Introduction to Literary Studies I

Dirk Vanderbeke
vanderbeke@t-online.de
Office hour: Wednesday 10-12
Kontakt/Informationen FSR Anglistik/Amerikanistik:

Website: https://www.iaa.uni-jena.de/fachschaft

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Some general remarks

Attendance

Evaluations

Exam

There will be no class on November 2.

You have to sign in for the exam in Friedolin
– those who can‘t for whatever reason
should come and see me about it

The exam will be written in the last session

of the semester. Unexcused absence has to
be graded as fail. Those who fail will re-take
the exam on Wednesday, March 22, 10:00,
place to be announced.
Texts for English and American Studies

For this class:

Michael Meyer. English and American

Literatures. Tübingen und Basel: UTB basics,
latest edition.

William Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet.

James Joyce. “Clay”.

Joseph Conrad. Heart of Darkness.

The texts on the following slides are useful background
information. You should know about them and consult
them – or similar works – in the course of your studies.
They are not books you need to read entirely or buy.
Dictionaries

Oxford English Dictionary – accessible via ThULB

Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current

English. Available on the internet

Langenscheidts Großwörterbuch Deutsch-Englisch,

latest edition

Langenscheidts Großwörterbuch Englisch-Deutsch,

latest edition
Wikipedia?
Literary Histories:

Sanders, Andrew. The Short Oxford History of

English Literature, OUP, latest edition,
or
Seeber, Hans Ulrich, (ed.). Englische
Literaturgeschichte. Stuttgart und Weimar:
Metzler, latest edition

Gray, Richard, A History of American Literature,

Oxford, Wiley-Blackwell, latest edition.
or
Zapf, Hubert, (ed.). Amerikanische Literatur-
geschichte. Stuttgart und Weimar: Metzler, latest
edition
Literary Companions

Dinah Birch and Margaret Drabble. The Oxford

Companion to English Literature, Oxford: OUP,
latest edition

Hart, James D., ed.: The Oxford Companion to

American Literature, Oxford: OUP, latest edition
Histories

Morgan, Kenneth O. The Oxford History of Britain.

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Heideking, Jürgen. Geschichte der USA.

Tübingen/Basel: Francke, 2003
Cultural Histories

Oakland, John: British Civilization: an introduction.

London and NY: Routledge, latest edition.

Mauk, David and John Oakland: American Civilization:

an introduction. London and NY: Routledge, latest
edition

Turner, Graeme: British Cultural Studies: an introduction.

London and NY: Routledge, latest edition.

Campbell, Neil and Alasdair Kean: American Cultural

Studies: an introduction. London and NY: Routledge,
latest edition.
 Literary and Cultural Theory

Payne, Michael and Jessica Rae Barbara, ed.: A Dictionary

of Cultural and Critical Theory. Oxford: Blackwell 2013

Abrams, Meyer H. and Geoffrey Harpham A Glossary of

Literary Terms. Wadsworth Publishing, 2014.

Nünning, Ansgar (ed.) Metzler Lexikon Literatur- und

Kulturtheorie. Stuttgart: Metzler, latest edition.
Literary Theory continued:

Culler, Jonathan. A Very Short Introduction to Literary Theory.

Oxford: OUP, 2000 (Available on the internet as Pdf)

Eagleton, Terry. Literary Theory. An Introduction [1983]. Oxford:

Basil Blackwell, rev. ed. 1996, Anniversary Edition 2008
(Available on the internet as Pdf)

Lodge, David (ed.). Twentieth Century Literary Criticism.

London: Longman, 1972

Lodge, David and Nigel Wood (eds.). Modern Criticism and

Theory: A Reader. London: Longman, 3rd edition, 2013

Many original texts are by now available on the internet

Anthologies

Greenblatt, Stephen et al. (eds.) The Norton Anthology

of English Literature. New York/London: Norton, (latest
edition)

Baym, Nina et al. (eds.) The Norton Anthology of

American Literature. New York/London: Norton, (latest
edition).
Older works of World Literature that you should be
aware of:

The Bible (King James / Authorized Version)

1 Corinthians 13!!!

English and American authors frequently quote from,

or allude to, the Bible. You should read some parts of
this version as it is most commonly used. This is not
obligatory, but books that might prove useful to know
are Genesis, Exodus, Judges, Song of Songs, Jesaia
or Jeremiah, one Gospel (I suggest Matthew), and the
Revelations.
 You should know the stories of Greek mythology – if possible
also Norse mythology – but it is not necessary to read the full
texts. Summaries will do.
Homer (Homeros): The Iliad (Die Ilias)
—: The Odyssey (Die Odyssee)
Vergil (Publius Vergilius Maro): The Aeneid (Die Äneis)
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso): Metamorphoses (Metamorphosen)

If possible, read some pages of the following authors to get a

feeling about their works. The are constant points of reference
in World Literature

Dante Alighieri: The Divine Comedy (Die Göttliche Komödie)

Boccaccio: The Decameron (Dekamerone)
Petrarch/Petrarca: (sonnets and canzone)
Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de: Don Quijote/Don Quixote