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`Literatur - Kultur - Sprache´, a one-year taught M.Phil. programme, is specifically designed as a preparation for graduates aiming at a career in third-level teaching, though it is also taken by other advanced students interested in deepening their understanding of modern German culture and its intellectual contexts (current courses range from `Erzählungen vom Unbewussten in Aufklärung und Romantik´ through `Um 1900: Jahrhundertwende´ to `Kunst nach Auschwitz´).
This course is designed to train well-qualified graduates of German Studies in literary critical methodology and to equip them for further research in German literature. As a preparation for a career in third level teaching, it also aims to enrich students' literary knowledge and provides an introduction to language pedagogy (Didaktik Deutsch als Fremdsprache).
The course trains students in literary critical methodology, through courses in Theory and Methodology and `Praktikum Textarbeit´. It also provides an introduction to language pedagogy: the course Didaktik Deutsch als Fremdsprache studies theories of language acquisition and their practical application, including that of intercultural contexts. The 25,000 word dissertation, usually on a literary, cultural or related topic, is an opportunity to explore a chosen topic in depth and a preparation for research.
The programme comprises two courses on literary theory and methodology, two seminars in major subjects of study, an introductory course in the teaching of German language proficiency(Didaktik Deutsch als Fremdsprache), and a supervised dissertation.
Students take five modules and must attend and perform satisfactorily in all course components. All but one module are conducted essentially in German. Contact hours per course vary. Praktikum Textarbeit and Didaktik Deutsch als Fremdsprache take the form of fortnightly block sittings over three terms (22 hours each course).
Two seminars each take up two hours per week over one term (18 hours each). To facilitate as wide a choice as possible, and to enable students to develop potential specialist research interests, seminars may be replaced by an indivudally tailored guided reading programme or by a Senior Sophister (Final Year undergraduate) option. In the latter case, the class contact is 44 hours and the assessment is based on an additional programme agreed with the relevant tutor, to ensure comparability with the MPhil seminars themselves.
Critical and Cultural Theory entails four hours per week over one term (36 hours).
Depending on the model chosen, class contact is therefore between ca. 110 and ca. 140 hours overall. Michaelmas Term
(i) Seminar 1 (two hours weekly)
(ii) Praktikum Textarbeit (two hours fortnightly)
(iii)Didaktik Deutsch als Fremdsprache (two hours fortnightly).
Hilary Term
(i) Critical and Cultural Theory (four hours weekly)
(ii) Seminar 2 (two hours weekly)
(iii) Praktikum Textarbeit (two hours fortnightly)
(iv) Didaktik Deutsch als Fremdsprache (two hours fortnightly).
Trinity Term
(i) Theory and Methodology (two hours per week over two terms, 36 hours)
(ii) Praktikum Textarbeit (two hours fortnightly)
(iii) Didaktik Deutsch als Fremdsprache (two hours fortnightly)
Course syllabi may be subject to change without notification. Full bibliographies will be distributed to participants, at the latest at the beginning of each module. Outlines are as follows:
Praktikum Textarbeit (Co-ordinator Gilbert Carr)
This course introduces students to the theory and practice of basic literary research skills: an historical survey of methodology in Germanistik, a critical examination of authority in the context of textual editing and reception theory, and a pluralistic introduction to selected literary theories (feminism, intertextuality, deconstruction, etc.).
Subjektive und öffentliche Räume in der Wiener Moderne (Gilbert Carr)
Fin de siecle Vienna, one of the centres of modernism (aestheticism, impressionism, atonality, functionalism) emerging against the background of a rich theatrical and musical tradition and of the moribund Habsburg monarchy, is construed in terms of a complex coincidence of discourses, of cultural critique and creativity (aesthetics, language critique, psychoanalytical and sexual theory) on the one hand and socio-political and ethnic tensions on the other. The crisis of modern subjectivity in the various socio-cultural spaces at a decisive historical juncture is traced in textual readings in literature, theory and politics.
Zeitgenössisches deutschsprachiges Drama und Theater (Moray McGowan)
The course is based on participation in the final year option Zeitgenössisches deutsches Drama, plus an additional guided reading programme and occasional tutorials which offer the chance to engage critically with theories of theatre and performance.
Ingeborg Bachmann(Caitriona Leahy)
This course will look at Bachmann's Todesarten Projekt , in the light of recent theoretical debates on the relationship between postmodernism and history. It will concentrate on the novel Malina, and the Franza and Goldmann fragments, looking at ways in which postmodern theory has provided the backdrop against which we now read Bachmann's untimely texts. Her attempt to read culture through Horkheimer and Adorno's Dialektik der Aufklärung, giving expression to the underside or Grund of culture as that which both gives identity and takes it away will be explored from different perspectives. On the one hand, it is a specifically feminist project which situates the 1960's redefinition of femininity firmly within the broader cultural context of orientalism and post-colonial debates. On the other hand, Bachmann's work can be read as a far more ambitious attempt to bring the deconstructed self back into productive contact with its constitutive historical origins, more specifically with the gap in cultural origin, memory and representation that the holocaust represents.
Didaktik Deutsch als Fremdsprache (Gillian Martin, Thomas Müller)
This introduction to the applied linguistics of German language teaching includes theories of second language acquisition, the planning and implementation of German language curricula, focusing on learner-centred syllabuses (including individual learner differences), materials for teaching syllabuses (teaching German language and literature, Landeskunde and inter-cultural learning, analysis of textbooks), and the principles of language testing.
Theory & Methodology (Kate Briggs & Susana Bayó)
The course is to provide insight into the areas of theoretical inquiry particularly relevant to the student of Comparative Literature. It is expected that, depending on their background (whether in literary studies or modern languages), students will have varying levels of familiarity with modern literary and cultural theory. While some students may have already encountered some of these debates at undergraduate level, the emphasis here will be on how they relate to, inform, challenge or are challenged by the comparative approach to the study of literatures and cultures. Hence students will acquire an understanding of Comparative Literature as a distinctly self-reflective critical practice, one which constantly calls into question the grounds for comparison.
DISSERTATION:
Students must reach a satisfactory standard of performance in the other submitted course elements in order to proceed to the dissertation phase.
The dissertation will be of approximately 25,000 words. Its theme is subject to approval by the Course Director by the first week of Trinity Term and may emerge from any module except Didaktik Deutsch als Fremdsprache. Students, after initial consultation with the course director, should seek guidance from their potential supervisor at an early stage during Hilary Term. Students work on their dissertations during Trinity Term under supervision provided in personal tutorials.
The completed dissertation must be submitted by 30 September of the year for which the student is registered (the second year for part-time students).
Assessment of the dissertation includes a viva voce component in the target language, conducted by the External Examiner in the December after the year of registration.
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