Unit information: Travel Literature from the Vikings to Captain Cook in 2009/10

Unit name	Travel Literature from the Vikings to Captain Cook
Unit code	GERM32057
Credit points	20
Level of study	H/6
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Dr. Anne Simon
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Department of German
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

To introduce students to the history of German travel, especially pilgrimage and exploration; to familiarize students with key texts of German travel writing on the Holy Land, America and the Pacific; to explore continuities and discontinuities in the mode of seeing and experiencing foreign cultures; to establish how experiences and attitudes inherited from the Middle Ages still shape contemporary attitudes to foreign cultures; to train students further in the selection and analysis of original sources and in the combination of information from different types of source into a clear, structured, independent and convincing presentation of their findings.

Aims:

• To introduce students to a significant body of knowledge of a complexity appropriate to final year level. The content matter will normally include one or more of the following: literature; social, cultural or political history; linguistics; cultural studies; film, television or other media.

• To facilitate students engagement with a body of literature, including secondary literature, texts, including in non-print media, primary sources and ideas as a basis for their own analysis and development. Normally many or most of these sources will be in a language other than English and will enhance the development of their linguistic skills.

• To develop further skills of synthesis, analysis and independent research, building on the skills acquired in units at level I.

• To equip students with the skills to undertake postgraduate study in a relevant field.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Successful students will:

• be knowledgable about a significant cultural, historical or linguistic subject related to the language they are studying;

• will have advanced skills in the selection and synthesis of relevant material;

• be able to evaluate and analyse relevant material from a significant body of source materials, usually in a foreign language, at an advanced level;

• be able to respond to questions or problems by presenting their independent judgements in an appropriate style and at an advanced level of complexity;

• be able to transfer these skills to other working environments, including postgraduate study.

Teaching Information

1 x 2hr slot weekly

Assessment Information

• An essay of 3,000 words (50%)

• A three-hour exam (50%)

Reading and References

Recommended Reading:

• Rosamund Allen (ed.), Eastward Bound. Travel and travellers 1050-1550 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004)

• Peter J. Brenner (ed.), Der Reisebericht, suhrkamp taschenbuch materialien (Frankfurt am Main: suhrkamp, 1989)

• The Cambridge Companion to Travel Writing, ed. Peter Hulme & Tim Youngs (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002)

• Evelyn Edson, Mapping Time and Space: How Medieval Mapmakers Viewed Their World (London: The British Library, 1997)

• Norbert Ohler, Reisen im Mittelalter (1Munich 1986); The medieval traveller, trans. Caroline Hillier (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1989)

• Martin Sommerfeld, Die Reisebeschreibungen der deutschen Jerusalempilger im ausgehenden Mittelalter, Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift, 2 (1924), 816-851

Set texts:

• The Vinland Sagas (Penguin Classics)

• A coursebook with the remaining texts will be provided