English Language Literature and Culture I

Recommended Prerequisites

Knowledge of English culture and literature acquired in the first and second cycles; advanced skills in English.

Teaching Methods

Some expository classes; analysis of literary and other types of cultural texts; in-class discussions; written assignments and oral presentations.

Learning Outcomes

The seminar aims to extend and deepen students’ knowledge about British culture and literature; to familiarize students with theoretical models and state of the art concepts relevant to the study of British culture and literature; to develop a critical awareness about the topics under discussion; to provide students with advanced and independent research skills.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

‘The Theme of the Journey in British Literature and Culture’

The seminar will explore the British literature of travel, a form of writing with a long and distinguished tradition and which in the last few decades has had an unquestioned revival. The trope of the journey has also come to the fore in a number of disciplines (Literary and Cultural Studies would be two examples among many) which recognize its potential for dramatizing relations in the contact zones between cultures and in the way we construct identity and alterity. The texts  under scrutiny (mostly contemporary) will be discussed in terms of the above, but will also promote research into other theoretical issues such as the dynamics between urban and rural, models of history and  heritage (to be developed in the 2^nd semester seminar) and questions of literary genre.

(The syllabus may change depending on teaching staff)

Assessment Methods

Continuous Assessment
Assiduity: 10.0%
Participation during seminars: 30.0%
Writen works: 60.0%

Bibliography

Huggan, G. (2001). The Postcolonial Exotic. Marketing the Margins. London: Routledge.

Hulme, P. & Youngs, T. (Eds.) (2002). The Cambridge Companion to Travel Writing. Cambridge:

             Cambridge UP.

Kaplan, C. (2005). Questions of Travel. Postmodern Discourses of Displacement. Durham: Duke UP.

Leed, E. J. (1991). The Mind of the Traveller. From Gilgamesh to Global Tourism. New York: Basic Books.

Matos, J. (1999) Pelos Espaços da Pós-Modernidade: Literatura de Viagens Inglesa da Segunda Grande

           Guerra à Década de Noventa. Porto: Edições Afrontamento.

Pratt, M. L. (1992). Imperial Eyes. Travel Writing and Transculturation. London: Routledge.

Spurr, D. (1993). The Rhetoric of Empire. Colonial Discourse in Journalism, Travel Writing and Imperial

           Administration. Durham: Duke UP.