This course provides an overview of the main literary works in Europe during the Middle Ages. The course covers material ranging from Germanic heroic poetry to the works of the best known authors of the late Middle Ages, such as Chaucer and Dante. The main focus of the course will be to establish an overview of the various genres and literary trends of the period, while closer readings of the works will provide insight into their cultural, ideological and narratological context. Teaching will be in the form of lectures and discussions in class.

Discussion of various approaches to writing about literature and film (from research papers to reviews, polemical essays, and informal articles). Students will be trained in the various aspects of composition: locating and organizing material, using sources, building arguments, revising, and editing. This includes analyzing different critical discourses, as well as the implied reader and other relevant theoretical issues. This is a required course for students majoring in Comparative Literature and first-year students are urged to register for it.

Literary Methods & Concepts This is the introductory course and forms the basis for other courses in Comparative Literature. The aim is to acquaint the students with the main literary concepts and methodological foundations and to give them some experience in analysing texts. In addition to lectures there are small group discussion periods in connection with required essays. This course is to be taken during the first term.

The first night of Samuel’s Beckett Wating for Godot in Paris in 1953 is widely considered as a landmark in the history of Western play-writing and theatre. The origins of the so-called absurdism in theatre is most often related to that event. The influence of the constraint, continually repeated and systematically constructed use of words and actions in Beckett’s plays is easy to trace in works written for the theatre in the latter part of the twentieth century and to this date. In the course of the seminar this specific thread in Western theatre history will be carefully looked at, and analyzed how it can be seen in the bigger context of the development of theatre. Plays written by Pirandello, Tzara, Ionesco, Genet and Arrabal will be included, and shown how Beckett’s approach to drama and theatre is reawakened by Harold Pinter and Jon Fosse. Additionally plays by the American playwright, Edward Albee, and the Icelandic dramatists Oddur Björnsson, Guðmundur Steinsson and Hrafnhildur Hagalín will be read and analyzed.The seminar will be concluded by showing how Beckett in his last period of play-writing created works that are at least as much related to performance art as they are to traditional drama.

A survey course which will focus on chief aspects of film noir. Anselection of films from the period 1940-1999 will be analysed in order tonobserve the historical development of the genre. Some novels will also benread for comparison. Among the central films in the course are thenfollowing: The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, Laura, Out of the past, Body Heat and The Last Seduction

A survey of the Spanish novel in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course focuses on the works of seminal authors and we will examine the main literary trends of the century. Some attention will be paid to film and social and political background of the period.

In this directed studies students can work on a specific project in connection to the course FRA434G French fairy tales: from Marie de France to the Enlightenment,

Fairy tales (Fr. conte féerique) have been an important part of French literature from the 12th century, as can be seen, for instance, in the Lays of Marie de France. In the late 17th century early modern audiences enjoyed the tales of Mme d‘Aulnoy, Charles Perrault, Mlle L‘Héritier de Villandon and many others, and shortly afterwards Antoine Galland published his translation of Thousand and one Night which further increased the interest in this literary genre. The story of the Beauty and the Beast by Mme de Villeneuve was published in 1740 and was one of the tales that were rewritten and adapted to children in Mme Leprince de Beaumont‘s Le Magasin des enfants, first published in London in 1756. In this course, fairy tales by various authors will be read and examined with regard to their social and cultural context (literary salons) and their characteristics. The main focus will be on fairy tales authored by women, collections, frame narratives and fairy tales in children‘s literature in the second half of the 18th century. Icelandic translations of French fairy tales will also be examined.

The course will be taught in Icelandic, with one weekly extra hour in French for the students of the Department of French Studies.

Students can also enroll in FRA505G Directed study: French fairy tales: from Marie de France to the Enlightenment 4e.

An overview of Icelandic literary history from the beginning to the end of the 19th century. Novelties and changes in Icelandic literature will be placed in context with contemporary currents in European literature.

The aim of this survey course is to sample the literary history of the last four millennia by reading a number of world masterpieces from Africa, Asia and Europe. All texts will be read in Icelandic translations. 

An interdisciplinary and introductory course entailing a dialogue between the academic fields of the department, i.e. comparative literature, film studies, gender studies, art studies, linguistics, cultural studies, sign language and interpreting studies and translation studies. The latest international developments in the field of humanities will be examined and questions asked about the relationship of academic studies and our world view(s). We will analyse the semiotic system of language, inquiring whether it can serve as the basis for our understanding of other semiotic systems. We will ask about the connection and relationship between different languages and linguistic worlds. What is "multiculture"? How are spoken language, written language and visual language interconnected within society? What constitutes cultural literacy? Literature, art, film and other visual material will be examined in both a national and international context, with a view to how these semiotic systems influence the borderlines of gender, race, class, nation, and different world cultures. The study materials include theoretical and critical writings, literary works, visual art and images, and films, as well as some current media coverage. Evaluation is based on four assignments and a written exam.

x

We will read a selection from the Pentateuch and other ancient Hebrew texts, along with most of the New Testament. For comparison we will have ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek and Latin works. The Bible is read as ancient literature and world literature, and there will be a focus on the reception of these texts through the ages, the importance of translations for the reception, and various literary theories related to the Bible, for instance about textual and interpretive societies.

The course offers a survey of Irish literature in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course focuses on plays, poetry, and novels of seminal authors as well as examining the main literary trends of the period. The course is based on lectures, discussions and group work.

The course centers on Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa, examining selected works, adaptations, Japanese culture and society, and Kurosawa‘s legacy. We will discuss what sets Kurosawa apart as a director – his style, trademarks, and his impact on both Japanese and Western film culture.  Among the themes the course will focus on are the circumstances of war, the nuclear threat, various inner psychological struggles, power struggles, sexual violence, and crime. The stories conjure pictures of heroes and villains, the dissolution of the family, fights over inheritance, conflict between parents and children, bitter sibling rivalries and bloody, brutal murders, self-justification, and different points of view. The staging and style of drama draws inspiration from, among others, the Japanese theater world, such as the Noh theater tradition and legacy and samurai culture. There is also a clear tie to Japanese folklore. Many of Kurosawa‘s films also have forerunners in the Western film world, such as John Ford‘s cowboy westerns, the works of authors like Shakespeare and Dostoyevsky, and even the Greek tragedies.   The films we will examine in the course include Seven Samurai (1954), Yojimbo (1961), Ran (1985), Dreams (1990) and Rhapsody in August (1991). We will also read selected literary works (in whole or in part) that Kurosawa adapted for the screen, including works by Shakespeare and the Japanese author Ryunosuke Akutagawa. In addition, we will look at films from other directors that bear marks of Kurosawa‘s influence. 

This course provides an overview of the main literary works in Europe during the Middle Ages. The course covers material ranging from Germanic heroic poetry to the works of the best known authors of the late Middle Ages, such as Chaucer and Dante. The main focus of the course will be to establish an overview of the various genres and literary trends of the period, while closer readings of the works will provide insight into their cultural, ideological and narratological context. Teaching will be in the form of lectures and discussions in class.

The first night of Samuel’s Beckett Wating for Godot in Paris in 1953 is widely considered as a landmark in the history of Western play-writing and theatre. The origins of the so-called absurdism in theatre is most often related to that event. The influence of the constraint, continually repeated and systematically constructed use of words and actions in Beckett’s plays is easy to trace in works written for the theatre in the latter part of the twentieth century and to this date. In the course of the seminar this specific thread in Western theatre history will be carefully looked at, and analyzed how it can be seen in the bigger context of the development of theatre. Plays written by Pirandello, Tzara, Ionesco, Genet and Arrabal will be included, and shown how Beckett’s approach to drama and theatre is reawakened by Harold Pinter and Jon Fosse. Additionally plays by the American playwright, Edward Albee, and the Icelandic dramatists Oddur Björnsson, Guðmundur Steinsson and Hrafnhildur Hagalín will be read and analyzed.The seminar will be concluded by showing how Beckett in his last period of play-writing created works that are at least as much related to performance art as they are to traditional drama.

A survey course which will focus on chief aspects of film noir. Anselection of films from the period 1940-1999 will be analysed in order tonobserve the historical development of the genre. Some novels will also benread for comparison. Among the central films in the course are thenfollowing: The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, Laura, Out of the past, Body Heat and The Last Seduction

A survey of the Spanish novel in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course focuses on the works of seminal authors and we will examine the main literary trends of the century. Some attention will be paid to film and social and political background of the period.

In this directed studies students can work on a specific project in connection to the course FRA434G French fairy tales: from Marie de France to the Enlightenment,

Fairy tales (Fr. conte féerique) have been an important part of French literature from the 12th century, as can be seen, for instance, in the Lays of Marie de France. In the late 17th century early modern audiences enjoyed the tales of Mme d‘Aulnoy, Charles Perrault, Mlle L‘Héritier de Villandon and many others, and shortly afterwards Antoine Galland published his translation of Thousand and one Night which further increased the interest in this literary genre. The story of the Beauty and the Beast by Mme de Villeneuve was published in 1740 and was one of the tales that were rewritten and adapted to children in Mme Leprince de Beaumont‘s Le Magasin des enfants, first published in London in 1756. In this course, fairy tales by various authors will be read and examined with regard to their social and cultural context (literary salons) and their characteristics. The main focus will be on fairy tales authored by women, collections, frame narratives and fairy tales in children‘s literature in the second half of the 18th century. Icelandic translations of French fairy tales will also be examined.

The course will be taught in Icelandic, with one weekly extra hour in French for the students of the Department of French Studies.

Students can also enroll in FRA505G Directed study: French fairy tales: from Marie de France to the Enlightenment 4e.

Historical overview of the development of literary theory. The main emphasis is on twentieth and twenty-first century trends and methods. In addition to lectures there are small group discussion periods.

An overview of Icelandic literary history from the beginning to the end of the 19th century. Novelties and changes in Icelandic literature will be placed in context with contemporary currents in European literature.

x

We will read a selection from the Pentateuch and other ancient Hebrew texts, along with most of the New Testament. For comparison we will have ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek and Latin works. The Bible is read as ancient literature and world literature, and there will be a focus on the reception of these texts through the ages, the importance of translations for the reception, and various literary theories related to the Bible, for instance about textual and interpretive societies.

The course offers a survey of Irish literature in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course focuses on plays, poetry, and novels of seminal authors as well as examining the main literary trends of the period. The course is based on lectures, discussions and group work.

The course centers on Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa, examining selected works, adaptations, Japanese culture and society, and Kurosawa‘s legacy. We will discuss what sets Kurosawa apart as a director – his style, trademarks, and his impact on both Japanese and Western film culture.  Among the themes the course will focus on are the circumstances of war, the nuclear threat, various inner psychological struggles, power struggles, sexual violence, and crime. The stories conjure pictures of heroes and villains, the dissolution of the family, fights over inheritance, conflict between parents and children, bitter sibling rivalries and bloody, brutal murders, self-justification, and different points of view. The staging and style of drama draws inspiration from, among others, the Japanese theater world, such as the Noh theater tradition and legacy and samurai culture. There is also a clear tie to Japanese folklore. Many of Kurosawa‘s films also have forerunners in the Western film world, such as John Ford‘s cowboy westerns, the works of authors like Shakespeare and Dostoyevsky, and even the Greek tragedies.   The films we will examine in the course include Seven Samurai (1954), Yojimbo (1961), Ran (1985), Dreams (1990) and Rhapsody in August (1991). We will also read selected literary works (in whole or in part) that Kurosawa adapted for the screen, including works by Shakespeare and the Japanese author Ryunosuke Akutagawa. In addition, we will look at films from other directors that bear marks of Kurosawa‘s influence. 

This course provides an overview of the main literary works in Europe during the Middle Ages. The course covers material ranging from Germanic heroic poetry to the works of the best known authors of the late Middle Ages, such as Chaucer and Dante. The main focus of the course will be to establish an overview of the various genres and literary trends of the period, while closer readings of the works will provide insight into their cultural, ideological and narratological context. Teaching will be in the form of lectures and discussions in class.

The first night of Samuel’s Beckett Wating for Godot in Paris in 1953 is widely considered as a landmark in the history of Western play-writing and theatre. The origins of the so-called absurdism in theatre is most often related to that event. The influence of the constraint, continually repeated and systematically constructed use of words and actions in Beckett’s plays is easy to trace in works written for the theatre in the latter part of the twentieth century and to this date. In the course of the seminar this specific thread in Western theatre history will be carefully looked at, and analyzed how it can be seen in the bigger context of the development of theatre. Plays written by Pirandello, Tzara, Ionesco, Genet and Arrabal will be included, and shown how Beckett’s approach to drama and theatre is reawakened by Harold Pinter and Jon Fosse. Additionally plays by the American playwright, Edward Albee, and the Icelandic dramatists Oddur Björnsson, Guðmundur Steinsson and Hrafnhildur Hagalín will be read and analyzed.The seminar will be concluded by showing how Beckett in his last period of play-writing created works that are at least as much related to performance art as they are to traditional drama.

A survey course which will focus on chief aspects of film noir. Anselection of films from the period 1940-1999 will be analysed in order tonobserve the historical development of the genre. Some novels will also benread for comparison. Among the central films in the course are thenfollowing: The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, Laura, Out of the past, Body Heat and The Last Seduction

A survey of the Spanish novel in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course focuses on the works of seminal authors and we will examine the main literary trends of the century. Some attention will be paid to film and social and political background of the period.

In this directed studies students can work on a specific project in connection to the course FRA434G French fairy tales: from Marie de France to the Enlightenment,

Fairy tales (Fr. conte féerique) have been an important part of French literature from the 12th century, as can be seen, for instance, in the Lays of Marie de France. In the late 17th century early modern audiences enjoyed the tales of Mme d‘Aulnoy, Charles Perrault, Mlle L‘Héritier de Villandon and many others, and shortly afterwards Antoine Galland published his translation of Thousand and one Night which further increased the interest in this literary genre. The story of the Beauty and the Beast by Mme de Villeneuve was published in 1740 and was one of the tales that were rewritten and adapted to children in Mme Leprince de Beaumont‘s Le Magasin des enfants, first published in London in 1756. In this course, fairy tales by various authors will be read and examined with regard to their social and cultural context (literary salons) and their characteristics. The main focus will be on fairy tales authored by women, collections, frame narratives and fairy tales in children‘s literature in the second half of the 18th century. Icelandic translations of French fairy tales will also be examined.

The course will be taught in Icelandic, with one weekly extra hour in French for the students of the Department of French Studies.

Students can also enroll in FRA505G Directed study: French fairy tales: from Marie de France to the Enlightenment 4e.

An overview of Icelandic literary history from the beginning to the end of the 19th century. Novelties and changes in Icelandic literature will be placed in context with contemporary currents in European literature.

x

We will read a selection from the Pentateuch and other ancient Hebrew texts, along with most of the New Testament. For comparison we will have ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek and Latin works. The Bible is read as ancient literature and world literature, and there will be a focus on the reception of these texts through the ages, the importance of translations for the reception, and various literary theories related to the Bible, for instance about textual and interpretive societies.

The course offers a survey of Irish literature in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course focuses on plays, poetry, and novels of seminal authors as well as examining the main literary trends of the period. The course is based on lectures, discussions and group work.

The course centers on Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa, examining selected works, adaptations, Japanese culture and society, and Kurosawa‘s legacy. We will discuss what sets Kurosawa apart as a director – his style, trademarks, and his impact on both Japanese and Western film culture.  Among the themes the course will focus on are the circumstances of war, the nuclear threat, various inner psychological struggles, power struggles, sexual violence, and crime. The stories conjure pictures of heroes and villains, the dissolution of the family, fights over inheritance, conflict between parents and children, bitter sibling rivalries and bloody, brutal murders, self-justification, and different points of view. The staging and style of drama draws inspiration from, among others, the Japanese theater world, such as the Noh theater tradition and legacy and samurai culture. There is also a clear tie to Japanese folklore. Many of Kurosawa‘s films also have forerunners in the Western film world, such as John Ford‘s cowboy westerns, the works of authors like Shakespeare and Dostoyevsky, and even the Greek tragedies.   The films we will examine in the course include Seven Samurai (1954), Yojimbo (1961), Ran (1985), Dreams (1990) and Rhapsody in August (1991). We will also read selected literary works (in whole or in part) that Kurosawa adapted for the screen, including works by Shakespeare and the Japanese author Ryunosuke Akutagawa. In addition, we will look at films from other directors that bear marks of Kurosawa‘s influence. 

BA-thesis in Comparative Literature

A course on Icelandic lyrics and popular culture from the mid-20th century to the present. The approaches of Cultural Studies will be used in order to throw light on the position and development of these lyrics during a period of social changes, rock culture and multimedia.

The current surge of nationalist, populist right-wing parties and authoritarian regimes not only poses a challenge to traditional political elites and to the functioning of liberal-democratic systems. It also invites comparisons with historical fascism and authoritarian rule in the interwar period, raising the question of how to define, classify, and position these parties, regimes, and ideologies on the political spectrum. The course deals with crises of the liberal order and the effects of ultra-nationalism in Europe in the 20th and 21st centuries by focusing on historical fascism and Nazism as well as contemporary populist and authoritarian formations. While the focus will be on Europe, ultra-nationalist and anti-liberal ideologies in other parts of the world will also be considered. The emphasis will be on historiographical and theoretical problems relating to the ideologies of fascism, authoritarianism, and populism; the effects of economic and political crises on the rise of radical nationalist movements; the roles of race, ethnicity, and gender; ideas about modernization, culture, welfare and racism, and foreign policy platforms. Populist and authoritarian regimes in the present will be put in a historical context, their programs and policies explored, and an attempt will be made to explain what has been termed “populist authoritarianism.”

This course provides an introduction to the study of folk narrative as a particular genre within the overall field of folkloristics. Students will be introduced to the main theories concerning the origins, features and distribution of folk tales, their role in society, their collection, methods of classification and means of preservation. Among others, students will be introduced to the work of Antti Aarne, Inger M. Boberg, Bruno Bettleheim, Linda Dégh, Stith Thompson, Timothy Tangherlini and Alan Dundes. Particular attention will be laid to the main forms of oral narrative, particular attention being paid to the form and analysis of legends and fairy tales from the viewpoint of the main arguments concerning these aspects of study, among others the work of Algirdas Greimas, Bengt Holbek, Max Lüthi, Axel Olrik and Vladimir Propp.

The legend tradition will be examined in detail in this course, in the light of both earlier and more recent academic theory concerning this subject. The concentration will be placed on Icelandic legends, how they have come about, been passed from person to person, living and developing in the oral tradition. Particular attention will be paid to what these legends tell us about folk belief in Iceland. From this viewpoint, particular attention will be paid to memorats, their source value, and the degree to which the narrative tradition shapes new narratives. Close attention will also be paid to Icelandic migratory legends, their means of transmission, their distribution, and they way in which they have been shaped and influenced by local narrative traditions and beliefs. In this context, attention will also be drawn to individual legendary motifs, and research that has been undertaken into them. 

Both fixed and relative, lived and imagined, the North has been a reservoir of imaginary potential. In this potentiality, modern subjects -- local and distant -- might regenerate and reinvigorate. The North contains apparent contradictions: beautiful and terrifying, invigorating and deadly. The imagery of such an imagined and real north, read through history, folklore, literature, film, is the subject of this course. Comparative, interdisciplinary, and multi-sited, our investigations focus on the ways in which the construction of the North has been a contested field representing different agendas and offering divergent outcomes.

Teacher of the course: JoAnn Conrad

The course looks at how identities and images of Icelanders and other nations have been shaped and they use traditions in each case. We examine Icelandic experiences and images in relation to neighbouring countries and how narratives, traditions and material culture shape nations, from national museums to midwinter festivals in London, from a wee dram of whiskey (in Scotland) to Viking sagas (in Scandinavia), with a quick stop at Up Helly Aa (in the Shetland Islands) and Olavsvaka (in the Faroe Islands); we look at a fashion show in Nuuk Center (Greenland), Nordic settlements in the New World and then we’ll post it all on social media.

We explore films and music, festivals, games and political spectacles. In particular we will analyse how national images unite and divide different groups of people. In that context we look at men and women, rural and urban communities, mobile people, racism and gender. We’ll study these images as dynamics and ideals, resources and matters of dispute, that are used for various purposes by different people in different places, by demagogues and greens, government institutions and banks, scholars and students.

This course provides an overview of the main literary works in Europe during the Middle Ages. The course covers material ranging from Germanic heroic poetry to the works of the best known authors of the late Middle Ages, such as Chaucer and Dante. The main focus of the course will be to establish an overview of the various genres and literary trends of the period, while closer readings of the works will provide insight into their cultural, ideological and narratological context. Teaching will be in the form of lectures and discussions in class.

Discussion of various approaches to writing about literature and film (from research papers to reviews, polemical essays, and informal articles). Students will be trained in the various aspects of composition: locating and organizing material, using sources, building arguments, revising, and editing. This includes analyzing different critical discourses, as well as the implied reader and other relevant theoretical issues. This is a required course for students majoring in Comparative Literature and first-year students are urged to register for it.

Literary Methods & Concepts This is the introductory course and forms the basis for other courses in Comparative Literature. The aim is to acquaint the students with the main literary concepts and methodological foundations and to give them some experience in analysing texts. In addition to lectures there are small group discussion periods in connection with required essays. This course is to be taken during the first term.

The first night of Samuel’s Beckett Wating for Godot in Paris in 1953 is widely considered as a landmark in the history of Western play-writing and theatre. The origins of the so-called absurdism in theatre is most often related to that event. The influence of the constraint, continually repeated and systematically constructed use of words and actions in Beckett’s plays is easy to trace in works written for the theatre in the latter part of the twentieth century and to this date. In the course of the seminar this specific thread in Western theatre history will be carefully looked at, and analyzed how it can be seen in the bigger context of the development of theatre. Plays written by Pirandello, Tzara, Ionesco, Genet and Arrabal will be included, and shown how Beckett’s approach to drama and theatre is reawakened by Harold Pinter and Jon Fosse. Additionally plays by the American playwright, Edward Albee, and the Icelandic dramatists Oddur Björnsson, Guðmundur Steinsson and Hrafnhildur Hagalín will be read and analyzed.The seminar will be concluded by showing how Beckett in his last period of play-writing created works that are at least as much related to performance art as they are to traditional drama.

A survey course which will focus on chief aspects of film noir. Anselection of films from the period 1940-1999 will be analysed in order tonobserve the historical development of the genre. Some novels will also benread for comparison. Among the central films in the course are thenfollowing: The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, Laura, Out of the past, Body Heat and The Last Seduction

A survey of the Spanish novel in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course focuses on the works of seminal authors and we will examine the main literary trends of the century. Some attention will be paid to film and social and political background of the period.

In this directed studies students can work on a specific project in connection to the course FRA434G French fairy tales: from Marie de France to the Enlightenment,

Fairy tales (Fr. conte féerique) have been an important part of French literature from the 12th century, as can be seen, for instance, in the Lays of Marie de France. In the late 17th century early modern audiences enjoyed the tales of Mme d‘Aulnoy, Charles Perrault, Mlle L‘Héritier de Villandon and many others, and shortly afterwards Antoine Galland published his translation of Thousand and one Night which further increased the interest in this literary genre. The story of the Beauty and the Beast by Mme de Villeneuve was published in 1740 and was one of the tales that were rewritten and adapted to children in Mme Leprince de Beaumont‘s Le Magasin des enfants, first published in London in 1756. In this course, fairy tales by various authors will be read and examined with regard to their social and cultural context (literary salons) and their characteristics. The main focus will be on fairy tales authored by women, collections, frame narratives and fairy tales in children‘s literature in the second half of the 18th century. Icelandic translations of French fairy tales will also be examined.

The course will be taught in Icelandic, with one weekly extra hour in French for the students of the Department of French Studies.

Students can also enroll in FRA505G Directed study: French fairy tales: from Marie de France to the Enlightenment 4e.

An overview of Icelandic literary history from the beginning to the end of the 19th century. Novelties and changes in Icelandic literature will be placed in context with contemporary currents in European literature.

The aim of this survey course is to sample the literary history of the last four millennia by reading a number of world masterpieces from Africa, Asia and Europe. All texts will be read in Icelandic translations. 

An interdisciplinary and introductory course entailing a dialogue between the academic fields of the department, i.e. comparative literature, film studies, gender studies, art studies, linguistics, cultural studies, sign language and interpreting studies and translation studies. The latest international developments in the field of humanities will be examined and questions asked about the relationship of academic studies and our world view(s). We will analyse the semiotic system of language, inquiring whether it can serve as the basis for our understanding of other semiotic systems. We will ask about the connection and relationship between different languages and linguistic worlds. What is "multiculture"? How are spoken language, written language and visual language interconnected within society? What constitutes cultural literacy? Literature, art, film and other visual material will be examined in both a national and international context, with a view to how these semiotic systems influence the borderlines of gender, race, class, nation, and different world cultures. The study materials include theoretical and critical writings, literary works, visual art and images, and films, as well as some current media coverage. Evaluation is based on four assignments and a written exam.

x

We will read a selection from the Pentateuch and other ancient Hebrew texts, along with most of the New Testament. For comparison we will have ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek and Latin works. The Bible is read as ancient literature and world literature, and there will be a focus on the reception of these texts through the ages, the importance of translations for the reception, and various literary theories related to the Bible, for instance about textual and interpretive societies.

The course offers a survey of Irish literature in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course focuses on plays, poetry, and novels of seminal authors as well as examining the main literary trends of the period. The course is based on lectures, discussions and group work.

The course centers on Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa, examining selected works, adaptations, Japanese culture and society, and Kurosawa‘s legacy. We will discuss what sets Kurosawa apart as a director – his style, trademarks, and his impact on both Japanese and Western film culture.  Among the themes the course will focus on are the circumstances of war, the nuclear threat, various inner psychological struggles, power struggles, sexual violence, and crime. The stories conjure pictures of heroes and villains, the dissolution of the family, fights over inheritance, conflict between parents and children, bitter sibling rivalries and bloody, brutal murders, self-justification, and different points of view. The staging and style of drama draws inspiration from, among others, the Japanese theater world, such as the Noh theater tradition and legacy and samurai culture. There is also a clear tie to Japanese folklore. Many of Kurosawa‘s films also have forerunners in the Western film world, such as John Ford‘s cowboy westerns, the works of authors like Shakespeare and Dostoyevsky, and even the Greek tragedies.   The films we will examine in the course include Seven Samurai (1954), Yojimbo (1961), Ran (1985), Dreams (1990) and Rhapsody in August (1991). We will also read selected literary works (in whole or in part) that Kurosawa adapted for the screen, including works by Shakespeare and the Japanese author Ryunosuke Akutagawa. In addition, we will look at films from other directors that bear marks of Kurosawa‘s influence. 

This course provides an overview of the main literary works in Europe during the Middle Ages. The course covers material ranging from Germanic heroic poetry to the works of the best known authors of the late Middle Ages, such as Chaucer and Dante. The main focus of the course will be to establish an overview of the various genres and literary trends of the period, while closer readings of the works will provide insight into their cultural, ideological and narratological context. Teaching will be in the form of lectures and discussions in class.

The first night of Samuel’s Beckett Wating for Godot in Paris in 1953 is widely considered as a landmark in the history of Western play-writing and theatre. The origins of the so-called absurdism in theatre is most often related to that event. The influence of the constraint, continually repeated and systematically constructed use of words and actions in Beckett’s plays is easy to trace in works written for the theatre in the latter part of the twentieth century and to this date. In the course of the seminar this specific thread in Western theatre history will be carefully looked at, and analyzed how it can be seen in the bigger context of the development of theatre. Plays written by Pirandello, Tzara, Ionesco, Genet and Arrabal will be included, and shown how Beckett’s approach to drama and theatre is reawakened by Harold Pinter and Jon Fosse. Additionally plays by the American playwright, Edward Albee, and the Icelandic dramatists Oddur Björnsson, Guðmundur Steinsson and Hrafnhildur Hagalín will be read and analyzed.The seminar will be concluded by showing how Beckett in his last period of play-writing created works that are at least as much related to performance art as they are to traditional drama.

A survey course which will focus on chief aspects of film noir. Anselection of films from the period 1940-1999 will be analysed in order tonobserve the historical development of the genre. Some novels will also benread for comparison. Among the central films in the course are thenfollowing: The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, Laura, Out of the past, Body Heat and The Last Seduction

A survey of the Spanish novel in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course focuses on the works of seminal authors and we will examine the main literary trends of the century. Some attention will be paid to film and social and political background of the period.

In this directed studies students can work on a specific project in connection to the course FRA434G French fairy tales: from Marie de France to the Enlightenment,

Fairy tales (Fr. conte féerique) have been an important part of French literature from the 12th century, as can be seen, for instance, in the Lays of Marie de France. In the late 17th century early modern audiences enjoyed the tales of Mme d‘Aulnoy, Charles Perrault, Mlle L‘Héritier de Villandon and many others, and shortly afterwards Antoine Galland published his translation of Thousand and one Night which further increased the interest in this literary genre. The story of the Beauty and the Beast by Mme de Villeneuve was published in 1740 and was one of the tales that were rewritten and adapted to children in Mme Leprince de Beaumont‘s Le Magasin des enfants, first published in London in 1756. In this course, fairy tales by various authors will be read and examined with regard to their social and cultural context (literary salons) and their characteristics. The main focus will be on fairy tales authored by women, collections, frame narratives and fairy tales in children‘s literature in the second half of the 18th century. Icelandic translations of French fairy tales will also be examined.

The course will be taught in Icelandic, with one weekly extra hour in French for the students of the Department of French Studies.

Students can also enroll in FRA505G Directed study: French fairy tales: from Marie de France to the Enlightenment 4e.

Historical overview of the development of literary theory. The main emphasis is on twentieth and twenty-first century trends and methods. In addition to lectures there are small group discussion periods.

An overview of Icelandic literary history from the beginning to the end of the 19th century. Novelties and changes in Icelandic literature will be placed in context with contemporary currents in European literature.

x

We will read a selection from the Pentateuch and other ancient Hebrew texts, along with most of the New Testament. For comparison we will have ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek and Latin works. The Bible is read as ancient literature and world literature, and there will be a focus on the reception of these texts through the ages, the importance of translations for the reception, and various literary theories related to the Bible, for instance about textual and interpretive societies.

The course offers a survey of Irish literature in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course focuses on plays, poetry, and novels of seminal authors as well as examining the main literary trends of the period. The course is based on lectures, discussions and group work.

The course centers on Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa, examining selected works, adaptations, Japanese culture and society, and Kurosawa‘s legacy. We will discuss what sets Kurosawa apart as a director – his style, trademarks, and his impact on both Japanese and Western film culture.  Among the themes the course will focus on are the circumstances of war, the nuclear threat, various inner psychological struggles, power struggles, sexual violence, and crime. The stories conjure pictures of heroes and villains, the dissolution of the family, fights over inheritance, conflict between parents and children, bitter sibling rivalries and bloody, brutal murders, self-justification, and different points of view. The staging and style of drama draws inspiration from, among others, the Japanese theater world, such as the Noh theater tradition and legacy and samurai culture. There is also a clear tie to Japanese folklore. Many of Kurosawa‘s films also have forerunners in the Western film world, such as John Ford‘s cowboy westerns, the works of authors like Shakespeare and Dostoyevsky, and even the Greek tragedies.   The films we will examine in the course include Seven Samurai (1954), Yojimbo (1961), Ran (1985), Dreams (1990) and Rhapsody in August (1991). We will also read selected literary works (in whole or in part) that Kurosawa adapted for the screen, including works by Shakespeare and the Japanese author Ryunosuke Akutagawa. In addition, we will look at films from other directors that bear marks of Kurosawa‘s influence. 

This course provides an overview of the main literary works in Europe during the Middle Ages. The course covers material ranging from Germanic heroic poetry to the works of the best known authors of the late Middle Ages, such as Chaucer and Dante. The main focus of the course will be to establish an overview of the various genres and literary trends of the period, while closer readings of the works will provide insight into their cultural, ideological and narratological context. Teaching will be in the form of lectures and discussions in class.

The first night of Samuel’s Beckett Wating for Godot in Paris in 1953 is widely considered as a landmark in the history of Western play-writing and theatre. The origins of the so-called absurdism in theatre is most often related to that event. The influence of the constraint, continually repeated and systematically constructed use of words and actions in Beckett’s plays is easy to trace in works written for the theatre in the latter part of the twentieth century and to this date. In the course of the seminar this specific thread in Western theatre history will be carefully looked at, and analyzed how it can be seen in the bigger context of the development of theatre. Plays written by Pirandello, Tzara, Ionesco, Genet and Arrabal will be included, and shown how Beckett’s approach to drama and theatre is reawakened by Harold Pinter and Jon Fosse. Additionally plays by the American playwright, Edward Albee, and the Icelandic dramatists Oddur Björnsson, Guðmundur Steinsson and Hrafnhildur Hagalín will be read and analyzed.The seminar will be concluded by showing how Beckett in his last period of play-writing created works that are at least as much related to performance art as they are to traditional drama.

A survey course which will focus on chief aspects of film noir. Anselection of films from the period 1940-1999 will be analysed in order tonobserve the historical development of the genre. Some novels will also benread for comparison. Among the central films in the course are thenfollowing: The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, Laura, Out of the past, Body Heat and The Last Seduction

A survey of the Spanish novel in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course focuses on the works of seminal authors and we will examine the main literary trends of the century. Some attention will be paid to film and social and political background of the period.

In this directed studies students can work on a specific project in connection to the course FRA434G French fairy tales: from Marie de France to the Enlightenment,

Fairy tales (Fr. conte féerique) have been an important part of French literature from the 12th century, as can be seen, for instance, in the Lays of Marie de France. In the late 17th century early modern audiences enjoyed the tales of Mme d‘Aulnoy, Charles Perrault, Mlle L‘Héritier de Villandon and many others, and shortly afterwards Antoine Galland published his translation of Thousand and one Night which further increased the interest in this literary genre. The story of the Beauty and the Beast by Mme de Villeneuve was published in 1740 and was one of the tales that were rewritten and adapted to children in Mme Leprince de Beaumont‘s Le Magasin des enfants, first published in London in 1756. In this course, fairy tales by various authors will be read and examined with regard to their social and cultural context (literary salons) and their characteristics. The main focus will be on fairy tales authored by women, collections, frame narratives and fairy tales in children‘s literature in the second half of the 18th century. Icelandic translations of French fairy tales will also be examined.

The course will be taught in Icelandic, with one weekly extra hour in French for the students of the Department of French Studies.

Students can also enroll in FRA505G Directed study: French fairy tales: from Marie de France to the Enlightenment 4e.

An overview of Icelandic literary history from the beginning to the end of the 19th century. Novelties and changes in Icelandic literature will be placed in context with contemporary currents in European literature.

x

We will read a selection from the Pentateuch and other ancient Hebrew texts, along with most of the New Testament. For comparison we will have ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek and Latin works. The Bible is read as ancient literature and world literature, and there will be a focus on the reception of these texts through the ages, the importance of translations for the reception, and various literary theories related to the Bible, for instance about textual and interpretive societies.

The course offers a survey of Irish literature in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course focuses on plays, poetry, and novels of seminal authors as well as examining the main literary trends of the period. The course is based on lectures, discussions and group work.

The course centers on Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa, examining selected works, adaptations, Japanese culture and society, and Kurosawa‘s legacy. We will discuss what sets Kurosawa apart as a director – his style, trademarks, and his impact on both Japanese and Western film culture.  Among the themes the course will focus on are the circumstances of war, the nuclear threat, various inner psychological struggles, power struggles, sexual violence, and crime. The stories conjure pictures of heroes and villains, the dissolution of the family, fights over inheritance, conflict between parents and children, bitter sibling rivalries and bloody, brutal murders, self-justification, and different points of view. The staging and style of drama draws inspiration from, among others, the Japanese theater world, such as the Noh theater tradition and legacy and samurai culture. There is also a clear tie to Japanese folklore. Many of Kurosawa‘s films also have forerunners in the Western film world, such as John Ford‘s cowboy westerns, the works of authors like Shakespeare and Dostoyevsky, and even the Greek tragedies.   The films we will examine in the course include Seven Samurai (1954), Yojimbo (1961), Ran (1985), Dreams (1990) and Rhapsody in August (1991). We will also read selected literary works (in whole or in part) that Kurosawa adapted for the screen, including works by Shakespeare and the Japanese author Ryunosuke Akutagawa. In addition, we will look at films from other directors that bear marks of Kurosawa‘s influence. 

BA-thesis in Comparative Literature

A course on Icelandic lyrics and popular culture from the mid-20th century to the present. The approaches of Cultural Studies will be used in order to throw light on the position and development of these lyrics during a period of social changes, rock culture and multimedia.

The current surge of nationalist, populist right-wing parties and authoritarian regimes not only poses a challenge to traditional political elites and to the functioning of liberal-democratic systems. It also invites comparisons with historical fascism and authoritarian rule in the interwar period, raising the question of how to define, classify, and position these parties, regimes, and ideologies on the political spectrum. The course deals with crises of the liberal order and the effects of ultra-nationalism in Europe in the 20th and 21st centuries by focusing on historical fascism and Nazism as well as contemporary populist and authoritarian formations. While the focus will be on Europe, ultra-nationalist and anti-liberal ideologies in other parts of the world will also be considered. The emphasis will be on historiographical and theoretical problems relating to the ideologies of fascism, authoritarianism, and populism; the effects of economic and political crises on the rise of radical nationalist movements; the roles of race, ethnicity, and gender; ideas about modernization, culture, welfare and racism, and foreign policy platforms. Populist and authoritarian regimes in the present will be put in a historical context, their programs and policies explored, and an attempt will be made to explain what has been termed “populist authoritarianism.”

This course provides an introduction to the study of folk narrative as a particular genre within the overall field of folkloristics. Students will be introduced to the main theories concerning the origins, features and distribution of folk tales, their role in society, their collection, methods of classification and means of preservation. Among others, students will be introduced to the work of Antti Aarne, Inger M. Boberg, Bruno Bettleheim, Linda Dégh, Stith Thompson, Timothy Tangherlini and Alan Dundes. Particular attention will be laid to the main forms of oral narrative, particular attention being paid to the form and analysis of legends and fairy tales from the viewpoint of the main arguments concerning these aspects of study, among others the work of Algirdas Greimas, Bengt Holbek, Max Lüthi, Axel Olrik and Vladimir Propp.

The legend tradition will be examined in detail in this course, in the light of both earlier and more recent academic theory concerning this subject. The concentration will be placed on Icelandic legends, how they have come about, been passed from person to person, living and developing in the oral tradition. Particular attention will be paid to what these legends tell us about folk belief in Iceland. From this viewpoint, particular attention will be paid to memorats, their source value, and the degree to which the narrative tradition shapes new narratives. Close attention will also be paid to Icelandic migratory legends, their means of transmission, their distribution, and they way in which they have been shaped and influenced by local narrative traditions and beliefs. In this context, attention will also be drawn to individual legendary motifs, and research that has been undertaken into them. 

Both fixed and relative, lived and imagined, the North has been a reservoir of imaginary potential. In this potentiality, modern subjects -- local and distant -- might regenerate and reinvigorate. The North contains apparent contradictions: beautiful and terrifying, invigorating and deadly. The imagery of such an imagined and real north, read through history, folklore, literature, film, is the subject of this course. Comparative, interdisciplinary, and multi-sited, our investigations focus on the ways in which the construction of the North has been a contested field representing different agendas and offering divergent outcomes.

Teacher of the course: JoAnn Conrad

The course looks at how identities and images of Icelanders and other nations have been shaped and they use traditions in each case. We examine Icelandic experiences and images in relation to neighbouring countries and how narratives, traditions and material culture shape nations, from national museums to midwinter festivals in London, from a wee dram of whiskey (in Scotland) to Viking sagas (in Scandinavia), with a quick stop at Up Helly Aa (in the Shetland Islands) and Olavsvaka (in the Faroe Islands); we look at a fashion show in Nuuk Center (Greenland), Nordic settlements in the New World and then we’ll post it all on social media.

We explore films and music, festivals, games and political spectacles. In particular we will analyse how national images unite and divide different groups of people. In that context we look at men and women, rural and urban communities, mobile people, racism and gender. We’ll study these images as dynamics and ideals, resources and matters of dispute, that are used for various purposes by different people in different places, by demagogues and greens, government institutions and banks, scholars and students.

This course provides an overview of the main literary works in Europe during the Middle Ages. The course covers material ranging from Germanic heroic poetry to the works of the best known authors of the late Middle Ages, such as Chaucer and Dante. The main focus of the course will be to establish an overview of the various genres and literary trends of the period, while closer readings of the works will provide insight into their cultural, ideological and narratological context. Teaching will be in the form of lectures and discussions in class.

Discussion of various approaches to writing about literature and film (from research papers to reviews, polemical essays, and informal articles). Students will be trained in the various aspects of composition: locating and organizing material, using sources, building arguments, revising, and editing. This includes analyzing different critical discourses, as well as the implied reader and other relevant theoretical issues. This is a required course for students majoring in Comparative Literature and first-year students are urged to register for it.

Literary Methods & Concepts This is the introductory course and forms the basis for other courses in Comparative Literature. The aim is to acquaint the students with the main literary concepts and methodological foundations and to give them some experience in analysing texts. In addition to lectures there are small group discussion periods in connection with required essays. This course is to be taken during the first term.

The first night of Samuel’s Beckett Wating for Godot in Paris in 1953 is widely considered as a landmark in the history of Western play-writing and theatre. The origins of the so-called absurdism in theatre is most often related to that event. The influence of the constraint, continually repeated and systematically constructed use of words and actions in Beckett’s plays is easy to trace in works written for the theatre in the latter part of the twentieth century and to this date. In the course of the seminar this specific thread in Western theatre history will be carefully looked at, and analyzed how it can be seen in the bigger context of the development of theatre. Plays written by Pirandello, Tzara, Ionesco, Genet and Arrabal will be included, and shown how Beckett’s approach to drama and theatre is reawakened by Harold Pinter and Jon Fosse. Additionally plays by the American playwright, Edward Albee, and the Icelandic dramatists Oddur Björnsson, Guðmundur Steinsson and Hrafnhildur Hagalín will be read and analyzed.The seminar will be concluded by showing how Beckett in his last period of play-writing created works that are at least as much related to performance art as they are to traditional drama.

A survey course which will focus on chief aspects of film noir. Anselection of films from the period 1940-1999 will be analysed in order tonobserve the historical development of the genre. Some novels will also benread for comparison. Among the central films in the course are thenfollowing: The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, Laura, Out of the past, Body Heat and The Last Seduction

A survey of the Spanish novel in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course focuses on the works of seminal authors and we will examine the main literary trends of the century. Some attention will be paid to film and social and political background of the period.

In this directed studies students can work on a specific project in connection to the course FRA434G French fairy tales: from Marie de France to the Enlightenment,

Fairy tales (Fr. conte féerique) have been an important part of French literature from the 12th century, as can be seen, for instance, in the Lays of Marie de France. In the late 17th century early modern audiences enjoyed the tales of Mme d‘Aulnoy, Charles Perrault, Mlle L‘Héritier de Villandon and many others, and shortly afterwards Antoine Galland published his translation of Thousand and one Night which further increased the interest in this literary genre. The story of the Beauty and the Beast by Mme de Villeneuve was published in 1740 and was one of the tales that were rewritten and adapted to children in Mme Leprince de Beaumont‘s Le Magasin des enfants, first published in London in 1756. In this course, fairy tales by various authors will be read and examined with regard to their social and cultural context (literary salons) and their characteristics. The main focus will be on fairy tales authored by women, collections, frame narratives and fairy tales in children‘s literature in the second half of the 18th century. Icelandic translations of French fairy tales will also be examined.

The course will be taught in Icelandic, with one weekly extra hour in French for the students of the Department of French Studies.

Students can also enroll in FRA505G Directed study: French fairy tales: from Marie de France to the Enlightenment 4e.

An overview of Icelandic literary history from the beginning to the end of the 19th century. Novelties and changes in Icelandic literature will be placed in context with contemporary currents in European literature.

The aim of this survey course is to sample the literary history of the last four millennia by reading a number of world masterpieces from Africa, Asia and Europe. All texts will be read in Icelandic translations. 

An interdisciplinary and introductory course entailing a dialogue between the academic fields of the department, i.e. comparative literature, film studies, gender studies, art studies, linguistics, cultural studies, sign language and interpreting studies and translation studies. The latest international developments in the field of humanities will be examined and questions asked about the relationship of academic studies and our world view(s). We will analyse the semiotic system of language, inquiring whether it can serve as the basis for our understanding of other semiotic systems. We will ask about the connection and relationship between different languages and linguistic worlds. What is "multiculture"? How are spoken language, written language and visual language interconnected within society? What constitutes cultural literacy? Literature, art, film and other visual material will be examined in both a national and international context, with a view to how these semiotic systems influence the borderlines of gender, race, class, nation, and different world cultures. The study materials include theoretical and critical writings, literary works, visual art and images, and films, as well as some current media coverage. Evaluation is based on four assignments and a written exam.

x

We will read a selection from the Pentateuch and other ancient Hebrew texts, along with most of the New Testament. For comparison we will have ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek and Latin works. The Bible is read as ancient literature and world literature, and there will be a focus on the reception of these texts through the ages, the importance of translations for the reception, and various literary theories related to the Bible, for instance about textual and interpretive societies.

The course offers a survey of Irish literature in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course focuses on plays, poetry, and novels of seminal authors as well as examining the main literary trends of the period. The course is based on lectures, discussions and group work.

The course centers on Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa, examining selected works, adaptations, Japanese culture and society, and Kurosawa‘s legacy. We will discuss what sets Kurosawa apart as a director – his style, trademarks, and his impact on both Japanese and Western film culture.  Among the themes the course will focus on are the circumstances of war, the nuclear threat, various inner psychological struggles, power struggles, sexual violence, and crime. The stories conjure pictures of heroes and villains, the dissolution of the family, fights over inheritance, conflict between parents and children, bitter sibling rivalries and bloody, brutal murders, self-justification, and different points of view. The staging and style of drama draws inspiration from, among others, the Japanese theater world, such as the Noh theater tradition and legacy and samurai culture. There is also a clear tie to Japanese folklore. Many of Kurosawa‘s films also have forerunners in the Western film world, such as John Ford‘s cowboy westerns, the works of authors like Shakespeare and Dostoyevsky, and even the Greek tragedies.   The films we will examine in the course include Seven Samurai (1954), Yojimbo (1961), Ran (1985), Dreams (1990) and Rhapsody in August (1991). We will also read selected literary works (in whole or in part) that Kurosawa adapted for the screen, including works by Shakespeare and the Japanese author Ryunosuke Akutagawa. In addition, we will look at films from other directors that bear marks of Kurosawa‘s influence. 

This course provides an overview of the main literary works in Europe during the Middle Ages. The course covers material ranging from Germanic heroic poetry to the works of the best known authors of the late Middle Ages, such as Chaucer and Dante. The main focus of the course will be to establish an overview of the various genres and literary trends of the period, while closer readings of the works will provide insight into their cultural, ideological and narratological context. Teaching will be in the form of lectures and discussions in class.

The first night of Samuel’s Beckett Wating for Godot in Paris in 1953 is widely considered as a landmark in the history of Western play-writing and theatre. The origins of the so-called absurdism in theatre is most often related to that event. The influence of the constraint, continually repeated and systematically constructed use of words and actions in Beckett’s plays is easy to trace in works written for the theatre in the latter part of the twentieth century and to this date. In the course of the seminar this specific thread in Western theatre history will be carefully looked at, and analyzed how it can be seen in the bigger context of the development of theatre. Plays written by Pirandello, Tzara, Ionesco, Genet and Arrabal will be included, and shown how Beckett’s approach to drama and theatre is reawakened by Harold Pinter and Jon Fosse. Additionally plays by the American playwright, Edward Albee, and the Icelandic dramatists Oddur Björnsson, Guðmundur Steinsson and Hrafnhildur Hagalín will be read and analyzed.The seminar will be concluded by showing how Beckett in his last period of play-writing created works that are at least as much related to performance art as they are to traditional drama.

A survey course which will focus on chief aspects of film noir. Anselection of films from the period 1940-1999 will be analysed in order tonobserve the historical development of the genre. Some novels will also benread for comparison. Among the central films in the course are thenfollowing: The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, Laura, Out of the past, Body Heat and The Last Seduction

A survey of the Spanish novel in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course focuses on the works of seminal authors and we will examine the main literary trends of the century. Some attention will be paid to film and social and political background of the period.

In this directed studies students can work on a specific project in connection to the course FRA434G French fairy tales: from Marie de France to the Enlightenment,

Fairy tales (Fr. conte féerique) have been an important part of French literature from the 12th century, as can be seen, for instance, in the Lays of Marie de France. In the late 17th century early modern audiences enjoyed the tales of Mme d‘Aulnoy, Charles Perrault, Mlle L‘Héritier de Villandon and many others, and shortly afterwards Antoine Galland published his translation of Thousand and one Night which further increased the interest in this literary genre. The story of the Beauty and the Beast by Mme de Villeneuve was published in 1740 and was one of the tales that were rewritten and adapted to children in Mme Leprince de Beaumont‘s Le Magasin des enfants, first published in London in 1756. In this course, fairy tales by various authors will be read and examined with regard to their social and cultural context (literary salons) and their characteristics. The main focus will be on fairy tales authored by women, collections, frame narratives and fairy tales in children‘s literature in the second half of the 18th century. Icelandic translations of French fairy tales will also be examined.

The course will be taught in Icelandic, with one weekly extra hour in French for the students of the Department of French Studies.

Students can also enroll in FRA505G Directed study: French fairy tales: from Marie de France to the Enlightenment 4e.

Historical overview of the development of literary theory. The main emphasis is on twentieth and twenty-first century trends and methods. In addition to lectures there are small group discussion periods.

An overview of Icelandic literary history from the beginning to the end of the 19th century. Novelties and changes in Icelandic literature will be placed in context with contemporary currents in European literature.

x

We will read a selection from the Pentateuch and other ancient Hebrew texts, along with most of the New Testament. For comparison we will have ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek and Latin works. The Bible is read as ancient literature and world literature, and there will be a focus on the reception of these texts through the ages, the importance of translations for the reception, and various literary theories related to the Bible, for instance about textual and interpretive societies.

The course offers a survey of Irish literature in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course focuses on plays, poetry, and novels of seminal authors as well as examining the main literary trends of the period. The course is based on lectures, discussions and group work.

The course centers on Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa, examining selected works, adaptations, Japanese culture and society, and Kurosawa‘s legacy. We will discuss what sets Kurosawa apart as a director – his style, trademarks, and his impact on both Japanese and Western film culture.  Among the themes the course will focus on are the circumstances of war, the nuclear threat, various inner psychological struggles, power struggles, sexual violence, and crime. The stories conjure pictures of heroes and villains, the dissolution of the family, fights over inheritance, conflict between parents and children, bitter sibling rivalries and bloody, brutal murders, self-justification, and different points of view. The staging and style of drama draws inspiration from, among others, the Japanese theater world, such as the Noh theater tradition and legacy and samurai culture. There is also a clear tie to Japanese folklore. Many of Kurosawa‘s films also have forerunners in the Western film world, such as John Ford‘s cowboy westerns, the works of authors like Shakespeare and Dostoyevsky, and even the Greek tragedies.   The films we will examine in the course include Seven Samurai (1954), Yojimbo (1961), Ran (1985), Dreams (1990) and Rhapsody in August (1991). We will also read selected literary works (in whole or in part) that Kurosawa adapted for the screen, including works by Shakespeare and the Japanese author Ryunosuke Akutagawa. In addition, we will look at films from other directors that bear marks of Kurosawa‘s influence. 

This course provides an overview of the main literary works in Europe during the Middle Ages. The course covers material ranging from Germanic heroic poetry to the works of the best known authors of the late Middle Ages, such as Chaucer and Dante. The main focus of the course will be to establish an overview of the various genres and literary trends of the period, while closer readings of the works will provide insight into their cultural, ideological and narratological context. Teaching will be in the form of lectures and discussions in class.

The first night of Samuel’s Beckett Wating for Godot in Paris in 1953 is widely considered as a landmark in the history of Western play-writing and theatre. The origins of the so-called absurdism in theatre is most often related to that event. The influence of the constraint, continually repeated and systematically constructed use of words and actions in Beckett’s plays is easy to trace in works written for the theatre in the latter part of the twentieth century and to this date. In the course of the seminar this specific thread in Western theatre history will be carefully looked at, and analyzed how it can be seen in the bigger context of the development of theatre. Plays written by Pirandello, Tzara, Ionesco, Genet and Arrabal will be included, and shown how Beckett’s approach to drama and theatre is reawakened by Harold Pinter and Jon Fosse. Additionally plays by the American playwright, Edward Albee, and the Icelandic dramatists Oddur Björnsson, Guðmundur Steinsson and Hrafnhildur Hagalín will be read and analyzed.The seminar will be concluded by showing how Beckett in his last period of play-writing created works that are at least as much related to performance art as they are to traditional drama.

A survey course which will focus on chief aspects of film noir. Anselection of films from the period 1940-1999 will be analysed in order tonobserve the historical development of the genre. Some novels will also benread for comparison. Among the central films in the course are thenfollowing: The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, Laura, Out of the past, Body Heat and The Last Seduction

A survey of the Spanish novel in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course focuses on the works of seminal authors and we will examine the main literary trends of the century. Some attention will be paid to film and social and political background of the period.

In this directed studies students can work on a specific project in connection to the course FRA434G French fairy tales: from Marie de France to the Enlightenment,

Fairy tales (Fr. conte féerique) have been an important part of French literature from the 12th century, as can be seen, for instance, in the Lays of Marie de France. In the late 17th century early modern audiences enjoyed the tales of Mme d‘Aulnoy, Charles Perrault, Mlle L‘Héritier de Villandon and many others, and shortly afterwards Antoine Galland published his translation of Thousand and one Night which further increased the interest in this literary genre. The story of the Beauty and the Beast by Mme de Villeneuve was published in 1740 and was one of the tales that were rewritten and adapted to children in Mme Leprince de Beaumont‘s Le Magasin des enfants, first published in London in 1756. In this course, fairy tales by various authors will be read and examined with regard to their social and cultural context (literary salons) and their characteristics. The main focus will be on fairy tales authored by women, collections, frame narratives and fairy tales in children‘s literature in the second half of the 18th century. Icelandic translations of French fairy tales will also be examined.

The course will be taught in Icelandic, with one weekly extra hour in French for the students of the Department of French Studies.

Students can also enroll in FRA505G Directed study: French fairy tales: from Marie de France to the Enlightenment 4e.

An overview of Icelandic literary history from the beginning to the end of the 19th century. Novelties and changes in Icelandic literature will be placed in context with contemporary currents in European literature.

x

We will read a selection from the Pentateuch and other ancient Hebrew texts, along with most of the New Testament. For comparison we will have ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek and Latin works. The Bible is read as ancient literature and world literature, and there will be a focus on the reception of these texts through the ages, the importance of translations for the reception, and various literary theories related to the Bible, for instance about textual and interpretive societies.

The course offers a survey of Irish literature in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course focuses on plays, poetry, and novels of seminal authors as well as examining the main literary trends of the period. The course is based on lectures, discussions and group work.

The course centers on Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa, examining selected works, adaptations, Japanese culture and society, and Kurosawa‘s legacy. We will discuss what sets Kurosawa apart as a director – his style, trademarks, and his impact on both Japanese and Western film culture.  Among the themes the course will focus on are the circumstances of war, the nuclear threat, various inner psychological struggles, power struggles, sexual violence, and crime. The stories conjure pictures of heroes and villains, the dissolution of the family, fights over inheritance, conflict between parents and children, bitter sibling rivalries and bloody, brutal murders, self-justification, and different points of view. The staging and style of drama draws inspiration from, among others, the Japanese theater world, such as the Noh theater tradition and legacy and samurai culture. There is also a clear tie to Japanese folklore. Many of Kurosawa‘s films also have forerunners in the Western film world, such as John Ford‘s cowboy westerns, the works of authors like Shakespeare and Dostoyevsky, and even the Greek tragedies.   The films we will examine in the course include Seven Samurai (1954), Yojimbo (1961), Ran (1985), Dreams (1990) and Rhapsody in August (1991). We will also read selected literary works (in whole or in part) that Kurosawa adapted for the screen, including works by Shakespeare and the Japanese author Ryunosuke Akutagawa. In addition, we will look at films from other directors that bear marks of Kurosawa‘s influence. 

BA-thesis in Comparative Literature

A course on Icelandic lyrics and popular culture from the mid-20th century to the present. The approaches of Cultural Studies will be used in order to throw light on the position and development of these lyrics during a period of social changes, rock culture and multimedia.

The current surge of nationalist, populist right-wing parties and authoritarian regimes not only poses a challenge to traditional political elites and to the functioning of liberal-democratic systems. It also invites comparisons with historical fascism and authoritarian rule in the interwar period, raising the question of how to define, classify, and position these parties, regimes, and ideologies on the political spectrum. The course deals with crises of the liberal order and the effects of ultra-nationalism in Europe in the 20th and 21st centuries by focusing on historical fascism and Nazism as well as contemporary populist and authoritarian formations. While the focus will be on Europe, ultra-nationalist and anti-liberal ideologies in other parts of the world will also be considered. The emphasis will be on historiographical and theoretical problems relating to the ideologies of fascism, authoritarianism, and populism; the effects of economic and political crises on the rise of radical nationalist movements; the roles of race, ethnicity, and gender; ideas about modernization, culture, welfare and racism, and foreign policy platforms. Populist and authoritarian regimes in the present will be put in a historical context, their programs and policies explored, and an attempt will be made to explain what has been termed “populist authoritarianism.”

This course provides an introduction to the study of folk narrative as a particular genre within the overall field of folkloristics. Students will be introduced to the main theories concerning the origins, features and distribution of folk tales, their role in society, their collection, methods of classification and means of preservation. Among others, students will be introduced to the work of Antti Aarne, Inger M. Boberg, Bruno Bettleheim, Linda Dégh, Stith Thompson, Timothy Tangherlini and Alan Dundes. Particular attention will be laid to the main forms of oral narrative, particular attention being paid to the form and analysis of legends and fairy tales from the viewpoint of the main arguments concerning these aspects of study, among others the work of Algirdas Greimas, Bengt Holbek, Max Lüthi, Axel Olrik and Vladimir Propp.

The legend tradition will be examined in detail in this course, in the light of both earlier and more recent academic theory concerning this subject. The concentration will be placed on Icelandic legends, how they have come about, been passed from person to person, living and developing in the oral tradition. Particular attention will be paid to what these legends tell us about folk belief in Iceland. From this viewpoint, particular attention will be paid to memorats, their source value, and the degree to which the narrative tradition shapes new narratives. Close attention will also be paid to Icelandic migratory legends, their means of transmission, their distribution, and they way in which they have been shaped and influenced by local narrative traditions and beliefs. In this context, attention will also be drawn to individual legendary motifs, and research that has been undertaken into them. 

Both fixed and relative, lived and imagined, the North has been a reservoir of imaginary potential. In this potentiality, modern subjects -- local and distant -- might regenerate and reinvigorate. The North contains apparent contradictions: beautiful and terrifying, invigorating and deadly. The imagery of such an imagined and real north, read through history, folklore, literature, film, is the subject of this course. Comparative, interdisciplinary, and multi-sited, our investigations focus on the ways in which the construction of the North has been a contested field representing different agendas and offering divergent outcomes.

Teacher of the course: JoAnn Conrad

The course looks at how identities and images of Icelanders and other nations have been shaped and they use traditions in each case. We examine Icelandic experiences and images in relation to neighbouring countries and how narratives, traditions and material culture shape nations, from national museums to midwinter festivals in London, from a wee dram of whiskey (in Scotland) to Viking sagas (in Scandinavia), with a quick stop at Up Helly Aa (in the Shetland Islands) and Olavsvaka (in the Faroe Islands); we look at a fashion show in Nuuk Center (Greenland), Nordic settlements in the New World and then we’ll post it all on social media.

We explore films and music, festivals, games and political spectacles. In particular we will analyse how national images unite and divide different groups of people. In that context we look at men and women, rural and urban communities, mobile people, racism and gender. We’ll study these images as dynamics and ideals, resources and matters of dispute, that are used for various purposes by different people in different places, by demagogues and greens, government institutions and banks, scholars and students.

This course provides an overview of the main literary works in Europe during the Middle Ages. The course covers material ranging from Germanic heroic poetry to the works of the best known authors of the late Middle Ages, such as Chaucer and Dante. The main focus of the course will be to establish an overview of the various genres and literary trends of the period, while closer readings of the works will provide insight into their cultural, ideological and narratological context. Teaching will be in the form of lectures and discussions in class.

Discussion of various approaches to writing about literature and film (from research papers to reviews, polemical essays, and informal articles). Students will be trained in the various aspects of composition: locating and organizing material, using sources, building arguments, revising, and editing. This includes analyzing different critical discourses, as well as the implied reader and other relevant theoretical issues. This is a required course for students majoring in Comparative Literature and first-year students are urged to register for it.

Literary Methods & Concepts This is the introductory course and forms the basis for other courses in Comparative Literature. The aim is to acquaint the students with the main literary concepts and methodological foundations and to give them some experience in analysing texts. In addition to lectures there are small group discussion periods in connection with required essays. This course is to be taken during the first term.

The first night of Samuel’s Beckett Wating for Godot in Paris in 1953 is widely considered as a landmark in the history of Western play-writing and theatre. The origins of the so-called absurdism in theatre is most often related to that event. The influence of the constraint, continually repeated and systematically constructed use of words and actions in Beckett’s plays is easy to trace in works written for the theatre in the latter part of the twentieth century and to this date. In the course of the seminar this specific thread in Western theatre history will be carefully looked at, and analyzed how it can be seen in the bigger context of the development of theatre. Plays written by Pirandello, Tzara, Ionesco, Genet and Arrabal will be included, and shown how Beckett’s approach to drama and theatre is reawakened by Harold Pinter and Jon Fosse. Additionally plays by the American playwright, Edward Albee, and the Icelandic dramatists Oddur Björnsson, Guðmundur Steinsson and Hrafnhildur Hagalín will be read and analyzed.The seminar will be concluded by showing how Beckett in his last period of play-writing created works that are at least as much related to performance art as they are to traditional drama.

A survey course which will focus on chief aspects of film noir. Anselection of films from the period 1940-1999 will be analysed in order tonobserve the historical development of the genre. Some novels will also benread for comparison. Among the central films in the course are thenfollowing: The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, Laura, Out of the past, Body Heat and The Last Seduction

A survey of the Spanish novel in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course focuses on the works of seminal authors and we will examine the main literary trends of the century. Some attention will be paid to film and social and political background of the period.

In this directed studies students can work on a specific project in connection to the course FRA434G French fairy tales: from Marie de France to the Enlightenment,

Fairy tales (Fr. conte féerique) have been an important part of French literature from the 12th century, as can be seen, for instance, in the Lays of Marie de France. In the late 17th century early modern audiences enjoyed the tales of Mme d‘Aulnoy, Charles Perrault, Mlle L‘Héritier de Villandon and many others, and shortly afterwards Antoine Galland published his translation of Thousand and one Night which further increased the interest in this literary genre. The story of the Beauty and the Beast by Mme de Villeneuve was published in 1740 and was one of the tales that were rewritten and adapted to children in Mme Leprince de Beaumont‘s Le Magasin des enfants, first published in London in 1756. In this course, fairy tales by various authors will be read and examined with regard to their social and cultural context (literary salons) and their characteristics. The main focus will be on fairy tales authored by women, collections, frame narratives and fairy tales in children‘s literature in the second half of the 18th century. Icelandic translations of French fairy tales will also be examined.

The course will be taught in Icelandic, with one weekly extra hour in French for the students of the Department of French Studies.

Students can also enroll in FRA505G Directed study: French fairy tales: from Marie de France to the Enlightenment 4e.

An overview of Icelandic literary history from the beginning to the end of the 19th century. Novelties and changes in Icelandic literature will be placed in context with contemporary currents in European literature.

The aim of this survey course is to sample the literary history of the last four millennia by reading a number of world masterpieces from Africa, Asia and Europe. All texts will be read in Icelandic translations. 

An interdisciplinary and introductory course entailing a dialogue between the academic fields of the department, i.e. comparative literature, film studies, gender studies, art studies, linguistics, cultural studies, sign language and interpreting studies and translation studies. The latest international developments in the field of humanities will be examined and questions asked about the relationship of academic studies and our world view(s). We will analyse the semiotic system of language, inquiring whether it can serve as the basis for our understanding of other semiotic systems. We will ask about the connection and relationship between different languages and linguistic worlds. What is "multiculture"? How are spoken language, written language and visual language interconnected within society? What constitutes cultural literacy? Literature, art, film and other visual material will be examined in both a national and international context, with a view to how these semiotic systems influence the borderlines of gender, race, class, nation, and different world cultures. The study materials include theoretical and critical writings, literary works, visual art and images, and films, as well as some current media coverage. Evaluation is based on four assignments and a written exam.

x

We will read a selection from the Pentateuch and other ancient Hebrew texts, along with most of the New Testament. For comparison we will have ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek and Latin works. The Bible is read as ancient literature and world literature, and there will be a focus on the reception of these texts through the ages, the importance of translations for the reception, and various literary theories related to the Bible, for instance about textual and interpretive societies.

The course offers a survey of Irish literature in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course focuses on plays, poetry, and novels of seminal authors as well as examining the main literary trends of the period. The course is based on lectures, discussions and group work.

The course centers on Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa, examining selected works, adaptations, Japanese culture and society, and Kurosawa‘s legacy. We will discuss what sets Kurosawa apart as a director – his style, trademarks, and his impact on both Japanese and Western film culture.  Among the themes the course will focus on are the circumstances of war, the nuclear threat, various inner psychological struggles, power struggles, sexual violence, and crime. The stories conjure pictures of heroes and villains, the dissolution of the family, fights over inheritance, conflict between parents and children, bitter sibling rivalries and bloody, brutal murders, self-justification, and different points of view. The staging and style of drama draws inspiration from, among others, the Japanese theater world, such as the Noh theater tradition and legacy and samurai culture. There is also a clear tie to Japanese folklore. Many of Kurosawa‘s films also have forerunners in the Western film world, such as John Ford‘s cowboy westerns, the works of authors like Shakespeare and Dostoyevsky, and even the Greek tragedies.   The films we will examine in the course include Seven Samurai (1954), Yojimbo (1961), Ran (1985), Dreams (1990) and Rhapsody in August (1991). We will also read selected literary works (in whole or in part) that Kurosawa adapted for the screen, including works by Shakespeare and the Japanese author Ryunosuke Akutagawa. In addition, we will look at films from other directors that bear marks of Kurosawa‘s influence. 

This course provides an overview of the main literary works in Europe during the Middle Ages. The course covers material ranging from Germanic heroic poetry to the works of the best known authors of the late Middle Ages, such as Chaucer and Dante. The main focus of the course will be to establish an overview of the various genres and literary trends of the period, while closer readings of the works will provide insight into their cultural, ideological and narratological context. Teaching will be in the form of lectures and discussions in class.

The first night of Samuel’s Beckett Wating for Godot in Paris in 1953 is widely considered as a landmark in the history of Western play-writing and theatre. The origins of the so-called absurdism in theatre is most often related to that event. The influence of the constraint, continually repeated and systematically constructed use of words and actions in Beckett’s plays is easy to trace in works written for the theatre in the latter part of the twentieth century and to this date. In the course of the seminar this specific thread in Western theatre history will be carefully looked at, and analyzed how it can be seen in the bigger context of the development of theatre. Plays written by Pirandello, Tzara, Ionesco, Genet and Arrabal will be included, and shown how Beckett’s approach to drama and theatre is reawakened by Harold Pinter and Jon Fosse. Additionally plays by the American playwright, Edward Albee, and the Icelandic dramatists Oddur Björnsson, Guðmundur Steinsson and Hrafnhildur Hagalín will be read and analyzed.The seminar will be concluded by showing how Beckett in his last period of play-writing created works that are at least as much related to performance art as they are to traditional drama.

A survey course which will focus on chief aspects of film noir. Anselection of films from the period 1940-1999 will be analysed in order tonobserve the historical development of the genre. Some novels will also benread for comparison. Among the central films in the course are thenfollowing: The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, Laura, Out of the past, Body Heat and The Last Seduction

A survey of the Spanish novel in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course focuses on the works of seminal authors and we will examine the main literary trends of the century. Some attention will be paid to film and social and political background of the period.

In this directed studies students can work on a specific project in connection to the course FRA434G French fairy tales: from Marie de France to the Enlightenment,

Fairy tales (Fr. conte féerique) have been an important part of French literature from the 12th century, as can be seen, for instance, in the Lays of Marie de France. In the late 17th century early modern audiences enjoyed the tales of Mme d‘Aulnoy, Charles Perrault, Mlle L‘Héritier de Villandon and many others, and shortly afterwards Antoine Galland published his translation of Thousand and one Night which further increased the interest in this literary genre. The story of the Beauty and the Beast by Mme de Villeneuve was published in 1740 and was one of the tales that were rewritten and adapted to children in Mme Leprince de Beaumont‘s Le Magasin des enfants, first published in London in 1756. In this course, fairy tales by various authors will be read and examined with regard to their social and cultural context (literary salons) and their characteristics. The main focus will be on fairy tales authored by women, collections, frame narratives and fairy tales in children‘s literature in the second half of the 18th century. Icelandic translations of French fairy tales will also be examined.

The course will be taught in Icelandic, with one weekly extra hour in French for the students of the Department of French Studies.

Students can also enroll in FRA505G Directed study: French fairy tales: from Marie de France to the Enlightenment 4e.

Historical overview of the development of literary theory. The main emphasis is on twentieth and twenty-first century trends and methods. In addition to lectures there are small group discussion periods.

An overview of Icelandic literary history from the beginning to the end of the 19th century. Novelties and changes in Icelandic literature will be placed in context with contemporary currents in European literature.

x

We will read a selection from the Pentateuch and other ancient Hebrew texts, along with most of the New Testament. For comparison we will have ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek and Latin works. The Bible is read as ancient literature and world literature, and there will be a focus on the reception of these texts through the ages, the importance of translations for the reception, and various literary theories related to the Bible, for instance about textual and interpretive societies.

The course offers a survey of Irish literature in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course focuses on plays, poetry, and novels of seminal authors as well as examining the main literary trends of the period. The course is based on lectures, discussions and group work.

The course centers on Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa, examining selected works, adaptations, Japanese culture and society, and Kurosawa‘s legacy. We will discuss what sets Kurosawa apart as a director – his style, trademarks, and his impact on both Japanese and Western film culture.  Among the themes the course will focus on are the circumstances of war, the nuclear threat, various inner psychological struggles, power struggles, sexual violence, and crime. The stories conjure pictures of heroes and villains, the dissolution of the family, fights over inheritance, conflict between parents and children, bitter sibling rivalries and bloody, brutal murders, self-justification, and different points of view. The staging and style of drama draws inspiration from, among others, the Japanese theater world, such as the Noh theater tradition and legacy and samurai culture. There is also a clear tie to Japanese folklore. Many of Kurosawa‘s films also have forerunners in the Western film world, such as John Ford‘s cowboy westerns, the works of authors like Shakespeare and Dostoyevsky, and even the Greek tragedies.   The films we will examine in the course include Seven Samurai (1954), Yojimbo (1961), Ran (1985), Dreams (1990) and Rhapsody in August (1991). We will also read selected literary works (in whole or in part) that Kurosawa adapted for the screen, including works by Shakespeare and the Japanese author Ryunosuke Akutagawa. In addition, we will look at films from other directors that bear marks of Kurosawa‘s influence. 

This course provides an overview of the main literary works in Europe during the Middle Ages. The course covers material ranging from Germanic heroic poetry to the works of the best known authors of the late Middle Ages, such as Chaucer and Dante. The main focus of the course will be to establish an overview of the various genres and literary trends of the period, while closer readings of the works will provide insight into their cultural, ideological and narratological context. Teaching will be in the form of lectures and discussions in class.

The first night of Samuel’s Beckett Wating for Godot in Paris in 1953 is widely considered as a landmark in the history of Western play-writing and theatre. The origins of the so-called absurdism in theatre is most often related to that event. The influence of the constraint, continually repeated and systematically constructed use of words and actions in Beckett’s plays is easy to trace in works written for the theatre in the latter part of the twentieth century and to this date. In the course of the seminar this specific thread in Western theatre history will be carefully looked at, and analyzed how it can be seen in the bigger context of the development of theatre. Plays written by Pirandello, Tzara, Ionesco, Genet and Arrabal will be included, and shown how Beckett’s approach to drama and theatre is reawakened by Harold Pinter and Jon Fosse. Additionally plays by the American playwright, Edward Albee, and the Icelandic dramatists Oddur Björnsson, Guðmundur Steinsson and Hrafnhildur Hagalín will be read and analyzed.The seminar will be concluded by showing how Beckett in his last period of play-writing created works that are at least as much related to performance art as they are to traditional drama.

A survey course which will focus on chief aspects of film noir. Anselection of films from the period 1940-1999 will be analysed in order tonobserve the historical development of the genre. Some novels will also benread for comparison. Among the central films in the course are thenfollowing: The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, Laura, Out of the past, Body Heat and The Last Seduction

A survey of the Spanish novel in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course focuses on the works of seminal authors and we will examine the main literary trends of the century. Some attention will be paid to film and social and political background of the period.

In this directed studies students can work on a specific project in connection to the course FRA434G French fairy tales: from Marie de France to the Enlightenment,

Fairy tales (Fr. conte féerique) have been an important part of French literature from the 12th century, as can be seen, for instance, in the Lays of Marie de France. In the late 17th century early modern audiences enjoyed the tales of Mme d‘Aulnoy, Charles Perrault, Mlle L‘Héritier de Villandon and many others, and shortly afterwards Antoine Galland published his translation of Thousand and one Night which further increased the interest in this literary genre. The story of the Beauty and the Beast by Mme de Villeneuve was published in 1740 and was one of the tales that were rewritten and adapted to children in Mme Leprince de Beaumont‘s Le Magasin des enfants, first published in London in 1756. In this course, fairy tales by various authors will be read and examined with regard to their social and cultural context (literary salons) and their characteristics. The main focus will be on fairy tales authored by women, collections, frame narratives and fairy tales in children‘s literature in the second half of the 18th century. Icelandic translations of French fairy tales will also be examined.

The course will be taught in Icelandic, with one weekly extra hour in French for the students of the Department of French Studies.

Students can also enroll in FRA505G Directed study: French fairy tales: from Marie de France to the Enlightenment 4e.

An overview of Icelandic literary history from the beginning to the end of the 19th century. Novelties and changes in Icelandic literature will be placed in context with contemporary currents in European literature.

x

We will read a selection from the Pentateuch and other ancient Hebrew texts, along with most of the New Testament. For comparison we will have ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek and Latin works. The Bible is read as ancient literature and world literature, and there will be a focus on the reception of these texts through the ages, the importance of translations for the reception, and various literary theories related to the Bible, for instance about textual and interpretive societies.

The course offers a survey of Irish literature in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course focuses on plays, poetry, and novels of seminal authors as well as examining the main literary trends of the period. The course is based on lectures, discussions and group work.

The course centers on Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa, examining selected works, adaptations, Japanese culture and society, and Kurosawa‘s legacy. We will discuss what sets Kurosawa apart as a director – his style, trademarks, and his impact on both Japanese and Western film culture.  Among the themes the course will focus on are the circumstances of war, the nuclear threat, various inner psychological struggles, power struggles, sexual violence, and crime. The stories conjure pictures of heroes and villains, the dissolution of the family, fights over inheritance, conflict between parents and children, bitter sibling rivalries and bloody, brutal murders, self-justification, and different points of view. The staging and style of drama draws inspiration from, among others, the Japanese theater world, such as the Noh theater tradition and legacy and samurai culture. There is also a clear tie to Japanese folklore. Many of Kurosawa‘s films also have forerunners in the Western film world, such as John Ford‘s cowboy westerns, the works of authors like Shakespeare and Dostoyevsky, and even the Greek tragedies.   The films we will examine in the course include Seven Samurai (1954), Yojimbo (1961), Ran (1985), Dreams (1990) and Rhapsody in August (1991). We will also read selected literary works (in whole or in part) that Kurosawa adapted for the screen, including works by Shakespeare and the Japanese author Ryunosuke Akutagawa. In addition, we will look at films from other directors that bear marks of Kurosawa‘s influence. 

BA-thesis in Comparative Literature

A course on Icelandic lyrics and popular culture from the mid-20th century to the present. The approaches of Cultural Studies will be used in order to throw light on the position and development of these lyrics during a period of social changes, rock culture and multimedia.

The current surge of nationalist, populist right-wing parties and authoritarian regimes not only poses a challenge to traditional political elites and to the functioning of liberal-democratic systems. It also invites comparisons with historical fascism and authoritarian rule in the interwar period, raising the question of how to define, classify, and position these parties, regimes, and ideologies on the political spectrum. The course deals with crises of the liberal order and the effects of ultra-nationalism in Europe in the 20th and 21st centuries by focusing on historical fascism and Nazism as well as contemporary populist and authoritarian formations. While the focus will be on Europe, ultra-nationalist and anti-liberal ideologies in other parts of the world will also be considered. The emphasis will be on historiographical and theoretical problems relating to the ideologies of fascism, authoritarianism, and populism; the effects of economic and political crises on the rise of radical nationalist movements; the roles of race, ethnicity, and gender; ideas about modernization, culture, welfare and racism, and foreign policy platforms. Populist and authoritarian regimes in the present will be put in a historical context, their programs and policies explored, and an attempt will be made to explain what has been termed “populist authoritarianism.”

This course provides an introduction to the study of folk narrative as a particular genre within the overall field of folkloristics. Students will be introduced to the main theories concerning the origins, features and distribution of folk tales, their role in society, their collection, methods of classification and means of preservation. Among others, students will be introduced to the work of Antti Aarne, Inger M. Boberg, Bruno Bettleheim, Linda Dégh, Stith Thompson, Timothy Tangherlini and Alan Dundes. Particular attention will be laid to the main forms of oral narrative, particular attention being paid to the form and analysis of legends and fairy tales from the viewpoint of the main arguments concerning these aspects of study, among others the work of Algirdas Greimas, Bengt Holbek, Max Lüthi, Axel Olrik and Vladimir Propp.

The legend tradition will be examined in detail in this course, in the light of both earlier and more recent academic theory concerning this subject. The concentration will be placed on Icelandic legends, how they have come about, been passed from person to person, living and developing in the oral tradition. Particular attention will be paid to what these legends tell us about folk belief in Iceland. From this viewpoint, particular attention will be paid to memorats, their source value, and the degree to which the narrative tradition shapes new narratives. Close attention will also be paid to Icelandic migratory legends, their means of transmission, their distribution, and they way in which they have been shaped and influenced by local narrative traditions and beliefs. In this context, attention will also be drawn to individual legendary motifs, and research that has been undertaken into them. 

Both fixed and relative, lived and imagined, the North has been a reservoir of imaginary potential. In this potentiality, modern subjects -- local and distant -- might regenerate and reinvigorate. The North contains apparent contradictions: beautiful and terrifying, invigorating and deadly. The imagery of such an imagined and real north, read through history, folklore, literature, film, is the subject of this course. Comparative, interdisciplinary, and multi-sited, our investigations focus on the ways in which the construction of the North has been a contested field representing different agendas and offering divergent outcomes.

Teacher of the course: JoAnn Conrad

The course looks at how identities and images of Icelanders and other nations have been shaped and they use traditions in each case. We examine Icelandic experiences and images in relation to neighbouring countries and how narratives, traditions and material culture shape nations, from national museums to midwinter festivals in London, from a wee dram of whiskey (in Scotland) to Viking sagas (in Scandinavia), with a quick stop at Up Helly Aa (in the Shetland Islands) and Olavsvaka (in the Faroe Islands); we look at a fashion show in Nuuk Center (Greenland), Nordic settlements in the New World and then we’ll post it all on social media.

We explore films and music, festivals, games and political spectacles. In particular we will analyse how national images unite and divide different groups of people. In that context we look at men and women, rural and urban communities, mobile people, racism and gender. We’ll study these images as dynamics and ideals, resources and matters of dispute, that are used for various purposes by different people in different places, by demagogues and greens, government institutions and banks, scholars and students.