Andreas Kilcher: Catalogue data in Spring Semester 2022

Name	Prof. Dr. Andreas Kilcher
Field	Literature and Cultural Studies
Address	Literatur- u. Kulturwiss., Kilcher ETH Zürich, RZ H 1.2 Clausiusstrasse 59 8092 Zürich SWITZERLAND
Telephone	+41 44 632 79 20
E-mail	akilcher@ethz.ch
Department	Humanities, Social and Political Sciences
Relationship	Full Professor

Number	Title	ECTS	Hours	Lecturers
851-0300-60L	Franz Kafka. Modernism's Literary Knowledge	3 credits	2V	A. Kilcher
Abstract	The course offers an overview of Kafka's texts while revealing a twofold perspective. On the one hand, the text as a literary composition occupies central stage; at the same time, however, the aim is to understand the interrelatedness of these texts with cultural, political, economical and literary discourse of Kafka's time.
Learning objective	1) Students are acquainted with Kafka's texts; 2) students are familiar with the historical, cultural and political contexts of Kafka's work; 3) students gain insight in Kafka's process of writing; 4) students gain insight into the nature of knowledge of Kafka's texts.
851-0304-00L	Science Fiction	3 credits	2S	A. Kilcher, C. Weidmann
Abstract	In the age of mechanization, “scientific romances” (H.G. Wells) emerged, which amplify the new possibilities of knowledge in distant futures and foreign worlds. In the seminary, these are to be contextualized in terms of the history of knowledge as well as politics. We also discuss theories of science fiction, with their euphoric or critical reflections on hypertechnical societies.
Learning objective	- Concept and history of science fiction - Theory of science fiction and related forms (e.g. utopia, fantasy) - Contexts of the history of knowledge and technology in the 19th and 20th centuries. - Potential of science fiction to criticise technology and society
Content	What became a popular genre of film - reinforced by digital techniques - has its beginnings in literature around 1900: the fictional imagination of scientific and technical future worlds. In the midst of the age of industrialization and mechanization, “scientific romances” (H.G. Wells) were created, which combine natural science and fantasy and reflect new possibilities of knowledge in distant futures and alien worlds. It is not only about scientific-technical speculation (such as space travel, robots, AI, para-scientific experiments), but also about negotiating social and political alternatives, be it in an affirmative and utopian or in a critical and dystopian way. This fictitious exaggeration of scientification is to be examined in the seminar on the one hand historically, using literary examples and their historical contexts (from Jules Verne, HG Wells, Theodor Herzl, Kurd Laßwitz and Robert Kraft to Isaac Asimov, Stanislaw Lem, Philip Dick and Ursula Le Guin, among others ). This brings into view scientific-technical as well as social, economic and political contexts (e.g. totalitarianism, socialism, cold war). Secondly, it is about theories of science fiction that reflect this genre from different perspectives and, using it symptomatically, arrive not only at general literary and scientific observations, but also at euphoric or critical considerations of hypertechnical societies (including Roland Barthes, Umberto Eco, Darko Suvin, Donna Haraway).
862-0089-10L	Advanced Colloquium in Literary Studies (FS 2022) Colloquium is designed for advanced and graduated students.	2 credits	1K	A. Kilcher
Abstract	The colloquium addresses advanced and graduate students. First, it offers participants the opportunity to present their own research projects (work in progress); and, second, it provides a most fruitful space to discuss methodological, theoretical and systematic complex issues.
Learning objective	The colloquium addresses advanced and graduate students. First, it offers participants the opportunity to present their own research projects (work in progress); and, second, it provides a most fruitful space to discuss methodological, theoretical and systematic complex issues.