English

Mementoes: Reading, Writing and Remembering [Spring]

A man wakes in a motel room with only tattoos, some Polaroid photos and a few scribbled notes to tell him where he is and why he is there. A South American town is visited by a strange plague: no-one can sleep; people begin to forget how to do the simplest things. A woman steals a baby from a supermarket, convinced it is the child she lost long ago. In these episodes, taken from texts and movies studied on the course, we get a hint of the preoccupation with remembering and amnesia that characterises much modern writing.

Using theories of memory ancient and modern, we will trace this preoccupation through novels, films, plays and short stories of the twentieth century, including Christopher Nolan’s movie Memento, Martin Amis’s Time’s Arrow, Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five, Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, and selected works by, amongst others, Gabriel García Márquez, Jorge Luis Borges, and Penelope Lively.

The field trip takes us either to Bristol or London to see plays and films connected with the course.

Subject areas: English and Film
Check with your home institution for specific information on fulfilment of major/course requirements.

Introduction  |   Location and Housing   |   Programme Events  |   Academic   |   Social

Admissions   |  Summer School  |  Alumni  |  Links   |  FAQs   |  Contact ASE   |  Home

Revised Jan 2006
Copyright © 2006 Advanced Studies in England. All rights reserved.
For information or comments about this website e-mail admin@asebath.org
Credits for the ASE Website