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Pan(dem)ic Democracy: The Political Economy of Infection
DozentIn: Prof. Dr. phil. Peter Schneck
Veranstaltungstyp: Seminar
Ort: nicht angegeben
Zeiten: Di. 14:00 - 16:00 (wöchentlich)
Beschreibung: Global pandemics threaten individual bodies with infectious and possibly deadly diseases but they also threaten larger political bodies and put them under stress. From this perspective, the so-called Corona crisis also reveals - and critically destabilizes - the bio-political foundations of democratic cultures. U.S.-American literature has responded to this (inevitable) tension between the biological and the political early on and this seminar will look at different pandemic fictions from different contexts and times.
Our major subjects will be following
three novels:
• Charles Brockden Brown _Arthur Mervyn_ (1799-1800) (about the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia)
• Thomas Mullen _The Last Town on Earth_ (2006) (about the Spanish Flu in the U.S.)
• Lawrence Wright _The End of October_ (2020) (about a fictional global pandemic - written just before the COVID-19 pandemic)
We will also look at other forms of cultural representations and narratives esp. movies and TV series, and at the same time attempt to enrich our readings by working through some secondary material and theoretical approaches.
Students are expected to read the three novels before the seminar starts, a reflection sheet with a questionnaire will be made available at the end of the winter term (mid-February) to guide first readings and collect comments, responses and questions. Please indicate your motivation to attend the course early on by contacting me via e-mail and pointing out your specific interests.
This description will be updated regularly, please check back to stay updated before attendance will be secured via StudIP.
Thank you for your consideration!
