Extensions of Medieval and Early Modern Literary Traditions in Contemporary British Prose and Poetry - MA Seminar 3 3301-LBS3BBŁ04
In the context of contemporary literature the seminar will explore those aspects of contemporary British literature which most directly constitute a continuation of the medieval and renaissance cultural tradition. In the specific context of literature this means devoting particular attention to the tradition of the genres of fantasy and science fiction from the classic texts of the Inklings, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis up to a wide range of contemporary speculative literature which has its roots in this kind of cultural heritage.
Specifically, the seminar focuses on such literary genres as high (heroic) fantasy, urban fantasy, scientific fantasy/science fiction, alternative history novel, as well as contemporary reformulations of the chivalric romance, the folk and fairy tale, the beast fable, the folk ballad, and also a relevant selection of contemporary poetry. The list of authors discussed in the course of the seminar includes J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Susanna Clarke, Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Dylan Thomas, Brian Jacques, Douglas Adams, R. Grant/D. Naylor, W. H. Auden, W.B. Yeats and George R.R. Martin.
Also projects which focus on film adaptations of this sort of literature may be pursued in the seminar.
Other research project which will be very comfortably accommodated within the scope of the seminar are the ones concerning the mock-heroic and comic tradition in various forms of artistic expression (Monty Python and the tradition of British comedy, The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy, Blackadder or Red Dwarf).
Among other possible MA research ideas very welcome are also those concerned with the tradition of orality and the methodology of oral-formulaic studies as well as ones exploring the links between literature and music (especially during the 14th-17th c. and the 1960s/1970s) or analyzing any of the social-cultural aspects of the 1960s, especially the musical tradition.
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