Vertiefungsseminar Unlikable Women Constructing the Female Antihero ine Mi 12:30-14:00 ÜBERBELEGT

UPDATE, Oct. 5th: Sign-ups for this class are OFFICIALLY CLOSED as the seminar is overbooked.  (The only reason why the feature is still enabled is so that people can change their status and drop the class.)   -There are many instances in which an unlikable man is billed as an antihero, earning a special term to explain those ways in which he deviates from the norm, the traditionally likable. The list, beginning with Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye, is long. An unlikable man is inscrutably interesting, dark or tormented, but ultimately compelling, even when he might behave in distasteful ways. . . . When women are unlikable, it becomes a point of obsession in critical conversations. . . . Why are these women daring to flaunt convention? Why aren't they making themselves likable (and therefore acceptable) to polite society?-   - Roxane Gay (Bad Feminist 88)   The concept of the nonheroic protagonist has existed for centuries. However, the term -antihero- is -usually applied to writings in the period of disillusion after the Second World War- (Abrams 12). It describes the male protagonists in the novels of Kingsley Amis, Jack Kerouac or Norman Mailer. Looking at contemporary film and television, there has been a significant increase in antiheroes over the past 15 years, e.g., Tony Soprano, Dexter Morgan, Don Draper, Walter White or Deadpool.   But what about the female characters? In this class, we will look at the -unlikable- women in fiction.   We will start out by constructing a theoretical framework which we can later apply to various characters from literature, film, and TV. During these early discussions, we will consider questions such as:   What is a -hero-? What is an -antihero-? What is the difference between an antihero and a villain?   What is a -heroine-? What is an -antiheroine-? What is a -female antihero-? Is there a difference and, if so, wherein does this difference lie?   We will discuss definitions, origin, and consider how each of these terms has changed over time. We will discuss to what extent the antihero/antiheroine dichotomy is a -gendered- concept/construct and look at different types of antiheroines/female antiheroes. TBA   There will also be a Semesterapparat with additional material!   Bemerkung Students not present on the first day of class will be withdrawn from the list of enrolled students unless they have made prior arrangements with me. If you are enrolled (-zugelassen,- not just -angemeldet-) in the class and unable to attend the first session, but would still like to participate in the course, please contact me via e-mail before the first session. Otherwise, your slot will be given to another student.  Voraussetzungen When you come to class each week, you are expected to have read the text(s) thoroughly. There should be underlined or highlighted passages in your text! There should be annotations! If I have given you questions to consider at home, you are expected to have taken notes on them.   You are also expected to participate regularly in class discussions.   In order to attend this course, students of BK AUA H or BK AUA N must have passed the Basismodul III (Literaturwissenschaft) exam.   Leistungsnachweis Final exam options (APs):   BK AUA H (English major): term paper or oral exam (intermediate); term paper (Methodenmodul)   BK AUA N (English minor)/MeKuWi/Erasmus: oral exam   Anglistik u.Amerikanistik (BA, PO 2013) Kernfach When you come to class each week, you are expected to have read the text(s) thoroughly. There should be underlined or highlighted passages in your text! There should be annotations! If I have given you questions to consider at home, you are expected to have taken notes on them.   You are also expected to participate regularly in class discussions.   In order to attend this course, students of BK AUA H or BK AUA N must have passed the Basismodul III (Literaturwissenschaft) exam.   Final exam options (APs):   BK AUA H (English major): term paper or oral exam (intermediate); term paper (Methodenmodul)   BK AUA N (English minor)/MeKuWi/Erasmus: oral exam   Universität Düsseldorf WiSe 2016/17 Dullisch Stefanie