Erste Sitzung: 10. April 2018
Die Anmeldung findet im Rahmen des allgemeinen Verfahrens der Fachrichtung 4.3 statt. Bitte beachten Sie die Mitteilungen auf der Website der Fachrichtung und die Aushänge.
Aphra Behn's Oroonoko: or the Royal Slave: A True History (1688) and Daniel Defoe's The Life and Strange and Suprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner, Written by Himself (1719) are considered important stepping stones in the development of the novel as an emerging literary genre. Both texts remain popular until this day for their portrait of exotic places and their protagonists’ dangerous travels and adventures. They are also two examples of slave narratives told from the perspective of white British authors, albeit quite different in their approach and attitude towards slavery. Behn’s Oronooko is noteworthy in this respect for its pronounced anti-slavery stance and its celebration of primitivism.
Behn and Defoe lived and wrote at a time in which their nation was going through tremendous socio-cultural, economic and political upheaval (e.g., the Glorious Revolution), and one focus of this class will be to explore how these changes are reflected in the texts. Another focus will be the representation of class, race, and gender (and their intersections).
Texts:
Please purchase the following editions of the texts and read Oroonoko before the start of term.
Behn, Aphra. Oronooko: or the Royal Slave: A True History. Edited by Joanna Lipking, Norton, 1997.
ISBN-10: 0393970140
ISBN-13: 978-0393970142
Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe. Edited by Michael Shinagel, Norton, 1993.
ISBN-10: 0393964523
ISBN-13: 978-0393964523 |
