Seminar The Double in American Literature and Film Do 10:30-12:00

The double as a generally acknowledged topos in literature established itself during the 19th century. From William Wilson to Jekyll and Hyde and to Dorian Gray, the double became a metaphor for the instability of the self and for conflicting desires within the human subject. In the early 20th century, however, modern writers became interested in the idea of doubling as a necessary process of meaning-making and identity-formation. A couple of decades later, yet another trope was introduced by Postmodernity. Writers and scholars began to focus on the double from a posthuman perspective: the double as a cyborg made up of digital data. This seminar will discuss the works of 19th century and 20th century writers who have dealt with the double in various ways. We will also consider theoretical texts which conceptualize the double from a psychoanalytical, a socio-philosophical, and a postmodern perspective. The aim of the seminar is to trace the development of a fascinating theme in order to sketch a history of ideas in American culture. A Semesterapparat with primary sources and theoretical texts will be available by the beginning of the semester. It will assemble texts by Edgar Allan Poe, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Gertrude Stein, Sigmund Freud, Emmanuel Levinas, Roland Barthes, William Gibson, N. Katherine Hayles, and others. In addition to the texts on the Semesterapparat, we will focus on - Suzan-Lori Parks, Topdog/Underdog - Paul Auster, City of Glass - William Gibson, Burning Chrome We will also discuss films by David Lynch, David Fincher, and Christopher Nolan. Englisch Comp. Stud. Engl. Amer. (Master, PO 2011) Universität Düsseldorf SoSe 2016 Dr. Schiller Georg