Animals in literature 3700-AZm-L2-2-ZL

KStudents can analyze literary representations of animals and evaluate the texts’ attitudes towards other animals and the positionality of animal characters within narratives, as well as deconstruct fictional animal perspectives. Students are attentive to representations of a variety of species.

Students are fluent in literary genres and can identify and analyze specific genre conventions, as well as their specific affordances for engaging with animal figures.

Students understand and apply such terms as: the animal turn, critical anthropomorphism, anthropological boundary.

Students understand the connections between animal representations and feminist, gender, postcolonial, disability etc. studies; they are able to distinguish human animal history from animal history, and they recognize the features of languages of violence against animals and deconstruct them.

To achieve the defined learning outcomes, the student’s workload is expected to be 120 hours over the course of the academic year; this includes: 60 hours of classes, 45 hours of preparation for classes, and 15 hours of completing final assignments.

Students are evaluated based on their participation in classes (40%), reading diary (20%), analysis of the text of their choice at the end of the first semester (10%), and the final group project presented at the end of the second semester (30%).

It is allowed to have 2 absences per term. The permitted number of absences may be increased following a decision by the Head of the Academic Unit to grant an Individual Study Plan.

Final grade:
• over 90% – 5 (97-100% - 5!)
• 84-89% – 4,5
• 76-83% – 4
• 68-75% – 3,5
• 60-67% – 3

Primary sources:
Nick Abadzis, "Laika" (2007)
Richard Adams, "Wodnikowe wzgórze" (1978)
Edward Albee, "Kozie opowieści, czyli kto to jest Sylvia?" (2002)
John Alec Baker, "Sokół. Opowieść o miłości do ginącej przyrody" (1967)
Julian Barnes, "Pasażer na gapę" (1989)
Agustina Bazterrica, "Wyborny trup" (2017)
Elizabeth Bishop, "Ryba" (1946)
J. M. Coetzee, "Żywoty zwierząt" (1997)
Julio Cortazar, "Axolotl" (1956)
Kornel Filipowicz, "Egzekucja w zoo" (1972)
Jonathan Safran Foer, "Zjadanie zwierząt" (2009)
Marlen Houshoffer, "Ściana" (1963)
Zbigniew Herbert, "Naprzód pies" (1961)
Miroslav Holub, "Zwięzła uwaga o zabijaniu karpi" (1997)
Franz Kafka, "Sprawozdanie dla akademii" (1917)
Daniel Keyes, "Kwiaty dla Algernona" (1959)
Ursula K. LeGuin "Mazes" (1975)
Jack London, "Biały kieł" (1906)
Ray Nayler, "Ciosy zagłady" (2024)
Patryk Pufelski, "Pawilon małych ssaków" (2023)
Władysław Reymont, "Los torros" (1935)
Anna Sewell, "Czarny książę" (1877)
Henryk Sienkiewicz, "Walka byków" (1905)
Upton Sinclair, "Dżungla" (1906)
Krzysztof Środa, "Srebro ryb" (2019)
Olga Tokarczuk, "Prowadź swój pług przez kości umarłych" (2009)
H. G. Wells, "Wyspa Doktora Moreau" (1896)
Virginia Woolf, "Flush" (1933)
Wiktor Woroszylski, "Zagłada gatunków" (1951)

Secondary sources:
Timothy C. Baker, “Writing Animals: Language, Suffering, and Animality in Twenty-First-Century Fiction” (2019)
Anna Barcz, “Realizm ekologiczny: Od ekokrytyki do zookrytyki w literaturze polskiej” (2016)
Liza B. Bauer, “Livestock and Literature: Reimagining Postanimal Companion Species”. (2024)
Sune Borkfelt i Matthias Stephan. “Literary Animal Studies and the Climate Crisis” (2022)
Sune Borkfelt “Reading Slaughter: Abattoir Fictions, Spcae, and Empathy in Late Modernity” (2022)
Joshua Bulleid, “Vegetarianism and Science Fiction: A History of Utopian Animal Ethics” (2023)
Erica Fudge, “Pets” (2008)
Ursula K. Heise, “Imagining Extinction” (2017)
David Herman, “Narratology Beyond the Human: Storytelling and Animal Life” (2018)
Randy Malamud, “Reading Zoos: Representation of Animals and Captivity” (1998)
Sean McCorry i John Miller. “Literature and Meat Since 1900” (2019)
Susan McHugh, Robert McKay i John Miller. “The Pelgrave Handbook of Animals and Literature” (2021)
Nowicki, Tomasz. “Zabawa w więzienie: ogród zoologiczny jako laboratorium władzy” (2023)
Mario Ortiz-Robles, “Literature and Animal Studies” (2016)
Vint, Sherryl. “Animal Alterity: Science Fiction and the Question of the Animal” (2010)

Readings are subject to change. The final list of texts will be provided at the beginning of the semester. Some of the readings will be in English.