This course serves as a complement to the lecture "Introduction to Literary Studies". Basic topics introduced in the lecture will be discussed in detail in each of the courses, with a particular focus on the most important literary genres – poetry, drama and narrative fiction. We will help you to acquire a good command of the basic analytical techniques in the field of Anglophone literary studies. The structure of all Introductory Courses to Literary Studies (Grundkurse) is identical. A variety of texts will help illustrate important aspects of literature such as the characteristics of the major epochs and genres, literary theories as well as various approaches to literature, etc. The texts to be discussed will be taken from a number of regions across the Anglophone world. You need to read and prepare texts in advance of sessions and actively participate in the classroom debates on a regular basis, and you will also need to write a number of short assignments. Once again: You must take both the lecture and one of the Grundkurse. You will need the Reader and the two books mentioned above for your Grundkurs as well as for the lecture.


Die Einführungsveranstaltung in die Literaturwissenschaft besteht aus der Vorlesung “Introduction to Literary Studies” und einem ergänzenden Seminar, in dem das in der Vorlesung behandelte Fachwissen an exemplarischen Beispielen veranschaulicht und vertieft wird. Die Vorlesung wird jedoch immer nur im Wintersemester angeboten, dieses Semester wird nur das Grundkursseminar angeboten.