Rewarding Literature

Course goals

Through reading and discussion of primary and theoretical works, students acquire critical awareness of the variety of roles played by literary prizes in the contemporary literary field and the contestation over the definition of a canon of literary works; familiarity with key concepts regarding the canon, and literary prizes; insight into the critical debates regarding literary prizes and the canon; they hone their abilities to conduct independent research, to report on this research in writing, and to present their text in academic format.

Content

In this course, we shall address the circuit of literary prizes of various kinds, the inclusive and exclusive effects they may have had, and the repercussions prizes may have for canon formation. What criteria have led the judges to come to these decisions? Can we account for differences in this respect between prizes for different genres? What approaches can we use to analyse the role of literary prizes in the contemporary literary field?

 

Additional information

As of August, please check Brightspace regularly for more information concerning your course(s).

Career orientation
The course studies literary prizes and canon formation, both important  aspects of the workings of the literary marketplace. The research and writing skills taught in this course are also relevant to the work field. Guest speakers in the parallel lecture seminar.