Proseminar Historiographic Metafiction

The 1960s, cherished by the left and demonized by the right in collective memory, played host to a variety of significant historical events – one need only think of the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution or the Civil Rights Movement. Yet it was also an important period for literature and literary studies, not in the least because it saw the publications of Roland Barthes’ essay -The Death of the Author”, marking the advent of Post-Structuralism, as well as of John Fowles’ novel The French Lieutenant’s Woman (published in 1967 and 1969, respectively). Fowles’ novel constitutes a starting point in what Linda Hutcheon would two decades later identify as a new genre she termed -historiographic metafiction”. Far from being a return to the historical fiction of centuries past by authors such as Sir Walter Scott, this new genre could not care less about Prussian historian Leopold von Ranke’s famous dictum of -zeigen, wie es eigentlich gewesen”. Instead, these texts engage with history in a metafictional fashion, pulling the constructedness of (historical) narratives to the forefront and problematizing the things we take for granted in terms of historical knowledge. Originally a primarily US-American phenomenon, historiographic metafiction has since also been taken up by a multitude of British writers, primarily in the 1980s. In this course, we will look at three such texts: A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters by Julian Barnes, Possession by A. S. Byatt, and Time’s Arrow by Martin Amis. To supplement our discussion of the novels, we will also read a number of critical texts which engage with this genre as well as with our primary texts. Concepts to be discussed include but are not limited to truth, knowledge, fact vs. fiction, history vs. story, genre mixing and intertextuality. Texts can be obtained at Uni-Buch, your preferred local bookseller or online shop. Julian Barnes: A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters (1989) Antonia S. Byatt: Possession (1990) Martin Amis: Time’s Arrow (1991) Additional reading material will be provided on a Moodle course. Voraussetzungen You must have completed the Orientierungskurs -Introduction to British and American Literature”. Furthermore, before our first session, you need to visit the reserve shelf in the library and make a copy of the first chapter of Linda Hutcheon’s A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Fiction (master copy available in the folder), read it, and prepare it for our first session. Ideally, you should also have finished Barnes’ novel by our first session. If there are more than 25 students, there will be a test to check up on this. It is mandatory that you turn up for our first meeting, no exceptions. Leistungsnachweis Regular and active participation as well as an oral report or similar (depending on the number of participants) are required for obtaining credits in this class. Research papers depending on your Modulprüfungsordnung. FB 02 Institut für Anglistik / Amerikanistik You must have completed the Orientierungskurs -Introduction to British and American Literature”. Furthermore, before our first session, you need to visit the reserve shelf in the library and make a copy of the first chapter of Linda Hutcheon’s A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Fiction (master copy available in the folder), read it, and prepare it for our first session. Ideally, you should also have finished Barnes’ novel by our first session. If there are more than 25 students, there will be a test to check up on this. It is mandatory that you turn up for our first meeting, no exceptions. Regular and active participation as well as an oral report or similar (depending on the number of participants) are required for obtaining credits in this class. Research papers depending on your Modulprüfungsordnung. Uni Kassel SoSe 2015 Amerikanistik English and American Culture and Business Studies Sezi Murat