Elective

CLIT7018 Realism/Surrealism

Through a selection of literary and visual narratives, the course explores the intricate relation between realism and surrealism in culture and the arts. The first portion deals with some fundamental issues in the debates surrounding realism: mimesis, reality and alienation effects as well as the political unconscious. The second half turns to literary and filmic genres which are normally not grouped under the rubric of realism. Focus shifts to the fairy tale, ghost story, mockumentary, quasi-realism, and science fiction film. With this variety of fantastic narratives, the course continues to reflect upon questions of realism raised in the first module by focusing on issues related to defamiliarization, the architectural uncanny, and crisis consciousness.