Veranstaltungen FS 2017 (01.02. - 31.07.2017)
Seminar für BA- und MA-Studierende
Das wöchentliche Seminar findet jeweils mittwochs statt!
Freie Plätze werden auch an andere Interessierte vergeben.
The Art of the Novel
This seminar will deal in outrageous claims. It will argue, for instance, that the birth of the novel, somewhere between the 16th and 17th centuries, is the single most important event in the creation of what we call modern civilization. It will argue that the novel is responsible for the idea we have of ourselves as human beings, and that no form of expression has shaped our consciousness, our moral views and our political systems as much as this strange, malleable and ever-changing genre. It will argue, finally, that the novel is the best instrument we have invented to understand the mysteries of the human condition. To do this, it will face the most contentious issues in the study of the genre, from the moment of its birth to its possible poetics. What does the novel do and how does it do it? What makes it unique and irreplaceable? What is its place in the world right now, and where does it go from here? Each one of the sessions will comprise a lecture about an aspect of the novel as a genre, followed by a discussion, based on the lecture, of six novels of the Western tradition.
Readings for this course will be extremely free. My intention is to discuss, as widely as possible, the richness and diversity of the novel, its refusal to be reduced to any single set of characteristics, its ability to incorporate different genres, and the myriad ways in which it goes about its business. Students will read six novels during the course. Only one will be mandatory: Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes (trans. Edith Grossman).
Das Seminar findet in englischer Sprache statt. Juan Gabriel Vásquez spricht ebenfalls Spanisch und Französisch.
Juan Gabriel Vásquez
Juan Gabriel Vásquez wurde 1973 in Bogotá, Kolumbien geboren und studierte lateinamerikanische Literatur an der Sorbonne in Paris. Bevor er mit seinen preisgekrönten Romanen – welche bis anhin in 16 Sprachen übersetzt worden sind – internationale Bekanntheit erlangte, hatte er sich bereits als Übersetzer sowie als mehrfach ausgezeichneter Essayist und Kolumnist einen Namen gemacht. Heute lebt der Schriftsteller mit seiner Frau und zwei Töchtern in Bogotá.
