2007-08 BM1: Session 2
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Back to 2007-08 BM1 Introduction to the Critical and Scholarly Discussion of Literature, Part 1
- Our present histories of literature show different periodisations
- Two positions towards periods should at least be reflected:
- Periods exist with each period producing its own special works. The literature of a period helps us to understand the frame of mind of the respective era.
- We produce ever changing periodisations to prove historical developments we want to claim as parts of our cultural heritage. We base our notions of these developments on a canon of literary works which we select and interpret so that they will fit into the respective period.
- History and the past have played entirely different roles over the centuries.
- The future is a relatively new invention of our historical debate.
- If you do written work on the university level
- Do not adorn your seminar papers with explanations of the spirit of the period - which you feel your reader might need to understand the work in question (your reader can expected to inform himself on such trivia).
- You may critically discuss common or less common notions about periods (as to be found in Wikipedia, the Encyclopedia Britannica or in specific scientific works) - if you feel these notions distorted our view on materials you want to examine closer.