Literature in Context

Module coordinator

Asst. Prof. Jernej Habjan, PhD Research Associate at the Institute of Slovenian Literature and Literary Studies ZRC SAZU; Assistant Professor of Literary Studies at the Postgraduate School ZRC SAZU.

ZRC SAZU, Novi trg 5, 3. nadstropje, Ljubljana.
+386 1 470 63 09, jernej.habjan@zrc-sazu.si

MODULE DESCRIPTION

The module Literature in Context comprises general and topical lectures and students’ work on term papers, and familiarizes students with the findings and methods tested in the research practice of the ZRC SAZU Institute of Slovenian Literature and Literary Studies. The institute has an international profile in the systematic and interdisciplinary study of literature. It uses modern methods and digital humanities techniques to collect, explore, and publish literary sources, historically interprets older Slovenian literature, analyses nineteenth- and twentieth-century Slovenian literature from a comparative literature and spatial studies perspective, develops innovative approaches to literary theory (conceptions of the literary system, discourse, genre, and narrative), and reflects on the history and methods of literary studies.

The module’s point of departure is the concept of literature as a discourse with special social functions. Its elective courses tackle literature conceived in this way from a theoretical, textology, historical, and comparative perspective within various contexts, such as:

– The system of producing, transmitting, receiving, and processing texts;

– The media system (manuscripts, newspapers and periodicals, books, and digital media);

– Literary institutions (publishing, societies, libraries, literary studies, the literary canon, and so on);

– Sociocultural relations and discourse (religion, economics, politics, arts, philosophy, and so on);

– The social and natural geographical space;

Relations between literatures (regional and global).

Instructors use a wide range of research methods, such as those typical of textology and philology, digital humanities, conceptual and cultural history, hermeneutics, structural form studies, social semiotics, systemics, comparative aesthetics, and dialogical comparatistics. They use these methods in lectures and seminars to discuss Slovenian authors, texts, practices, conceptual currents, styles, and genres from the Reformation to the present.

Students are included in the institute’s current research projects and other activities. Visiting instructors from abroad add to the program with their expertise and methodological approaches, while enabling students to compare Slovenian achievements in the discipline with those from abroad.

MODULE RESEARCH PROFILE

ZRC SAZU Institute of Slovenian Literature and Literary Studies has an international profile in the systematic and interdisciplinary study of literature. It uses modern methods and digital humanities techniques to collect, explore, and publish literary sources, historically interprets older Slovenian literature, analyses nineteenth- and twentieth-century Slovenian literature from a comparative literature and spatial studies perspective, develops innovative approaches to literary theory (conceptions of the literary system, discourse, genre, and narrative), and reflects on the history and methods of literary studies. Based on the institute’s research, the module’s point of departure is the concept of literature as a discourse situated in various socio-historical contexts. Students are included in the institute’s current research projects and other activities.