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CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE IN ENGLISH. Prose: Dr. Zsolt Czigányik Poetry and Drama: Dr. Natália Pikli. 1, September 11 Orientation and John Fowles 2, September 18 Salman Rushdie 3, September 25 Angela Carter and Amy Sackville 4, October 2 Julian Barnes
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CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE IN ENGLISH Prose: Dr. Zsolt Czigányik Poetry and Drama: Dr. Natália Pikli
1, September 11 Orientationand John Fowles 2, September 18 Salman Rushdie 3, September 25 Angela Carter and Amy Sackville 4, October 2 Julian Barnes 5, October 9 Anthony Burgess (guest lecturer: Ákos Farkas) 6, October 16 Ted Hughes (October 23-30 autumn break – no lectures) 7, November 6 Tony Harrison: V 8, November 13 Seamus Heaney 9, November 20 Carol Ann Duffy 10, November 27 Tom Stoppard & the success of the playwright 11, December 4 Caryl Churchill & in-yer-face theatre 12, December 11 Tibor Fischer COMPULSORY READINGS AT SEAS3.ELTE.HU
Contemporary literature • What is contemporary? • strict sense of the word: author is alive(changes day by day) • in university education: 1960s-present (?) + (personal) preference and choice of lecturers • acquiring literature in chronological order: practical benefits • museums vs. parents
Contemporary:close(r) to the readerno (little) time gapcontemporary problems, settings, situations, language, technical devices • ‘contemporary classics’
Canon: necessary (yearly ca. 3.000 novels in English) • Despite debates, with a sufficient perspective, a canon is formed • Instituitions, prizes and awards • Nobel Prize in Literature (S. Heaney, 1995) • Poet Laureate • Fiction: (Man) Booker Prize • since 1969 • www.themanbookerprize.com
Overview and method of lectures • Discussing contemporary writers • what do they focus on? • their views on the past/present problems • style and presentation of problems: reader-friendly and/or aesthetically satisfying? • influence of other media • popular and/or elite? • modern, postmodern or post-postmodern?
Poetry and Drama: ‘the old/young’ • Ted Hughes † (1998), Tony Harrison, Seamus Heaney † (2013), Caryl Churchill, Tom Stoppard in their 70s • Ted Hughes, Carol Ann Duffy (2009): Poets Laureate, Heaney: Nobel Prize, Sir Tom Stoppard – ‘established’ and huge influence on younger generations • BUT: necessary cuts (eg. not Andrew Motion – Poet Laurate 1999-2009) + sorry state of availability of texts in Hungary… http://literature.britishcouncil.org/writers http://www.inyerface-theatre.com/ Poetry Society, etc.
Drama • London theatrical scene / Fringe theatres – eager to receive a great number of new plays every year • Focal points: • Tom Stoppard – first great success 1960s (RosGuil), international fame, Hollywood/Oscar-winning film: ‘the curious fate and fortunes of the successful contemporary playwright’ - a popular classic • Caryl Churchill – social ills, current themes – stockbrokers/male-female social roles/cloning and identity, etc. • Just mentioned – 1990s, in-yer-face theatre (Sarah Kane, Jezz Butterworth, etc., influence of Tarantino)