2017 AM Expedition Narratives: Literary Representations of British Polar Exploration in the Long Nineteenth Century

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  • Time: Tue, 08:00-10:00
  • Venue: A01 0-010 b
  • Course: 3.02.150
  • Lecturer: Anna Auguscik
  • Modul: ang615 Motifs - Themes - Issues (and their Media)
  • Course Description:

Our knowledge of the history of voyages of scientific exploration is largely based on our knowledge of expedition narratives: most of what we know about the journeys of the 'men of science' starting with Sir Hans Sloane in the seventeenth century to John Banks in the eighteenth century to Charles Darwin in the nineteenth century, we know through written accounts. These accounts are partly written by the explorers themselves (logbooks, diaries, journals, memoirs, scientific papers, and monographs) and partly penned by others: fellow scientists, biographers, novelists.

In this course, we will focus on representations of the British exploration of the polar regions in the long nineteenth century. In particular, we will read various texts based on and inspired by John Franklin's 'Lost Expedition' (1845) and the 'Terra Nova Expedition' led by Robert Falcon Scott (1910-13): two historical novels next to other narrative accounts of their journeys (non-fictional and fictional representations, literary novels and thrillers, adventure and ghost stories). This will allow us to examine the following questions: What plots/themes/motifs/character constellation are typical/particular of the expedition narrative? What specific narrative strategies do we find? How do these accounts handle the relationship between 'fact' and 'fiction' and what effects might they have on the (contemporary) image of these explorers?

Please, make sure to purchase and read the two novels in advance. Your reading of them is prerequisite to the course. Beryl Bainbridge's The Birthday Boys will be made available at the CvO bookshop. Robert Edric's The Broken Lands is currently out of print. A second-hand copy can be acquired in my office (EUR 5). If you use an e-book version, please make sure to have a reading device with you in each session (cf. e.g. www.buecher.de, EUR 6,99)

  • Robert Edric. The Broken Lands [1992]. London: Picador, 1993.
  • Beryl Bainbridge. The Birthday Boys [1991]. London: Abacus, 2009.

In addition, you will each become an expert on one more such written account of your choice which will be offered together with the seminar programme in the first week of the semester.

  • 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 written/oral contribution in the form of a project, with a term paper of ca. 10-12 pp. based on the topic of the project.
  • As part of the "Aktive Teilnahme" regulation:
    Die aktive Teilnahme besteht aus folgenden Komponenten
    - regelmäßige Anwesenheit: max. 2 Abwesenheiten und gegebenenfalls Nacharbeit
    - Vor- und Nachbereitung des Seminarstoffs (Gruppenprojekte, Vorbereitung/Lektüre von Texten) 
    - Entwicklung einer wissenschaftlichen Fragestellung aus dem Problembereich des Seminars, durch:
      *Übernahme von Ergebnispräsentationen und 
      *(nur falls Seminararbeit angestrebt, verschriftlicht, ansonsten als Teil der Präsentation) 
       Entwicklung einer Research Paper Outline im Laufe des Semesters (die Zeitangaben verstehen sich als Empfehlungen): 
       Wahl eines Themenbereichs (bis ...),
       Abstract mit Fragestellung inkl. Forschungsbibliographie (RPO) (bis ...), 
       Vorstellung der Fragestellung in der letzten Semestersitzung.


Session 1 Tue, 04 April

  • Introduction
  • On Expeditions and Expedition Narratives

Session 2 Tue, 11 April

Session 3 Tue, 18 April

Session 4 Tue, 25 April

Session 5 Tue, 02 May

Session 6 Tue, 09 May

Session 7 Tue, 16 May

Session 8 Tue, 23 May

Session 9 Tue, 30 May

Session 10 Tue, 06 June

Session 11 Tue, 13 June

Session 12 Tue, 20 June

Session 13 Tue, 27 June

  • Final Discussion
  • evaluation
  [Hand in RPOs until 27 June at the latest]

Session 14 Tue, 04 July

  • discussion of RPOs
  • feedback on evaluation

Materials

Bibliography

Tools

Further Reading

Quotes

Links