230600 Invitation to the Classics (S) (SoSe 2016)

Every literary text you’ve always wanted to read but were afraid to attempt!
How do you define “a classic” text, or a “great” literary writer? Is it his timeless universality that sets him apart from more ephemeral contemporaries, as Ben Jonson said of Shakespeare: “He was not of an age, but for all time”? Or is it that the classic text manages to encompass, as Alexander Pope wrote, “What oft was thought but ne’er so well expressed”? How subjective is the accolade? Is it helpful to say, as Italo Calvino did, that “Your classic author is the one you cannot feel indifferent to, who helps you to define yourself in relation to him, even in dispute with him”?
In this seminar we will discuss and critically assess the “greatness” of a number of British literary texts that have traditionally or conventionally been called “classics”. We will reconstruct their reception history and test them against the literary and cultural theories that have currency today.

Bibliography

N. B. The reading list will be extensive, and it will be largely determined by you. Any literary text that was written by a British, Irish or Commonwealth author can be put on the list and will be voted on by the class. - Suggestions are welcome!