Seminar (2 SWS; 4 LP)
Lektürekurs (1 SWS; 4LP)
Following the economic and political impact of Thatcherism in the 1980s and the devolutionary process in 1997, Scottish literature received increased attention by both literary critics and a a mainstream readership. The late 1980s and early 1990s saw the emergence of a new kind of working-class writing focusing on the urban areas of Glasgow and Edinburgh rather than on the highlands and idyllic lochs, as well as a turn towards Scottish dialect writing, indicating a renewed Scottish cultural consciousness. Writers like Irvine Welsh, James Kelman, Janice Galloway and A.L. Kennedy stand for a resurgence of Scottish fiction at the end of the 20th century. Their texts reflect an emerging “post-British” culture (Michael Gardiner), but at the same time might be considered what Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari have called a “minor” literature.
In this seminar, we will read key contemporary Scottish novels and short stories from the late 20th and early 21st century and analyse them in the context of contemporary Scottish culture and politics. We will discuss how literary fiction engages with the devolutionary process in Scotland and the UK as well as with issues of national and cultural identity, social class and gender.
In the Lektürekurs, we will focus on reading theoretical and philosophical texts that shed light on a wide variety of contexts through which to understand the primary texts.
Recommended introductory reading:
Michael Gardiner: Modern Scottish Culture. Edinburgh UP, 2007.
Berthold Schoene (ed.): The Edinburgh Companion to Contemporary Scottish Literature. Edinburgh UP, 2007.
Short stories and secondary literature will be available on Moodle. Novels will have to be purchased individually. The list of texts will be provided during the first session.
Die Veranstaltung wurde 3 mal im Vorlesungsverzeichnis WiSe 2024/25 gefunden: