| CODE | ATS5001 | ||||||
| TITLE | Island Fiction and Metaphors in Literary Tradition and Popular Culture | ||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | ||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 10 | ||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Faculty of Arts | ||||||
| DESCRIPTION | Island fictions and metaphors can be found in numerous genres and media since antiquity. The island as an imaginary space offers multiple ways of exploring the construction of binary oppositions such as land and sea, civilized and ‘pristine’, small and large, enclosed and open to the surrounding waters. Insular spaces and island discourses can also be analysed as manifestations of power structures together with a potential for subverting traditional concepts of periphery and centre. In this course, paradigmatic examples of aesthetic constructions of islands and their metaphorical dimensions will be studied alongside theoretical engagements with the notion of island spaces and the insular. The genres of Utopia and Robinsonade will be considered as intriguing examples of literary traditions which have also frequently found their way into popular culture. The ideal island and the desert island are used as fictional microcosms in order to question social orders, civilization, the human and notions of human subjectivity. Further topics connected to island discourses include travel and tourism, the idea of an ‘escape’ from the world at large, the island as a desired space for adventurers, scientists and colonialists, the notion of self-enclosure and its trappings, discourses of exoticism, island myths and constructions of culture and nature. Study-unit Aims: - To develop a critical understanding of aesthetic constructions of island spaces; - To provide insights into theories of space in cultural studies; - To undertake critical analyses of island discourses. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - understand fictional constructions of island spaces; - demonstrate knowledge of island discourses across various cultures and historical contexts; - understand theoretical approaches to the construction of space in literature and other media; - understand interconnections between power structures and aesthetic productions. 2. Skills By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - analyse literary texts on the basis of theories of space; - read and engage critically with literary tradition and popular culture; - discuss island metaphors in various media. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main readings - Daniel Defoe: Robinson Crusoe. Penguin Classics 2003. - Marlen Haushofer: The Wall (Film) 2013 (Director: Julian Roman Pölsler). - Ursula K. Le Guin: The Dispossessed. Harper Voyager 1994. - Thomas More: Utopia. Verso 2016. - William Morris: News from Nowhere. Lawrence and Wishard 1973. - Judith Schalansky: Atlas of Remote Islands. Fifty Islands I Have Never Set Foot On and Never Will. Penguin Books 2010. - Gilles Deleuze: Desert Islands. In: Desert Island and Other Texts 1953-1974. Edited by David Lapoujade. Semiotext(e) 2004, pp. 9-14. - Fredric Jameson: Utopia as Method, or the Uses of the Future. In: Edited by Michael D. Gordin et al.: Utopia/Dystopia: Conditions of Historical Possibility. Princeton University Press 2010, pp. 21-44. Supplementary readings - Rod Edmond/Vanessa Smith: Islands in History and Representation. Routledge 2003. - Katrin Dautel/Kathrin Schödel: Insularity – Representations and Constructions of Small Worlds. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann 2016. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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