General information
| Course type | AMUPIE |
| Module title | Fantastic fiction. A Cultural and Ideological Introduction |
| Language | English |
| Module lecturer | prof. UAM dr hab. Alfons Gregori I Gomis |
| Lecturer's email | alfons@amu.edu.pl |
| Lecturer position | Associate Professor / prof. ucz. |
| Faculty | Faculty of Modern Languages and Literatures |
| Semester | 2023/2024 (winter) |
| Duration | 30 |
| ECTS | 4 |
| USOS code | 09-FFCII-11 |
Timetable
Friday, 9:45-11:15
Collegium Novum (al. Niepodległości 4), room 6A
Module aim (aims)
- to make students acquainted with the most relevant theories on non-mimetic fiction, particularly on the fantastic as a narrative mode presenting two main forms: the classical and the contemporary fantastic
- to make students familiar with canonical authors of fantastic fiction and their work in Western literatures
- to present the different evolution of the fantastic, mainly in the sociocultural contexts of Anglo-Saxon and Spanish-speaking countries
- to improve students’ ability to interpret literary texts by means of applying tools for ideological analysis
- to develop the students’ ability to compare literary texts
Pre-requisites in terms of knowledge, skills and social competences (where relevant)
Readiness to discuss texts in class, as well as basic terms of literary criticism and theory. English at B2 level.
Syllabus
Week 1. A theoretical approach to the classical fantastic
Week 2. E.T.A. Hoffmann: “The Sandman”
Week 3. Edgar Allan Poe: “William Wilson”, “Berenice”, “The Fall of the House of Usher”.
Week 4. Guy de Maupassant: “Magnetism”, “The Apparition”, “The Horla”
Week 5. Ambrose Bierce “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”; M.R. James: “Lost Hearts”, “A View from a Hill”, “Casting the Runes”
Week 6. Emilia Pardo Bazán: “The Woman Who Came Back to Life”, “The Talisman”; Miguel de Unamuno: “The Man Who Buried Himself”
Week 7. Arthur Machen: “The Inmost Light”; H.P. Lovecraft: “The Call of Cthulhu”
Week 8. A theoretical approach to the contemporary fantastic. Franz Kafka: Metamorphosis
Week 9. Juan José Arreola: “The Switchman”, “A Pact with the Devil”, “I’m Telling You the Truth”
Week 10. Pere Calders: “The Domestic Tree”, “The Desert”, “The Streak and the Wish”
Week 11. Julio Cortázar: “House Taken Over”, “Letter to a Young Lady in Paris”, “Continuity of Parks”, “Axolotl”.
Week 12. Jorge Luis Borges: “The Other”, “The Book of Sand”, “Funes the Memorious”
Week 13. Jorge Luis Borges: “The Library of Babel”, “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbius Tertius”, “The Circular Ruins”
Week 14. Javier Marías: “Gualta”, “Lord Rendall’s Song”, “The Resignation Letter of Señor de Santiesteban”
Week 15. Final exam.
Assessment overview:
- Final exam: 40%
- Classroom discussion: 40%
- Presentation in class: 20%
Reading list
Apter, T.E. (1982). Fantasy Literature: An Approach to Reality. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Armitt, Lucie. Fantasy Fiction: An Introduction. Continuum, 2005.
Gregori, Alfons (2018). “Crossing Impossible Boundaries? Fantastic Narrative and Ideology.” Exploring the Fantastic: Genre, Ideology, and Popular Culture (117-140). Ed. by Ina Batzke & al. Bielefeld: Transcript.
Jackson, Rosemary (1988). Fantasy: The literature of subversion. London / New York: Routledge.
Mücke, Dorothea E. von (2003). The Seduction of the Occult and the Rise of the Fantastic Tale. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Roas, David (2018). Behind the Frontiers of the Real: A Definition of the Fantastic. Cham: Palgrave Pivot.
Siebers, Tobin (1984). The Romantic Fantastic. Ithaca, New York / London: Cornell University Press.
Todorov, Tzvetan (1975). The Fantastic. A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre (R. Howard [trans.]). Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.
Traill, Nancy H. (1996). Possible Worlds of the Fantastic: The Rise of the Paranormal in Fiction. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.