230028 English Literature Across the Globe (S) (WiSe 2013/2014)

Britain's colonial and imperialist endeavours in the past have brought the English language to several continents, and they have initiated traditions of writing in English in numerous countries formerly subject to British colonial rule. Usually labelled 'post-colonial' literature or 'The New English Literatures', this large corpus of texts has been preoccupied with questions of individual, ethnic and national identity in the period after the demise of the 'Empire'. In this seminar, we will read six novels (some of them rather short) from different parts of the world in which English has been used as a literary language: Canada (Lee Maracle: Ravensong), New Zealand (Patricia Grace: Potiki), India (Githa Hariharan, In Times of Siege), and three different regions of the African continent, West Africa (Ama Ata Aidoo: Our Sister Killjoy), East Africa (Abdulrazak Gurnah: Paradise) and South Africa (Zoe Wicomb, David's Story). Students are expected to read five out of these six texts.

Literaturangaben

Please buy your own copy of the following novels:
Lee Maracle: Ravensong (1993)
Patricia Grace: Potiki (1986)
Githa Hariharan: In Times of Siege (2003)
Ama Ata Aidoo: Our Sister Killjoy (1977)
Abdulrazak Gurnah: Paradise (1994)
Zoe Wicomb: David's Story (2000)