For students attending this seminar in the module EAS-1854: The corresponding Übung for this seminar is "Reading the Human and Posthuman ". If you are allotted to this seminar, you will automatically be signed up for the corresponding Übung.
For students of the MA programme Internationale Literatur (EAS-1781 / 1782 / 1783), make sure to attend an Übung or Vorlesung in conjunction with this seminar. See your Modulhandbuch for further details.
‘Personhood’ as a moral and legal concept is a varied as it is controversial. What defines a person? What are the prerequisites for being considered a person? Who defines it and on what grounds? And what are the consequences and ethical implications of such a categorization in terms of the rights connected to it? What does ‘ethics’ in this context potentially mean?
This class takes some of the debates around and definition of legal and moral personhood on the one hand, and about ethics and literature on the other as its starting points for exploring how ethical questions of personhood, of becoming and being a person, are reflected upon in literature. We will first familiarize ourselves with some of these debates and definitions in literary studies, legal theory, and philosophy while engaging with two short stories by Jocelyn Johnson and Richard van Camp that raise fundamental questions about personhood and ethics then before turning to a detailed analysis of two very different novels: Marilynne Robinson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Gilead (2005) and Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go (2006).
The theoretical texts and short stories will be uploaded on Digicampus, but please do get copies of Robinson's and Ishiguro's novels.
This class is taught online due to Covid-19 precautions, but we will meet every two to three weeks via zoom for a 60-90 minutes session. I will give you both assignments and feedback during the time between our live sessions and offer additional conversations with smaller groups and individual students.
This class is conceptualized in conjunction with the Übung “Reading the Human and the Posthuman”.
Anmelderegeln
Diese Veranstaltung gehört zum Anmeldeset "ELW/ALW/NELK Vertiefungsmodul MA: HS".
Folgende Regeln gelten für die Anmeldung:
Es wird eine festgelegte Anzahl von Plätzen in den Veranstaltungen verteilt.
Die Plätze in den betreffenden Veranstaltungen wurden am 28.10.2020 um 10:00 verteilt. Weitere Plätze werden evtl. über Wartelisten zur Verfügung gestellt.
Diese Regel gilt von 02.10.2020 10:00 bis 26.10.2020 10:00. Die Anmeldung zu maximal 1 Veranstaltungen des Anmeldesets ist erlaubt.
Die Anmeldung ist möglich von 02.10.2020, 10:00 bis 26.10.2020, 10:00.
