Titular Professors
Not required.
The aim of the course is to analyse the relationships between literature and society, between literature and thought, between literature and European culture, and between literature and the human condition, through a selection of great authors and literary works from the 19th and 20th centuries. Some of the emblematic works of the Western European tradition will be studied, focusing attention on texts and works that allow us to interpret the European cultural and philosophical debate in a more acute and literary-brilliant way.
PHILOSOPHY AND LITERATURE: THINKING LITERARILY ABOUT THE HUMAN CONDITION
PROF. SÍLVIA COLL-VINENT
Unit 1: Literary classics and canon, to understand the human condition?
Justification of the course
Selection of authors and works
Realism as a framework
Auerbach
2 sessions
Unit 2: Realism in the Western tradition
Justification of a comparative vision
French realism and its evolution
The differential characteristics of realism in England
The influence of the Russians: the exploration of the human condition
Analysis of works: Tolstoy, Dickens, Balzac, Flaubert
Commentary on other supporting texts
3 sessions
Unit 3: Realism and the human condition
Psychologism
Objectivity?
Realism and morality. Sympathy and piety
Categories for analysis
Application in the commentary: Un coeur simple (Flaubert), A Christmas Carol (Dickens), a story by Chekhov
Conclusions
3 sessions
The teaching methodology that will be used in the teaching of the subject is specified in:
Work in the classroom:
1. Lectures. Lectures refer to the presentation by the teachers of the theoretical contents of the subject, the orientation of the students on basic and advanced readings, as well as on complementary sources of information and the establishment of guidelines and keys for the completion of theoretical-practical tasks.
2. Continuous Assessment. In this subject, a continuous assessment will be carried out that will combine active participation in classroom debates with the oral presentation of scheduled tasks about the literary texts set for commentary.
Work or activities outside the classroom:
3. Independent work by students. The independent work of students consists, on the one hand, in reading selected literary and philosophical texts and in creating diagrams, summaries, conceptual maps, etc. based on them; and on the other hand, in the preparation of individual work, especially the final course project and oral presentations.
4. Tutorials. All students will have the possibility of requesting individual or group tutorials, by appointment, from the teaching staff. These tutorials may be aimed at resolving doubts about both the content and the preparation of the tasks.
Ordinary session: In order to be assessed in the ordinary session, all the activities subject to assessment must have been completed. The assessable activities must be handed in on the dates indicated by the teaching staff. If an activity subject to assessment has not been handed in or completed, it will be recorded in the minutes as "Not submitted" in the session.
Extraordinary session: The assessment criteria are the same as in the ordinary session, so all the assessment activities considered in the course must be submitted. The grades for the activities completed will be kept, pending the completion of the pending activities. In this assessment, the same weighting criteria will be applied as in the ordinary assessment.
- Continuous assessment: participation in class and oral presentations. 40%
- Final course work: individual written work on a literary work, or a philosophical, ethical or literary aspect analysed transversally in one or several chosen texts (30,000 characters maximum). 60%
Use of AI tools: If AI tools are used in any activity, a paragraph must be included indicating why AI has been used and what indications have been used to obtain the results. Failure to do so is a violation of academic honesty policies.
Auerbach, E. (2014). Mímesis. La representación en la literatura occidental. México, FCE.
Bloom, H. (2022). El canon occidental. La escuela y los libros de todas las épocas, trad. Damián Alou. Barcelona, Anagrama.
Eagleton, T. (1983). Literary Theory: An Introduction. Oxford, Blackwell.
Forster, E. M. (1988). Aspects of the Novel. Harmondsworth, Penguin (trad. al catalán y al castellano).
Girard, R. (1985) Mentira romántica y verdad novelesca, trad. Joaquín Jordá. Barcelona, Anagrama.
Nabokov, V. (1987) Curso de literatura europea, trad. Francisco Torres Oliver. Barcelona, Bruguera.
Ortega y Gasset, José (1964). Meditaciones del Quijote e ideas sobre la novela. Madrid, Espasa-Calpe.
Ortega y Gasset, José (2021). La deshumanización del arte y otros ensayos de estética. Austral / Planeta Libros.
Raimond, M. (1981). Le Roman depuis la Révolution. París, Armand Colin.
Steiner, G. (2007). Tolstói o Dostoievski, trad. Agustí Bartra, Siruela.
Course readings:
Tolstoy, La muerte de Ivan Ilich
Balzac, Eugénie Grandet
Dickens, A Chritstmas Carol
Flaubert, Un coeur simple
Chejov, un cuento por determinar