|
|
HS Sentimentality (AE_HSSent)- Lecturer
- Prof. Dr. Heike Paul
- Details
- Hauptseminar
2 cred.h, ECTS studies, Sprache Englisch
Time and place: Thu 10:15 - 11:45, C 301
- Contents
- This seminar conceives of the USA as a "sentimental nation" (Lauren Berlant's term) and examines different facets of American sentimentality throughout US history in literature, popular culture as well as political culture. We will begin with a discussion of the foundational document of the "Declaration of Independence" as a sentimental text (as argued by Elizabeth Barnes) along with the popular culture that surrounds it to this day - the latest example is the hugely successful musical Hamilton, which we will also address. For the 19th century, the classic sentimental reform novel Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe will be discussed in terms of its discourses of race and gender - alongside Harriet Jacobs' slave narrative Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. For the 20th century, Hollywood melodramas and their remakes suggest specific arguments regarding cultural difference, suffering, and emancipation that we will investigate more closely (see, for instance, the films All That Heaven Allows [1955] and Far from Heaven [2002]). Regarding 21st century sentimentality, we will look at the "political melodramas" of 9/11 (Elizabeth Anker's term) flanking the return of sentimental storytelling at large (exemplified by texts such as Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer). The seminar will conclude with a discussion of the uses of sentimentality in American political culture in the present moment.
- Recommended literature
- Please purchase and read the novels by Harriet Beecher Stowe and Jonathan Safran Foer. All additional material will be provided on the studon-platform.
- Additional information
- Maximale Teilnehmerzahl: 15
Registration is required for this lecture.
Registration starts on Monday, 29.7.2019, 19.00 and lasts till Saturday, 12.10.2019, 22.00 über: mein Campus.
- Verwendung in folgenden UnivIS-Modulen
- Startsemester WS 2019/2020:
- Amerikanistik, Modul 8 B (M 8)
- Amerikanistik, Modul 9 B (M 9)
- North America: Culture and Literature (AM4 bis 20182)
- North America: Culture and Literature (AM4 ab 20182)
- North America: Politics and Society (AM7)
- North American Studies (AM3b)
- Vertiefungsmodul Cultural Studies (Master Modul 7)
- Vertiefungsmodul Literary Studies (Master Modul 8)
- Department: Chair of American Studies (Prof. Dr. Paul)
|
|
|