Literature: In the beginning was the word (Under 18s)

**Under 18s**

Delve into language, verse and deeply subversive thinking with an ambitious course of literary study. At every turn we will ask troubling questions and rack our brains before proudly refusing to resolve them. We shall attempt to leap through thousands of years of literary history and set it up as an uncertain mirror of human experience. The main purpose of the course is to explore the question why cultures produce artefacts as ostensibly useless as literary texts. What roles can they play in politics, philosophy, religion and daily life? What, if anything, connects them?

Works studied may include (mostly as set reading before the course or as excerpts):

The Epic of Gilgamesh
A selection of mythology (Indian, Maori, Greek)
Renaissance drama
20th century fiction
Literary theory

A good command of English is recommended: you should be able to read and discuss texts, but you don’t need any background in the study of literature or art. My aim for the week is to go away with a sense of reflection and self-reflection.

Course leader

Kryštof Vosátka

Target group

High school students

Course aim

The main purpose of the course is to explore the question why cultures produce artefacts as ostensibly useless as literary texts. What roles can they play in politics, philosophy, religion and daily life? What, if anything, connects them?