LFU:online

This seminar will explore the two meanings of the word "capital" and their simultaneous realisation in selected literary works. This shall give insight into the cultural and historical correlation between wealth and its accumulation in urban spaces. Understanding this correlation will also mean grasping how literature reacts to and interacts with economic developments.

Since 2008 a series of novels have appeared seeking to understand London as a centre of high finance The portraits they offer of Britain’s capital beg comparison with writings about other cities perceived as nodes of the global economy, but also with texts from earlier periods describing the fascination of urban spaces as depositories of personal and common wealth. In the discussion of such texts as Whoops by John Lanchester,

The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson, The Power of Yes by David Hare, The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope, by and White Tiger by Aravind Adiga shall give us a clearer understanding of the intriguing intersections of literary and economic discourse to which critics have paid little attention so far.

presentations, group and online discussions

presentation, seminar paper, assignments, participation in class discussions

to be announced in due course

Teacher Training Programme 2001: Positive completion of first part of studies (1. Studienabschnitt).