• Frei Peter

• Frei Peter

Literary scandals are not just the bread and butter of a media industry chasing our clicks and likes, they point to the power of fictions to not only mirror the aesthetic, social and political issues of their time but also to bring them into question, to provoke. Moreover, literary scandals open our eyes to how literature is made, how literary writing is practiced and perceived as a socially relevant and meaningful form of expression, action even.

Through the prism of three scandalous figures of contemporary literature, the course will offer the opportunity to discuss in a comparative perspective the workings of literature today based on a close-reading of three short novels (Whatever by Michel Houellebecq, Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis and Axolotl Roadkill by Helene Hegemann) which we will also compare to their cinematographic adaptations in order to get a better understanding of the stakes, the possibilities and limits of literary writing in today’s world.

Please acquire a copy of the three novels in the language of your choice (English, French or German). You will be offered the opportunity to participate in your chosen language, but a (at least passive) working knowledge of the two other course languages is welcome.