Wissenschaftliche Übung Academic English Travel Writing

-Travel writing, one may argue, is the most socially important of all literary genres. It records our temporal and spatial progress. It throws light on how we define ourselves and on how we identify others. Its construction of our sense of ‘me’ and ‘you’, ‘us’ and ‘them’, operates on individual and national levels in the realms of psychology, society and economics” (Tim Youngs). The first part of the course will survey the history of travel writing, its various forms and functions, and its role in contemporary postcolonial theory. During the second part of the course we will examine fictional, nonfictional, and practical travel texts selected by the course participants in consultation with the instructor. So what or who will it be? Bill Bryson or Bruce Chatwin? Charles Darwin or Che Guevara? Daniel Defoe or Jonathan Swift? Fernão Mendes Pinto or José Saramago? Homer or Lucian? Italo Calvino or Marco Polo? Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Mary Wollstonecraft, or Mary Shelley? oLonely Planet? The list is endless, and the choice is yours. Please consult the internet for further suggestions. The primary and secondary materials will be distributed during the course. Recommended text: Tim Youngs. The Cambridge Introduction to Travel Writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013. ECTS-Punkte: BA HF AVL: 3 ECTS (unbenotet) BA NF SLK: 3 ECTS (benotet) Department I - Germanistik, Komparatistik, Nordistik, Deutsch als Fremdsprache B.A.-Nebenfach SLK: Diese Veranstaltung entspricht in WP 2 dem Kurstyp -Begleitkurs zu Themen der Literaturwissenschaft m/n/o/p- (WP 2.0.14/16/18/20). Sie erhalten 3 ECTS, wenn Sie entweder eine Klausur (30-60 Min.) schreiben oder eine mündliche Prüfung (15-30 Min.) ablegen oder ein Thesenpapier (3.000-6.000 Zeichen) oder Übungsaufgaben (3.000-6.000 Zeichen) fertigen. Die Prüfung muss benotet sein. Die Wahl der Prüfungsart liegt beim Dozenten. LMU München SoSe 2015 Dr. Praeder Susan