Hauptseminar Postcolonial Re Writings

The revision of texts from the literary canon is considered one of the most important strategies of postcolonial literature. By ‘writing back‘ from the margins to the centre, many postcolonial texts attempt to challenge the power relations which are inscribed in their canonical pretexts. In this seminar, we are going to read two influential 19th century English novels and their respective postcolonial counterparts: first, Charlotte Brontë’s female Bildungsroman Jane Eyre (1847) and Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), which is a prequel to Brontë’s novel and radically subverts its Victorian model. Then, we will examine Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations (1861) and its postcolonial adaptation Jack Maggs (1997) by Australian novelist Peter Carey. We will look at the ways in which the texts by Rhys and Carey renegotiate issues of race, but also how they envisage notions of class and gender in stark contrast to the novels by Brontë and Dickens. The study of theoretical texts on postcolonialism, gender studies and on intertextuality will complement close readings of the four novels. Students wishing to attend must have read Jane Eyre for the first session and be prepared to pass a short quiz on the text. Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea Charles Dickens, Great Expectations Peter Carey, Jack Maggs Voraussetzungen Successful completion of an undergraduate research paper. Leistungsnachweis Graduate research paper (20-25 standard pages), active and regular participation. BA and MA students may also take a final oral exam instead of a research paper (please check your Prüfungsordnung for details) FB 02 Institut für Anglistik / Amerikanistik Successful completion of an undergraduate research paper. Graduate research paper (20-25 standard pages), active and regular participation. BA and MA students may also take a final oral exam instead of a research paper (please check your Prüfungsordnung for details) Uni Kassel WiSe 2014/15 Amerikanistik Dr. Heiler Lars