban North after the Civil War. Consequently, we will also consider
literary works from the late 19th century and the seminar will finish with a more contemporary take on the Harlem Renaissance – Toni Morrison’s novel “Jazz” – which, although
contemporary to us, will help us explore the period from a less historically distant perspective.
Most of the primary texts will be obtainable in the form of a reader. However, the students will have to purchase a copy of Toni Morrison’s “Jazz”.
34E0195
SE
Hunger Artists
D. Madsen, po
P
Lu 14-16
B 307
How does one tell the story of starvation? What kinds of stories can be attributed to the emaciated body? In this seminar, Franz Kafka's story “The Hunger Artist” (1924) offers a
number of key concepts that will guide our analysis of a range of hunger narratives: the body as spectacle, the body as commodity, the splitting of subjectivity that underlies the
telling of the story of a starving body, the fetishization of the body, the position of the figures of the author and the reader in relation to stories of starvation. These are among the
ideas that we will consider as we analyze narratives that tell the story of bodies starved in political hunger strikes, in the interests of aesthetics, and as a consequence of anorexia
nervosa. The material with which we will engage includes the writings of suffragette and also Irish republican hunger strikers, and “anorexia narratives” such as Grace Bowman's
“Thin” (2008) and Laurie Halse Anderson's “Wintergirls” (2009). We will also consider the use of starvation as a motif in texts like Samuel Richardson's “Clarissa” (1748), Emily
Brontë's “Wuthering Heights” (1847) and Sylvia Plath's “The Bell Jar” (1963), in order to question the relation between hunger as a trope and as a generic characteristic of a
particular kind of literary text.
Texts will be available from Off the Shelf and additional readings will be available on https://chamilo.unige.ch.
34E0204
SE
Romance and its Remediation II
D. Madsen, po
L. Perry, mer
P
Ma 14-16
A 214
This seminar may be taken ONLY for an attestation.
The first part of this year-long seminar, “Romance and its Remediation I”, is pre-requisite for the second part. And student who wishes to join in the second semester will be
required to pass a test to demonstrate that the reading for the pre-requisite seminar has been completed. In this second part, the seminar will be taught as a blended online
learning unit. We will consider the digital presence of romance elements, especially “medievalism” or the image of the medieval that is constructed in digital media. Throughout
the seminar we will ask: how can the techniques of literary and cultural analysis transform the digital media of the internet into a body of knowledge? Topics for discussion
include: the interpretative and analytical skills required to read digital media; varieties of visual media: manuscript illuminations, sculpture, book illustrations, pre-Raphaelite art,
the comic strip, film (in particular Peter Jackson's film trilogy of “The Lord of the Rings”), video games; games and online gaming: such as “Lord of the Rings Online”.
All material will be available for download from https://chamilo.unige.ch.
34E0149
SE
Romantic Narratives
S. Swift, scc
P
Ma 16-18
PHIL 006
What we call “the Romantic period” was relatively short (c.1789-1832), yet its literature is some of the most compelling, disturbing, and, by consequence, intensively-read and
theorised work in English literary history. It is also generically diverse, ranging from the gothic novel and ballad to the verse drama and classical ode. These writings anticipate
and influence modern anxieties about, among other things, ecology and what it means to be human; war, trauma and horror; the problem of human suffering and the limits of
sympathy; and the nature of historical self-consciousness. But the Romantics also inherit from their predecessors in the Enlightenment an interest in landscape as a space of
work and aesthetic contemplation (which took many of them to Switzerland); a concern with the role played by memory and imagination in forming the self; and questions about
social and historical “progress.” In this seminar we will examine these subjects and more through a close reading of Romantic poetry by, among others, William Wordsworth,
Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Lord Byron, in the novels of Jane Austen (Persuasion) and Mary Shelley (Frankenstein), and in other prose texts. We will focus our discussion on
an inquiry into the different kinds of stories – or narratives – that Romantic texts tell, and on how these narratives shape meaning in Romantic writing. Our three texts will be
available for purchase at OfftheShelf.
34E0207
SE
Literature and Money II
M. Leer, mer
P
Me 16-18
B 111
This second part of a year-long seminar on the connections between money and literature will take us from the magic of money in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” (1925)
to its possible breakdown in Michael Lewis’ “The Big Short” (2010). A number of fictional texts from B.S. Johnson to Don DeLillo will be included, but the seminar will also attempt
to apply a literary critique to Modernist (Keynes) and Post-Modernist economics and to money creation from futures and options through collateral debt obligations and credit
default swaps to end-of-the-world insurance, weather derivatives and catastrophe bonds.
3E019 2h/Semestre de SE, Séminaire de langue et littérature anglaises (dans un des domaines suivants : médiéval,
moderne, contemporain, ou linguistique) : linguistique
34E0060
SE
Semantics
G. Puskas, pas
A
Ma 08-10
B 105
The objective of this class is the acquisition of the basic tools of semantics, as well as the methodology of semantic analysis. After a short introductory section which discusses
general concepts such as 'meaning', 'sense', 'reference' and their articulation in a theory of semantic analysis, we will look at various approaches to ‘word meaning’ (lexical
semantics). We will examine what kind of problems we might meet when dealing with the formalization of our intuitive knowledge about what a word's 'meaning'. A second part
consists in an introduction to ‘logics’ and to the basic tools we need to handle the ‘meaning of sentences’. With these tools, we will be able to discuss the notion of
'compositionality of meaning', which is at the heart of semantic analysis.
All documents will be available on Chamilo at the beginning of the semester: https://chamilo.unige.ch
34E0163
SE
Syntactic Variation and Change
E. Haeberli, pas
A
Ma 16-18
A 214
Variation is an intrinsic property of language. We can observe variation across languages, variation across dialects of the same language, variation across speakers of the same
dialect/language (inter-speaker variation), and variation within a single speaker (intra-speaker variation). The latter two types of variation raise a certain number of interesting
theoretical issues, and our focus in this seminar will be on these types within the domain of syntax. A simple example of intra-speaker variation would be the word order
alternation in English found with particles (e.g. ‘Chris turned the lights on’ vs. ‘Chris turned on the lights.’). Cases of variation raise questions such as how two options can be
derived syntactically, or what makes speakers choose one option rather than the other one. Furthermore, variation is closely related to linguistic change since all syntactic change
is characterized by a period of variation. We will therefore also explore issues related to the interaction between variation and change.
All material related to this course will be available on Chamilo: https://chamilo.unige.ch
13
34E0102
SE
The Reform Movement in Language Teaching
C. Forel, pas
A
Je 08-10
L 208
“The late nineteenth century Reform Movement is unique in language teaching history. For a period of about twenty years, not only did many of the leading phoneticians of the
time co-operate towards a shared educational aim, but they also succeeded in attracting teachers and others in the field to the same common purpose.” (A.P.R Howatt with H.G.
Widdowson, “A History of English Language Teaching”, 2004, p. 187). We shall discuss the major piece of work in this field, H. Sweet’s “Practical Study of Languages” (1899),
and also look at O. Jespersen’s “How to Teach a Foreign language” (1904). More on the teaching side, we will examine WH Widgery’s “The Teaching of languages in Schools”
1888.
Students will develop a competence in discussing theoretical ideas about foreign language teaching and will put their English linguistics knowledge in use when discussing the
linguistic assumptions as well as the descriptions found in these applied linguistics contributions.
Relevant excerpts from primary and secondary sources will be posted on Chamilo.
34E0188
SE
Research Methods in Linguistics
V. Csillagh, as
A
Ve 12-14
A 210
“How to choose an appropriate research topic in English linguistics? What research questions to ask? How to obtain and analyze data?” The seminar provides answers to these
questions and more, in the form of a variety of activities designed to offer participants insights into the research process. Theoretical considerations will center around the main
areas of research in English linguistics, as well as the different methods of data collection and analysis applied in these domains. Further aspects of research design and
execution will be addressed through critical analysis of research articles and reports. Participants will also be required to take part in a number of practical tasks, which will help
them acquire the skills necessary for their future research projects.
Recommended reading:
Wray, A. and Bloomer, A. (2006). “Projects in linguistics: a practical guide to researching language”. London: Arnold.
34E0064
SE
Pragmatics
G. Puskas Nerima,
pas
P
Ma 08-10
B 105
Pragmatics deals with the study of language in context. Two kinds of contexts are relevant, linguistic context and situational context. In this seminar, we will define the two kinds of
contexts, and we will show how they are relevant to the full interpretation of utterances. We will first briefly discuss the difference between meaning and interpretation, trying to
draw the line between semantic and pragmatic contributions to the domain. Then we will consider different pragmatic approaches, and how they can contribute to a linguistic
account of indirect speech acts (1), presuppositions (2), metaphor (3), irony (4).
(1)
It's cold in here (intended: 'could you please close the window')
(2)
When did you stop smoking ? (intended: 'you used to smoke')
(3)
This room is a pigsty (intended: 'this room is untidy')
(4)
Peter is quite well-read. He's even heard of Shakespeare. (intended: Peter is an ignoramus)
All documents will be available on Chamilo at the beginning of the semester: https://chamilo.unige.ch
34E0164
SE
English Historical Syntax : Old English and Early Middle English
E. Haeberli, pas
P
Ma 16-18
A 214
In this seminar, we will examine some aspects of the syntax of early English and the syntactic changes occurring in the transition from Old to Middle English. We will start by
analyzing a few Old and Middle English text samples in order to identify the main characteristic syntactic properties of early English. The second part of the seminar will focus on
the syntax of the earliest attested period in the history of English, i.e. Old English. Old English had many word order patterns which would be ungrammatical in Modern English.
Given these differences between Old and Modern English, we can study the syntax of Old English from a comparative perspective. More precisely, we will consider how the
theoretical concepts developed for the analysis of the syntax of Modern English in other classes (in particular X-bar Theory) can be applied to Old English and how we can
account for the differences between the two stages of the language. Having established the basic syntactic analysis of Old English, we will then discuss some of the
developments in Middle English. The main issues to be examined are: the order of objects and verbs, subject-verb inversion, and negation.
All material related to this course will be available on Chamilo: https://chamilo.unige.ch
34E0189
SE
Saussure Translated into English
C. Forel, pas
P
Je 08-10
L 208
There are two English translations of Saussure’s “Course in General Linguistics”. The first was produced by W. Baskin in 1959 and recently republished; R. Harris being
dissatisfied with Baskin’s work decided to publish his own in 1983. There are therefore quite a number of different options taken in the translation of some of Saussure’s major
constructs such as ‘signifiant/signifié’ translated as ‘signifier/signified’ by Baskin and as ‘signal’ and ‘signification’ by Harris. Moreover, Harris also published a translation of the
notes that one of Saussure’s students took at the third course the Genevese scientist gave on general linguistics. In this particular translation Harris translates some Saussurean
concepts in yet another way.
Students will have the opportunity to become more familiar with what translating implies and especially translating theoretical linguistic work. They will also gain some
understanding of Saussure’s work.
Relevant excerpts from primary and secondary sources will be posted on Chamilo.
34E0208
SE
Generative Approaches to Bilingualism and Code-Switching
J. Young Shim, scc
P
Je 10-12
A 210
In this seminar, we discuss the history and developments of two fields, namely generative linguistics and bilingualism, and where they overlap and differ from each other. The
emphasis will be put on the fact that these two independent fields can make a positive impact and bring broader intellectual merits if they are put together. Several previous and
on-going studies that investigate code-switching in the generative framework will be discussed in order to show relevant evidence in this respect. Reading materials will be
updated and provided by the instructor, and students are asked to actively participate in class discussion and write a short research proposal of their own as their term paper,
including research questions and hypotheses.
3E020 2h/Semestre de SE, Séminaire dans le même domaine que l'autre enseignement de ce module: médiéval (3E016)
3E021 2h/Semestre de SE, Séminaire dans le même domaine que l'autre enseignement de ce module: moderne (3E017)
3E022 2h/Semestre de SE, Séminaire dans le même domaine que l'autre enseignement de ce module: contemp. (3E018)
3E023 2h/Semestre de SE, Séminaire dans le même domaine que l'autre enseignement de ce module: linguist. (3E019)
14
Hors module
3E047 Hors module
34E0166
RE
Doctoral Workshop: Medieval and Early Modern English Studies
L. Erne, po
L. Perry, smer
AN
Me 16-19
A 210
D. Madsen, po
A
P
Je 10-12
Je 12-14
B 214a
B 214a
Workshop open to doctoral students in medieval and early modern English studies only.
Nouveau no.
RE
Doctoral Skills Workshop: Modern and Contemporary English Literature
Workshop open to doctoral students in modern and contemporary English literature studies only.