Course Objectives

Students will learn about some of the theories of society and literature that were at the root of realistic and naturalistic literature, and they will study how these theories emerge in a selection of literary works and texts. These texts focus on typically realistic and naturalistic themes, such as school, church, family, marriage and business.

Course Description

The course is an introduction to the central ideas and modes of expression in the literature of the 1870s and 1880s. It is within these decades, characterized by realism and naturalism, that one finds the very conception of the modern breakthrough. This was a ‘golden age’, in which Ibsen and Munch were the most important in a long line of writers and artists. The artists of this period wanted to break with the past and reveal lies and double standards. Art should criticize, the point being to portray society as it actually was. The literary programme of realism and naturalism may have seemed to concern itself primarily with society, but it was also preoccupied with an inner, psychological realism, for instance in the portrayal of literary characters. The course texts consists of a selection of the principal literary works and texts from the period, as well as some literary theory and history texts.

Students must complete and hand in a term paper, the topic of which must be approved by the supervisor. Compulsory supervision.

Learning Methods

Lectures and seminars up to 3 hours per week.

Assessment Methods

The ongoing assessment includes written tests and/or submission of written work which counts for 40% of the final grade. The final written examination will represent 60% of the final grade. Students must achieve passing grades for both the ongoing assessment and the final examination in order to earn a final passing grade for the course. Graded marks.

Minor adjustments may occur during the academic year, subject to the decision of the Dean