Andreas Kilcher: Catalogue data in Autumn Semester 2020

Name	Prof. Dr. Andreas Kilcher
Field	Literature and Cultural Studies
Address	Literatur- u. Kulturwiss., Kilcher ETH Zürich, RZ H 1.2 Clausiusstrasse 59 8092 Zürich SWITZERLAND
Telephone	+41 44 632 79 20
E-mail	akilcher@ethz.ch
Department	Humanities, Social and Political Sciences
Relationship	Full Professor

Number	Title	ECTS	Hours	Lecturers
851-0300-85L	The Knowledge of Literature. An Introduction Maximale Teilnehmerzahl: 80	3 credits	2S	A. Kilcher
Abstract	This lecture provides a general introduction to literary theory and presents the important theories dealing with knowledge and its role in and as literature.
Learning objective	Students are introduced to the various approaches and methods of literature studies and gain an overview of literary theory.
Content	This lecture has two aims: Firstly, it serves as a general introduction into the fiel of literary theory (thereby looking into "knowledge about literature"). Secondly, there will be a special emphasis on recent theoretical approaches that take seriously literature and knowledge as one of its components (thus investigating the "knowledge of literature"). Even though traditional criticism disagrees, a number of recent approaches, based on literature and culture studies, hold that literature is not to be conceived of as standing in opposition to the world and the classificatory system of the academic disciplines, particularly the sciences (e.g. Foucauldian discourse analysis and New Historicism). Instead, these approaches understand literature in terms of its epistemological forms and functions. Thus, the main thesis is that literature actively participates in the constitution and formation of knowledge. Literature itself generates models of knowledge, sometimes with critical or even utopian intentions. Moreover, it draws attention to the fundamental role of order and representation (systematization, narrative rendering, linguistic and pictorial representation) in both humanities and sciences.
851-0302-00L	Literature and Technology Maximale Teilnehmerzahl: 35	3 credits	2S	A. Kilcher, S. Fanzun
Abstract	There are many references between literature and technology. This is already shown by terms such as "technology", "apparatus" and "automaton", which address procedures in art. Particularly since industrialisation, literature has been negotiating the mechanisation of the world. The seminar will discuss the history of technology in literature and the critical literary negotiation.
Learning objective	- Basic concepts of literary theory as techniques of literature - Basic terms of the philosophy and history of technology - Critical analysis of modern history of technology in the mirror of modern literature
Content	At first glance, literature and technology seem to be conceivably alien to each other: the purposeless intellectual world of fictional imagination is opposed by the purpose-oriented processes of machine production. A closer look reveals, however, that there are multiple references between the two. On a theoretical level, this is due to the original meaning of the term "technology" as "art", whereby the literature can be more precisely defined as "linguistic art" and can be differentiated through the development of writing and media techniques into the digital age. Other technical terms such as “machine”, “apparatus” and “machine” also imply far-reaching aesthetic aspects. Yet the connection between literature and technology is not only justifiable theoretically (or aesthetically), but also historically. Literature negotiates the increasing mechanization of the world, especially since industrialization, be it affirmative or critical. Literature thus proves to be a reflection medium of the technical age. In the seminary, the technical history of literature is examined on the one hand, and the literary negotiation of the history of technology in the age of technology on the other.
862-0089-07L	Advanced Colloquium in Literary Studies (HS 2020) Colloquium is designed for advanced and graduated students.	2 credits	1K	A. Kilcher
Abstract	The colloquium addresses advanced and graduate students. First, it offers participants the opportunity to present their own research projects (work in progress); and, second, it provides a most fruitful space to discuss methodological, theoretical and systematic complex issues.
Learning objective	The colloquium addresses advanced and graduate students. First, it offers participants the opportunity to present their own research projects (work in progress); and, second, it provides a most fruitful space to discuss methodological, theoretical and systematic complex issues.