Erste Sitzung: 8. November 2022 (wegen einer Exkursion in der ersten Vorlesungswoche und Allerheiligen am 1. November 2022)
Die Anmeldung findet im Rahmen des allgemeinen Verfahrens der Fachrichtung statt. Bitte beachten Sie die Mitteilungen auf der Website der Fachrichtung und die Aushänge.
In this course we are going to analyse two classic texts of British colonial literature: Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad’s novella about a British sailor’s involvement in the ivory trade in the Belgian Congo, and A Passage to India, E.M. Forster’s novel about the (possibility of a) friendship between an Englishman and an Indian. The popular and critical reception of both texts has been varied and stretches from enthusiasm to condemnation, depending on the historical moment and critical lens. Most famous perhaps are the postcolonial responses, such as Chinua Achebe’s rejection of Heart of Darkness as racist, and Edward Said’s assessment of Forster’s text as a perpetuation of orientalist stereotypes, even though both Conrad and Forster were critical of imperialism.
We are going to approach the texts from different angles (modernism, postcolonial studies, feminist and queer theory) and focus on their representation of the British Empire and its constructs of race, class, gender and sexuality, as well as the intersections thereof. In addition, we are going to analyse David Lean’s 1984 film adaptation of Forster’s novel.
You have to have read Heart of Darkness before the start of term.
Texts:
Please purchase the following editions:
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. Ed. Paul B. Armstrong. Norton Critical Edition. 5th ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2016. ISBN: 978-0-393-26486-9
Forster, E.M.. A Passage to India. Ed. Paul B. Armstrong. Norton Critical Edition. New York: W.W. Norton, 2020. ISBN: 978-0-393-65598-8 |
