The Country House Tradition

Course Description

It is not least due to the National Trust's work of preservation and reconstruction that the British public have become aware of the rich heritage of country houses that Britain calls its own. But if it is the Trust's merit to have saved many buildings from decay and to have made these once privately owned houses accessible to the public, the country house had already held a prominent position in the nation's self-image long before the Trust's work began around the turn of the 20th century. The country house is the symbol of a glorious past in which aristocratic ostentation was counterbalanced by a feudal bond of responsibility for one's inferiors. Apart from its significance for the rural community, the country house formed a contrast with the town house. It offered its owner a retreat from London with its court and busy political and commercial life. This seminar offers participants the opportunity to familiarize themselves with some literary representations of the country house and its social and political associations as well as its position within the self-image, cultivated by the British.

Pre-requisites: Earning course credit in this Proseminar presupposes that students have already taken the lecture course 'Introduction to the Study of Literature' and that they attend the seminar on a regular basis.

Required reading:

Forster, E.M. (2000 [1910]). Howard's End London: Penguin.
Waugh, Evelyn (1999 [1945]). Brideshead Revisited London: Penguin.

Further titles will be announced in the seminar.