LFU:online

Knowledge of: History of the letter; cultural-historical and biographical relevance of letters; the letter as a literary genre; letters as literary works; epistolary novels; source criticism of correspondence; archival and editorial aspects (dating, materiality, etc.); legal aspects

The letter has two roles in literary studies: on the one hand, it is a literary or cultural-historical source; on the other hand, it is a text that - we are dealing with writers as letter writers - can have a literary claim, often even the character of a work. Letters can also contain writing exercises, ideas or drafts for works, even works themselves (e.g. poems in the text of the letter or as an enclosure).
The cultural-historical dimension of the letter also includes its biographical relevance. Correspondence not only tells us who was where and when and what he/she did there, but we also learn about experiences, plans, thoughts and feelings.
Correspondence such as letters, telegrams and postcards, emails and chats are used for communication between two or more people who are either far apart or who want to send each other written messages - perhaps as a reminder, perhaps as a souvenir. The materiality of letters is particularly plausible in this context - because it makes a difference whether I have a letter lying in front of me on a scribble note or on a perfumed sheet of handmade paper - or whether I am sending a declaration of love on a picture postcard with the motif of the famous balcony in Verona or whether the motif is a war hospital.
This course also involves working with archival documents.

group work, presentation and discussions

attendence and participation; presentation and written paper

will be announced

Cf. Curriculum