AJ25031 American Relations: Limit Experience

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2007
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 2 credit(s) (plus 2 credits for an exam). Recommended Type of Completion: zk (examination). Other types of completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Stephen Paul Hardy, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B.A.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Timetable
Tue 18:20–19:55 G31
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 15 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/15, only registered: 0/15
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 10 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives (in Czech)
The course will look at a number of American twentieth century novels, some of them written by writers married to one or living with another, looking at aspects of experience and relationships lived on the edge of a life or culture. The writers whose work is covered in the course will be Djuna Barnes, Malcolm Lowry, Paul Bowles, Jane Bowles, Paul Auster, Lidia Davis, Kathy Acker and Geoffrey Eugenides. The novels considered are: Nightwood, Under the Volcano, The Sheltering Sky, Two Serious Ladies, Kathy Goes to Haiti,The New York Trilogy, The End of the Story and The Virgin Suicides. Settings in these novels range from journeys out of America into the heart of darkest Europe,Mexico,Haiti,Panama and northern Africa to that of American suburbia and the big city viewed from the margins.The writers deal with the creatively destructive aspects of extreme experience, life lived at the edges, of cultures and of the self - dealing with various forms of self-destruction; alcoholism, suicide, unaswered or unanswerable desire, love, war - the night.The course will also include a very small, related theoretical element based on writings by George Bataille, Maurice Blanchot- the latter of whose writings were translated by and inspired much of the work of Paul Auster and Lidia Davis.
Syllabus (in Czech)
  • Week 1:Introductory Week 2:Djuna Barnes:Nightwood (Ch.1-4) Week 3:Djuna Barnes:Nightwood(Ch.6-8) Week 4:Malcolm Lowry:Under The Volcano (1-4) Week 5:Malcolm Lowry:Under The Volcano (6-8) Week 6:Paul Bowles:The Sheltering Sky (Book 1) Week 7:Paul Bowles:The Sheltering Sky(Book 2) Week 8:Lidia Davis: The End of the Story(pp.3-117) Week 19:Lidia Davis: The End of the Story(pp.117-231) Week 10:Paul Auster: City of Glass; Jane Bowles: Two Serious Ladies: Kathy Acker: Kathy Goes To Haiti (Choose one of the three) Week 11:NO LESSON:NATIONAL HOLIDAY Week 12:NO LESSON:NATIONAL HOLIDAY Week 13:Jeffrey Eugenides/Sofia Coppola:The Virgin Suicides:(Bk/Flm)
Literature
  • ACKER, Kathy. Kathy goes to Haiti (Obsaž.) : Literal madness : three novels. info
  • The New York trilogy. info
  • BATAILLE, Georges. Erotismus. Translated by Marie Kohoutová - Michal Pacvoň. Praha: Herrmann a synové, 2001, 345 s. info
  • BLANCHOT, Maurice. Literární prostor. Translated by Marie Kohoutová - Michal Pacvoň. V Praze: Herrmann & synové, 1999, 382 s. info
  • BOWLES, Jane Auer. Two serious ladies. London: Virago Press, 1979, 201 s. ISBN 0-86068-018-5. info
  • BOWLES, Paul. The sheltering sky. New York: Ecco Press, 1978, 318 s. ISBN 0-912946-43-1. info
  • BATAILLE, Georges. La part maudite ;La notion de dépense. Edited by Jean Piel. Paris: Éditions de Minuit, 1967, 231 s. ISBN 2-7073-0181-7. info
  • LOWRY, Malcolm. Under the volcano. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1962, 375 s. ISBN 0-14-001732-1. info
  • BARNES, Djuna. Nightwood. Edited by T. S. Eliot. New York: New directions book, 1961, xvii, 170. ISBN 0-8112-0005-1. info
Assessment methods (in Czech)
Assessment by course participation (30%), 2 Elf responses of 500-1,000 words (30%) and essay (40%). Only first two elements required for zapocet.Elf responses may be submitted by e-mail but essays must, repeat, must be submitted in hard copy. I will not accept essays by e-mail.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course is taught annually.
Credit evaluation note: 2 původní kredity.
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