Postgraduate seminar series/course: Intellectual Backgrounds to Modernism
The Department of English is happy to welcome Professor Richard Begam, University of Wisconsin at Madison, who will be with us as Guest Professor in the spring of 2012.
Starting March 13 (at 2-4 pm), Professor Begam will give a seminar series, Intellectual Backgrounds to Modernism. It is designed for doctoral students, but with an open invitation to all interested staff and Master students.
Professor Begam: “The series charts the intersection between the broad cultural phenomenon we call modernity and the narrower literary and aesthetic phenomenon we call modernism. Drawing on work in philosophy, we will examine how a number of the central texts of modernist literature grappled with a number of the defining issues of twentieth-century thought. Among the ideas we shall consider are the “transvaluation of all values” (the reassessment of altruism and morality), the critique of modern forms of social association (anomie and alienation), and the redefinition of truth and knowledge (perspectivism and constructivism).”
If permitted by the home university/department, a doctoral student may follow the seminar series as a 7.5 credit doctoral course. Active attendance and completion of a number of written assignments will be required for the credits to be issued.
The course will after the initial seminar run on the following Wednesdays: 21/3, 18/4, 2/5, and 9/5 at 2-4 pm, with a final seminar on Tuesday 15 May at 11 am - 1 pm. All seminars take place in room E 890 athe Department of English.
The reading list presents obligatory reading for doctoral students:
Literature:
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy (Vintage)
G. B. Shaw, Major Barbara (Penguin)
Joseph Conrad, The Secret Agent (Penguin)
Samuel Beckett, Molloy (Grove Press)
For more information, or to sign up, please contact bo.ekelund@english.su.se
Web editor:
Anja Nyström
Last updated:
March 29, 2012
Source: Department of English
