LFU:online

Department of English Department of English

ao. Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Helga Ramsey-Kurz, MA ao. Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Helga Ramsey-Kurz, MA, +43 512 507 41409

609682

Anglophone Cultures: Imagining Riches

SE 2

10

weekly

each semester

English

1) to give an insight in the connection between literature and economics, culture and capital 2) to practice theorising this connection and applying individual theories to specific works of literature or art 3) to develop a certain understanding of the historical development of the idea of wealth/prosperity and of the reasons for difference in how riches have been imagined in different anglophone contexts

The seminar will evolve from the following premise: The acquisition and possession of riches have always held a particular fascination for humans, bringing out both the worst and the best in them. It is not surprising therefore that wealth also looms large as a theme in literary and other products of creative expression. As a rule, imaginative representaitons of riches are in themselves reflections of the prosperity of a community; but they may also be studied as engagements in the history as well as the future of that prosperity, sometimes critical of the dream of enrichment and the methods applied to achieve its fulfilment, sometimes wholly in support of that dream and its pursuit by collectives or individuals. Interestingly enough, this has been subject to relatively little scholarly attention, which is why this seminar will be conceived as a project seminar, in which we will try to draw our own connections between theoretical explorations of wealth and prosperity both of the past and the present and representations of wealth in literature and the other arts produced in different historical and cultural contexts. critical reflections on the position of literature in relation to economics and politics

intensive applied library/database research combined with online communication (in reading and discussion forums) presentations and class discussions

written & oral: continuous assessment of contribution to the seminar, esp. class discussion (50%) seminar paper (50 %)

primary material will be subject to the participants' individual choices - so feel free to consider possible texts (literary or other) for the inquiry you will have to conduct in the seminar and in your seminar paper; the text has to be by an anglophone (preferably non-US-American) author (in the broadest sense; it may even be by a journalist, philosopher, artist, cartoonist, film maker etc...) and centrally concerned with the theme of riches