What place does fictional literature have in our social and cultural settings? A critical glance at theoretical concepts of culture and of literature can help us to realize that these are not something abstract and remote, they actually concern our everyday experience and how we make sense of our social lives. This lecture invites participants to think about what “culture” means for us, with attention to cultural values and that involves asking how we can approach the study of culture. This will enable us to inquire: how does fictional literature affect our cultural practices? Can it tell us anything about who we are, as cultural beings? Very different answers are offered by highly influential theory directions, by structuralism, post-structuralism, and post-humanism, all of which are vital in distinct ways for making sense of our own socio-cultural conditions at this time. The term “literature” itself has been expanding its range. We will illustrate these issues with regard especially to The Great Gatsby. Students are cordially invited to join in a discussion of the range of critical questions!
Michael Steppat
Michael Steppat is Professor of Literature in English at the University of Bayreuth (Germany), emeritus, and an international faculty member at SISU. After gaining his Ph.D. and his “Habilitation” he became a Fulbright professor at the University of Texas, then research professor at Arizona State University. As academic Dean of his Faculty for 12 years, Steppat devised an M.A. program in Intercultural Anglophone Studies. He is an elected project director in the national Excellence Strategy. His published books include Honor Face and Violence: Cross-Cultural Representations of Honor Cultures and Face Cultures; Literature and Interculturality (3 volumes); Historical Intersections of Intercultural Studies (2 volumes); Discourses of Exception, Exclusion, Exchange (in American studies).
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