Advanced seminar: HS "The Drama of a Broken Tea Cup? American Realism and its Critics" - Details

Advanced seminar: HS "The Drama of a Broken Tea Cup? American Realism and its Critics" - Details

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General information

Course name Advanced seminar: HS "The Drama of a Broken Tea Cup? American Realism and its Critics"
Subtitle S. Müller als Vertretung von Prof. Sarkowsky
Course number 022 100 0110
Semester SS 2022
Current number of participants 10
maximum number of participants 25
Home institute Amerikanistik
Courses type Advanced seminar in category Teaching
First date Tuesday, 26.04.2022 14:00 - 15:30, Room: (D, 1087a)
Veranstaltung findet in Präsenz statt / hat Präsenz-Bestandteile Yes
Hauptunterrichtssprache englisch
Literaturhinweise Please purchase hardcopy editions of the following texts (no e-pubs or PDFs, please!):

Henry James, Daisy Miller (ISBN 9780141389776)

Kate Chopin, The Awakening (ISBN 9780393617313)



In addition to the texts above, a reader will be made available with excerpts and short stories by Charles W. Chesnutt, Francis E. Harper, Frank Norris, and Edith Wharton and others.
ECTS points 8

Rooms and times

(D, 1087a)
Tuesday: 14:00 - 15:30, weekly (13x)

Comment/Description

The ‘Drama of a Broken Tea Cup’? American Realism and its Critics



The literary genre of Realism had its peak at the end of the nineteenth century, but its influence on US literature was much more enduring. For a lot of casual readers, realist literature still seems to be the gold standard of literature today, while other genres, such as science fiction or fantasy, are considered of secondary value. What’s true is that the Realist genre and its development offered writers the opportunity to discuss and (re-)define what they thought was important for literary fictions and the novel in particular. But even at the time Realism had its critics, such as Frank Norris who rolled his eyes at what he considered Realism’s commitment to the everyday and the ordinary: the “drama of a broken tea cup.”

This class is designed to give you an introduction to nineteenth-century Realism and its foundational debates and the writers and critics that shaped them. We will read and discuss a selection of novels and short stories to get an idea of the range of realism, as well as essays and articles that help us to understand the development of the genre and related modes such as sentimentalism, naturalism, and regionalism. Moreover, the class puts a special focus on the representation of race, gender, and sexuality in the context of the Realist debates.

Admission settings

The course is part of admission "ALW/ELW/NELK: Vertiefungsmodul BA: HS".
Bitte beachten Sie, dass die Anmeldung in der vorgezogenen Anmeldephase zur Sicherstellung des Studienfortschritts nur für Studierende in ihrem letzten Studienjahr vorbehalten ist. Anmeldungen die dies nicht erfüllen werden kommentarlos entfernt. Die allgemeine Anmeldephase für alle läuft vom 14.03.2022 bis zum 18.04.2022.
The following rules apply for the admission:
  • A defined number of seats will be assigned to these courses.
    The seats in the affected courses have been assigned at 20.04.2022 on 18:00. Additional seats may be available via a wait list.
  • The enrolment is possible from 14.03.2022, 08:00 to 18.04.2022, 18:00.
  • This setting is active from 14.03.2022 08:00 to 18.04.2022 18:00.
    Enrolment is allowed for up to 1 courses of the admission set.
Assignment of courses: