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Summer term 2024

VL: Shakespeare's Tragedies

The lecture will give a short overview of Shakespeare’s tragedies and (attempt to) cover the following plays: the early tragedies Titus Andronicus and Romeo and Juliet, the ‘Roman’ plays Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra and Coriolanus, and the so-called ‘great four’ Hamlet, OthelloKing Lear and Macbeth, plus the ‘afterthought’ (Coleridge) Timon of Athens. Questions of genre, ideology, cosmologies, dramaturgy and staging will be addressed as well as the main themes and issues that are treated in the plays. Although the plot of each play will be briefly summarized at the beginning of each lecture a general knowledge of the plays is expected.
 
There is no need to purchase a course book. Nevertheless, for those who are interested in preparing for the course I recommend the following titles:

  • Dickson, Andrew. The Rough Guide to Shakespeare. Rough Guides, 2009. [very general (but good) introduction to Shakespeare’s work, with only few pages on each play, but also with more general sections on Shakespeare’s life, theatre and language. Useful for a very first approach to Sh.]
  • Garber, Marjorie. Shakespeare After All. Anchor Books, 2005. [20- to 30-pages introductory chapters on each play. Informed summaries and introductions of the plays, taking into account the main critical developments of the 20th century. Probably not suitable as a very first approach.]
  • McEachern, Claire, editor. Shakespearean Tragedy. 2nd ed., Cambridge UP, 2013. [collection of essays on different aspects of Shakespearean tragedy, such as language, genre, literary context and subgenres.]
  • Schabert, Ina, editor. Shakespeare-Handbuch. Die Zeit – Der Mensch – Das Werk – Die Nachwelt. Kröner, 2010. [very useful reference work on Shakespeare’s time, life and work. Can be used as both reference work and introduction.]
  • Weidle, Roland. Englische Literatur der Frühen Neuzeit. Eine Einführung. Erich Schmidt, 2013. [German introduction to historical, cultural, and literary context of the early modern age with three sections on English poetry, drama and prose. Can also be used as a reference work; includes index.]

For the plays I recommend the Arden Shakespeare Third Series Complete Works, edited by Richard Proudfoot et al., Bloomsbury, 2020.

Assessment/requirements: oral exam

Tuesdays 08:30-10

Room: HGB 30

Sem/Üb: Contemporary Fictional Biography [Master]

In this course we will discuss four books from the last 25 years which can be situated somewhere between the genres of novel and biography. The four texts are a) fictional biography that pretends to give an account of a forgotten artist, b) an invented biography of an ordinary person, c) a novel which employs norms and conventions of biography, and d) a semi-fictional account of a character who bears the same name as the book’s author. These fictional biographies/biographical fictions explore – to varying degrees and in various forms – the relationship between fact and fiction, between biography and novel, thereby drawing attention to the role that storytelling plays in conveying a sense of authenticity in both art and life. We will, among other things, concern ourselves with the constitutive parts of stories, the agents and elements involved in the act of narration, but also with the generic conventions of biography and novel. We will analyse the narrative strategies these texts employ to create the fiction of biography, also taking into account the function of meta-, peri- and paratexts.

As a teacher I prefer the method of informed discussion. It is therefore absolutely vital that each participant read and prepare all the primary and secondary texts for each session!

The secondary texts will be made available on Moodle, the primary texts need to be obtained by the students.

We will discuss the following texts (in this order):

1. Boyd, William. Nat Tate: An American Artist 1928—1960. First published 1998. Penguin Books, 2020. [64 pp., pb]
2. Macrae Burnet, Graeme. Case Study. Saraband, 2022. [278 pp., pb]
3. Botton, Alain de. Kiss & Tell. First published 1995. Picador, 1996. [258 pp., pb]
4. Coetzee, J. M. Summertime. First published 2009. Vintage Books, 2010. [266 pp., pb]

Ideally (only if possible), you obtain the texts in these editions for better orientation in class. Make sure to have read Boyd’s Nat Tate by the first session.

Assessment/requirements:
Übung: regular and active participation; thorough preparation of the material for every session; presentation
Seminar: regular and active participation; thorough preparation of the material for each session; term paper of about 15 pages, to be handed in by 01 Sept 2024.

Tuesdays 10-12

Room: GB 6/131

Sem/Üb: Shakespeare's Problem Plays [Master]

In this course we will study three plays by Shakespeare which the critic Frederick Samuel Boas called Shakespeare’s ‘problem plays’: Measure for Measure, All’s Well that Ends Well, and Troilus and Cressida. These plays are not only ‘problematic’ in terms of genre but they also address ‘problematic’ contemporary social and moral dilemmas. In the course we will discuss how these plays deal with complex ethical issues linked to ideas of leadership, rule, law, justice, gender roles, love and desire, war and contractual obligations.

Make sure to obtain these plays in scholarly (!) editions (preferably Arden, but others like Cambridge, New Oxford or Norton are also suitable). The secondary texts will be made available on Moodle.

Please make sure to have read Measure for Measure by the first session.

Assessment/requirements:
Übung: active participation; thorough preparation of the primary and secondary material; short presentation
Seminar: active participation; thorough preparation of the primary and secondary material; term paper (ca. 15 pages) to be handed in by 01 September 2024

Thursdays 08:30-10

Room: GB 6/131

Üb: Introduction to the Study of Poetry [Bachelor]

The course is intended to further students’ understanding of both poetry and the process of interpretation. We will look at various aspects of poems in detail, such as mode, genre, form, theme, situation, sound stratum, diction, syntax, imagery, and context. We will go through a ‘checklist’ of features to be considered in the interpretive process with the aim of arriving at a flexible step-by-step guide for the analysis of poetry. Poems from different epochs will serve as our material.

The poems and the secondary texts will be made available on Moodle.

Assessment/requirements:
Übung: regular and active participation; thorough preparation of the individual poems and the secondary material; oral exam

Wednesdays 10-12

Room: GB 6/131

Üb: How to read Shakespeare (and why) [Bachelor]

Shakespeare is often thought to be ‘too difficult’, ‘too distant’, ‘too wordy’ or all of these together. This, however, is a misconception which this Übung seeks to address and rectify. Moreover, by engaging with Shakespeare‘s plays and poems, one can in fact hone one’s interpretive competence and acquire useful skills such as deep reading, decoding, and perspective taking, to name but a few. Excerpts from selected plays as well as poems will serve as examples.
All the necessary excerpts and poems will be made available via Moodle, so there is no need to acquire any editions. I would nevertheless strongly advise that each student invest in an academic edition of Shakespeare’s works, preferably the Arden Shakespeare Third Series Complete Works, edited by Richard Proudfoot et al. and published with Bloomsbury (the paperback edition costs approx. 20€).

Assessment/requirements:
Übung: regular and active participation; thorough preparation of the material for each session; presentation

Thursdays 10-12

Room: GB 02/160

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Winter term 2023/24

VL: Shakespeare's Comedies

Veranstaltungskommentar

The lecture will give an overview of Shakespeare’s comedies and discuss some of them in greater detail, such as The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew, The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, and As You Like It. To which extent I will be discussing the two ‘problem plays’ All's Well that Ends Well and Measure for Measure, depends on the time available. I will touch upon what I believe to be the most interesting and relevant aspects of each play with respect to notions of genre, power, gender, love, identity, sexuality, patriarchy, dramaturgy and staging, to name only a few.

Although the plot of each play will be briefly summarized at the beginning of each lecture a general familiarity with the plays and the genre of comedy is expected.

The Powerpoint presentations will be made available on Moodle. There is no need to purchase a course book. Nevertheless, for those who are interested in preparing or reading up on the course I recommend the following titles:

  • Dickson, Andrew. The Rough Guide to Shakespeare. Rough Guides, 2009. [very general (but good) introduction to Shakespeare’s work, with only a few pages on each play, but also with more general sections on Shakespeare’s life, theatre and language. Useful for a very first approach]
  • Garber, Marjorie. Shakespeare After All. Anchor Books, 2005. [20 to 30-page introductory chapters on each play. Informed summaries and introductions of the plays, taking into account the main critical developments of the 20th century]
  • Leggatt, Alexander, editor. Shakespearean Comedy. CUP, 2010. [collection of essays on different aspects of Shakespearean comedy, such as theories of comedy, genre, literary context, love, sex, gender]
  • Schabert, Ina, editor. Shakespeare-Handbuch. Die Zeit – Der Mensch – Das Werk – Die Nachwelt. Kröner, 2010. [very useful reference work on Shakespeare’s time, life and work. Can be used as both reference work and introduction]
  • Weidle, Roland. Englische Literatur der Frühen Neuzeit. Eine Einführung. ESV, 2013. [introduction to historical, cultural, and literary context of the early modern age with three sections on English poetry, drama and prose. Can also be used as reference work, includes index]

For the plays I recommend the Norton or Arden edition of the complete plays.

Assessment/requirements: short oral exam

Tuesdays 8:30-10

Room: HGB 20

Üb: Reading Sonnets (Bachelor)

Veranstaltungskommentar

Although it originated in the 16th century, the sonnet in England as a poetic genre is still fairly young, at least when compared to other poetic genres such as the epos, ode or satire, which have their origins in antiquity. Highly fashionable in the late 16th century and still popular in the 17th century, it fell somewhat out of favour with neoclassicist poets in the 18th century, only to return with greater force in the 19th century. Up until today, it is one of the most widely and consistently used poetic forms in England and elsewhere.

In this Übung we will try to find out what it is that has made the sonnet so popular and adaptable to different literary and cultural contexts. We will be looking at its logical structure and “mathematical possibilities” (Hirsch/Boland 297), its structural asymmetry and “top-heaviness” (Levin xxxviii), its highly dynamic character (most discernable in the voltas), its pronounced self-referential quality and its adaptability and malleability, both in terms of form and content. Whilst being originally a genre associated with (unrequited) love, the sonnet has since turned to a wide range of subjects and themes, including religion, politics, war, everyday life affairs, moments of personal crises, death, art, and sex, to name only a few.

At the time of writing this course description (31 May 2023), my first selection (‘long list’) of poems for this Übung includes more than 60 sonnets from more than 40 poets from the last six centuries. This number will obviously have to be reduced to a manageable size by the beginning of term. I may also include sonnets in English from other countries, such as the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Canada, and Ireland.

The sonnets and secondary texts discussed in class will be uploaded on Moodle, so there is no need to obtain editions and additional literature. However, if you would like to prepare for the course, I suggest the following titles:

  • Hirsch, Edward, and Evan Boland, editors. The Making of A Sonnet. A Norton Anthology. Norton, 2009. [most of the sonnets for this course will be taken from this edition]
  • Levin, Phyllis, editor. The Penguin Book of the Sonnet: 500 Years of Classic Tradition in English. Penguin, 2001. [some sonnets for this course will be taken from this edition; very valuable introduction]
  • Petzold, Jochen. A History of the Sonnet in England. "A little world made cunningly." Erich Schmidt Verlag, 2021.

Assessment/requirements: active participation, learning one of the sonnets discussed by heart and reciting it in class, writing a sonnet of your own and explaining your choices in an interview (by 31 Mar 2024).

Mondays 12-14

Room: GABF 04/614

Sem/Üb: Transcultural Shakespeare Adaptations East and West (Master)

Veranstaltungskommentar

Joint hybrid course with Prof. Yukari Yoshihara from the University of Tsukuba, Japan. This course will start one week early, on 9 October 2023!

This course is a cooperation with Professor Yukari Yoshihara from the University of Tsukuba (Japan) and will include ca. five joint hybrid sessions with Prof. Yoshihara’s class. In the first part of the course (ca. sessions 1-3), lectures by Prof. Yoshihara and myself will provide the necessary context information on Shakespearean tragedy (form, features, literary and cultural context, development, themes, motifs, etc.) and on some of the most popular Japanese genres, media and traditions that have been influential in adapting Shakespeare (No-theatre, Manga, Anime, Cosplay etc.). In the middle part (ca. sessions 4-9) our two classes will focus on two of the most popular tragedies when it comes to adaptations, Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, and selected reworkings. The final block (ca. sessions 10-14) will take place without Prof. Yoshihara's class and engage with adaptations on a more general level by considering different concepts of and approaches to intertextual relations (e.g. adaptation, transposition, reworking, transformation etc.).

All the material and secondary texts (except the Shakespeare plays) will be made available. As usual, I suggest obtaining the latest Arden editions of Shakespeare’s plays.

Assessment/requirements: Übung: active participation, short written assignment (to be specified at a later stage); Seminar: active participation, term paper (ca. 15 pages, deadline: 31 March 2024).

Mondays 10-11:30

Room: GB 6/137

Sem/Üb: Diversity and Community in Shakespeare (Master)

Veranstaltungskommentar

In preparation of the next spring conference “Diversity and Community” of the German Shakespeare Society to be held in Bochum from 19 to 21 April 2024, this course will explore Shakespeare’s treatment of outsiders and ‘the other’. Representatives of marginalized groups appear in virtually every work of his: Jews in Merchant of Venice; people of colour in Othello and Titus Andronicus; foreigners in The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Comedy of Errors and some of the history plays; people with disabilities in Richard III; illegitimate children in King Lear, King John and Much Ado About Nothing, prostitutes and criminals in Measure for Measure and Pericles, indigenous people in The Tempest; illiterate people in The Merry Wives of Windsor and Much Ado About Nothing, and characters that express homoerotic desires (the Antonios in The Merchant of Venice and Twelfth Night, Rosalind and Celia in As You Like It, Valentine and Proteus in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, the poet and the youth in the Sonnets), to name only a few such groups and examples.

In this course we will focus on the three comedies The Comedy of Errors, The Merchant of Venice and The Merry Wives of Windsor (beginning with The Comedy of Errors) to investigate various aspects and questions concerning the relationship between normative and deviant aspects and members of early modern English society. What was considered normal and deviant in Shakespeare's time? How is deviant behaviour assessed in the context of genre expectations and the plays’ endings? Are tensions within society in the end resolved or exacerbated? What happens to those characters deemed different? Does Shakespeare subscribe to or criticize the orthodoxies of his time?

The secondary texts will be made available on Moodle. For the plays I suggest, as usual, the latest Arden editions.

Assessment/requirements: Übung: active participation, short presentation in class (and possibly to be presented during the conference in April 2024); Seminar: active participation, term paper (ca. 15 pages, deadline: 31 March 2024).

Tuesdays 10-12

Room: GB 6/131


Summer term 2023

VL: English Early Modern Prose Texts

Veranstaltungskommentar

The lecture will provide students with an overview of the main narrative genres in early modern England (1485-1660). The first sessions will sketch the cultural, historical and economic background of the period as well as the beginnings of early modern print culture. The lecture will then proceed to discuss some of the most important representatives and examples of fictional and non-fictional prose genres: religious texts (bibles, sermons, devotions), historiographic texts (chronicles, histories), scientific and philosophical texts (essays, treatises), political (pamphlets, utopias) and popular texts (broadsides), conduct books and (auto)biographies, diaries, romances, anti-romances and pastoral literature.

The lectures will be based on my Englische Literatur der Frühen Neuzeit: Eine Einführung, published in the series "Grundlagen der Anglistik und Amerikanistik" with Erich Schmidt Verlag (Berlin, 2013).

The Powerpoint presentations will be made available on Moodle.

For the primary texts I recommend Greenblatt, Stephen et al., editors. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol I, Norton & Company, 2012.

Assessment/requirements: test in final session.

2 st. Thu 10-12

Room: HGB 20

Üb: Reading "Macbeth"

Veranstaltungskommentar (updated)

The primary aim of this "Übung" is to engage in a thorough and close reading of Macbeth, which we will attempt on a scene by scene basis. We will start with the first scene and work our way through the play. Proceeding in this manner we shall not only look at some of the main themes and issues negotiated in the play (early modern subjecthood, kingship, performativity, power, authority, gender etc) but also attain a better understanding of Shakespeare's dramatic and linguistic strategies.

We will also visit the new Schauspielhaus Bochum production of Macbeth (premiere: 12 May 2023).

I recommend that everyone uses the latest Arden Shakespeare edition of the play. The secondary material will be made available on Moodle.

Assessment/requirements:

Active participation; thorough preparation of the individual scenes and the secondary material; writing and compiling an outline and bibliography for a hypothetical term paper, to be handed in by 30 September 2023

Assessment/requirements: active participation; thorough preparation of the individual scenes and the secondary material; writing and compiling an outline and bibliography for a possible term paper, to be handed in by 30 September 2023.

2 st. Tue 8.30-10

Room: IA 03/466

Üb: Introduction to Literary Studies (Bachelor)

Veranstaltungskommentar (updated)

The following description of the course’s objectives and contents is taken from the module handbook:

  • Lernergebnisse: Die Studierenden werden befähigt, Gegenstände der Literaturwissenschaft zu erkennen, literaturwissenschaftlich relevante Fragen zu diesen Gegenständen stellen zu können sowie die Fragen mit geläufigen literaturwissenschaftlichen Methoden beantworten bzw. bearbeiten zu können.
  • Inhalte: Behandlung von Aspekten wie Raum/Zeit, Handlung, Figur und Symbolik und ihre Funktionen in fiktionalen Texten; rhetorische und poetische Mittel und ihre Funktionen in literarischen Texten; die wichtigsten literarischen Vermittlungsformen und -instanzen; Gattungstypologien, Periodisierung/Kontextualisierung; Kanonbildung.

In this course we will try to deal with all of these subjects, thereby aiming to provide every student with a first entry to the rewarding but also demanding discipline of literary studies. The main focus will be on English and British texts.

All the primary and secondary texts will be made available on Moodle.

Assessment/requirements:

Regular participation in the practice of literary discourse and analysis; preparing of the primary and secondary texts; expert for session's topic

2 st. Thu 12-14

Room: GABF 04/613

Sem/Üb: Staging of Truths and Knowledge in Shakespeare

Veranstaltungskommentar (updated)

The late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries are characterized by a co- existence of old and new paradigms of knowledge. Old 'truths' about the world (the visible as well as the invisible) were slowly being replaced by newer ones in all spheres of life. To name only a few: Protestant ideas of faith and providence competed with Catholic concepts of reward and punishment; Copernican ideas co-existed with Ptolemaic geocentric conceptions about the universe; a society that was still believed to be organized hierarchically became more fluid and mobile through a growing awareness of autonomy, self control and social mobility; pragmatic and secular ideas of rule and kingship began to emerge and competed with notions of divine kingship; notions of love and desire underwent a profound change; and science as an empirical and inductive discipline began to replace deductive and metaphysical approaches.

In this course we will be looking at how some of these competing systems of knowledge are represented and negotiated in selected plays by Shakespeare. We will consider, among other, questions such as: How do the plays treat these different and often irreconcilable paradigms? How are they brought into dialogue with one another? Can we identify a dominant perspective favoured by the (implied) playwright? And what role does the medial setup of the theatre play in this negotiation? How does the theatre construct truth(s)?

We will be studying King Lear, Richard II and Twelfth Night, beginning with King Lear in the first session. If time allows we will also be looking at some of Shakespeare's sonnets.

I suggest you use the latest Arden Shakespeare editions of the plays. Copies of the sonnets will be provided by me. Secondary material will be made available on Moodle.

Assessment/requirements:

Übung: Active and regular participation; thorough preparation of the individual scenes and the secondary material; presentation

Seminar: Active and regular participation; thorough preparation of the primary and secondary material; term paper (15-20 pages) to be handed in by 30 September 2023

2 st. Tue 10-12

Room: IA 03/466

Examenskolloquium

Veranstaltungskommentar (updated)

Important! This "Examenskolloquium" is primarily for students of literary and cultural studies.

The aim of the colloquium is to prepare students for their final exams and papers. We will focus on aspects relating to the final thesis (developing hypotheses, research, composition, style, time management etc.) and the oral examination (selection of topics, preparation, literature, procedure etc.). We will also allow time for other issues relating to the final stage of your studies (organization, motivation etc.).

The secondary material will be made available on Moodle.

Assessment/requirements:

Active participation and one of the following:

  • Mock oral exam on one subject (ca. 20 min)

  • Presentation and discussion of exam thesis (ca. 10 + 15 min)

2 st. Wed 10-12

Room: GB 6/131


Winter term 2022/23


Veranstaltungskommentar

The lecture will give an overview of Shakespeare’s history plays. Its main focus will be on the so called „tetralogies” (The „York-tetralogy” including 1 Henry VI, 2 Henry VI, 3 Henry VI, Richard III and the „Lancaster-tetralogy” containing Richard II, 1 Henry IV, 2 Henry IV, Henry V). We will also allow some time for the plays King John and Henry VIII. The history plays are Shakespeare’s most political and radical dramas in terms of negotiating notions of power, kingship and cosmologies. But we will also focus on questions such as genre, ideology, dramaturgy, staging and other issues. Although the plot of each play will be briefly summarised at the beginning of each lecture a general familiarity with the plays and the genre „history play” is expected.

The Powerpoint presentations will be made available on Moodle. There is no need to purchase a course book. Nevertheless, for those who are interested in preparing or reading up on the course I recommend the following titles:

  • Chernaik, Warren L. The Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeare’s History Plays. Cambridge UP, 2007.
  • Hattaway, Michael, editor. The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare’s History Plays. Cambridge UP, 2002.
  • Schabert, Ina, editor. Shakespeare-Handbuch: Die Zeit – Der Mensch – Das Werk – Die Nachwelt. Kröner, 2010. [or more recent editions]
  • Weidle, Roland. Englische Literatur der Frühen Neuzeit. Eine Einführung. Grundlagen der Anglistik und Amerikanistik. Erich Schmidt, 2013.

For the plays I recommend the Norton or Arden edition of Shakespeare’s Complete Works.

Assessment/requirements:

Bachelor: successful completion of test in final session

Master: successful completion of test in final session

Wochentag/Uhrzeit Di 8:30-10

Veranstaltungskommentar (updated version)

The course serves two purposes: to introduce students to narratological key concepts and to show how these concepts can be employed in the study and interpretation of narrative texts. We will deal with, among other things, the difference between the 'story material', its textual representation and the act of narration; the difference between narrator and focalizer; the various narrative levels in a narrative text; focalizer and focalized object; the treatment of time, place and action; the representation of characters, their thoughts and their actions; and the different kinds of relations between narrator and story.

The course and terminology used will be based on:

  • Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomith. Narrative Fiction: Contemporary Poetics. Routledge, 2002.

Primary texts in the form of short stories will be made available on Moodle.

Assessment/requirements:

Übung: Active participation; thorough preparation of the primary and secondary material; presentation

Wochentag/Uhrzeit Do 12-14

Veranstaltungskommentar (updated version)

This course is designed to prepare the participants for the spring conference „Shakespeare’s Libraries“ of the Deutsche Shakespeare-Gesellschaft to be held in Weimar from 21 to 23 April 2023. (Attendance of the conference is not compulsory but recommended; if enough students express interest to travel to Weimar, group rates for travel and accomdation might be arranged.)

While the seminar „Shakespeare’s Odysseys“ in the summer term 2022 dealt with the books that influenced (and were influenced by) Shakespeare (most notably The Odyssey and Ulysses), this course will focus on the networks, institutions, and editions that have shaped the idea of Shakespeare’s works as world literature and of Shakespeare as a ‚global‘ author. For example, we will investigate the purposes, agendas and policies of Shakespeare libraries (e.g. the Folger Library). Since 2023 also marks the 400th anniversary of the publication of the „First Folio“, the first edition of Shakespeare’s collected works, we will also consider the history and role the Folio – and its subsequent editions – have played in establishing Shakespeare’s canonical status. Finally, we will also explore the cultural and dramatic relevance of those scenes in Shakespeare’s plays, in which libraries, books and learning play a significant role (as for example in Hamlet, Macbeth, The Tempest).

I recommend the Norton or Arden edition of Shakespeare’s Complete Works. Secondary texts will be made available on Moodle.

Assessment/requirements:

Übung: Active participation; thorough preparation of the primary and secondary material; presentation

Seminar: Active participation; thorough preparation of the primary and secondary material; term paper (ca. 10-15 pages) to be handed in by 31 March 2023

Wochentag/Uhrzeit Di 10-12

Veranstaltungskommentar (updated version)

Christopher Marlowe was born in the same year as William Shakespeare and some argue that, had he lived longer and not died in 1593, he would have become a more famous playwright than his contemporary. In this seminar we will read three tragedies by Marlowe: The Jew of Malta (1589/90), Edward II (1592/93) and Dr Faustus (1594). We will discuss themes such as free will, otherness, same-sex desire and genre but also deal with basic dramatic devices and strategies such as characterisation, plotting, and language.

I recommend the following edition of the plays: Christopher Marlowe: Four Plays. Edited by Brian Gibbons, Bloomsbury, 2011. New Mermaids Series [originally published by A&C Black].

All students are kindly asked to have read Dr Faustus by the first session. Secondary material will be provided by way of Moodle.

Assessment/requirements:

Übung: Active participation; thorough preparation of the primary and secondary material; presentation

Seminar: Active participation; thorough preparation of the primary and secondary material; term paper (ca. 10-15 pages) to be handed in by 31 March 2023

Wochentag/Uhrzeit Mi 10-12

Summer term 2022


This course of lectures – delivered by two lecturers (Klawitter/Weidle) in dialogue with each other and the participants – seeks to generate insights into the rich field of the productive reception of Shakespeare’s plays. The ‘afterlives’ (a term from reception theory) chosen for discussion are representative 20th and 21st-century re-imaginations in narrative fiction, drama, poetry and film. These creative receptions of individual Shakespearean plays (in the case of poetry also individual Shakespearean characters) will be explored by introducing and using concepts of the text-to-text approach in reception theory as well as analytical tools developed by theories of intertextuality and intermediality. Each case study will focus on the aesthetically and ideologically informed selections and alignments which reveal how “we mean by Shakespeare” (Terence Hawkes), i.e. how the plays serve as creative resources for expressing ever new concerns; but also how these receptions enrich our understanding of Shakespeare’s plays.

The following texts need to be obtained:

  • Edward St Aubyn. Dunbar. 2017. Vintage, 2018 (ISBN 9781784701697). (We will begin with this novel, which relates to King Lear.)
  • Margaret Atwood. Hag-Seed: The Tempest Retold. 2016. Vintage, 2017 (ISBN 9780099594024).
  • Edward Bond. Lear. 1971. Edited by Patricia Hern. Methuen Drama, 1983 (ISBN 978-0413519504).
  • Tom Stoppard. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. 1967. Edited by Henry Popkin. Faber& Faber, 1973 (ISBN 978-0571081820).

Further literary and theoretical texts will be made available through Moodle. As regards Shakespeare’s plays, we recommend the latest Arden edition or any other scholarly edition. Participants are kindly asked to have read St. Aubyn’s Dunbar and Shakespeare’s King Lear before the first session and Atwood’s Hag-Seed and Shakespeare’s The Tempest before the second session.

Assessment/requirements: test (in the last week of term).

2 st. Thu 14-16

Online course

The following description of the course’s objectives and contents is taken from the module handbook:

  • Lernergebnisse: Die Studierenden werden befähigt, Gegenstände der Literaturwissenschaft zu erkennen, literaturwissenschaftlich relevante Fragen zu diesen Gegenständen stellen zu können sowie die Fragen mit geläufigen literaturwissenschaftlichen Methoden beantworten bzw. bearbeiten zu können.
  • Inhalte: Behandlung von Aspekten wie Raum/Zeit, Handlung, Figur und Symbolik und ihre Funktionen in fiktionalen Texten; rhetorische und poetische Mittel und ihre Funktionen in literarischen Texten; die wichtigsten literarischen Vermittlungsformen und -instanzen; Gattungstypologien, Periodisierung/Kontextualisierung; Kanonbildung.

In this course we will try to deal with all of these subjects, thereby aiming to provide every student with a first entry to the rewarding but also demanding discipline of literary studies. The main focus will be on English and British texts.

All the primary and secondary texts will be made available on Moodle.

Course requirements:

Regular participation in the practice of literary discourse and analysis; preparing of the primary and secondary texts; passing of final test in the last session

2 st. Thu 10-12

Room: GABF 04/413

The course is intended to further students’ understanding of drama and theatre and to familiarize them with the basic tools of analysis. We will look at the generic features of the dramatic genre/medium taking into account its performative and pragmatic nature and contexts. Sessions will be devoted to different aspects such as ‘story’, ‘characterization’, ‘language’, ‘setting’ and ‘time’.

The course will rely heavily on Manfred Pfister’s The Theory and Analysis of Drama, Cambridge UP, 1991. Excerpts will be made available on Moodle.

In the course we will engage with two plays:

  • William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (c. 1594)
  • Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot (1953)

For A Midsummer Night’s Dream I recommend either the Arden edition by Sukanta Chaudhuri (first published 2017) or the Oxford World's Classics edition by Peter Holland (first published 1994). For Waiting for Godot I recommend the Faber & Faber edition (first published 2010).

Please make sure to have read A Midsummer Night’s Dream by the first session.

Assessment/requirements: active participation; thorough preparation of the individual scenes and the secondary material; test in final session.

2 st. Tue 8.30-10

Room: GABF 04/613

This course will approach Shakespeare’s ‘odysseys’ from various angles. Understanding the term odyssey in the widest sense as a prolongued wandering, quest or adventurous journey, we will look at the significance and functions of these journeys in selected plays. Although Latin sources influenced Shakespeare and his contemporaries to a much greater degree than Greek classical texts, the character of Odysseus and the Odyssey were important source texts for Shakespeare. Exploring the echoes of this mythological figure and his quest in some of Shakespeare’s works, we will also engage with the wider context of Shakespeare's classical learning and knowledge. Another focus of the course will be on how his plays and the idea of Shakespeare as an author have reemerged in literary texts of the 20th century, most notably in James Joyce's modernist rewriting Ulysses (celebrating its 100th anniversary of publication in 2022) and T.S. Eliot’s poetry.

At the time of writing this commentary, it is certain that we will be discussing the plays Hamlet, Troilus and Cressida, Pericles and possibly The Tempest as well as selections fom Joyce's Ulysses and T.S. Eliot’s poetry. (For more information on the choice of texts please check my website in March.) At any rate, please make sure to have read Pericles and Troilus and Cressida by the first session.

For Shakespeare’s plays I recommend any of the established scholarly editions (Arden, Oxford World's Classics, New Cambridge).

The course links up with the spring conference “Shakespeare Odysseys” in Bochum from 22 to 24 April 2022 hosted by the German Shakespeare Society (“Deutsche Shakespeare- Gesellschaft”). The conference will be open to the participants of the course (more information and details at a later point).

Assessment/requirements: active participation, thorough preparation of the primary and secondary material;

Übung: short presentation;

Seminar: 15-page term paper (wissenschaftliche Hausarbeit).

2 st. Tue 10-12

Room: GB 6/137

This course is co-taught by PD. Dr. Uwe Klawitter and Prof. Roland Weidle.

This class is particularly recommended to the Master students taking part in the lecture “Shakespeare’s Intertextual Afterlives: Concepts and Case Studies”, but it is also open to all students who wish to know more about how 20th and 21st-century novelists, playwrights, poets and film-makers use Shakespearean plays to express their own concerns.

The class offers an opportunity for a deeper theoretical engagement with the productive reception of Shakespeare’s plays. Considering various critical approaches in this field, we will explore in what ways they can further our understanding of individual re-imaginations (see list below). However, we will also broach the wider critical and cultural implications of such creative recycling of Shakespeare.

The following texts need to be obtained:

  • Edward St Aubyn. Dunbar. 2017. Vintage, 2018 (ISBN 9781784701697). (We will begin with this novel, which relates to King Lear.)
  • Margaret Atwood. Hag-Seed: The Tempest Retold. 2016. Vintage, 2017 (ISBN 9780099594024).
  • Edward Bond. Lear. 1971. Edited by Patricia Hern. Methuen Drama, 1983 (ISBN 978-0413519504).
  • Tom Stoppard. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. 1967. Edited by Henry Popkin. Faber & Faber, 1973 (ISBN 978-0571081820).

Further literary and theoretical texts will be made available through Moodle. As regards Shakespeare’s plays, we recommend the latest Arden edition or any other scholarly edition. Participants are kindly asked to have read St. Aubyn’s Dunbar and Shakespeare’s King Lear before the first session and Atwood’s Hag-Seed and Shakespeare’s The Tempest before the second session.

Assessment/requirements: active participation, thorough preparation of the primary and secondary material;

Übung: test;

Seminar: 12-page term paper (wissenschaftliche Hausarbeit).

2 st. Thu 16-18

Room: GABF 04/613

This Examenskolloquium is primarily for students of literary studies.

The aim of the colloquium is to prepare students for their final exams and papers. We will focus on aspects relating to the final thesis (developing hypotheses, research, composition, style, time management etc.) and the oral examination (selection of topics, preparation, literature, procedure etc.). We will also allow time for other issues relating to the final stage of your studies (organization, motivation etc.).

The secondary material will be made available on Moodle.

Assessment/requirements: active participation and one of the following: mock oral exam on one subject (ca. 20 min) or presentation and discussion of exam thesis (ca. 10 plus 15 min).

2 st. Wed 10-12

Room: GB 02/60

Winter term 2021/22


In this lecture I will discuss a selection of poems which I believe to be representative of the stylistic, thematic and generic variety of early modern English poetry. Each week I will focus on one or more poems from a particular genre, mode or author and discuss their main themes, stylistic devices and narrative setup. This will be done in a more or less close reading fashion, highlighting specific devices, strategies and phrases.

All poems (except Paradise Lost) will be made available on Moodle.

As the lecture will allow and encourage interaction between students and lecturer I strongly advise each student to read and prepare the poem(s) for each session so as to be able to make the most of these interactive elements. At the time of writing this commentary it is very likely that this lecture will be taught as a live (synchronous) online course.

Course requirements:

Bachelor students: regular and active participation, preparation of poems, successful completion of (online) test at the end of term (day and time to be given at a later date)

Master students: regular and active participation, preparation of poems, successful completion of (extended online) test at the end of term (day and time to be given at a later date)

The course is intended to further students' understanding of both poetry and the process of interpretation. We will look in detail at various aspects of poems (mode, genre, form, theme, situation, sound stratum, diction, syntax, imagery, context) and establish a 'checklist' of features to be considered in the interpretive process. We will aim to arrive at a flexible step-by-step guide for the analysis of poetry. Poems from different epochs will serve as our material.

The poems and the secondary texts will be made available on Moodle.

Course requirements:

regular and active participation; thorough preparation of the individual poems and the secondary material; writing a poem (to be handed in by 20.01.2022) OR an interpretation of a poem (to be handed in by 31 March 2022; more information on both assignments in the course)

All of Shakespeare's plays are political because they are "concerned with the form, organization, and administration of a state, and with the regulation of its relations with other states" (OED "political" A.1.a.) or they include figures who "belong [...] to or form [...] part of a civil administration, esp. as opposed to a military one" (ib. A.1.b.) or who are "[i]nvolved, employed, or interested in politics" (ib. A.3.) or because they relate to or are concerned "with public life and affairs as involving questions of authority and government" (ib. A.5.). In this course we will understand politics primarily as pertaining to the art of government and governing.

We will address the subject on two levels: apart from looking at the relevance of politics in Shakespeare, we will also consider politics with Shakespeare. While the first perspective deals with the events, themes and mechanisms of politics and power that are referred to and negotiated in the plays (we will address, among others, different notions of kingship, power and rule, the concept of "just war", and the relationship between ethics and politics), the latter focus will be on how Shakespeare's works have been employed (by way of interpretation, staging, or appropriation) to make political statements.

We will focus on three plays, the two parts of Henry IV and The Tempest, as well as two adaptations (The Hollow Crown's Henry IV, Césaire's A Tempest). Please make sure to have read The First Part of Henry IV by the first session. I recommend any of the established annotated scholarly editions (Arden, Cambridge, Oxford, Norton, Folger). Please do NOT use editions from the internet, school editions or editions without a critical apparatus.

The course is also intended to prepare students for the autumn conference "Shakespeare and Politics" in Weimar from 12 to 14 November 2021 hosted by the German Shakespeare Society ("Deutsche Shakespeare-Gesellschaft"). The conference will be open to the participants of the course (more information and details at a later point).

Course requirements:

Übung: regular and active participation; preparation of the texts for each session; presentation

Seminar: regular and active participation; preparation of the texts for each session; term paper of 15 pages to be handed in by 31 March 2022

John Donne (1572-1631) is one of the most interesting and fascinating literary figures of the 16th and 17th centuries, combining in his persona the tensions and conflicts of his age. Born into a Catholic family and eventually becoming Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral late in his life, he was courtier and priest, private secretary and renegade, poet and preacher. He wrote elegies, satires, meditations, epigrams, sermons, devotions and poems. His poetry is as heterogeneous as his life and oeuvre, characterized by a radical and innovative mixture of eroticism, religious devotion, stylistic ingenuity as well as rhetorical brazenness and ‘metaphysical’ complexity.

In this course we will closely engage with a selection of Donne's poems to discuss their themes, stylistic features and rhetorical strategies, taking into consideration the literary, cultural and historical contexts of the time. We will consider, among others, biographical aspects, literary traditions, the political and social context of the time, notions of sex and gender as well as religious ideas.

I recommend the following edition: Donald R. Dickson, editor. John Donne's Poetry: Authoritative Texts. Criticism, Norton, 2007. Norton Critical Editions.

Course requirements:

Übung: regular and active participation; preparation of the texts for each session; presentation

Seminar: regular and active participation; preparation of the texts for each session; term paper of 15 pages to be handed in by 31 March 2022

Summer term 2021 (No courses! Forschungssemester)


Winter term 2020/21


This lecture will give an overview of Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets. This will include not only looking at the main themes, central figures, style and language, but also at how the poems engage with the sonnet tradition. As we will obviously not be able to discuss each sonnet in detail, I will pursue a two-pronged approach: some of the sonnets will be discussed on a close reading basis, others will only be glossed or touched upon in passing.
This lecture will be offered as an online course. This means that each week a Powerpoint presentation with my audio commentary will be uploaded for you to read and listen to (I will try to have the lectures uploaded by each Saturday). Each Tuesday at 10 am we will meet for a Zoom session to discuss the previously uploaded lecture. The first session will be held on 27 Oct. The link for the Zoom meetings and other material will be made available on Moodle. The password for the Moodle course will be sent to you once you have successfully registered for the course.

I would like to encourage everyone to take part in the Zoom meetings as these have proven to be very productive last term.

There will be an online test in the last week of term (date and time t.b.a.).

As my main source for the Sonnets I will use the Arden edition, edited by Katherine Duncan-Jones. Other editions of and literature on the Sonnets will be introduced in the lecture.

Course requirements:

Bachelor students: successful completion of a test at the end of term (day and time to be given at a later date)

Master students: successful completion of (extended) test in final session (day and time to be given at a later date)

In this course we will be dealing with "death segments" (Anette Pankratz) in early modern texts and plays, i.e. moments, in which death is either anticipated, represented or remembered. We will be looking at a range of texts from various genres, such as poems, plays, religious texts, diaries, pamphlets etc. Authors include, among others, William Shakespeare, Mary Rich, Thomas Dekker, John Donne, Chidiock Tichborne, Ben Jonson, Anne Cecil de Vere, and Katherine Philips..
We will be looking at various aspects of death and dying in the selected texts including the different and shifting attitudes towards death and their relation to previous traditions (medieval ars moriendi, stoicism) and newly emerging practices, the gendering of death, the narrative, dramatic and poetic strategies in staging and narrating death, and different practices of remembering the dead, to name only a few. All the primary texts (except The Spanish Tragedy) and the required reading material will be made available on Moodle. For Kyd's Spanish Tragedy I recommend the Revels Student Edition (s. bibliography). I expect every student to participate in the weekly Zoom sessions (Wed 10 to 12 am) and to thoroughly prepare the texts discussed in each session (s. syllabus). The first session will be held on 28 Oct. The link for the Zoom meetings will be made available on Moodle. The password for the Moodle course will be sent to you once you have successfully registered for the course.

Every participant is expected to take part in the Zoom meetings each Wednesday from 10 to 12 am (only three missed classes allowed!). Additionally, if you take this course as an ‚Übung‘, you need to give a short presentation. If you intend to take this course as a ‚Seminar‘, please hand in a term paper (ca. 15 pages). The deadline for both assignments is 31 March 2021.

This course was originally designed to prepare students for the autumn conference of the Deutsche Shakespeare-Gesellschaft (DSG) on Romeo and Juliet to be held in Weimar from 20 to 22 November (for programme scroll to top of this page). Because of the Covid 19 pandemic the DSG has decided to host a hybrid conference (as per 10 Oct 2020), consisting of live and online contributions. Students can participate in the conference via Zoom (links will be posted on Moodle). Additionally, the conference will be streamed online.

In this course we will take a closer look at three tragedies by Shakespeare: his early Romeo and JulietHamlet as one of the "four great", and the late Roman play Coriolanus. Although all these plays share typical features of a Shakespearean tragedy (complex and psychologized characters, deliberative rhetoric, individuals struggling with a changing world, to name only a few), they represent different ideas of tragedy and have different tragic ‚tonalities‘. By focusing on these similarities and differences with regard to genre, themes, tone, story and characterization we will be able to place the tragedies in their literary and cultural contexts and acquire a fuller understanding of the different kinds of ‚Shakespearean‘ tragedy.

As attendance of the four papers held by Bührle, Jackson, Zirker and Stasková at the conference is obligatory, there will no sessions in weeks 2 to 5! The weekly and (also obligatory) Zoom meetings will resume on 3 Dec.

I will be using the Arden editions of Romeo and Juliet (ed. René Weis) and Hamlet (ed. Ann Thompson and Neil Taylor) and the Oxford Shakespeare edition of Coriolanus (ed. R. B. Parker). But any of the other established scholarly editions (Cambridge, Norton) will also do.

There will also be a Moodle course with secondary material. The password for the Moodle course will be sent to you once you have successfully registered for the course.

The first Zoom session will be held on 29 Oct. The link for the Zoom meetings will be made available on Moodle.

Please make sure to have read Romeo and Juliet by the first session! 

 

Course credits:

Every student in this course is expected to prepare the primary and secondary texts, to participate in the weekly Zoom sessions on Thursday from 12 am to 2 pm (only three missed classes allowed!) and to attend the four papers by Bührle, Jackson, Zirker, and Stasková on 20 and 21 November (either online or on location). The Zoom links for the conference will also be made available on Moodle.

Additionally, if you take this course as an ‚Übung‘, you are expected to write a response paper of approx. 1,500 words on one of the four papers held at the conference (containing a summary of the main arguments, the issues raised in the discussion, and a critical assessment of the paper). Deadline: 31 March 2021.

If you intend to take this course as a ‚Seminar‘, please hand in a term paper (ca. 15 pages). Deadline: 31 March 2021.

credit points only for BA students in the Optionalbereich!

 

Teil 1: Early Modern Ecocriticism (2 SWS) (2.5 CP), 1. Sitzung: 26.10.2020, 18-20 Uhr und weitere Termine s. unten

Teil 2: Theatre Laboratory: “Shakespeare for Future: Playing with Climate Change“ (4 SWS) (2.5 CP), Termine s. unten

 

In this module we will critically and creatively engage with the relationship between humans and their natural evironment. In light of the current and growing awareness of environmental pollution and climate change, this module will focus on earlier, mostly early modern texts, which show that an awareness of and concern for environmental issues already existed during Shakespeare's time. The general aims of the module are twofold: In the seminar students will learn how early modern texts reflected on the relationship between the human species and their environment and which aspects concerned them most. The students will also be given advice and support as regards the final performance (i.e. pronunciation, enunciation). In the laboratory, students will put their knowledge into practice, create and take part in an English theatrical performance open to the general public.

 

Part 1: Early Modern Ecocriticism (2 SWS) (2.5 CP), Teacher: Roland Weidle

 

In the seminar we will look at early modern dramatic and narrative texts which deal with or include passages on the problematic relationship between the human species and their environment. There will be a focus on Shakespeare's plays but other texts will also be considered. The principal aims are to sharpen our awareness of the historicity of environmental issues, to familiarize ourselves with the relevant early modern cultural and literary contexts, but also to provide practical advice for the performance in terms of vocal coaching, character exploration and contextualization. The participants will also be asked to write articles for the programme brochure.

 

Parts and dates:

This course consists of four parts:

1. The first session will take place on the 26.10.2020 from 6 to 8 pm in the form of an online Zoom session for which the participants will receive the link once they are registered for the course. In this introductory session we will explain and discusss the contents and the layout of the course, allocate reading assignments, presentations and articles for the block seminar and programme respectively, and talk about the purpose of this course and its relation to the Theatre Laboratory. The teachers of the laboratory, Kai Bernhardt and Niklas Füllner, will also take part in this session to present their concept and ideas.

2. The main part of this course will be held as a block seminar on 25 and 26 February 2021 (each day from 9 am to 5 pm) (hopefully as a ‘live’ class on campus). In this part we will engage closely with the primary and secondary texts, discuss their relevance for our time and work on the programme for the performances.

3. I will also conduct individual coaching sessions in March and April 2021 immediately prior and parallel to the Theatre Laboratory’s rehearsals to support each student with her/his pronunciation, enunciation, and projection. The dates for these sessions will be arranged individually at a later stage.

4. In order to finalize the contents and layout of the programme, we will meet for one session in April 2021 (date and time to be agreed on at a later stage).

 

Part 2: Theatre Laboratory: "Shakespeare for Future: Playing with Climate Change" (4 SWS) (2.5 CP), Teachers: Kai Bernhardt and Niklas Füllner

The aim is a performance combining scenes of historical, contemporary, but also newly written texts on the causes and effects of climate change. The texts covered in the seminar serve as a starting point for further explorations during the rehearsal process. The laboratory will involve language and acting exercises, improvisations, work with the text, and rehearsals of the scenes. The performances on 26 and 27 June 2020 will be open for the general public. Students should be prepared for possible extra rehearsals in the last weeks before the performances.

 

Rehearsals:

Mittwoch, 28. April 2021, 18-21.30 Uhr

Donnerstag, 29. April 2021, 18-21.30 Uhr

Freitag, 30. April 2021, 15-20 Uhr

Sonntag, 2. Mai 2021, 15-20 Uhr

Mittwoch, 5. Mai 2021, 18-21.30 Uhr

Donnerstag, 6. Mai 2021, 18-21.30 Uhr

 

Performances:

Freitag, 7. Mai 2021, 19.30 Uhr

Samstag, 8. Mai 2021, 19.30 Uhr

 

Competences: Ability to interpret dramatic texts in English (academic competence, intercultural competence); ability to write texts in English with a concrete practical purpose (communicative competence); ability to work creatively with a text (creative competence).

Requirements and workload: Very good knowledge of English and willingness to perform on stage. Students of English are very welcome to participate (they will get CPs for the Optionalbereich). 

Part 1: active participation, short written assignments.

Part 2: regular rehearsals, performance.

Literature: Manfred Pfister. The Theory and Analysis of Drama. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.

 

Important information: 

  • Termin der ersten Sitzung: Part 1: 26.10., 6-8 p.m. and s. above; Part 2: Irregular dates (s. above).
  • Anmeldung: Students are asked to apply for the course woth a short letter of motivation to Roland Weidle: roland.weidle[at]rub.de (DEADLINE: 19 October 2020)
  • Zusammensetzung der Endnote: Oral Presentation (25 per cent), written assignements (25 per cent), performance (50per cent)

Summer term 2020


The lecture will give a short overview of Shakespeare’s tragedies. I will try (but cannot promise) to cover the following plays: the early tragedies Titus Andronicus and Romeo and Juliet, the ‘Roman’ plays Julius CaesarAntony and Cleopatra and Coriolanus, and the so-called ‘great four’ HamletOthelloKing Lear and Macbeth, plus the “afterthought” (Coleridge) Timon of Athens. Questions of genre, ideology, cosmologies, dramaturgy and staging will be addressed as well as the main themes and issues that are treated in the plays. Although the plot of each play will be briefly summarized at the beginning of each lecture a general knowledge of the plays is expected.

There is no need to purchase a course book. Nevertheless, for those who are interested in preparing for the course I recommend the following titles:

  • Dickson, Andrew. The Rough Guide to Shakespeare. Rough Guides, 2009. [very general (but good) introduction to Shakespeare’s work, with only few pages on each play, but also with more general sections on Shakespeare’s life, theatre and language. Useful for a very first approach to Sh.]
  • Garber, Marjorie. Shakespeare After All. Anchor Books, 2005. [20- to 30-pages introductory chapters on each play. Informed summaries and introductions of the plays, taking into account the main critical developments of the 20th century. Probably not suitable as a very first approach.]
  • McEachern, Claire, editor. Shakespearean Tragedy. 2nd ed., Cambridge UP, 2013. [collection of essays on different aspects of Shakespearean tragedy, such as, for example, language, genre, literary context and subgenres.]
  • Schabert, Ina, editor. Shakespeare-Handbuch. Die Zeit – Der Mensch – Das Werk – Die Nachwelt. Kröner, 2010. [very useful reference work on Shakespeare’s time, life and work. Can be used as both reference work and introduction.]
  • Weidle, Roland. Englische Literatur der Frühen Neuzeit. Eine Einführung. Erich Schmidt, 2013. [German introduction to historical, cultural, and literary context of the early modern with three sections on English poetry, drama and prose. Can also be used as reference work, includes index.]

For the plays I recommend the Norton-Shakespeare, ed. by Stephen Greenblatt et al.

As this will be an exclusive online course, we will be using Moodle as a virtual classroom. Once you are enrolled for this course on eCampus, we will provide you with the password for the Moodle course. The basic idea for this lecture is to upload one lecture per week as a Powerpoint presentation with audio commentary and to provide you with the opportunity to meet for a live Q&A-session in our virtual classroom (also once a week). More details will be provided on Moodle.

 

Course requirements:

Bachelor students: successful completion of a test at the end of term (day and time to be given at a later date)

Master students: successful completion of (extended) test in final session (day and time to be given at a later date)

Because of the Corona crisis and the fact that this course will be offered only online, I have decided to adapt the contents of this course. So, instead of offering a course on King Lear in theory and performance with a focus on performative aspects and stage history, we will approach the play on a more textual basis. The main objectives of the course are to engage with the play in a close reading manner (for which I will provide comprehension questions) and to explore some of its main aspects and themes (genre, family, kingship, court).

We will be using the Arden edition of the play (Third Series), edited by R.A. Foakes. Note: All the references (Act.Scene.Lines) in the provided material are to this edition!

We will be using Moodle as a virtual classroom. Once you are enrolled for this course on eCampus, we will provide you with the password for the Moodle course. Because of its online character, the course will depend mostly on your preparation at home and the work you hand in. At the time of writing this (revised) commentary, the basic idea of the course is to hand in assignments on a weekly basis and to meet each week in our virtual classroom for a live Q&A-session.

On a general note: This distance learning course will be an experiment. I would like to ask every participant (including myself) for understanding and patience if things do not immediately work out as expected. This will be a learning experience!


Requirements for credits:

Every student: thorough preparation of the play (which includes answering the comprehension questions provided on Moodle); thorough preparation of the secondary texts (which includes answering the study questions provided on Moodle)

plus (for "Übung"): writing an entry for an online glossary/wiki (due by 7 June 2020)

plus (for "Seminar"): writing a term paper (ca. 15 pages) (due by 30 September 2020)

(offered as 'Blockseminar' (on campus or online) in September 2020; date and further details to be announced)

Important! This "Examenskolloquium" is primarily for students of literary and cultural studies.

The aim of the colloquium is to prepare students for their final exams and papers. We will focus on aspects relating to the final thesis (developing hypotheses, research, composition, style, time management etc.) and the oral examination (selection of topics, preparation, literature, procedure etc.) but we will also allow time for other issues related to the final stage of your studies (organization, motivation etc.).

The secondary material will be made available on Moodle.

Assessment/requirements: Active participation and one of the following: mock oral exam on one subject (ca. 20 min) OR Presentation and discussion of exam thesis (ca. 10 + 15 min)

Room: t.b.a or online

Winter term 2019/20


The lecture will attempt to provide students with an overview of the main dramatic genres of the English early modern age (1485-1660). The first sessions will sketch the cultural, historical and economic background of the period as well as the beginnings of early modern secular drama. The lecture will then proceed to discuss some of the most important representatives and examples of tragedy, comedy, tragicomedy and history plays. In each lecture we will also try to look at particular plays (or passages from them) in order to illustrate some of the discussed features. 

The lectures will be based on my Englische Literatur der Frühen Neuzeit: Eine Einführung published in the series "Grundlagen der Anglistik und Amerikanistik" with Erich Schmidt Verlag (Berlin, 2013). The Powerpoint Presentations will be made available on Moodle.

For the primary texts I recommend Greenblatt, Stephen et al., ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol I, Norton & Company, 2012.

Course requirements:

Bachelor students: Successful completion of test in final session.

Master students: Successful completion of (extended) test in final session. 

Thu 12-14

Room: HGB 40

This course is part of the series of preparatory classes offered by the English Seminar on a regular basis to prepare for the conferences of the German Shakespeare Society every year in April and every other year in November. The theme of the conference in Bochum from 24 to 26 April will be "Shakespeare and Dance", in more than one sense. On the one hand, the papers given at the conference by international scholars will address aspects of dance in Shakespeare's time and plays, engaging, among others, with the significance of the early modern dancing body, dance treatises, and dance practices. On the other hand, papers will also address Shakespeare as dance, "discussing what can happen when the plays are used as material for dance works" (McCulloch/Shaw, ed., The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Dance, Oxford UP, 2019, Foreword). This will include focusing on aspects of intermediality, narrativity, the translation of text into movement, and the relationship between dance/music and the text.
We will discuss two plays by Shakespeare (Twelfth NightRomeo and Juliet) and Sir John Davies' dance poem "Orchestra" (1596), beginning the course with the latter. In class we will also read texts by international scholars on the subject, drawing mostly on the recently published collection The Oxford Handbook of Dance. As two of the authors will also give a paper at the conference (Lynsey McCulloch from Coventry University, and Emily Winerock from the Women's Institute at Chatham University, Pittsburgh), we will be given the chance to familiarise ourselves with their approaches. Other speaker at the conference include Iris Julia Bührle (Oxford, UK), Susanne Scholz (Frankfurt/M.), Barbara Ravelhofer (Durham University), and Gabriele Brandstetter (FU Berlin).

The secondary texts and the John Davies' poem will be uploaded on Moodle.

This course is also offered in the English Seminar’s Shakespeare Studies Master programme.


Requirements for credits:
Every student is required to take part actively, prepare the primary and secondary texts thoroughly, and be part of a presentation. The results of the presentations will be presented during the conference. Students who take this class as an Übung need to write a short term paper (ca. 8 pages), those who take the class as a Seminar, need to write a term paper (ca. 15 pages). Term papers to be handed in by 31 March 2020. 

Tue 10-12

Room: GAFO 04/425

This seminar is co-taught by Jun.-Prof. Cornelia Wächter (British Cultural Studies) and Prof. Roland Weidle (Early Modern Literature) and can (but does not have to) be taken in conjunction with the Übung "Staging Shakespeare's Sonnets" offered by the same lecturers on Wednesdays at 6:00 (s.t.). The aim of the course is to introduce students to Shakespeare’s sonnets, as well as their literary, social, cultural and historical context. Owing to the different backgrounds of the lecturers we will approach the sonnets from both a literary and a cultural studies perspective. We will focus, among other things, on contexts of writing and publication, sonnet tradition, dramatis personae, motifs, themes, language, narrativity, aspects of gender and sexuality, sequentiality and narrativity, (in)stability of the text(s), patronage system, sonnet and court culture. It is absolutely necessary that each participant obtain the following edition of the sonnets: Katherine Duncan-Jones, ed., Shakespeare's Sonnets. Bloomsbury, 2010. The Arden Shakespeare Third Series. Please make sure to have read and prepared the first three sonnets by the first session. Additional material will be uploaded on Moodle.

Assessment/requirements: active participation, thorough preparation of the primary and secondary material, term paper (max. 15 pages) to be handed in by 31 March 2020. Please note that this class is exclusively offered as a Seminar.

Wed 10-12

Room: GB 5/37

This Übung is co-taught by Jun.-Prof. Cornelia Wächter (British Cultural Studies) and Prof. Roland Weidle (Early Modern Literature). Although it can be taken independently from the companion seminar "Shakespeare's Sonnets" taught by the lecturers on the same day (10-12), we strongly recommend the participants of this Übung to also enroll for the seminar as the latter will provide students with the necessary cultural and literary contexts of the sonnets. After a preparatory meeting in the first week of the lecture period (Wed, 16 October, 6:00-7:30 pm), the Übung opens with a workshop conducted by professional theatre practitioner Jaq Bessell (University of Surrey) on 25 and 26 October. From 13 November onwards, we will have regular rehearsal sessions on Wednesday evenings. Final rehearsals and dress rehearsal will take place from 17 to 19 January 2020 at the Musisches Zentrum (MZ). The course culminates in a public staging of the sonnets at the MZ on 19 January 2020. Each student will recite and/or perform several sonnets. While we deliberately leave space for creativity as to the format of the production, the rehearsal process will, for instance, include the writing of backstories for each sonnet to be performed, work on breathing, articulation, pitch, intonation, projection, body language, movement and space. Note that all rehearsals and the performance are obligatory! It is absolutely necessary that each participant obtain the following edition of the sonnets: Katherine Duncan-Jones, ed., Shakespeare's Sonnets. Bloomsbury, 2010. The Arden Shakespeare Third Series. Additional material will be uploaded on Moodle.

Assessment/requirements: active participation, thorough preparation of the primary and secondary material; staging, rehearsing and performing of a sonnet project. Please note that this class is exclusively offered as an Übung.

Wed 18-20 (for detailed schedule s. above)

Room: GABF 04/413

In this course we will deal with plays that either claim or reflect on the claim that they show the truth, i.e. what 'really happened'. These so-called "verbatim plays" draw on historical records and present historical, 'real' characters on stage. By situating real characters in a fictional, theatrical context, these plays draw our attention to the thin line that divides reality from fiction, politics from drama and truth from lies. We will deal with three plays and, among other things, engage with their historical contexts (post 9/11, Watergate, Oscar Wilde's trials), their narrative structure, the different ways they employ dramatic and theatrical devices, but also with wider theoretical and philosophical concerns.

Plays:

  • Hare, David. Stuff Happens. Faber and Faber, 2004.
  • Morgan, Peter. Frost/Nixon. Faber and Faber, 2006.
  • Kaufman, Moises. Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde. Vintage Books, 1998.

Please make sure to have read Hare's Stuff Happens by the first session.

Assessment/requirements

Übung: active participation; thorough preparation of the primary and secondary material; short presentation.

Seminar: active participation; thorough preparation of the primary and secondary material; term paper (15 pages) to be handed in by 31 March 2020).

Thu 10-12

Room: GB 5/38

Summer term 2019


The lecture will provide students with an overview of the main poetic genres of the English Renaissance (1485-1660). The first sessions will sketch the cultural, historical and economic background of the period, thereby preparing the ground for an engagement with poetic genres such as the sonnet, the epic, the epyllion and the satire, to name but a few. In each lecture we will also look at particular poems (or passages from them) in order to illustrate some of the discussed features.
The lectures will be based on my Englische Literatur der Frühen Neuzeit: Eine Einführung published in the series "Grundlagen der Anglistik und Amerikanistik" with Erich Schmidt Verlag (Berlin, 2013). The Powerpoint presentations will be made available on Moodle.

For the primary texts I recommend Greenblatt, Stephen et al. (eds), The Norton Anthology of English Literature, vol I, Norton & Company, 2012.

This course is also offered as part of the English Seminar’s Shakespeare Studies Master programme.

Course requirements:

Bachelor students: Successful completion of test in final session.

Master students: Successful completion of (extended) test in final session. 

Thu 12-14

Room: t.b.a.

Christopher Marlowe was born in the same year as William Shakespeare and some argue that, had he lived longer and not died in a brawl in 1593, he would have become a more famous playwright than his contemporary. In this seminar we will look at three tragedies by Marlowe: The Jew of Malta (1589/90), Edward II (1592/93) and Dr Faustus (1594). We will discuss themes such as free will, otherness, same-sex-desire and genre but also deal with basic dramatic devices and strategies such as characterisation, plotting, and language. 

I recommend the following edition of the plays: Christopher Marlowe: Four Plays. Ed. Brian Gibbons. Bloomsbury, 2011. New Mermaids Series [originally published by A&C Black].

All students are expected to have read The Jew of Malta by the first session. Secondary material will be provided by way of Moodle.

Course requirements:

Übung: Active participation; thorough preparation of the primary and secondary material; writing and compiling an outline and bibliography for a possible term paper to be handed in by 01 September 2019.

Seminar: Active participation; thorough preparation of the primary and secondary material; term paper (ca. 10-12 pages) to be handed in by 01 September 2019.

Thu 10-12

Room: t.b.a.

In this course we will study three plays by Shakespeare which the critic Frederick Samuel Boas called Shakespeare’s „problem plays“. Boas saw these plays as problematic in two ways: in terms of genre and in terms of content. According to Boas, it is not only difficult to assign a genre to them, but the three plays also deal with problematic contemporary social and moral dilemmas. In the wake of Boas, other critics have reevaluated, redefined and questioned the term, extending the notion also to other Shakespearean plays. In the course we will focus on Measure for MeasureAll’s Well That Ends Well, and Troilus and Cressida and discuss how these plays deal with complex ethical issues linked to ideas of leadership, rule, law, justice, gender roles, love, war, and contractual obligations, to name only a few.

Make sure to obtain these plays in scholarly editions (i.e. Arden, Cambridge, New Oxford or Norton). The secondary texts will be made available online on Moodle.

Please make sure to have read Measure for Measure by the first session.

This course is also offered as part of the English Seminar’s Shakespeare Studies Master programme.

Requirements for credits:

Übung: Active participation; thorough preparation of the primary and secondary material; short presentation.

Seminar: Active participation; thorough preparation of the primary and secondary material; term paper (ca. 15 pages) to be handed in by 01 September 2019. 

Tue 10-12

Room: t.b.a.

When it comes to English literature of the long 18th-century, plays (and tragedies in particular) are usually not held in high esteem. The plays of this period have a reputation for being sentimental, lacking tragic conflict and being, in short, not very interesting. This, however, is at odds with the general perception of the 18th century as a period in which “knowledge seemed greatly to enlarge the possibilities of intellectual, moral, and practical improvements” (James Sambrook). In fact, heated debates were carried out between politicians, philosophers, writers and scientists on virtually any subject. Moreover, a new “literary sphere” (Jürgen Habermas) emerged which encouraged and fostered public debate. Among the platforms of this literary sphere were coffee houses, magazines, libraries, literary societies, and the theatre. So, one would expect the plays of the period to take part in these debates. A closer look at four ‘sentimental’ tragedies of the so called “long eighteenth century” will reveal that this was indeed the case. In this course we will see that the plays of the period did in fact participate in some of the most prominent debates of the time, such as on politics, personal identity, sympathy, sensibility and gender, to name only a few.

We will read the following plays:

  • Thomas Otway, Venice Preserv’d, or, a Plot Discover’d (1682)
  • George Lillo, The London Merchant: Or, the History of George Barnwell (1731)
  • George Lillo, Fatal Curiosity (1736)
  • Edward Moore, The Gamester (1753)

(Digital) copies of the plays as well as the secondary material will be made available by way of Moodle.

Please make sure to have read Thomas Otway’s Venice Preserv’d by the first session.

Course requirements:

Übung: Active participation; thorough preparation of the primary and secondary material; short presentation.

Seminar: Active participation; thorough preparation of the primary and secondary material; term paper (ca. 15 pages) to be handed in by 01 September 2019.

Tue 12-14

Room: t.b.a.

Important! This "Examenskolloquium" is primarily for students of literature and cultural studies.

The aim of the colloquium is to prepare students for their final exams and papers. We will focus on aspects relating to the final thesis (developing of hypothesis, research, composition, style, time management etc.) and the oral examination (selection of topics, preparation, literature, procedure etc.) but we will also allow time for other issues related to the final stage of your studies (organization, motivation etc.).

The secondary material will be made available on Moodle.

Course requirements:

Active participation and one of the following:

  • Mock oral exam on one subject (ca. 20 min)
  • Presentation and discussion of exam thesis (ca. 10 + 15 min)

Wed 10-12

Room: t.b.a.


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Archive

Winter term 2018/19

VL: Shakespeare's Comedies [BA + Master]

Üb: Introduction to Literary Studies [BA]

Sem/Üb: Shakespeare and Translation [Master]

Sem/Üb: Francis Bacon (1562-1626): Nature's Agent and Interpreter [Master]

Summer term 2018

VL: Shakespeare's Tragedies [BA + Master]

Sem/Üb: Reading Antony and Cleopatra [BA]

Sem/Üb: Othello [Master]

Sem/Üb: The “Troublesome Effects“ of Sympathy in 18th-century and contemporary literature [Master; joint seminar with B. Niederhoff]

Only Optionalbereich: English Drama in Action

Winter term 2017/18

VL: Shakespeare's History Plays [BA + Master]

Sem/Üb: Reading 1+2 Henry IV [BA]

Sem/Üb: Migration and Exile in Shakespeare [Master]

Sem/Üb: 17th-Century Poetry [Master]

Forschungsseminar: Point of View and Focalization in Early Modern Narrative [Master]

Summer term 2017

VL: Literature of the Long Eighteenth Century [BA + Master]

Sem/Üb: Reading Julius Caesar [BA]

Sem/Üb: Plays on Terror: British Political Drama after 9/11 [Master]

Sem/Üb: Shakespeare Apokrypha [Master]

Examenskolloquium: [Master]

Winter term 2016/17

No courses! (Forschungssemester)

Summer term 2016

VL: Introduction to Renaissance Prose [BA + Master]

Sem/Üb: Reading Measure for Measure [BA]

Sem/Üb: Introduction to the Study of Narrative Texts [BA]

Sem/Üb: Shakespeare komparatistisch [Master]

VL: Shakespeare komparatistisch [BA+Master]

Winter term 2015/16

VL: Introduction to Renaissance Drama [BA + Master]

Sem/Üb:: Reading The Comedy of Errors [BA]

Sem/Üb: Introduction to the Study of Drama [BA]

Sem/Üb: Shakespeare's Green Worlds [Master]

Summer term 2015

VL: Introduction to Renaissance Poetry [BA + Master]

Sem/Üb: Reading Much Ado About Nothing [BA]

Sem/Üb: Introduction to the Study of Poetry [BA]

Sem/Üb: Metaphysical Poetry [Master]

Examenskolloquium: [Master]

Winter term 2014/15

VL: Introduction to Renaissance Literature [BA + Master]

Üb: Reading Romeo and Juliet [BA]

Sem/Üb: Selected Plays of Christopher Marlowe [Master]

Sem/Üb: Verbatim Drama [Master]

Summer term 2014

VL: Introduction to Shakespeare’s Comedies [BA + Master]

Üb: Reading A Midsummer Night's Dream [BA]

Sem/Üb: Staging Shakespeare: Preparing the "Bochumer Shakespeare -Wochen 20.10.-16.11.204" [Master]

Sem/Üb: British Drama of the 1950s and 1960s [Master]

Examenskolloquium: [Master]

Winter term 2013/14

VL: Introduction to Shakespeare’s History Plays [BA + Master]

Üb: Reading Coriolanus [BA]

Sem/Üb: 17th-Century Poetry [Master]

Sem/Üb: Introduction to Narratological Key Concepts [Master]

Summer term 2013

VL: Introduction to Shakespeare’s Tragedies [BA + Master]

Üb: As You Like It [BA]

Sem/Üb: Theories of Urban Space and Early Modern Drama [Master]

Examenskolloquium: [Master]

Oxford Shakespeare School: Shakespearean Tragedy [BA+Master]

Winter term 2012/13

VL: Shakespeare and Literary Theory [BA + Master]

Sem/Üb: London in Early Modern Literature [Master]

Sem/Üb: Selected Plays by Thomas Middleton [Master]

Sem/Üb: Selected Works by Oscar Wilde [BA]

Summer term 2012

No courses! (Forschungssemester)

Winter term 2011/12

VL: Introduction into Renaissance Poetry [BA + Master]

Sem/Üb: Shakespeare's Romances: Pericles (1607), The Winter's Tale (1609), Cymbeline (1610), The Tempest (1611) [Master]

Sem/Üb: The Novels of Graham Swift: Waterland (1983), Out of this World (1988), Last Orders (1996), Tomorrow (2007) [Master]

Üb: Reading Hamlet [BA]

Summer term 2011

VL: British 20th-Century Drama [BA + Master]

Sem: William Shakespeare's The Tempest: From the Page to the Stage [Master]

Sem: Shakespeare's Second Tetralogy [Master]

Üb: Contemporary British and Irish Drama [Master]

Examenskolloquium [Master]

Winter term 2010/11

VL: Literature of the English Renaissance (1485-1660) [BA + Master]

Sem: The Tragedies of Christopher Marlowe [Master]

Sem: Shakespeare's First Tetralogy [Master]

Üb: Approaching 18th-Century Poetry [BA]

Summer term 2010

VL: 18th-Century Literature [BA + Master]

Sem: Revenge Tragedies [BA]

Sem: Concepts of the Self and the Rise of the Novel in the 18th Century [Master]

Sem: Shakespeare's Great Tragedies (2): Hamlet and Othello [Master]

Sem: John Donne: Songs, Sonnets and Sermons [Master]

Winter term 2009/10

VL: Introduction to Shakespeare's Plays [BA+ Master]

Sem: From Petrachism to Neo-Classicism: 17th-Century Poetry [BA]

Sem: Shakespeare's Great Tragedies (1): King Lear and Macbeth [Master]

Sem: The Playwright and the City: Theatre in London 1576-1642 [Master]