An Overview of World Literature II

Study of literature from the baroque to postmodernism focusing on specific problem areas. The primary objective of the course is to provide an overview of the development of world literature, to acquaint them with the basic formal and thematic characteristics of literature in this period and enable them to analyse and interpret literary works.

Selected chapters from literary theory (narratology, rhetoric), biblical motifs, ancient Greek and Roman literary motifs.

The subject consists of various themes:
- Geistesgeschichte and literature. The notion of the modern subject and its manifestations in literature of romanticism, realism , new romanticism, modernism and postmodernism. Problem of the truth. The problem of the will to power and domination over the world.
- The motif of the journey in the picaresque novels, baroque adventure novels and romances, in Bildungsroman and the stream of consciousness novels.
- The development of modern lyricism. Novalis, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Poe, Whitman, futurists, surrealists, modernist poetry .
- Problem of the Other. The discovery of the nature in Petrarch, Rousseau and Goethe; rejection of nature in Baudelaire. The discovery of music in Baudelaire, Verlaine, Mallarmé and Valéry. Baudelaire's and Proust's discovery of memory as a dimension of perfection.
- Problem depiction (mimesis). Realism and naturalism: mapping the social relations and human natures. Modernism: stream of consciousness .
- The differences between the concepts of literary period, literary stream, literary current literary movement.

Students learn fundamental literary concepts. They are able to scrutinize literary periods, currents and other literary phenomena and to reflect critically on the relationship between these phenomena. Students are able to analyse literary texts and interpret them in a multi-directional and multi-layered way: from the point of view of literary genres, external and internal structure, and of impact .

• Aleš DEBELJAK. Postmoderna sfinga.
• Janko KOS. Pregled svetovne književnosti. Ljubljana: DZS, 2005. Catalogue
• Janko KOS. Primerjalna zgodovina slovenske literature. Ljubljana: MK, 2001. Catalogue
• Janko KOS. Na poti v postmoderno. Ljubljana: LUD Literatura, 1995.
• Tomo VIRK. Bela dama v labirintu. Ljubljana: LUD Literatura, 1994.
• Andrej BLATNIK. Labirinti iz papirja: štoparski vodnik po ameriški metafikciji in njeni okolici. Ljubljana: LUD Literatura, 1994.
• Hans-Robert Jauß. Estetsko izkustvo in literarna hermenevtika. Ljubljana: LUD Literatura, 1998. (izbrana poglavja). Katalog
• Harald BLOOM. Zahodni kanon. LUD Literatura, 2003. Catalogue
• Dušan PIRJEVEC. Evropski roman. Ljubljana: Cankarjeva založba 1979. Catalogue
• Vanesa MATAJC. »Literarnozgodovinski pojmovnik za literaturo moderne: revizija in nekaj redlogov«. Primerjalna književnost 27/2 (dec. 2004). 61–81. E-version
• Janez VREČKO. Med antiko in avantgardo.
• Literarni leksikoni: Razsvetljenstvo Catalogue, Romantika Catalogue, Nadrealizem Catalogue, Ekspresionizem Catalogue, Futurizem Catalogue, Postmodernizem Catalogue.

50% written exam, 50% oral exam

Assist Prof. Dr. Aleš Vaupotič is a lecturer in literature at the School of humanities, University of Nova Gorica. His research areas include literary realism, theory of new media art, and theory of discourse. Selected articles:

VAUPOTIČ, Aleš. The book and the World Wide Web. Primer. književ., jun. 2012, letn. 35, št. 1, str. 201-211, ilustr. [COBISS.SI-ID 49282658]

VAUPOTIČ, Aleš. Peirceova teorija raziskave kot poetološki model : primer literarnega realizma = Peirce's theory of inquiry as a poetological model : the case of literary realism. V: ŠKULJ, Jola (ur.), HABJAN, Jernej (ur.). Živo branje : literatura, znanost in humanistika : literature, science and the humanities, (Primerjalna književnost, letn. 35, št. 2). Ljubljana: Slovensko društvo za primerjalno književnost, 2012, avg. 2012, letn. 35, št. 2, str. 83-93, 225-236. [COBISS.SI-ID 49711970]

VAUPOTIČ, Aleš. Kdo izbere, kaj bralec bere? Kibertekstualna perspektiva = Who chooses what the reader reads? The cybertextual perspective. V: DOVIĆ, Marijan (ur.), HABJAN, Jernej (ur.), VAUPOTIČ, Aleš (ur.). "Kdo izbere?" : Literatura in literarno posredništvo : Literature and literary mediation, (Primerjalna književnost, letn. 33, št. 2). Ljubljana: Slovensko društvo za primerjalno književnost, avg. 2010, str. 151-161, 321-331. [COBISS.SI-ID 43258466]

VAUPOTIČ, Aleš. Realism revisited : Dicken's Hard Times as a narrativized archive. V: MONTANDON, Alain (ur.). Fortunes et infortunes des genres littéraires, (Caietele Echinox, vol. 16). Cluj-Napoca: Université "Babeş-Bolyai", Le Centre de Recherches sur l'Imaginaire: University Phantasma, The Center for Imagination Studies, 2009, str. 175-185. [COBISS.SI-ID 2190075]

VAUPOTIČ, Aleš. Literarno-estetski doživljaj in novi mediji - prihodnost literature?. Primer. književ., 2007, letn. 30, št. 1, str. 203-216. [COBISS.SI-ID 34809186]