Course for international guest/part time students
- Faculty
- Faculty of Humanities
- Organization
- BTK Department of English Studies
- Code
- BMI-ANGD17-CI10aE.04
- Title
- English Literature: A Theoretical Approach - Foundations and Perspectives: Irony and Humour in Theory and Practice
- Usual semester
- Spring
- ECTS
- 3
- Language
- Learning outcomes
- This seminar introduces students to the literature of irony and humour, both on the levels of theory and of practice. It aims at teaching students the essential theories of irony and humour so that they can independently interpret its complex examples manifesting primarily in literary texts but also in other media. As both irony and humour rely on ambiguity, the course is especially apt for improving students’ critical thinking. Accordingly, the acquisition of terminology and multiple analytical methodologies also sensitises students to recognise and respect multiple and often conflicting perspectives.
- Course content
- This course offers a brief historical survey of various theories on irony and humour complemented by discussing a series of diverse examples. The focus is on literary texts by English-speaking authors, but the primary sources include songs, films, and printed visual narratives as well. The variety of genres gives students an opportunity to investigate the multifaceted nature of irony and humour and their operation in different social contexts. Students completing this seminar will be able to recognize, analyse, and employ irony and humour in numerous media and on multiple levels.
- Assessment method
- Seminar grades are based on points accumulated from the evaluation of in-class work, homework, in-class tests, a presentation, and an essay.
- Bibliography
- Compulsory Reading The texts, excerpts, and films specified in the syllabus of the current semester. Recommended Reading Claire Colebrook. Irony. London & New York: Routledge, 2004. Paul de Man. “The Concept of Irony.” Aesthetic Ideology. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996. 163-184. Sigmund Freud. Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious. Trans. James Strachey. New York & London: Norton, 1960. Trans. of Der Witz und seine Beziehung zum Unbewussten. 1905. Linda Hutcheon. Irony’s Edge: The Theory and Politics of Irony. Routledge, 1995. John Morreall. Comic Relief: A Comprehensive Philosophy of Humor. Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.
- Recommended bibliography
- Recommended Reading Claire Colebrook. Irony. London & New York: Routledge, 2004. Paul de Man. “The Concept of Irony.” Aesthetic Ideology. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996. 163-184. Sigmund Freud. Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious. Trans. James Strachey. New York & London: Norton, 1960. Trans. of Der Witz und seine Beziehung zum Unbewussten. 1905. Linda Hutcheon. Irony’s Edge: The Theory and Politics of Irony. Routledge, 1995. John Morreall. Comic Relief: A Comprehensive Philosophy of Humor. Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.