Future Courses
"Make It New": The Poetry of Modernism
Venue: Propstei Wislikofen AG
Date: 18-19 November 2010 (course ends Friday lunchtime)
Course Fee: CHF 300.- (accommodation etc. extra)
Organiser: SATE / Dr. Hans-Jürg Suter, Kyburgerstrasse 24d, 5000 Aarau
e-mail:
Tutor: Prof. Martin Heusser, University of Zurich
Registration: webpalette.ch
The advent of Modernism shortly after the turn of the last century marks one of the most decisive changes in recent literary history. The movement’s radical new aesthetics with its strong emphasis on the visual aspects of language was characterized by unprecedented multiplicity and diversity. Literature – in particular poetry – absorbed a wealth of influences ranging from Dada to Surrealism and from Imagism to Precisionism. In this seminar we will study selected examples of Modernist poetry in the context of the paradigm changes that manifested themselves in the arts as well as in philosophy, psychology and religion. Authors whose work will be considered include Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, E. E. Cummings, Gertrude Stein, H.D., and William Carlos Williams. It will soon become obvious that Modernist poetry is not only intellectually and aesthetically stimulating – and not nearly as arcane as it may often appear at first sight – but also thoroughly playful ... and invariably slightly anarchic.
While the focus of this course is not on EFL teaching, there will be time for participants to discuss and plan using Modernist poetry in the classroom.
A reader with source texts and poems will be sent out before the course.
Martin Heusser is a professor at Zurich University, where he holds the chair for Literatures in English of the 19th and 20 Centuries. His primary research interests lie in word & image studies, American studies and literary theory. Among other works, Professor Heusser has published a book on the poetry of E.E. Cummings, and edited several volumes of essays on word & image topics.