1303.12 - Travelwriting (BA)


Course number
1303.12
Title
Travelwriting (BA)
ECTS
10
Prerequisites
Students must have completed the required core courses on the Bachelor Degree Programme in Faroese.
Purpose
By reading theory on genres and discussing travel writing students will gain insight into the genre of travel writing in the context of history of literature. What sets travel writing apart from other genres? When does a text constitute travel writing? Is travel writing specialist literature or fiction – or both? How does travel writing fit into the writing of literary history in Europe? How can travel writing be grouped into literary periods? In what way has travel writing changed over the last 500 years or so? Why is there such great interest in travel writing today?
Content
The course is structured as a discussion of theoretical questions on genre focusing on how travel writing as a genre is differentiated from novels, biographies, memoirs, etc. These questions will serve as an approach to reading and discussing travel works. The course will also look into how literary and philosophical trends are reflected in travel writing, for example by asking how travellers describe themselves in relation to others, as well as how the homely and known is described in relation to the foreign and unknown. One of the key works on this course will be the travel journal Ferð mín til Jorsala (1957) (My journey to Jerusalem) by K. O. Viderø, but other works will also be discussed.
Learning and teaching approaches
Lectures and student presentations. Class-based discussions will also alternate between group discussions and joint discussions set questions.
Learning outcomes
Successful students can demonstrate: • that they have acquired basic insight into how different genres are categorised • that they know to what extend genre categorisations determines how we read text • that they have acquired knowledge about travel writing as a genre • that they have acquired the necessary competences and knowledge of theory and methods to work with travel writing in the context of history of literature
Assessment method
Take-home assignment on a topic chosen by the student.
Examination
External
Marking scale
13-
Bibliography
Provisional reading list – Selected texts and excerpts from: Arne Melberg: Aesthetics of prose, 2008 Carl Thompson: Travel Writing, 2011 Johnny Kondrup: Levned og tolkninger, 1982 Paul Fussel: Abroad, 1980 Dennis Porter: Haunted Journeys, 1991 Louise Ebbesen Nielsen: Livets hvileløse rytme, 2011 Malan Marnersdóttir: “Á Suðurlandið”, In Sýnisstubbar, 1994 Sigert O. Patursson: Sibirien i vore dage, 1901 Absalon Joensen: Min Jorsalsferd, 1926 K. O. Viderø: Ferð mín til Jorsala, 1957
Contact
Bergur Djurhuus Hansen