HLVB00711U Litteraturvidenskab: Litteraturteori og -analyse 1

The purpose of the course in literary theory and analysis is to train the ability to analyze literary texts with the help of theoretical concepts and to develop a consciousness of the view of literature (and the world) a given analytical approach implies. The course focuses on the different aspects of the literary text, which the analysis must take into consideration (stylistic figures, metaphors, narration, point of view, themes, context and so on) and it introduces different theoretical views on these aspects (broadly speaking formalism, hermeneutics, historicism, structuralism, deconstruction). Partly, theory will provide instruments for textual analysis; partly it will open up a space for reflection on the function and nature of literature (and literary analysis). Furthermore, the course will discuss the historical development of literary theory.

The course is centered around four thematic blocks: literary voice (enunciation, point of view), literary language (rhythm, sound, stylistics, rhetoric), literary images (metaphors and other tropes), and different theoretical approaches to literature in comparison.

The syllabus consists of literary texts in different genres (prose, lyric, drama) and a number of theoretical and analytical texts representing different approaches.

The course will discuss questions such as: What role does a text’s form play in relation to its meaning? Is the language of literature different from other kinds of language? What is the difference between trope and figure, metaphor and metonymy, symbol and allegory, authorial and personal narrator? What is the relation between reading older texts from a historical and from a present point of view?

When you attend this course, you must also attend one of two courses on a specific literary work. In the fall of 2021 these will be:

Robert Musil: The Man Without Qualities (teacher: Stefanie Heine) - https://kurser.ku.dk/course/hlvb0071cu/2021-2022

Arthur Rimbaud: A Season in Hell and Illuminations (teacher: Morten Chemnitz) - https://kurser.ku.dk/course/hlvb0071du/2021-2022