Seminar 8. Darwinian Trauma in Graham Swift's "Ever After"
Abschlussbedingungen
3. The title as a symbol:
Opened: Sonntag, 5. September 2021, 21:24
Due: Freitag, 12. November 2021, 21:24
1. Darwinism and Victorian society:
- What
was the Victorian society’s reaction to Darwin’s theory?
- What
were the possible ways of coping with Darwinian trauma?
- Why
does John Fowles
compare Darwin’s theory to a bomb?
- What
influence does Darwinian trauma have upon the modern society?
2. "Ever After": Structure
- How
many plotlines are there in the story?
- What
periods of time do they cover and why so?
- By
what means do the plotlines interact?
- How
would you define the genre of the novel?
- What
message might the title of Swift’s novel deliver?
- What
are the basic laws and regulations of a fairy-tale world?
- What
parts of the story seem to follow a fairy-tale pattern?
4. Family Chronicle:
- How
many generations of Unwin’s
family are represented in the novel? What seems to be the most remarkable thing
they share? Might this feature be inherited?
- Who
of the characters is obsessed with genealogy and why?
- What
role do father figures (or their absence) play in the story?
5. Blissful Ignorance:
- What’s
the meaning of an idiom “fool’s paradise”?
- Do
you agree with the proverb “ask no questions, hear no lies”?
- What
is the modern attitude towards knowledge?
- Can
fiction provide any soothing alternative to the grim reality?