Seminar: AM Anglistik Literatur II (Drama): Rebelling Imaginations - Details

Allgemeine Informationen

Veranstaltungsname	Seminar: AM Anglistik Literatur II (Drama): Rebelling Imaginations
Veranstaltungsnummer	ANG.04692.02
Semester	SoSe 2026
Aktuelle Anzahl der Teilnehmenden	10
Heimat-Einrichtung	Englische Literatur und Kultur
Veranstaltungstyp	Seminar in der Kategorie Offizielle Lehrveranstaltungen
Nächster Termin	Montag, 04.05.2026 08:15 - 09:45, Ort: Seminarraum 2 [AKStr.35] (Angl.)
Art/Form	Aufbaumodul
Teilnehmende	BA 90 Anglistik und Amerikanistik BA 60 Anglistik und Amerikanistik
Voraussetzungen	successful attendance to Basismodul Introduction to English Literary Studies (exception Erasmus students)
Lernorganisation	Marlowe, Christopher. Doctor Faustus: A Norton Critical Edition. Eds. Hunter and Castan. Norton, 2023. ISBN 978-1324043867 Shaw, Bernard. Plays Pleasant. ed. Dan Laurence. Penguin Classics, 2003. ISBN 978-0140437942 Friel, Brian. Translations. Faber & Faber Paperbacks, 1995. ISBN 978-0571117420 Haley, Jennifer. The Nether. Faber & Faber Paperbacks, 2014. ISBN 978-0571315802
Leistungsnachweis	* successful tests on primary text knowledge (5/10 single choice questions) * oral presentation (30+ mins) on the (possible) later topic of your written end-of-term essay (6000w) * possible: end-of-term essay (6000w) NB This course is a part of the 2-course Aufbaumodul II, within which the oral presentation is obligatory in each part of the module, while you choose to write your end-of-term essay in one or the other part of your genre module. Questions will be addressed in the first session.
Lehrsprache(n)	Englisch
Studiengänge (für)	BA Anglistik und Amerikanistik (90), BA Anglistik und Amerikanistik (60), wahlobl.
SWS	2 von 4
ECTS-Punkte	5

Lehrende

• Dr. Therese-Marie Meyer

Räume und Zeiten

Seminarraum 2 [AKStr.35] (Angl.)

Montag: 08:15 - 09:45, wöchentlich (13x)

Studienbereiche

• Lectures and Courses in English (International Studies) > Faculty of Philosophy II
• Philosophische Fakultät II - Philologien, Kommunikations- und Musikwissenschaften > Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik > Anglistik/Literaturwissenschaft

Modulzuordnungen

• Amerikanistik/Amerikakunde Anglistik/Amerikan.60, Akkreditierungsfassung gültig ab WS 2015/16 > Literaturwissenschaft Anglistik > ANG.04692.03 - Aufbaumodul: Anglistik Literatur II, gültig ab WS 2013/14 > LV 5: Seminar (Seminar 2)
• Amerikanistik/Amerikakunde Anglistik/Amerikan.90, Akkreditierungsfassung gültig ab WS 2015/16 > Pflichtmodule > ANG.04692.03 - Aufbaumodul: Anglistik Literatur II, gültig ab WS 2013/14 > LV 5: Seminar (Seminar 2)
• Amerikanistik/Amerikakunde Anglistik/Amerikan.90, Akkreditierungsfassung (WS 2013/14 - SS 2015) > Pflichtmodule > ANG.04692.03 - Aufbaumodul: Anglistik Literatur II, gültig ab WS 2013/14 > LV 5: Seminar (Seminar 2)
• Amerikanistik/Amerikakunde Anglistik/Amerikan.60, Akkreditierungsfassung (WS 2013/14 - SS 2015) > Literaturwissenschaft Anglistik > ANG.04692.03 - Aufbaumodul: Anglistik Literatur II, gültig ab WS 2013/14 > LV 5: Seminar (Seminar 2)

Kommentar/Beschreibung

What does it mean to defy authority, transgress all moral boundaries, or imagine worlds beyond the permissible? This course in drama analysis traces this rebellious impulse in five centuries of dramatic writing, from the Renaissance stage to contemporary digital dystopia. We begin with Christopher Marlowe's "Doctor Faustus" (1592), in which a scholar's thirst for power leads him into a fatal pact with the devil — an early modern spectacle of ambition, heresy, and the limits of human agency. The play was feared by audiences: Rumours of devils conjured onto the stage still testify to the power of dramatic embodiment of the transgressive. William Congreve's "The Way of the World" (1700) shifts the scene to Restoration London, where cynicism, wit and social performance become weapons in a battle against the tyranny of convention. Congreve’s play shows a society, in which the nobility uses whatever tools they can to achieve money, and love is merely another intrigue or performance that can be staged. George Bernard Shaw's "Arms and the Man" (1894) turns the Victorian glorification of heroism (both romantic and military) on its head and comically shows hypocrisy to be quite successful instead. It also satirically targets social pretensions and class distinctions which Victorians considered immutable (or even natural). Brian Friel's "Translations" (1980) brings us to nineteenth-century Ireland, where the mapping and renaming of a landscape by British colonial forces dramatizes cultural erasure, and imagination can only triumph in words. Finally, Jennifer Haley's "The Nether" (2013) confronts us with the non-existent ethics of virtual reality and the darkest possibilities of digital spaces, asking extremely uncomfortable questions of our own enabling: what are the relations of morality to justice, if any? Together, these plays invite students to examine how dramatic form has served through history as a vehicle for challenging religious, political, moral, and imaginative boundaries across historical periods. In the process we encounter the genres and forms of Elizabethan tragedy, Restoration comedy, Victorian comedy of manners, post-colonial drama, and contemporary stageplay.
⚠️ Trigger Warning: "The Nether" contains depictions of the sexual abuse of children. Readers who may find this content distressing are encouraged to seek support before or after engaging with the text.