Abschnittsübersicht

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    Allgemeines

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    Organisational Matters and Introduction

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    Key Concepts of Postcolonial Studies

    • Please join the VC class on the lecture "Postcolonial Novel" for the basics on Postcolonial Literature and Theory: https://vc.uni-bamberg.de/course/view.php?id=62738. The password is "Poco".

      During week 2 and 3, please follow the suggestions for reading, the glossary exercise on key concepts as well as the lecture on 31 October 2023 posted there.

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    No Class

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    The Nobel Prize in Literature

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    The Colonies and the Cultural Cringe

    • Patrick White (1912-1990) - Nobel Prize in Literature 1973

    • Preparation for Session 5:

      Please consult the material on Patrick White provided on the Nobel Prize in Literature Website.

      Please read:
      Hansson, Karin. "Patrick White - Existential Explorer." In: Nobel Laureates In Search of Identity and Integrity: Voices of Different Cultures, edited by Anders Hallengren and Andres Hallengren, World Scientific Publishing Company, 2005, pp. 103-15.
      White, Patrick. "The Prodigal Son." In: Critical Essays on Patrick White, edited by Peter Wolfe. Hall, 1990, pp. 21-24.

      To gain a better understanding of White's writing, read the introduction to Voss and a chapter excerpt.

      Further reading:
      Cynthia vanden Driesen and Bill Ashcroft, eds. Patrick White Centenary: The Legacy of a Prodigal Son. CambridgeScholars Publishing, 2014.
    • White, "The Prodigal Son" Datei
    • Patrick White, Voss (1957) Datei

      Introduction and Chapter Excerpts

    • Session 5 Datei

    • Revision:

      Look at

      1. the Nobel Prize Speech and Lecture
      2. the "Prodigal Son" and the Introduction to or text excerpt of Voss.

      How does Patrick White respond to the cultural cringe/the postcolonial situation?

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    Modernism and Myth

    • Wole Soyinka (1912-) - Nobel Prize in Literature 1986

    • Preparation for Session 6:

      Please critically read Wole Soyinka's play A Dance of the Forest and conduct a general drama analysis on the play.

      Read Wole Soyinka's biography and Nobel Prize Lecture.

      Further reading:
      Granqvist, Raoul. "Wole Soyinka, Nobel Prize Winner: Sweden Acknowledges Africa." In: Black American Literature Forum, Vol. 22, No. 3, Wole Soyinka Issue, Part 1(Autumn, 1988), pp. 467-74.

    • Wole Soyinka, A Dance of the Forests (1960) Datei
    • Stanley Macebuh, "Poetics or the Mythic Imagination" Datei
    • Eldred Jones, The Writing of Wole Soyinka Datei
    • Session 6 Datei
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    Classical Literature

    For further information, please read the Worksheet uploaded below.

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    Travel Literatures and Counter-Narratives

    • V.S. Naipaul (1932-2018) - Nobel Prize in Literature 2001

    • Preparation for Session 8:

      As always, please read the press release, the Nobel Lecture as well as the short bio of the author on the Nobel Prize Website.

      Read one of the following introductory texts on V.S. Naipaul and his ouevre:

      • Nixon, Rob. London Calling : V. S. Naipaul, Postcolonial Mandarin, Oxford University Press, 1992. (Introduction, pp. 3-16)
      • Mustafa, Fawzia. V. S. Naipaul, Cambridge University Press, 1995. (Introduction, pp. 1–29)


      We will concentrate on V.S. Naipaul's The Enigma of Arrival (1987).

      Also see the part on V.S. Naipaul in Hallengren, Anders, and Andres Hallengren. Nobel Laureates In Search Of Identity And Integrity: Voices
      Of Different Cultures      , World Scientific Publishing Company, 2005.

    • V.S. Naipaul, The Enigma of Arrival Datei
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    Literatures of Exile

    • Abdulrazak Gurnah (1948- ) - Nobel Prize in Literature 2021

    • Online Session 20/12/2023

      Session 9 will take place online via Zoom.

      https://uni-bamberg.zoom-x.de/j/69770387883

      Meeting-ID: 697 7038 7883
      Kenncode: 18pEr*

      You can use our class room or log in from home. Please remember that you were supposed to prepare one of the Nobel Prize Speeches (Soyinka, Walcott, Naipaul, Abdulrazak).

    • Session 9 Datei

    • Revision of Session 9

      Please re-read the Nobel Prize Lectures by Soyinka, Walcott, Naipaul, Abdulrazak with view to postcolonial politics or the politics of representation. What is the political role of literature according to the laureates?

    • Presentation: Afterlives Datei
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    Trauma

    • J.M. Coetzee (1940 - ) - Nobel Prize in Literature 2003

    • Preparation

      Please read my paper on literatures of migration/exile: Pleßke, Nora. The Centre of Transit(ion) Postcolonial London in V.S. Naipaul’s Half a Life (2001) and J.M. Coetzee’s Youth (2002), 2009.

      Please read any of the intoductory chapters on J.M. Coetzee's work: Head, Dominic. The Cambridge Introduction to J. M. Coetzee. Cambridge UP, 2009.

    • Pleßke, The Centre of Transit(ion) Datei

    • Online Session 10/01/2024

      Session 10 will take place online via Zoom. Please use the link provided for the previous session.  


    • Trailer Waiting for the Barbarians Link/URL
    • Trailer Disgrace Link/URL
    • Session 10 Datei
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    Apartheid and Women Laureates

    • Preparation

      Please read any one of those introductions to South African Literature:

      • Attwell, David. “South African Literature in English.” The Cambridge History of African and Caribbean Literature: Volume 2, edited by Abiola Irele and Simon Gikandi, Cambridge UP, 2004, pp. 504-505.
      • Cornwell, Gareth, Dirk Klopper, and Craig MacKenzie. “South African Literature in English Since 1945.” The Columbia Guide to South African Literature in English since 1945, edited by Gareth Cornwell, Dirk Klopper, and Craig MacKenzie, Columbia UP, 2010, pp. 1-42.
      • Davis, George. “South Africa.” English Literatures Across the Globe: A Companion, edited by Lars Eckstein, Fink, 2007, pp. 86-107.

      Please also (re-)read any of the speeches from Soyinka, Coetzee, Gordimer, and Lessing.

      For the presentation, please prepare the short exceprt from Nadine Gordimer's The Conservationist.

    • Nadine Gordimer (1923-2014) - Nobel Prize in Literature 1991

      Doris Lessing (1919-2013) - Nobel Prize in Literature 2007

    • Gordimer, The Conservationist Datei

    • Online Session 17/01/2024

      This week's class will take place online via Zoom. Please use the link provided for one of the previous sessions.

    • Session 11 Datei
    • Presentation Gordimer Datei
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    Postcolonial Short Story

    • Alice Munro (1931- ) - Nobel Prize in Literature 2013

    • Preparation

      Please read the short stories by Alice Munro uploaded on the VC (especially "The Beggar Maid") and at least one of the secondary texts indicated below:

    • Munro, "The Beggar Maid" Datei
    • Alice Munro, Selected Short Stories Datei
    • Session 12 Datei
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    Land and History

    • Seamus Heaney (1939-2013) - Nobel Prize in Literature 1995

    • Preparation

      Please read and interpret the following poems from Seamus Heaney's collection North (1975)

      • "Mossbawn"
      • "North"
      • "Bog Queen"
      • "The Grauballe Man"
      • "Act of Union"
      as well as his poem "Digging" (1966) (see https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47555/digging).  

      Also, pleae read his translation of the poem "Colum Cille Cecinit" and the introduction to his translation of Beowulf (especially xxii-xxx).

      Optional background reading:
      Sullivan, Moynagh. "The Treachery Of Wetness", In: Irish Studies Review, vol. 13, no. 4, 2005, pp. 451-468, DOI: 10.1080/09670880500304527

    • Seamus Heaney, North Datei
    • Colum Cille Cecinit Datei
    • Seamus Heaney, Beowulf Datei
    • Listen to Mossbawn Sunlight Link/URL
    • Analysis of Mossbawn Sunlight Link/URL
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    Wrap Up: The Nobel Prize Effect

    • Preparation

      Please brainstorm on the Nobel Prize Effect particulalry with view to the Nobel Prize Laureate you foccused on.

      Read at least one chapter from the following books on the literary marketplace and postcolonial literature:

      • Brouillette, Sarah. Postcolonial Writers in the Global Literary Marketplace. Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. E-Book.
      • Dane, Alexandra. White Literary Taste Production in Contemporary Book Culture. Cambridge UP, 2023. E-Book.
      • English, James F. The Economy of Prestige: Prizes, Awards, and the Circulation of Cultural Value. Harvard UP, 2005. E-Book.
      • Huggan, Graham. The Postcolonial Exotic: Marketing the Margins. Routledge, 2001. Print.
      • Kögler, Caroline. Critical Branding. Postcolonial Studies and the Market. New York: Routledge, 2018. E-Book.