Wir beschäftigen uns in diesem Seminar mit der Frage, welche Kommunikationsziele wir beim Textproduzieren bewusst und unbewusst verfolgen. Dazu arbeiten wir textlinguistisches Grundlagenwissen zur Theorie und Methodik der Pragmatik und Textlinguistik auf und wenden dies auf verschiedene Textsorten an. Schwerpunktmäßig werden wir am Beispiel der Textsorte "Printanzeige" mithilfe vieler praktischer Übungen analysieren, welche (nicht-)sprachlichen Mittel abweichend von der schriftnahen Standardgrammatik eingesetzt werden, um bestimmte Textfunktionen zu erfüllen.     

Was ist ein Text und was macht einen Text aus?

Das sind die Grundfragen, auf die die Textlinguistik nach Antworten sucht. Textlinguistik analysiert die Elemente, die den Text bilden und die Anwendung der Sprache im Text. In diesem Seminar werden die Modelle, Methoden und Theorien (Textbegriff, Text als Produkt und Prozess, Textualitätskriterien, Mikro- und Makroaufbau des Textes, Textsorten, Funktion der Texte) dieser Teildisziplin der Linguistik behandelt.

In dieser Lehrveranstaltung werden verschiedene Texte aus dem Türkischen und Deutschen (beispielsweise informative und narrative Texte, fiktive und nicht fiktive Texte) nach den strukturellen, kommunikativen, textsortenspezifischen Merkmalen behandelt und analysiert.

This seminar focuses on the components and the techniques of writing fiction. It centers on identifying and classifying key elements such as character, plot, style (diction, figures of speech, mood), point of view and focalization, theme, setting, and others. More importantly, the course offers practical guides in the art of writing the aforementioned elements. The aim is to excite the imagination of students toward discovering the creativity in them. At the end of the course, students are not only expected to be equipped with the skills of writing fiction, but they are also encouraged to produce their own piece of fiction.

Materials for this course consist of (1) fictional works that serve as illustrations which might be discussed in the class and (2) manuals for writing fiction.

Fictional Texts

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Heinemann, 1958.

Heminway, Ernest. “The Snows of Kilimanjaro.”

Lahiri, Jhumpa. “A Temporary Matter.”

(Students will read an excerpt from Things Fall Apart which will be supplied on the Moodle).

Theoretical Texts

James, Henry. “The Art of Fiction.” The Writer’s Craft, edited by John Hersey, Alfred A. Knof, 1975. 18-24.

Bell, James Scott. Plot and Structure. Writer’s Digest Books, 2004.

King, Stephen. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. Scribner, 2020.

(Students interested in pursuing a vocation in fiction writing are encouraged to buy any of the two books under ‘Theoretical Texts.’ Electronic versions will also be supplied on the Moodle)

Crime writing is a vibrant genre that has undergone crucial developments since the publication of Edgar Allan Poe's short story "Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841), featuring early 'mastermind detective' C. Auguste Dupin. The success of the genre was initially enabled by its formulaic nature. However, it has since undergone crucial developments. Its flexibility to adapt to new settings and reflect social change while simultaneously challenging and subverting social and gender-specific norms has led to its increasing diversification across and beyond the Anglophone world. 

This lecture will begin with an introduction to the field of popular culture and popular literature, and will then familiarize students with the history of the crime genre, which emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the UK and USA. After this historical introduction, we will turn to specific periods and settings across Anglophone literatures in order to trace more recent trends and developments, which include the emergence of women crime writers and the influence of feminism, the lasting success of the hard-boiled genre and the emergence of postcolonial crime fiction across the Anglophone world, including (but not limited to) Australia (including Indigenous Australian crime writing), Canada, the Caribbean, Ireland and South Africa. While the lecture will map the genre across the Anglophone world, parallel developments and influential trends, e.g. in Scandinavian and German literature and TV productions, will be acknowledged if and when relevant in order to address the international dimension and enduring popularity of the genre. 

In this Moodle course you're invited to challenge yourself and your command of English. You'll find numerous different exercises targeting grammar and vocabulary topics which are more or less closely linked to the English language courses offered at University Duisburg-Essen (e.g. CLC 1 and CLC 2). 

There are a total of 10 topics and many exercises. You should, therefore, take your time to work through them, working on them regularly for a fixed amount of time, rather than trying to do as many as possible in one marathon sitting. A suggestion would be to put aside around 30-45 mins. 2-3 times a week. The goal is to learn, to improve your knowledge of English, rather than just to finish them.

It doesn't matter in which order you work through the topics, but, within each one, you're recommended to complete the exercises in the suggested order, or the order displayed. (They often build on each other.) 

Successful completion of an exercise means getting at least 60% correct. (This is the way we grade all English language exams.) You can repeat them as often as you like, which will support your learning if you don't manage to reach that mark the first time. Once you've managed to get at least 60% for all exercises on one topic, you can be sure that you have a good understanding of that topic, which - in turn - means you can be proud of yourself for having accepted the challenge - and won. This knowledge will help you in the language courses, but also improve your understanding and production of English in your studies in general. 

Mo 18-20

The Extra Slot (offenes Oberseminar, alle zwei Wochen)

The Extra Slot provides an informal and friendly space for discussing texts and images (and occasionally also music) as well as questions and issues you find particularly interesting / fascinating / baffling. It is also a forum for discussing projects – yours as well as mine (ranging from seminar papers to BA/MA theses, or perhaps your first conference paper or plans for a Ph.D. thesis, to all sorts of publications etc.). This informal colloquium is for all those whose interests, enthusiasms and ambitions go well beyond what they are told they have to do. It also goes beyond the acquisition of Leistungsnachweise and credit points (of which there will be none whatsoever). This is the only one of my courses where no preparation is required.

In pre-Corona times, the Exta Slot description used to say: If any interesting opportunities come up, we may go and watch an English play, see an exhibition or attend other events connected with British literature and culture in and around Essen. Now that things are a bit different for reasons beyond our control, we will have to look for enjoyable digital alternatives.

The Extra Slot will be conducted entirely online and entirely in real time. We will meet each online via Zoom, each week of the semester at the time of the seminar. Please join the seminar´s Moodle room (password: ExtraWS20-21); you will receive further information via Moodle/e-mail. Please make sure to use and check your official university e-mail addresses at all times. Do not use any other addresses, and do not have e-mails sent to your university address forwarded to other addresses. Our experience in the last semester has shown that that using non-university addresses / forwarding mails will lead to our messages bouncing back in very many cases.

The Extra Slot is primarily aimed at students who have taken (or who are taking) one or several of my seminars/lectures. However, it is very much an open forum. Newcomers are most welcome. If you are new to the Extra Slot, please send an e-mail to christian.feser@uni-due.de who will put you on our mailing list