| | | | Course module | | LET-HLCS-LS01 | Category | | - | Language of instruction | | English | Offered by | | Radboud University; Faculty of Arts; Graduate School; | Lecturer(s) | | | | Academic year | | 2021 | | Period | | PER 2 | (08/11/2021 to 30/01/2022) |
| Starting block | | PER 2 | |
| Course mode | | full-time | |
| Remarks | | - | Registration using OSIRIS | | Yes | Course open to students from other faculties | | No | Pre-registration | | No | Waiting list | | No | Placement procedure | | - |
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At the end of the course, the students will:
- be able to identify and contextualise (generic elements of) regional literature (setting, narrative structures and voice, recurring motifs) within a broader framework of European literary production and consumption (periodicals, reviews, illustrations, reading communities);
- be able to apply theoretical concepts related to regionalism, transnationalism, identity, diaspora, nostalgia, and reception in research of their own or connected to their specific field;
- understand the complex relationships between the regional and the (trans)national in literature, in relation to issues of identity formation, cultural emancipation, genre and literary infrastructures;
- be able to apply these insights in written and presented analyses of regional narratives;
- can actively comment on and engage with prominent concepts in today’s literary research (cultural memory, transnationalism, textual consciousness, paratexts, network analysis ) in written and oral presentations of regional narratives;
- present and lead a discussion in English (asking relevant questions, dividing speaking time, offering feedback and summarizing the outcomes of the discussion) according to set criteria in the evaluation form (see blackboard);
- write critical responses and a research essay in English according to the established criteria in the evaluation form (blackboard)
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Our time is marked by a revival of the region in politics, the media, culture and literature: folk museums enjoy popularity; local heritage sites, such as Dough Famine Village, Ireland, have been developed as tourist attractions, the label ‘artisanally produced’ boosts sales, and local colour narratives have been converted into successful theatre productions and film adaptations. This fact echoes similar phenomena in the past: every now and again, the regional seems to be put at the centre of literary discourse: from the pastoral genre in Antiquity to regional fiction – a genre which records the vernacular, folklore and customs of people living in a specific region and which was particularly popular between the 1820s and 1940s; from Blut und Boden Literatur in Nazi-Deutschland to postmodern rewritings of the genre to what could be called ‘neoregionalist’ fiction of numerous 21st-century authors. This interest in the region has been explained in several ways. As a response to immigration, for instance, or to economical crisis, to the rise of modernity and technological innovation and to globalisation. Furthermore, many scholars have interpreted local colour cultural products through the lens of nation building and nationalism.
This course, which is rooted in cutting-edge research, focuses on the role of the region in literary texts from a wide range of periods (ranging from the antiquity to the present day). While the lecturers will present case studies from British, Irish, Dutch and Flemish local colour literature, the course will include a wide variety of geographical settings, aiming to look beyond traditional conceptions of literary regionalism. The course will explore the complex interrelationships between regionalism and nationalism as well as imperialism and cosmopolitanism in literature and culture, and it will specifically examine the significant transnational dimensions of the genre at its heyday, in the form of its themes and representations (emigration, foreign travellers), but also in the circulation of local colour fiction across and even beyond Europe, through periodical reprints or in the form of translations.
We will investigate issues such as the use of vernacular, narrative structures, identity formation, tradition versus modernity, landscape, emigration and diaspora cultures, tourism, networks of publication and reception, periodical cultures as well as book design and use of illustrations. We will also pay attention to relevant cultural and historical contexts, such as the phenomenon of World Exhibitions, visual arts, the expansion of railways and radical restructuring of landscapes through technology. |
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Final assessment for this course will be based on:
(a) an in-class presentation, worth 20% of the final grade ;
(b) a portfolio consisting of two research assignments, each worth 20% of the final grade;
(c) a 4.000-word research essay, worth 40% of the final grade.
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| | | Required materialsLiteratureTitle | : | | Digitalised texts, made available through blackboard. |
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Instructional modesTestsPortfolioTest weight | | 20 |
Test type | | Project |
Opportunities | | Block PER 2, Block PER 3 |
Minimum grade5,5
| PresentationTest weight | | 20 |
Test type | | Oral exam |
Opportunities | | Block PER 2, Block PER 3 |
Minimum grade5,5
| EssayTest weight | | 60 |
Test type | | Project |
Opportunities | | Block PER 2, Block PER 3 |
Minimum grade5,5
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