MLU
Seminar: Aufbaumodul amerikanische Literaturwissenschaft: The Unreliable Narrator in Contemporary US Literature - Details
Close message box
You are not logged into Stud.IP.

General information

Course name Seminar: Aufbaumodul amerikanische Literaturwissenschaft: The Unreliable Narrator in Contemporary US Literature
Course number ANG.05280.03, ANG.04628.03
Semester WS 2020/21
Current number of participants 17
Home institute Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik
Courses type Seminar in category Offizielle Lehrveranstaltungen
First date Monday, 02.11.2020 15:30 - 17:00, Room: Seminarraum 2 [AKStr.35] (Angl.)
Pre-requisites All students who have completed their Introduction to English or American Literary Studies are welcome to attend this class.
Learning organisation While you are welcome to start reading before class begins, I ask that you do not research the novels at all prior to reading them yourselves since this greatly takes away from your reading experience. I also ask that you acquire the versions of the novels indicated below so that we will be able to ‘read from the same page’ in class.

Díaz, Junot. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Faber & Faber, 2008.
ISBN 978-0571241231.
Nabokov, Vladimir. Lolita. Penguin Essentials, 2011. ISBN 978-0-241-95164-4.
Wein, Elizabeth. Code Name Verity. Hyperion, 2013. ISBN 978-142315288-0.
Studiengänge (für) BA Anglistik und Amerikanistik 60 + 90 LP (2007 + 2013)
LA Gym, Sek, Förderschule Englisch (2012 + 2015)
SWS 2
ECTS points 5

Module assignments

Comment/Description

In both fiction and film, an unreliable narrator is a character who more or less obviously lacks credibility in their narrative. For the reader, the untrustworthiness of a narrator may reveal itself immediately, gradually, or with a plot twist that aims to unsettle your confidence in your own perception.

This class will focus on unreliable narration as a rhetorical device in contemporary US fiction. Unreliable narrators are strategically implemented in narratives to lead the reader astray by either deliberately lying to their audience or due to the limitations of their own understanding. We will cover the origins and the evolution of the term, its concepts and categories. We will differentiate, study, and apply both the rhetorical and constructivist/cognitivist approach to unreliable narration. This class also contains an excursion into unreliable narration in film.

The syllabus will cover early short fiction which includes an unreliable narrator by, for example, Edgar Allan Poe and Ambrose Bierce by way of an introduction to the concept and to re-visit basic knowledge of narratology. The main focus will rest on US literature published since the mid 20th century when the term unreliable narration was coined. We will analyze, interpret, and discuss the unreliable narrative scheme in the following three novels*: Vladimir Nabokov – Lolita (1955), Junot Díaz – The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007), Elizabeth Wein – Code Name Verity (2012).

*Content Warning/Trigger Warning:
Unreliable narrators are most often found in narratives dealing with humanity’s dark side. The works of fiction selected for this class contain physical, sexual, and psychological violence, such as pedophilia and war crimes.

Please note:
This class will take place as an online seminar with synchronous and asynchronous sessions.

Admission settings

The course is part of admission "Scheduled admission: Aufbaumodul: The Unreliable Narrator in Contemporary US Literature".
The following rules apply for the admission:
  • A defined number of seats will be assigned to these courses.
    The seats will be assigned in order of enrolment.
  • The enrolment is possible from 02.10.2020, 10:00 to 30.10.2020, 22:00.