Introduction to Literature (BA course) (Barbara Braid, Paulina Semeniuk)

The course is designed to equip the students with basic terminology and skills concerning literary analysis and interpretation. It comprises a lecture on the introduction to literary theories, and a seminar class in which the skills of literary study are practiced on the examples taken from a range of texts in British and American literature.

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The History of English Speaking Countries (Anna Łakowicz-Dopiera, Joanna Witkowska)

The course is designed to develop students’ general knowledge of British and American history. It comprises lectures on British history (30 hours) and U.S. history (30 hours).

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English Literature (BA course) (Julitta Rydlewska)

The course introduces a selection of canonical specimens of English literature from Anglo-Saxon times to the mid-twentieth century. It also aims at creating awareness of development and richness of English literature, an ability of analyzing and interpreting literary texts, a thoughtful use of resources, critical and analytical thinking, independence of thought, and respect for evidence and opinions of others.

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The literature of North America (BA course) (Anna Łakowicz-Dopiera)

The main objective of the course is to develop students' sensitivity to literature perceived as a continuous process of cultural development and to raise interest and appreciation for American literature as a part of world cultural heritage. The course is an overview of consecutive literary periods beginning with the earliest literary attempts of authors who came and lived in America, through the process of emerging natural awareness, and finishing with the late 20th C literary representations.

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Transcultural Communication (BA course) (Justyna Stępień)

This course examines communication in the transcultural setting, both domestic and international. The course focuses upon (a) how culture influences the communication process and the development of relationships, and (b) dynamics of transcultural encounters. Special emphasis will be given to diversity in the workplace. Class activities include presentation of materials, guided discussion and analysis, exercises, simulations, and group problem-analysis.

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The Gothic Novel in the 18th and 19th centuries (BA course) (Barbara Braid)

The objective of the lecture is to provide the students with an overview of the gothic genre, from Horace Walpole and 18th century gothic romance, to the Romantic and Victorian developments and classic samples of Gothicism. It also mentions contemporary transformation of Gothicism into horror fiction and popular adaptations and appropriations of the gothic in visual culture, and includes most significant examples of the American gothic and a discussion of the vampire motif in culture.

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Genre Matters (Beata Zawadka)

The lecture has been designed as an introduction to film genre studies. It is set to demonstrate both the theoretical paradigms necessary for studying film genre as such and the relation of this genre to other areas of the 20th-21st century culture, e.g. history, sociology, or economy.

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Cinema for Dummies (Beata Zawadka)

The lecture's intention is to present the rudimentaries of the broadly understood film culture for the purpose of its critical analysis. 

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Yes, We're So Cool! Youth Cultures and Rebellion in Literature and Culture (BA course) (Justyna Stępień)

This is an interdisciplinary seminar that explores the development of various forms of youth rebellion and subversion from post-1945 America and Great Britain until today. Students will seek to understand the relationship between youth cultures, mass culture, and adult mainstream society, and the way each shapes and is shaped by the other. The dynamics between youth and society, intersection of youth cultures and relations based on gender, race, class, region, and geography will be investigated. The course is designed as a combination of short lectures, screenings, and discussions, and provides an interdisciplinary overview of cultural productions. Students develop a critical working knowledge of the approaches used in the study of cultural texts (films, TV- series literary texts, visual arts).

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Movie Slang 101 (BA diploma seminar) (Beata Zawadka)

The seminar is an introduction to the language of cinema. It gives students the basic tools to critically deal with cinematic performances.

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The Novel in Literatures in English (BA diploma seminar) (Barbara Braid)

The course provides an overview of the history of the novel in English and of most important novelistic genres, from Bildungsroman to crime fiction, on selected examples. This becomes a background for students’ own choices concerning the topic of their BA diploma thesis on literatures in English. The course also provides the students with support concerning the strategies and processes involved in writing and revising their dissertation.

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Modes and Conventions in English Literature (MA course) (Julitta Rydlewska)     

The course discusses formal, ideological and aesthetic aspects of selected cultural traditions to be found in English literature and contemporary popular culture.

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Polish-British Relations during WWII (MA course) (Joanna Witkowska)

The elective course is designed to show the nature and the scope of Polish-British relations during WWII; students discuss and critically analyse common conceptions and misconceptions about the relations and are encouraged to embark on their own research into the topic. It comprises a seminar class of 30 hours.   

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The Novel in English after 2000 (MA course) (Barbara Braid)

The purpose of this course is to familiarize the students with recent fiction in English language and the thematic and theoretical trends that are most prominent in contemporary literature and literary scholarship. The choice was made to include English-speaking cultures beyond English and American ones (including the immigrant and post-colonial cultures). The themes touched upon and intersected in the novels include: the body, gender and sexuality, the postcolonial and hybrid identities, history and memory, trauma, capitalism and technology; a range of new narrative voices and perspectives are also sampled. Elements of some latest theoretical approaches to fiction are also suggested, and they include posthumanism, postcolonialism, trauma theory, hauntology, queer theory, and disability theory, among others.

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Contemporary Afro-American Prose (MA course) (Anna Łakowicz-Dopiera)

The main objective of the course is to familiarize students with the literary and social output of the selected Afro-American and authors and public figures of the 20th C to understand the social standing of the African-American minority and to confront racism. The topics comprise main literary periods: from Reconstruction to the New Negro (1865-1919), Harlem Renaissance (1920-1940), Realism, Naturalism, Modernism (1940-1960), The Black Artists Era (1960-1975), Literature since 1975.

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Contemporary trends in American prose (MA course) (Anna Łakowicz-Dopiera)

The lectures cover the literary processes in the US which have been taking place for the last sixty years. The objective of the consecutive lectures is to familiarize students with the innovative character of the American prose and to point out the forms and problems which demonstrate cultural continuity of American literature. The discussed issues are presented within the context of political, social and cultural transformations of the last decades. The profound social changes initiated in nineteen sixties  have been reflected in forms, themes and ideologies of the American literature. Therefore the topics discussed will cover essential facets of feminism, prose of the minorities (Afro-American, ethnic, queer), and 'new realism'.

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Contemporary tendencies in literatures of  the English-speaking countries (MA course) (Anna Łakowicz-Dopiera)

The objective of the course is the discussion of selected examples of contemporary literatures written in English from such countries as Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Nigeria, India or the Republic of South Africa. The main focus is on put on developing students' sensitivity to literary expression of the authors who deal with long- marginalized problems of colonial past, identity, race, estrangement or alienation (to name a few). 

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Critical Theory Workshops (MA course) (Justyna Stępień)

The primary objective of the course is to familiarize students with contemporary theories and methodology of literary and cultural studies. The course provides a transdisciplinary and comparative work in theory, in the most expansive sense to cultivate productive debates around specific themes and issues, with a particular emphasis on contemporary debates and current events.

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James Baldwin – African American Insights (MA course) (Uwe Zagratzki)

The author is considered as an outstanding voice of the Civil Rights Movement in the US of the late 1950s and early 1960s until his death in 1987. The course seeks to come to terms with his manifold writings and issues contained in them. Students prepare talks in research groups relating to identity and anger, religion, race relations and class, gender and sexuality, autobiography and the creative artist.

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MA diploma seminar in Literatures in English (Julitta Rydlewska)         

The course guides students in writing the MA thesis and studying for the diploma examination: settles the topic and designs the strategy of writing the thesis.  Following their interests, students chose social, cultural, political, philosophical, or formal aspects they want to discus in chosen specimens of literature in English. Additionally to individual research questions, more general issues like the complexity and multi-layering of literature are discussed.

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North American Literature from 1914 to the Present (MA diploma seminar) (Uwe Zagratzki)

The seminar covers fictional prose and poetry from both Canada and the United States in the given period and along with individual authors changes in the modes of narration are at the focus of classroom debates. A strong emphasis is put on Canadian literature. Students are expected to work in set work groups on characteristic narrative devices, to reflect upon the respective cultural background of both countries and to enhance their knowledge of CAN LIT with a view on knowledgeable presentations.

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Film Culture/s (MA diploma seminar) (Beata Zawadka)

The seminar is an introduction to film theory. It offers students an insight into the (selected) theoretical paradigms necessary for studying film on an advanced level.