Profile
In research and teaching, English Literary Studies deals with English literature and texts (in the broadest sense) of Great Britain and Ireland. Another focus is on New English Literatures /Postcolonial Literatures in English. The central philological questions of traditional literary studies are closely intertwined with the perspectives of culture, linguistics, media studies, and gender theory. Our current research efforts furthermore include masculinity studies, postcolonial literature, and adaptation studies.
I Bases of Teaching
Teaching at the department focuses on the mediation of a sound analytical and interpretive basic knowledge as well as on an adequate theorisation of the chosen procedure and literary texts. Content-wise, studies in English Literature comprise all genres and literatures from the 16th to 21st century. Additionally, intercultural as well as (inter)medial competences, plus a reflected knowledge of the most important analytic methods are also taught.
This means that our workis strongly oriented towards primary texts. Nonetheless, our studies are embedded within the socio-historical context. Our teaching is characterised by extensive guidance offered by the teachers, for instance via regular consultations when it comes to preparing in-class presentations or writing essays, term papers, and B.A. and M.A. theses. Introductory lectures are accompanied by tutorials and our seminar concepts focus on task-based, active learning.
During their first semesters, our students are encouraged to encounter key areas, goals, and methods. They also learn about the most important methods and theories in the field, and they encounter canonical authors like Geoffrey Chaucer, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, John Milton, William Wordsworth, James Joyce, Salman Rushdie, Zadie Smith, or Ian McEwan. This corresponds to an up-to-date view of the discipline which promotes the view that before the advancement into specialised areas, students should acquire a certain working knowledge of the basics. Especially in the B.A./M.A. and teacher-training programmes, it is important—due to the relatively brief training period—to mediate solid textual foundations, historical and socio-political contexts as well as methods which offer the students a broad overview of their subject but also allow for in-depth case studies and interpretation. Additionally, a decidedly practical approach, key qualifications and social skills, internships, media competence and presentation skills are mediated. Students must complete an extended stay abroad in an English-speaking country. The time spent abroad is of utmost importance for the reason that besides the acquisition of linguistic and cultural competence, students also become familiar with the basics of literary and cultural studies in the Anglo-American world.
Building on these foundations, literary key texts as well as previously acquired methods are gradually supplemented by a broad range of theories and texts. Subsequently, we offer supervision for Ph.D. students, for example in the form of advanced seminars and colloquia.
II Academic Orientation
The goal of teaching in the department of English Literary Studies is to move beyond an excellent knowledge of primary texts as well as proficiencies in literary and cultural history in order to highlight connections and discursive intersections between Literary Studies on the one hand and Cultural, Media, and Gender Studies, as well as Philosophy and Aesthetics on the other. In doing so, the interdependence and the 'intertwinedness' of the various disciplines is gradually elucidated (after all, Literary Studies always invariably includes aspects of Cultural and Media Studies, Semiotics and Linguistics). Our teaching, thus, favours an approach based on a broad media concept, which functions as a bridge between the disciplines, and on a deconstructivist view on writing. This approach asks how literary texts (and the arts in their totality) produce a particular brand of knowledge.
The Chair of English Literary Studies supports and teaches narratological/structuralist, discourse-analytical, semiotic, socio-historical/contextual, psychoanalytic, postcolonial, constructivist/deconstructivist/post-structuralist, phenomenological, media-theoretical and film-theoretical concepts and approaches, as well as gender and masculinity studies.
On the one hand, this allows students to acquire a profound knowledge of methods and the ability to reflect on the same; on the other hand, it allows them to deduce more general, universally applicable findings from the results of their studies. This is facilitated by the fact that our research topics include not only canonised texts but also increasingly neglected or marginalised literature, popular culture, as well as functional texts which are indicative of paradigms of thought, discourses and sets of values common to a certain historical era. These forms of texts delineate how everyday life outside fictionally described realities is shaped and experienced.
An integral part of English Studies are New English Literatures and their very own, decidedly 'other' tradition of Anglophone literature, which also shed a different light on British literature. This includes the postcolonialist debate, as well as questions concerning alterity, stereotypes/projections, hybridity, and cultural negotiation. Thus, it becomes clear that the Chair of English Literary Studies at TU Dresden does not restrict its teaching to a fixed textual canon, but also addresses the interaction and reciprocal changes of society, culture, and writing. Our close cooperation with Cultural Studies as well as Linguistics also becomes manifest in different research projects of the faculty and the School of Humanities and Social Sciences which the Chair of English Literature is actively involved in.
At a Technical University, in particular, there is a certain responsibility for English Literary Studies to include "technical" aspects: The discipline of literary studies has linguistic roots, as it deals with language, and the notion of writing subsequently opens up the field of comparing different "writing systems", as well as phono- and logocentrism. Moreover, the materiality of communication and the media as well as the influence of different media on human behaviour are highlighted. This necessitates several pertinent questions: How do new media influence human perception and our ideas of the world? How are they handled on the content level of literature? To what extent does literature itself change due to a changing media environment and technological opportunities and constraints? How doesliterature work as cultural memory, as a storage medium of knowledge, experiences and memories, and how does it function as an analytic instrument? Can we even talk of a savoir littéraire inherent to literature? Our courses seek to mediate a fundamental understanding of these new technologies; on the other hand, however, our work on the the interaction of literature and other media enable us to pursue the specific realities produced by new media.
III Research and International Networking
The Chair fosters close connections between research and teaching so that all research projects and international conferences hosted by the Chair of English Literary studies directly influence the seminars and lectures offered. Students are invited to participate in international workshops and exchange programmes (e.g. with The Ohio State University and Kent State University) and will profit from the close connections with other institutions (e.g. Purdue University Calumet and the University of Wrocław). Moreover, visiting scholars often reside at the Chair, for example through fellowships of the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung, senior fellowships of TU Dresden, or through ERASMUS and ERASMUS MUNDUS programmes. Besides numerous current dissertation and habilitation projects, the Chair is constantly developing new research projects.