LMKB_a204 Contemporary Fiction in English and its Cultural Contexts

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2021
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Taught online.
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Zuzana Fonioková, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Zuzana Fonioková, Ph.D.
Department of Czech Literature – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. Eva Zachová
Supplier department: Department of Czech Literature – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Thu 10:00–11:40 B2.51
Prerequisites
The participants of the course are expected to read literary texts in English.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 22 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/22, only registered: 0/22, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/22
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The aim of this course is to acquaint students with selected significant works of literatures in English after 1945. It will also provide them with information on the culture in which the works were produced and which they both reflect and co-create. The texts will be interpreted as literary works as well as analyzed as a part of the given culture. The context and cultural background of the works will also be discussed. In addition, the course will focus on intercultural and intertextual communication with regard to the analyzed texts.
Learning outcomes
At the end of the course, students should be able to:
- know selected works of different literatures in English;
- analyse a literary text with regard to its cultural context;
- reflect on relations between a literary work and the culture in which it is produced;
- create and give a presentation on an English-written literary text with regard to its cultural context.
Syllabus
  • intro: Greenblatt, "Culture"; Kazuo Ishiguro, "Family Supper"
  • post-apartheid in RSA: J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace
  • Queer: Ali Smith, "Blank Card", "More Than One Story", "A Story of Love", "Free Love"
  • genres, media, and their transgressions; comics: Spiegelman, Maus
  • Intertextuality, folklore: Carter, ‘The Werewolf’, ‘The Company of Wolves’, ‘Wolf-Alice’ (in The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories)
  • Chinese Americans, immigration and culture clash: Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior
  • African Americans: Alice Walker, “How Did I Get Away with Killing One of the Biggest Lawyers in the State? It Was Easy”, “Advancing Luna – and Ida B. Wells”, “Laurel”
  • Canada, position of women in society: Alice Munro, “Haven”, “Corrie”; Margaret Atwood, “True Trash”
  • New Zealand, Maori culture: Witi Ihimaera, short stories from Pounamu, Pounamu; film Whale Ryder
  • History in fiction: Martin Amis, Time’s Arrow
  • Multiculturalism in the UK and USA: Hanif Kureishi, "My Son the Fanatic" (in Love in a Blue Time); Salman Rushdie, “Good Advice Is Rarer Than Rubies” (in East, West); Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, “Disappearance”
  • 9/11 in the USA: Don DeLillo, Falling Man
Literature
  • NAGY, Ladislav. Palimpsesty, heterotopie a krajiny : historie v anglickém románu posledních desetiletí. Vydání první. Praha: Univerzita Karlova v Praze, nakladatelství Karolinum, 2016, 161 stran. ISBN 9788024632322. URL info
  • The Cambridge companion to lesbian literature. Edited by Jodie L. Medd. First published. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2015, xxxii, 258. ISBN 9781107054004. info
  • LODGE, David. The modes of modern writing : metaphor, metonymy, and the typology of modern literature. London: Bloomsbury Academic an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2015, xix, 348. ISBN 9781474244213. info
  • RYAN, Michael. An introduction to criticism : literature, film, culture. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012, xii, 193. ISBN 9781405182836. info
  • A companion to American literature and culture. Edited by Paul Lauter. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010, xix, 688. ISBN 9780631208921. info
  • BRAUNER, David. Contemporary American fiction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2010, xviii, 236. ISBN 9780748622689. info
  • NAYAR, Pramod K. Postcolonialism : a guide for the perplexed. London: Continuum, 2010, viii, 238. ISBN 9780826437006. info
  • NICOL, Bran. The Cambridge introduction to postmodern fiction. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009, xvii, 220. ISBN 9780521679572. info
  • Contemporary British fiction. Edited by Nick Bentley. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2008, xiv, 245 p. ISBN 9780748624201. info
  • MCCLOUD, Scott. Jak rozumět komiksu (Understanding Comics : The Invisible Art). Praha: BB/art, 2008, 216 pp. ISBN 978-80-7381-419-9. comicsDB.cz McCloudův web o knize info
  • British culture of the postwaran introduction to literature and society, 1945-1999. Edited by Alistair Davies - Alan Sinfield. London: Routledge, 2000, x, 211 p. ISBN 0415128110. info
  • COETZEE, J. M. Disgrace. London: Vintage, 2000, 219 s. ISBN 0099289520. info
Teaching methods
Seminars include the teacher's mini-lectures introducing the topic, student presentations, textual analysis, group and class discussions, and projection of audiovisual materials.
Assessment methods
active participation in the classes (pre-class reading required), presentation on one of the discussed topics, final colloquium in the form of discussion about the assigned primary literature
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Information on the extent and intensity of the course: 0.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
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