German Studies and Theatre BA Hons - 2021 Entry

Course Structure

Lancaster University offers a range of programmes, some of which follow a structured study programme, and others which offer the chance for you to devise a more flexible programme to complement your main specialism. We divide academic study into two sections - Part 1 (Year 1) and Part 2 (Year 2, 3 and sometimes 4). For most programmes Part 1 requires you to study 120 credits spread over at least three modules which, depending upon your programme, will be drawn from one, two or three different academic subjects. A higher degree of specialisation then develops in subsequent years. For more information about our teaching methods at Lancaster please visit our Teaching and Learning section.

The following courses do not offer modules outside of the subject area due to the structured nature of the programmes: Architecture, Law, Physics, Engineering, Medicine, Sports and Exercise Science, Biochemistry, Biology, Biomedicine and Biomedical Science.

Information contained on the website with respect to modules is correct at the time of publication, and the University will make every reasonable effort to offer modules as advertised. In some cases changes may be necessary and may result in some combinations being unavailable, for example as a result of student feedback, timetabling, Professional Statutory and Regulatory Bodies' (PSRB) requirements, staff changes and new research.

Year 1

Core

• Introduction to Drama, Theatre and Performance

  This module offers students a theoretical and practical foundation for study in years two and three. You are introduced to a variety of forms and genres of drama, theatre and performance. These range from Shakespearean tragedy, Naturalist theatre, Epic theatre and Artaudian theatre up to and including contemporary works drawn from physical theatre, dance and postdramatic performance. Approaches to these works include the analysis of different modes of acting and performing, uses of space and sites and the creative processes and forms of dance and physical theatre, as well as considerations of historical, social and cultural context. Teaching is by lecture, seminar and practical workshops and the module culminates in a practical project in which students present performances inspired by the practitioners studied during the year.

• Part I German Studies (Advanced/CEFR: B1)

  This module is designed for students who have already completed an A-level in German or whose German is of a broadly similar standard. The language element aims to enable students both to consolidate and improve their skills in spoken and written German. A further aim is to provide students with an introduction to the historical and cultural development of Germany in the twentieth century, and also to contemporary institutions and society.

  Each week, we aim for one of these to be conducted by a German native speaker. In tutorials the emphasis is placed on the acquisition of vocabulary and a firm grasp of German grammatical structures. You will have the opportunity to develop listening and speaking skills usually under the guidance of German native speakers using audio and video materials.

  To explore German culture, you are given the chance to examine how key moments in German history have shaped contemporary German culture, we will look at examples including films, plays, and novels

  Advanced modules usually have three classes per week.

• Part I German Studies (Beginners to CEFR: A2)

  This module is designed for students having little or no knowledge of the German language. Consequently, a substantial part of the module is devoted to intensive language teaching aimed at making the student proficient in both written and spoken German. At the same time, students will be introduced to aspects of German history, culture and society in the twentieth century.

  Each week, we aim for one of your language classes to be conducted by a German native speaker. In tutorials the emphasis is placed on the acquisition of vocabulary and a firm grasp of German grammatical structures. You will have the opportunity to develop listening and speaking skills usually under the guidance of German native speakers using audio and video materials.

  To explore German culture, you are given the chance to examine how key moments in German history have shaped contemporary German culture, we will look at examples including films, plays, and novels.

  Beginner modules usually have four classes per week.

Year 2

Core

• German Language: Oral Skills (CEFR: B2)

  This module comprises of both oral and aural skills, to be taken alongside the Written Skills module. It builds upon skills gained in the first year.

  This module aims to enhance your linguistic proficiency in spoken German in a range of formal and informal settings (both spontaneous and prepared). Specific attention will be given to developing good, accurate pronunciation and intonations well as fluency, accuracy of grammar, and vocabulary when speaking the language.

  This module also aims at broadening students’ knowledge about different aspects of modern society, politics and culture, and contemporary issues and institutions in order to prepare them for residence abroad in their 3rd year.

  By the end of this module, you will have had the opportunity to enhance your comprehension of the spoken language, as used in both formal speech, and in everyday life situations including those that you may encounter in German-speaking countries.

• German Language: Oral Skills (post-Beginners/CEFR: B1)

  This module comprises of both oral and aural skills, to be taken alongside the corresponding Written Language module. It builds upon skills gained in the first year. Students who have taken the Intensive language course in their first year, normally follow this course throughout the second year.

  The module aims to enhance your linguistic proficiency in spoken German in a range of formal and informal settings (both spontaneous and prepared). Specific attention will be given to developing good, accurate pronunciation and intonations well as fluency, accuracy of grammar, and vocabulary when speaking the language.

  This module also aims at broadening your knowledge about different aspects of modern society, politics and culture, and contemporary issues and institutions in order to prepare them for residence abroad in their 3rd year.

  By the end of this module, you will have had the opportunity to enhance your comprehension of the spoken language, as used in both formal speech, and in everyday life situations including those that you may encounter in German-speaking countries.

• German Language: Written Skills (CEFR: B2)

  This module comprises of reading and writing skills to be taken alongside the Oral Skills module.

  This module aims to consolidate skills you have hopefully developed in the first year of study, and enable them to build a level of competence and confidence required to familiarise yourselves with the culture and society of countries where your studied language is spoken.

  The module aims to enhance your proficiency in the writing of German (notes, reports, summaries, essays, projects, etc.) including translation from and into German; and the systematic study of German lexis, grammar and syntax.

  The module aims to enhance your linguistic proficiency, with particular emphasis on reading a variety of sources and on writing fluently and accurately in the language, in a variety of registers.

• German Language: Written Skills (Post-Beginners/CEFR: B1)

  This module comprises of reading and writing skills to be taken alongside the Oral Skills module.

  This module aims to consolidate skills you have hopefully developed in the first year of study, and gives you the opportunity to build a level of competence and confidence required to familiarise yourselves with the culture and society of countries where your studied language is spoken.

  The module aims to enhance your proficiency in understanding spoken German, as well as in the writing of German (notes, reports, summaries, essays, projects, etc.) including translation from and into German; and the systematic study of German lexis, grammar and syntax.

  The module aims to enhance your linguistic proficiency, with particular emphasis on reading a variety of sources and on writing fluently and accurately in the language, in a variety of registers.

• Second Year Programme for Academic Skills, Employability and International placement preparation

  This module is a non-credit bearing module. If you are a major student going abroad in your second or third year you are enrolled on it during the year prior to your departure, and timetabled to attend the events. These include: introduction to the Year Abroad and choice of activities; British Council English Language Assistantships and how to apply; introduction to partner universities and how they function; working in companies abroad; finance during the Year Abroad; research skills and questionnaire design; teaching abroad; curriculum writing and employability skills; welfare and wellbeing; Year Abroad Preparation Week in the Summer Term.

• Shaping Contemporary German-Speaking Europe: Moments and Movements

  What has it meant to be German since the country was left in ruins at the end of World War II? Introducing you to key debates about the country's fascist past, East-West relations, and the changing understanding of gender roles from the 1950s to the present, this module is designed to help deepen your understanding of the contemporary German-speaking world while systematically enhancing their skills of cultural analysis in diverse media. The module will introduce students to the prose fiction of two highly controversial Nobel laureates, Günter Grass and Elfriede Jelinek, as well as exploring ways of analysing newspaper texts, popular ballads, short stories, and film. The texts we will study are united by their common concern with the identity issues raised by the fast-changing society in which they are set, and they use a fascinating array of techniques to provoke, challenge, and entertain. The main aim of the module is twofold: to build your reading knowledge of German while giving a flavour of the rich cultural output that has defined the German-speaking realm over the past sixty years.

Optional

• British Theatre & The State of the Nation (1945-2000)

  This module focuses on the shifting landscape of British theatre in the twentieth century, approached through the conceptualising lens of the state of the nation. It aims to: introduce a decade-by-decade overview of British theatre from 1945 to 2000 by presenting key playwrights and plays; introduce readings of the works which embrace an understanding of both dramatic form and content; situate the works socially and politically. Assessment is by group presentation and written examination.

• Critical Reflections

  This module provides an introduction to critical theory in the arts and its application to aesthetics and art. The first term concentrates on 'structures' in artworks and the second on 'identities'. The structure of the module is six three-week blocks: (1) ‘Form and Structure’, (2) ‘Semiotics and Authorship’, (3) ‘Phenomenology and Spectatorship’, (4) ‘Sex/uality and Gender’, (5) ‘Race and Ethnicity’, and (6) ‘Class and Society’.

  Weekly plenary lectures make connections across the arts, and weekly, two hour seminars/ workshops allow students to work in your subject groups (art, film, theatre, design) on ideas and examples specifically tailored towards these disciplines.

• Cross-cultural encounters in World Literatures

  What is world literature? How have writers engaged with the concept? How have they explored their role as a writer in the 20th century?

  This module explores a range of texts written in a range of languages and genres, examining the engagement of writers with their role in different social, political and historical contexts. Lectures aim to provide an introduction to the genre being studied and address the question of the role of the writer in the context of world literatures. Workshops will focus on a range of set and optional texts of global importance, which will be considered as examples of the literary genre and in relation to material covered in the lecture.

  The module is usually divided into five sections, each focusing on a specific genre. Each section will usually comprise three texts, two of which are optional. All texts explore the role of the writer in different social, political and historical contexts of the 20th century, and the ways their writing engages with these contexts.

• Economic and Social Change in France, Germany and Spain since 1945

  This module explores how post-war economic change has affected European societies, and how socio-political factors in turn have influenced the patterns and outcomes of economic development, over the second half of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty first century.

  The module is structured on the basis of three country-specific modules (France, Germany and Spain), examining how these countries have confronted key moments of economic change, and what the longer-term consequences of that change have been. While the module emphasis is on broad national developments, discussion also covers examples relating to particular industries and major companies.

  In lectures, workshops and seminars we will explore the context of reconstruction after World War II and the pattern of subsequent economic development; the relationship between social and economic policies; the development of the three country's economies; the changes of the 1980s and their impact on subsequent years; and the consequences of specific momentous events, such as the re-unification of Germany and how the financial crisis of 2008 affected, and still affects, France, Germany and Spain.

• Introduction to Television Drama

  This module employs the concept of genre as a means of introducing a range of approaches to the textual interpretation and analysis of this important and influential medium. Case studies drawn Soap Opera, Sitcom, Drama Documentary, Crime Drama and Postmodern Television allow for the development of an understanding of the technical and aesthetic means by which meanings are constructed on television and of the socio-cultural and institutional contexts in which these meanings circulate. Assessment is by group presentation and written examination.

• Language and Identity in France, Germany and Spain

  This module will introduce you to the role that the language used by institutions plays in shaping individual perceptions of identity. It aims to provide you with a basic theoretical framework that allows them to understand the relationship between language and power as reflected in current language policies at regional, national, and supranational levels. It will give you the opportunity to recognise forms of prestige and stigma associated with varieties of the three main languages under study. We aim for this module to raise critical awareness of the portrayal and representation of linguistic variations in the media and in the sphere of literature.

  The main topics covered in the course include Language and Power; European language policies; German as a pluricentric language and ‘Gastarbeiter’ language and policies; regional variations of France: Linguistic Diversity: A threat to French National Identity?; The languages and language attitudes of Spain (Castilian Spanish, Catalan, Basque, Galician).

  This module is taught in English.

• Modern Dance

  This module combines theoretical and practical approaches to provide an introduction to American and German modern dance pioneers of the twentieth century. It compares their systems of technical training, choreographic methods, signature dance works, and considers the relationship of those systems, methods and works to the social context and philosophical ideas of their time. Assessment is through the choreography and performance of a short trio, and an essay. The module prepares students for more advanced dance and physical theatre projects in later modules.

• Performance Composition

  This practical module provides a comprehensive understanding of compositional strategies and methodologies used in making theatre and performance, whether as a performer or as a director, writer or designer. Particular emphasis will be placed on investigating notions of form and structure and on how performance material can be generated through creative strategies of sourcing, developing and editing material towards a completed work. Assessment is through the production of a performance score and a group practical project.

• Performing the Avant-Garde

  This module combines theoretical and practical approaches to explore the historical avant-garde. Key examples from each of the selected movements (e.g. Futurism, Dada, Surrealism) allow for an examination of the ways in which the avant-garde engaged with the disciplines of performance, fine art, film, design and sound in creating its diverse practices. Assessment is through practical workshop and essay.

• Postwar European Playwrights

  Taught through lectures, seminars and practical workshops, this module explores trends in post-World-War-II European Playwriting through studying key texts by major playwrights from Samuel Beckett to Heiner Müller. It develops an understanding of terms such as Theatre of the Absurd, Documentary Theatre and Memory Theatre by focusing on the texts’ experimental dramaturgies and their implications for performance. Key texts and playwrights will be situated in terms of the varied historical, political, aesthetic and philosophical contexts from which they emerged. Assessment is by group practical presentation and essay.

• Professional Contexts for Modern Languages

  This module seeks to support you to apply your linguistic and cultural understanding in a specific professional context. This module gives you the opportunity to spend time on a work-based placement in the UK or abroad. You will be given the opportunity to develop, reflect on and articulate both the range of competences and the linguistic and cross-cultural skills that enhance employability by working in language-related professional contexts and reflecting on key issues in relation to their placement organisation. There is the opportunity to join a local work placement developed by the department, or for you to source your own placements (subject to departmental approval). Workshops before and during the placement will provide preparation and guidance on sourcing, confirming and then reflecting on academic work. Students will share their experiences and learning with each other by means of end-of-module presentations.

• Society on Screen: The Language of Film

  How do films deal with topics like terrorism, immigration, resistance and city life? Do they entertain viewers, instruct them, or both?

  This module explores European and Latin American films in their social and historical contexts. The main aim is to make connections between the films and such contexts not only on the level of narrative, characterisation and dialogue, but also on that of form and technique.

  To these ends, there will be introductory lectures on cinema and society and on film aesthetics and content in the first week of the module. The connections mentioned will be the focus of seminars and presentations within the four core topic areas: terrorism, migration, the city and resistance.

  The module usually consists of four strands on cinema and society: Terrorism, Migration and Hybrid identities, The City and Collaboration/Resistance.

  Each strand will be introduced with a lecture and followed by seminars on the set films. Students will give a presentation on a short sequence within their allocated film.

• Theatre Practice

  This practical module is designed to allow you to work collectively to produce an original performance piece informed by material studied in the second year as a whole. Students are supported by a supervisor who will provide feedback on progress throughout the module.

• Theatre Techniques

  This practical module provides training in two key areas of technique essential to theatre and performance: firstly, movement and voice, and secondly, lighting and sound. You begin the module by receiving an introduction to skills in movement and voice and then spend a further three weeks studying basic concepts and techniques in lighting and sound design (or vice versa), before choosing to focus on one of those two areas for the remaining four weeks of the module. Assessment takes the form of a short practical exercise and then a more substantial practical project in the chosen area of study.

• Understanding culture

  This module aims to give you a background to and insight into the diversity of twentieth and twenty-first century thought and contemporary definitions of culture.

  Some key questions explored on the module include: What is 'culture' and how does it work? How do 'art' and 'culture' relate to each other? What do we mean when we talk about the production and consumption of culture? Why does popular culture arouse conflicting responses? What role does the body play in our understanding of culture? How does culture define who we are? Can a work of culture be an act of resistance?

  With these questions in mind, this module focuses on texts which raise questions about class, race, gender, and subcultures.

• What Is The Contemporary?

  This module aims to give students a grounding in “the contemporary” as a key critical concept used in artistic discourses, and provide a number of ways that students can explore and articulate their own contemporaneity. In conversation with cutting edge ideas from art, science, technology and popular culture, the module will enable participants to discuss and identify what they are contemporaries of, how they relate to their own time as artists, citizens and critical writers and what this necessitates in their own practices.

  Students will engage in critical discussion of key terms used to define the current moment, such as Anthropocene, Singularity, Post-Truth, and Globalisation, as well as understanding how particular technologies and phenomena, such as distributed and decentralised networks, virtual reality, artificial intelligence and genetic engineering are reshaping the contexts in which the arts are made. These topics are explored through lectures and seminar discussions in which students are encouraged to produce and define their own position and modes for articulating what makes them contemporary.

  The module is designed for creative students who wish to use writing and material practice to explore their own relationship to the ecologies, politics, trends, technologies, and aesthetics that typify our experience of the world today.

• Writing for Performance

  Drawing on tendencies from both visual art and theatrical fields, contemporary performance has generated multiple approaches to the dynamic relation between text, language and performance. Eschewing the conventional dramaturgical structures of literary theatre, ‘text’ in this parallel history is an unruly, generative force – a writing for performance (and writing as performance) that is by turns highly performative, precise, nonsensical, philosophical and playful.

  The module aims to explore a variety of contemporary and historical approaches to writing and performance through both key readings and workshop/seminars as well as practical tasks for you as creative writers and performance makers, establishing a conceptual ground, highlighting and developing strategies for your own work.

Year 3

Core

• International Placement Year: Intercultural and Academic Reflection

  As part of The International Placement Year you will normally spend at least eight months abroad in your third year. You will have the opportunity to:

  • analyse the contemporary relevance of a tradition, contemporary social, political or economic issue, or a living part of the regional culture.
  • reflect critically on cultural differences observed in everyday life such as social relationships, politics, attitudes to food, drink, religion, etc., explaining them in the context of various historical, social and cultural developments.
  • think analytically about your intercultural position and understanding of the relevant culture(s).
  • reflect on language use (different registers, varieties of pronunciation and accents, dialects, vocabulary and idiomatic expressions, and aspects of grammar) and the process of the acquisition of skills in the relevant language(s).

  The module also aims to enhance and develop your language skills, with all assessments being written in the target language. If you have started a language as a beginner in year one you will spend a minimum of four months in a country where that language is spoken. If you are a joint honours student who is studying two languages, you may choose to spend the year in either of the two countries concerned or, if appropriate arrangements can be made, you can spend a semester in each country.

  Lancaster University will make reasonable endeavours to place students at an approved overseas partner. Students conduct either a study placement at a partner University, a teaching assistantship placement with The British council or an appropriate working placement with a vetted employer abroad or a combination of placements (please note that there are some restrictions on British Council placements which usually last for the whole of the academic year).

  Joint honours degrees

  If you are a joint honours student who is combining a language with a non-language subject, your placement year will provide the opportunity to develop your language skills and cultural awareness, but will not necessarily relate to the non-language aspect of your degree.

  Lancaster University cannot accept responsibility for any financial aspects of your International Placement Year.

Year 4

Core

• German Language Oral Skills (CEFR: C1/C2)

  This module is integrated with the German Language: Written Skills module.

  Both the oral and the written language modules focus on particular topics of cultural and contemporary interest. The general aim of these modules is to develop further the abilities you have hopefully gained during their second year and the year abroad.

  By the end of this module, we aim for you to have developed an informed interest in the society and culture of the German-speaking world. We hope you will also have acquired almost native-speaker abilities in both spoken and written language.

• German Language Written Skills (CEFR C1/C2)

  This module is integrated with the German Language: Oral Skills module.

  This module has two main aims. The first one is to enhance students’ linguistic proficiency with emphasis on the understanding of spoken and written German, the speaking of German (prepared and spontaneous) in both formal and informal settings, the writing of German, and the systematic study of German lexis, grammar, and syntax. The second aim is to increase your awareness, knowledge, and understanding of contemporary Germany.

  By the end of this module, we aim for you to have developed an informed interest in the society and culture of the German-speaking world. We hope you will also have acquired almost native-speaker abilities in both spoken and written language.

Optional

• Advanced Theatre Practice

  In this practical module you will work in groups on an intensive practical project that will lead to public performances. Groups work is supported by the module convener and with a supervisor.

• Autocrats, Caudillos and Big Men: Understanding Dictatorship and its Cultural Representation in the 20th Century

  This module will consider different ways in which the concept of ‘dictatorship’ has been understood and critiqued throughout the twentieth century. Considering examples from Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Germany, Guinea, Italy, Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe, students will explore the differences between the Latin American caudillo, European dictators, and the ‘Big Men’ of Africa. Selected critical and theoretical sources will be drawn upon to develop a more critical understanding of dictatorship, including the work of Hannah Arendt, Roberto González Echevarría and Achille Mbembe.

  The module will also examine relationships between dictatorship and cultural production. How have dictators represented themselves in their writing, speeches and literature? To what extent have they controlled cultural production and to what end? How, in turn, have they been represented in cultural production? What role do writers, artists and intellectuals play in evaluating and critiquing dictatorship? In turn, can the writer, artist or intellectual be considered to be a dictator in the particular world view he/she projects and/or the rhetoric he/she adopts?

• Contemporary Cities in Literature and Film

  This module introduces you to major themes that shape the experience of contemporary city dwellers: gender, social inequality, and practices of citizenship. These interlinking themes will be introduced through novels, poetry and films on the following European, North American (with the emphasis on immigrant communities within its cities) and Latin American cities: New York, Mexico City, Santiago de Chile, Barcelona, Berlin, and Los Angeles.

  Each topic will be covered though an introductory lecture and a core text, followed by a range of additional texts for students to analyse. During workshops students will share their findings and opinions, emphasizing on identifying links between the topics studied, aiming to encourage discussion.

  The format of the module encourages cross-referencing between the themes of the module (for example, gender and sexuality are relevant to an analysis of social inequality, and vice versa).

• Contemporary Dance and the Visual Arts

  The module has two aims. Firstly, it aims to explore methods of improvising or choreographing movement from the practice and study of drawing, and, reciprocally, approaches to drawing that emerge from the experience of movement and the analysis of motion. This is assessed through either a staff-supervised, student-led group choreographic project with documentation or, alternatively, a portfolio of drawings presented at the end of the module. Secondly, the module examines twentieth and twenty-first century works in which choreographers have collaborated with visual artists. This part of the module is assessed through an essay. Teaching is through lecture, seminar and practical compositional exercises in movement and drawing.

• Contemporary European Postdramatic Theatre

  This module combines theoretical and practical approaches to explore important European writers, directors and companies by studying their innovative dramaturgies, scenographies, uses of ‘no longer dramatic’ text, and new acting/performing styles. These aesthetic forms are also discussed in relation to the performances’ thematic and political concerns with developments such as globalization and late capitalism, increasing mediatisation, (anti-)immigration, terrorism and the war on terror and ecological concerns, as well as with the enduring memories of the Second World War and a European history of colonialism. Teaching is through lecture, seminar and practical workshop and assessment is by practical presentation and by seen examination.

• Creative Enterprise

  This module provides an opportunity for students to develop an understanding of the ways in which creative practitioners produce and deliver their work. It will provide an overview of the challenges faced by freelance practitioners, producers and small cultural companies within the creative industries. You will also develop a working understanding of the key management and enterprise skills involved in delivering creative projects. Working in groups you will put your learning into practice through the delivery of your own live creative arts project. This will enable you to understand the skills, knowledge, attributes and behaviours relevant for employment in the arts and creative industries.

• Dissertation

  This core module is directed towards completion of an independent research project on a topic of your choice, presented in the form of a dissertation. The course is taught through lectures focused on research skills and one-to-one supervision. Students of Film can choose to make a short film as part of their project, and students of Design are encouraged to do a practical design project.

• Full Unit Dissertation

  This module is assessed entirely through coursework. You are given a chance of pursuing a topic of their own interest, which is not covered in taught options. A dissertation consists of approximately 10,000 words written in English. The topic of dissertation must relate to French/German/Spanish language, or a comparison between two or more, or a general European issue. The other two restrictions on topic choice are: it must be capable of and approached from a serious academic angle and it falls within the range of expertise of a member of the Department’s staff.

  Each student will be assigned a supervisor - one of the lecturers from the Department, who will provide regular supervision, and feedback on the first draft of the completed dissertation. The topic is agreed and discussed with the supervisor in the Summer Term of the second year, and preparatory research should begin during the Year Abroad.

• Images of Austria: National Identity and Cultural Representation

  This module examines Austrian national identity as manifested and debated in cultural representation. Is Austrian national identity really best understood by listening to Mozart, watching The Sound of Music, or holidaying in the Alps?

  You will analyse ways in which texts and cultural phenomena present, promote, or criticise accepted notions of post-war Austrian identity.

  A range of sources will be used for this module, such as film, drama, novels, cabaret, essays and journalistic pieces, as well as tourist information, websites, and the linguistic specificities of Austrian German. The module aims at providing understanding of the ‘flashpoints' in the history of the Second Republic, spanning its baptism as the ‘first victim of Hitlerite aggression' in 1943 to its international pariah status, following the 2000 coalition government with an extreme right political party.

  This module is taught in English, but most texts are only available in German, so a working knowledge of the language is required.

• Imagining Modern Europe: Post-Revolutionary Utopias and Ideologies in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century

  This module aims at exploring the nature of the relationship between the individual and society, notions of progress and economic justice, as these are still widely debated topics in contemporary Europe in light of the current economic and political crisis.

  This module will use the concepts of utopia, dystopia and ideology as a forum for discussion on the relationship between individual imagination and social discourse in the nineteenth century, as well as the relationship between fiction and political discourse. You will look at the major intellectual debates which influenced the contemporary European thought after the French Revolution.

  You will explore the development of major ideologies and cultural movements such as Romanticism, Marxism, Socialism and Positivism, spanning from the period immediately following the French Revolution to the middle of the nineteenth century.

• Literature and Fame in Contemporary Germany

  In this module you will be given the opportunity to l discover what it is like to be a famous author in today’s modern, media-driven Germany.

  The module examines the cultural and political expectations placed on high-profile German authors from the 1960s onwards. You will analyse sources ranging from press cuttings to internet articles. The module also considers the different strategies developed by well-known authors for responding to this interest in both their private personae and their public function.

  Discussion will focus on the different self-presentation strategies the authors have developed: in the spheres of the media and in their writing. The module examines relevant theories of media and literary communication and develops a methodological framework to underpin our critical analysis of the authors and their work.

  This module is taught in English, but most texts are only available in German, so a working knowledge of the language is required.

• Mirrors across Media: Reflexivity in Literature, Film, Comics and Video Games

  The module consists of a combination lectures and seminars. The lectures will introduce you to the broad lines of the history of self-reflexive phenomena in Western culture from Renaissance paintings through Baroque literature and the 18th-century novel to the boom of metafiction and related phenomena in Modernism and contemporary popular culture. At the same time, it aims to provide theoretical bases by introducing key concepts such as self-reflexivity, the fourth wall, frame, metafiction and metanarration, narrative levels, metalepsis, and the way these can manifest in different forms of art. The seminar discussions will serve to put these concepts into practice in the analyses of the texts, films, and mixed media and interactive products. Examples of potential topics might include classics of metafiction in literature (Cervantes, Sterne, Fielding, Diderot, Unamuno, Borges, Calvino, Pirandello, Queneau, Barth..), film (Charlie Kaufman, Almodóvar, Woody Allen…), comics and visual art.

• New Scenographies in Performance

  This module combines theoretical and practical approaches to explore new scenographic approaches to contemporary performance. The module is structured to introduce you to the theories and histories of scenography and then progresses to locate scenography through the theatre, through technology and finally in relation to site. The module is focused around four cutting edge contemporary theatre companies (previous examples include The Wooster Group, Need Company, Imitating the Dog) used as paradigms to introduce you to the ways in which text, the body, light, visual/spatial organization, technology and choreography are used as scenographic tools to create specific and unique instances of contemporary performance. Teaching is through lecture, seminar and practical workshop and assessment is by practical workshop and seen exam.

• New Writing in Contemporary British Theatre

  British theatre attaches particular importance to new writers and new plays. This module aims to explore the evolution of a ‘new writing’ culture from the mid- to late nineties through to the early years of the twenty first century by examining a representative range of playwrights and plays. Questions of form will be explored but the course also examines the urgent contemporary issues that have come to figure in the new writing landscape – issues such as gender, race, sexuality, self-hood, family, nation and globalisation. Assessment is by group presentation and seen exam.

• The Popular, the Political and the Avant-Garde

  This module introduces students to a selection of genres of contemporary popular performance and explores the implications of the aesthetic overlap and cross fertilisation between these forms and modes of performance usually defined as political, ‘avant-garde’ or experimental. Exemplary case studies may include Stand-up, Musical Theatre, New Burlesque, New Circus, Immersive Theatre and Fairground attractions. These case studies will be explored with reference to the historical development of these forms, their contemporary elaborations and in relation to issues such as gender, sexuality, ethnicity, class and globalisation. Teaching is through lectures, seminars and practical exercises and assessment is by group presentation and exam.

• The Prosecution of 'Otherness' in Europe: Witchcraft, Heresy and Inquisition (14th -17th C)

  This module will explore the relationship between witchcraft, heresy and inquisition in regard to the prosecution of the 'otherness', focusing specifically on their literary representation in medieval and Renaissance Europe. Students will engage in the study of the socio-historical events and features of European society from the 14th to the 17th centuries, as well as the literary mechanisms utilised by authors of each one of the texts under study. The course will cover texts and events occurred in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and England. Specific authors, such as Dante Alighieri, François Villon and Miguel de Cervantes, and masterpieces such as 'The Divine Comedy', 'La Celestina', and 'Don Quijote de La Mancha', will be analysed together with genres such as 'Geisslerlieder', balade, and drama. In addition, we will have a special week studying our neighbours, the Lancashire witches, and how the successful trial from 1612 is still perceived all along our city.

• Translation as a Cultural Practice

  What makes a good translation and how do translations do good? This module aims to help you understand the practice of translation as it has evolved historically from the 18th century to the present across European and American societies. The materials we study include historical textual sources (philosophical essays on the craft of translation from French, German and Hispanic authors of the 19th and 20th centuries), representative fictional texts reflecting on translation processes, and contemporary documents from the EU directorate on translation, PEN and the Translators' Association. We will also make considerable use of contemporary online resources as exemplified by Anglophone advocates of intercultural exchange such as Words Without Borders. Our aim is to look at translation as both a functional process for getting text in one language accurately into another and a culturally-inflected process that varies in its status and purpose from one context to another. We will pay particular attention to the practical role that literary translators play within the contemporary global publishing industry and consider the practicalities of following a career in literary translation in the Anglophone world.