Difference between revisions of "2021-22 AM Natural History in Contemporary Fiction"

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*'''Modul:''' ang615, pb113, pb114
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    under construction
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*'''Modul:'''  
 
*'''Lecturer:''' [[User:Anna Auguscik|Anna Auguscik]]
 
*'''Lecturer:''' [[User:Anna Auguscik|Anna Auguscik]]
  
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*'''Course:''' 3.02.150
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*'''Course:'''  
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*'''Time:''' Thursday 12-14h
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*'''Time:''' Thursday 16-18h, biweekly
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*'''Venue:''' A13 0-028
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*'''Venue:'''  
  
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*'''Course Description''': Contemporary perspectives on natural history are most perceptible in museums of natural history: collections of fossils, stuffed birds and animals, biographies of the men, and less frequently women, whose findings are on display. Thus, the history of natural history is linked to individual representatives like Alexander von Humboldt, Charles Darwin or Henry David Thoreau, as much as to the founding of societies of natural history, as well as the age of exploration, imperial travel, colonial entanglements of knowledge, trade and military. Contemporary fiction, too, explores this historically specific interest in nature, one which precedes and is often placed in contrast with the scientific method later found in field biology or ecology. In this seminar, we will read a selection of fictional stories of naturalists and trace contemporary perspectives on the enthusiasm of naturalists but also on questions of gender, imperial complicity, and claims of objectivity. We will start by looking at the history of natural history and the often hazy distinction between natural history and science. We will read examples of narratives written by natural historians from the 19th century, as well as fictional narratives written in the twenty-first century about naturalists in the 20th century. We will examine continuities and discontinuities between a more recent interest in natural histories and its representatives, on the one hand, and the focus on Victorian naturalists in neo-Victorian fiction, on the other. Our focus will be on the role of the naturalist as explorer and writer and on the narratives of their travel adventures and descriptions of landscapes, flora and fauna from Alaska to the South Pacific to South America.
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*'''Course Description''':  
  
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Please, '''buy and read''' the following novels:  
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Please, '''buy and read''' the following novel:  
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*Thomas McGuire, ''Steller's Orchid''. Boreal, 2019. (only if you cannot obtain the book as a print copy, note that it is also available via MUSE: https://muse.jhu.edu/book/71564)
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*Bonnie Garmus, ''Lessons in Chemistry'', London: Doubleday, 2022.  
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*Rachel Joyce, ''Miss Benson's Beetle'' [2020]. Penguin, 2021.
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*Susan Gaines, ''Accidentals''. Torrey House, 2020.
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*optional (we will read excerpts from this): E.O. Wilson, ''Anthill: A Novel''. Norton, 2010.  
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PLEASE NOTE: Use the time until the beginning of term to order (and, ideally, immerse yourself in the reading of) the novels. Additional materials for preparation, as well as the detailed syllabus, will be made available here and/or on Stud.IP.  
 
PLEASE NOTE: Use the time until the beginning of term to order (and, ideally, immerse yourself in the reading of) the novels. Additional materials for preparation, as well as the detailed syllabus, will be made available here and/or on Stud.IP.  
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         Vorstellung der Fragestellung (letzte Semestersitzung).
 
         Vorstellung der Fragestellung (letzte Semestersitzung).
  
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===Session 1: 21 October===
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===Session 1: 20 October===
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*Introductory session
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*Welcome: Please read my message under 'Ankündigungen on Stud.IP'; familiarize yourself with the draft syllabus that you find here and note the '''course requirements'''.
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*Reading: excerpts from Bruce Clarke and Manuela Rossini (eds.). ''The Routledge Companion to Literature and Science''. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2011. [esp. chapters on natural history and natural philosophy in Part III, pp. 407-485]
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===Session 2: 28 October===
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===Session 2: 27 October===
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*Reading and discussion: excerpts from William Beebe (ed.). ''The Book of Naturalists: An Anthology of the Best Natural History.'' [1944] Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1988. [available via [https://books.google.de/books?id=geI9DwAAQBAJ&lpg=PR1&hl=de&pg=PR1#v=onepage&q&f=false google books]; focus on introductory passages to part 1 and part 2; as well as chapters on Linnaeus and Darwin]
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*Tasks: see Stud.IP/announcements
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===Session 3: 4 November===
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===Session 3: 3 November===
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*Reading and discussion: excerpts from John G.T. Anderson. ''Deep Things Out of Darkness: a History of Natural History''. Berkley, CA: U of California P., 2013. [esp. introduction; chapters on naturalists in the US from Thoreau to Carson]
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*Tasks: see Stud.IP/announcements
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===Session 4: 11 November===
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===Session 4: 10 November===
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*Reading and discussion: Thomas McGuire, ''Steller's Orchid''
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*Tasks: textual analysis part I
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===Session 5: 18 November===
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===Session 5: 17 November===
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*Reading and discussion: Thomas McGuire, ''Steller's Orchid''
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*Tasks: textual analysis part II
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*Contexts:
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:*Michel Foucault, "Classifying" (1966), in: ''The Order of Things''. London and New York: Routledge, 2002. (focus esp. on section: "Natural History", pp. 139ff)
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:*Schiebinger and Swan (eds.), ''Colonial Botany'' (2005)
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===Session 6: 25 November===
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===Session 6: 24 November===
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*Reading and discussion: Thomas McGuire, ''Steller's Orchid''
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*Contexts:
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:*Michel Foucault, "Classifying" (1966), in: ''The Order of Things''. London and New York: Routledge, 2002. (focus esp. on section: "Natural History", pp. 139ff)
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:*Schiebinger and Swan (eds.), ''Colonial Botany'' (2005)
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*Presentation: Cross-Cultural Encounters in McGuire's Alaska
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*Further reading: the novel as part of a corpus of Northwestern literature, as fictionalized nature writing, as writing back to the topics pertaining to the North (see Kollin 2000; Hayes 2015; Jaquette-Ray 2015)
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===Session 7: 2 December===
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===Session 7: 1 December===
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*Reading and discussion: Rachel Joyce, ''Miss Benson's Beetle''
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*Tasks: textual analysis
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===Session 8: 9 December===
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===Session 8: 8 December===
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*Reading and discussion: Rachel Joyce, ''Miss Benson's Beetle''
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*Contexts: Boswell, "Women and Science" (2017)
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*Presentation: female explorers
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===Session 9: 16 December===
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===Session 9: 15 December===
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*Reading and discussion: Rachel Joyce, ''Miss Benson's Beetle''
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*Contexts: Angleviel 2005; Richardson 2015. 
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*Presentations: Post-war Britain and the Colonial History of New Caledonia
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===Session 10: 6 January===
 
===Session 10: 6 January===
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*Preparing of research paper outlines
 
  
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===Session 11: 13 January===
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===Session 11: 12 January===
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*Reading and discussion: Susan Gaines, ''Accidentals''
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*Tasks: textual analysis
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===Session 12: 20 January===
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===Session 12: 19 January===
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*Reading and discussion: Susan Gaines, ''Accidentals''
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*Contexts: W.H. Hudson in Beebe
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*Presentations on the representation of professional and amateur scientist characters; as well as on hybrid identities and migratory birds
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===Session 13: 27 January===
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===Session 13: 26 January===
 
*wrapping up: reflection and final discussion
 
*wrapping up: reflection and final discussion
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*Reading: excerpts from Shuttleworth and Boccardi on natural history in neo-Victorian fiction
 
 
*how to write a research paper: Handout [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Leitfaden/Leitfaden_Lit-Cult_2017-2018.pdf Style Sheet for Literary and Cultural Studies]
 
*how to write a research paper: Handout [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Leitfaden/Leitfaden_Lit-Cult_2017-2018.pdf Style Sheet for Literary and Cultural Studies]
 
*evaluation
 
*evaluation
  
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===Session 14: 03 February===
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===Session 14: 02 February===
 
*discussion of research papers
 
*discussion of research papers
 
*feedback on evaluation
 
*feedback on evaluation
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*Q&A with the author of ''Accidentals'', [https://susanmgaines.com/ Susan Gaines]
 
  
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   [Hand in research papers until 15 March 2021]
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   [Hand in research papers until 15 March 2023]
  
 
===Tools===
 
===Tools===
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==Further Reading==
 
==Further Reading==
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*Bruce Clarke and Manuela Rossini (eds.). ''The Routledge Companion to Literature and Science''. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2011. [Esp. chapters on natural history and natural philosophy in Part III, pp. 407-485]
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*John G.T. Anderson. ''Deep Things Out of Darkness: a History of Natural History''. Berkley, CA: U of California P., 2013.
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*William Beebe (ed.). ''The Book of Naturalists: An Anthology of the Best Natural History.'' [1944] Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1988.
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*perspectives on natural histories in neo-Victorian fiction: from Shuttleworth (1998) to Boccardi (2016)
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*see Stud.IP/documents
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==Links==
 
==Links==
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*[https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/symbiosis/index.aspx Symbiosis: an interdisciplinary network at the University of Birmingham set up to research and develop the role of the arts and the humanities in natural history museums and collections]
 
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*https://www.chilkatvalleynews.com/story/2019/07/05/news/a-family-affair-local-novelist-follows-daughters-lead/12940.html
 
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*https://www.adn.com/arts/books/2020/02/08/spot-on-historical-novel-imagines-a-1924-quest-to-the-shumagin-islands/
 
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*https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-49387-4
 
  
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[[Category:Aufbaumodul]]
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[[Category:Mastermodul]]
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[[Category:WiSe 2021-22]]
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[[Category:WiSe 2022-23]]

Revision as of 21:30, 28 August 2022

    under construction
  • Course:
  • Time: Thursday 16-18h, biweekly
  • Venue:
  • Course Description:

Please, buy and read the following novel:

  • Bonnie Garmus, Lessons in Chemistry, London: Doubleday, 2022.

PLEASE NOTE: Use the time until the beginning of term to order (and, ideally, immerse yourself in the reading of) the novels. Additional materials for preparation, as well as the detailed syllabus, will be made available here and/or on Stud.IP.

  • Course Requirements
  • Requirements for 6 KP: regular attendance and a (oral/)written contribution in the form of either a presentation + written outline (10-12 pp) or seminar paper (15 pp), based on the topic of the seminar.
  • As part of the "Aktive Teilnahme" regulation: 
    Die aktive Teilnahme besteht aus folgenden Komponenten
    - regelmäßige Anwesenheit: max. 3 Abwesenheiten und gegebenenfalls Nacharbeit
    - Vor- und Nachbereitung des Seminarstoffs (Expertengruppen, Vorbereitung/Lektüre von Texten) 
    - Entwicklung einer wissenschaftlichen Fragestellung aus dem Problembereich des Seminars, durch:
      *Übernahme von Ergebnispräsentationen (Gruppenarbeit) und 
      *Entwicklung einer Research Paper Outline im Laufe des Semesters: 
       Wahl eines Themenbereichs (bis letzte Sitzung vor Weihnachten),
       Abstract mit Fragestellung inkl. Forschungsbibliographie (RPO) (bis 24. Jan), 
       Vorstellung der Fragestellung (letzte Semestersitzung).

Session 1: 20 October

Session 2: 27 October

Session 3: 3 November

Session 4: 10 November

Session 5: 17 November

Session 6: 24 November

Session 7: 1 December

Session 8: 8 December

Session 9: 15 December

Session 10: 6 January

Session 11: 12 January

Session 12: 19 January

Session 13: 26 January

Session 14: 02 February

  • discussion of research papers
  • feedback on evaluation 
  [Hand in research papers until 15 March 2023]

Tools

Primary Reading

  • see above

Further Reading

Links

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