The online registration for 2nd-year BA students for Elective Courses will commence on Friday 31st January at 8.00 pm and will close on Sunday 2nd February at 11.59 pm. In order to register students access the following website: usosweb.uni.lodz.pl.
Each student chooses one course in each of the following categories (three courses altogether):
Zajęcia elektywne A
Zajęcia elektywne B
Zajęcia elektywne C
There are limits to the number of students in the groups. Please note that Professor Hinton’s two courses are identical, and the same goes for dr Szymańska’s two courses (please do not sign up for the same course twice).
In the case of denied access to the group, please make an alternative choice.
Course descriptions can be found below:
Zajęcia elektywne A (wtorki 15:15)
1. dr Jarosław Milewski, Queer Literature and Theory
What is queer? The term is notoriously difficult to define. It does not offer a stable meaning but rather contests and invites critical exploration of that which is not normative in the field of gender and sexuality. This course will center on the notion of queerness, both in critical theory and in literature, helping students understand the former and apply it in their analyses of the latter. The classes will discuss a number of issues related to queerness, such as camp aesthetics, notion of intersectionality, queer history, and gender performativity. Assigned readings will involve a selection of major works by queer writers, from Oscar Wilde through Edmund White to Alison Bechdel, as well as some seminal texts from the field of queer theory by authors such as Judith Butler or Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick.
2. prof. dr hab. Piotr Cap, Faces of conflict, crisis and security in the contemporary Polish political discourse
This course will employ tools of rhetorical and argumentation research, and critical cognitive discourse studies (discourse space research, metaphor analysis, proximization) to explore patterns of legitimization discourse used by top Polish political parties to claim state leadership in the years 2015–2024. In the first two months we will study the discourse of Law & Justice (PiS), a far-right conservative party ruling Poland from October 2015 to October 2023. We will look at L&J’s strategies of leadership legitimization involving socio-ideological polarization, strategic generation of internal as well as external conflict, threat construction and crisis management. In its second part, the course will focus on the apparently more moderate and cooperation oriented discourse strategies implemented by three opposition parties (Civic Platform, Third Way, The New Left) in the lead-up to the 2023 parliamentary elections, in which L&J finally lost power. The aim of the course is to compare and contrast the two discourses, L&J’s and the opposition’s, to speculate about the longevity of radical populist discourses such as L&J’s. We will try to verify the hypothesis that a conflict-charged, polarized populist discourse can be an extremely powerful tool, able to grant long-term political leadership. However, in a yet longer perspective, such a discourse runs a considerable risk of ‘wearing out’ and becoming vulnerable to more forward-looking and pragmatic leadership rhetoric, which presages political change. Altogether, the course promises a unique and authoritative panorama of the Polish state-political discourse, coupled with a thought-provoking picture of ties and mutual dependencies among radical and populist right-wing discourse trends colonizing the 21st century Europe.
3. dr Agata Handley, Intertextual Encounters: Interrogating the Presence of Art in Literature, Film and Music Video
Works of art have often been appropriated and repurposed by other artists, working in different art forms.
The course is designed to make you aware of the multiple relationships that exist between visual and literary/textual art forms, and to invite you to explore the turbulent and often subversive nature of those relationships. The main objectives of the course are to learn how to read works intertextually, i.e., to identify how artworks have been appropriated by other artists; to explore the interrelationship between different art forms; and to reflect on the nature of a creative process which is inspired by artworks ancient and modern.
We will focus primarily on the presence of visual arts (e.g., painting, sculpture, and photography) in 20th and 21st century literature, film and music video, engaging in an analysis of representative literary and visual sources, and selections from critical and theoretical texts. You will study work by W.H. Auden, Seamus Heaney, Tony Harrison, Beyonce, and more. You will be encouraged to adopt individual, creative approaches to works of art and literature; and to explore such concepts as intermediality and ekphrasis.
4. dr Monika Kocot, The Way of the Wild: Adventures in Mind and Landscape
The course will look at selected British and American literary texts (poems, short stories, essays, novels, travelogues) to explore various aspects of the philosophy of the wild (within and without) in nature and travel writing. The emphasis will be placed on the complex relationship between landscapes and mindscapes, on non-anthropocentric visions of nature, and on the dynamics of writing a travel narrative. A separate group of texts will focus on the theme of (Buddhist and Daoist) spirituality often evoked in contemporary nature and travel writing. We will be reading and discussing texts written by Henry David Thoreau (also known as the father of nature writing), by Beat Generation authors who embraced the way of the wild in their travel narratives (Gary Snyder, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Lew Welch), and by the 21st century nature-and-travel writers indebted both to Thoreau and the Beat Generation (Rebecca Solnit, Kathleen Jamie, Nan Shepherd, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Richard Powers, Barry Lopez, Kenneth White, and Robert Macfarlane). If you prefer roaming to dwelling, and if you want to learn what it means to be like a wind-blown cloud (Matsuo Bashō), this course is for you.
5. dr Jerzy Gaszewski, Comparing languages
It’s a plain fact that people around the world speak a multitude of languages. Linguists investigate both individual languages and compare whole sets of languages (sometimes rather sizable). The course is meant as a basic introduction to this branch of linguistics.
Some questions to which you may get answers (albeit sometimes only partial):
• How does one classify languages?
• What makes languages similar?
• What properties are shared by all languages (or at least most of them)?
• How many languages can you actually compare in one study? 4 is imaginable, but as many as 14? Or 40? That would be crazy, wouldn’t it? 400? Relax with the zeroes, please...
• If it’s impossible to consider all languages in a single study (and it certainly is), how do you choose the ones you compare?
• How on earth can you meaningfully analyse languages you don’t speak yourself?
• What makes languages one doesn’t know strange, difficult or… funny?
While we won’t actually learn any languages while analysing these issues (and more), we will certainly learn a lot about them. The course will also offer room to share your knowledge of languages you know and observations about them. The experience should also help you see English in a new light.
6. dr Katarzyna Małecka, prof UŁ, “All but Death, can be Adjusted”: Loss, Grief, and Bibliotherapy
This course will look at various representations of loss and grief in literature and culture. It will explore how those representations and reflections upon death-related issues can help grieving people as well as those who support them. Some of the questions we will try to answer in this course are:
Do we all grieve the same?
What are the most common grief reactions?
What should we say when someone close to us grieves?
How do people try to tame their fear of death?
What are the main stages of the bibliotherapeutic process?
What mourning rituals are still in existence?
While the leading theme of this course may strike one as grave or even morbid, the works we will look at offer not only comforting ideas with which many people can easily identify, but also a lot of dark humor that can help brighten the thought about the one thing none of us can avoid in the end.
The content of this course can be cognitively demanding and emotionally challenging. Though the instructor seeks to foster a safe, amicable, and respectful learning environment, if you anticipate difficulty discussing the above or other sensitive topics, another elective might be more suitable. Active and regular class participation is essential.
Zajęcia elektywne B (środy 11:45)
1. dr Maria Szymańska, Internet Linguistics
In today’s digital age, the internet has revolutionized the way we communicate, shaping both the way we use language and how we understand its role in society. From the rise of social media platforms to the proliferation of online gaming communities, digital spaces have given birth to new forms of linguistic expression. The course Internet Linguistics explores the evolving role of language in these online environments, examining how the internet has transformed communication.
In this course, students will explore the linguistic features of digital discourse and how social media platforms shape language use. Key themes include the impact of technology on language, linguistic creativity in online spaces, the intersection of language and identity, and the role of language in social movements. Students will gain practical insights into the linguistics of social media and internet subcultures. By the end of the course, students will have a comprehensive understanding of how digital communication influences language, along with a critical perspective on the future of language in the digital world.
2. dr hab. Martin Hinton, prof. UŁ,
3. dr Marta Goszczyńska, Venice in Film and Fiction
The course explores the multifaceted nature of Venice as a setting in both cinema and literature. By highlighting its symbolic ambiguities—such as, for instance, its status as a city built on water, a crossroads between East and West, and a place of masks and disguises—it reveals the city's paradoxical identity. This complex image makes Venice a dynamic backdrop for storytelling, offering room for a range of interpretations, from romantic to ominous.
The course’s focus on a range of works from the last 120 years, and their intertextual interconnections, enriches the study of Venice as a cultural backdrop. By incorporating diverse theoretical frameworks such as modernism vs. postmodernism, Freudian psychoanalysis, Levinasian ethics, gender theory, and gothic and detective conventions, the course provides a comprehensive examination of the city’s depiction in art.
Students will analyse Venice not only as a physical space but also as a symbolic and psychological one. This approach encourages deeper reflection on how the city’s representation in film and fiction reflects broader thematic concerns, from questions of identity and morality to the complexities of modern and postmodern storytelling. Through these lenses, students will gain insight into how Venetian narratives mirror larger societal, cultural and philosophical issues.
Fiction:
• Henry James: The Wings of the Dove (1902; excerpts)
• Daphne du Maurier: “Don’t Look Now” (1971; short story)
• Ian McEwan: The Comfort of Strangers (1981; excepts)
• Jeanette Winterson: The Passion (1987; excerpts)
Films:
• The Wings of the Dove (1997); dir. Iain Softley
• Death in Venice (1971), dir. Luchino Visconti
• Don’t Look Now (1973), dir. Nicolas Roeg
• The Comfort of Strangers (1990), dir. Paul Schrader
• Casino Royale (2006), dir. Martin Campbell
• The Souvenir (2019), dir. Joanna Hogg
• A Haunting in Venice (2023), dir. Kenneth Branagh
4. dr hab. Jacek Waliński, prof. UŁ, Translation of official, administrative and legal documents
The aim of the course is to familiarize participants with selected elements of knowledge, skills as well as certain social competences required in the practical domain of translation of official, administrative, and legal documents usually performed by a sworn translator. During the classes, students will become familiar with various translation techniques and the tricks of the trade of performing translations individually, as well as a member of a translation team. Please, note that in addition to advanced proficiency of English, fluent command of Polish is required to successfully participate in the course.
5. dr Agnieszka Rasmus, The Dead Don’t Die – The Return of the Zombie in Contemporary Culture
The zombie has evolved and mutated throughout decades, each time resurfacing to comment on social, cultural and political changes and upheavals. It has represented our fears of consumerism, nuclear war, contagion, technological advancement and ecological disaster, serving as a barometer of cultural anxiety.
In recent years, there has been a visible rise in zombie fictions that engage with previous productions in creative ways. For instance, the slow-moving creature introduced in George A. Romero’s seminal The Night of the Living Dead (1968) has transformed into a frenzied and enraged monster in 28 Days Later (2002), Dawn of the Dead (2004), Zombieland (2009), World War Z (2013), Z Nation (2014) or Army of the Dead (2021). The reasons for the apocalypse also vary from the sudden spread of a deadly virus (28 Days Later, World War Z) to a fungal infection (The Last of Us (2023-). Sometimes, the cause remains unclear (Night of the Living Dead, Zombieland, Walking Dead (2010-2022)), causing speculation, unease and paranoia.
Composed of various genre clichés, such as a captivating hero, a time-sensitive storyline, special effects and intensified continuity, such productions build a sensation of speed and urgency. They teach us that individual resourcefulness and courage are key to survival. They emphasise our need to rebuild communities or the semblance of family (The Last of Us, Sean of the Dead (2004), Zombieland, 28 Days Later) even in our darkest hour.
During our seminar, we will trace the roots of this cycle and its recent development. We will try to understand the reasons behind the zombie’s appeal and its cultural function. What is it about our culture that causes us to endanger our own survival? Why, despite their recent proliferation, Hollywood action films do not lead to transformative behaviours or sustainable lifestyle choices? We will try to find answers to these and other questions.
The assessment will be based on your active participation and final project.
6. mgr Johnathon Crust, Yiddish Language and Culture, in English
Yiddish was the traditional language of the Jewish people in Poland and Eastern Europe for centuries. Gradually, this unique culture and language would spread far and wide, to the United States, Canada, Argentina, and beyond, impacting local cultures and pop culture in one form or another. The children of Yiddish-speaking immigrants from Poland and Eastern Europe pretty well invented Hollywood, the comic book superhero (Superman and Batman are Jewish; Spider-Man is half Jewish, half Czech), and Las Vegas as we know it today. Literature, cinema, and theater also grew from the Yiddish language and culture. Of course, Łódź played a central role in the story, being the second largest Yiddish center in Europe (after Warsaw) before the Second World War. Yiddish, no doubt, impacted Polish culture, and vice versa. Curiously, there is also an interesting feminist element in the history, Yiddish being the so-called “mama-loshen,” the mother tongue. This course will look at the incredible world of Yiddish language and culture, in English, with a multi-media approach, looking at film, theater, music, radio, and more.
Zajęcia elektywne C (środy 15:15)
1. dr Maria Szymańska, Internet Linguistics
In today’s digital age, the internet has revolutionized the way we communicate, shaping both the way we use language and how we understand its role in society. From the rise of social media platforms to the proliferation of online gaming communities, digital spaces have given birth to new forms of linguistic expression. The course Internet Linguistics explores the evolving role of language in these online environments, examining how the internet has transformed communication.
In this course, students will explore the linguistic features of digital discourse and how social media platforms shape language use. Key themes include the impact of technology on language, linguistic creativity in online spaces, the intersection of language and identity, and the role of language in social movements. Students will gain practical insights into the linguistics of social media and internet subcultures. By the end of the course, students will have a comprehensive understanding of how digital communication influences language, along with a critical perspective on the future of language in the digital world.
2. dr hab. Martin Hinton, prof. UŁ,
3. dr hab. Tomasz Dobrogoszcz, prof. UŁ, Postmodernism in Contemporary Anglophone Fiction and Film
The goal of the course is to provide students with a general understanding of the main tenets of postmodernism and demonstrate typical examples of contemporary postmodern fiction and film. After a brief theoretical introduction to basic philosophical and aesthetic assumptions of postmodernism (J-F. Lyotard, J. Baudrillard, F. Jameson, L. Hutcheon), we will discuss the reading materials (short stories and fragments of novels by A. Carter, J. Barnes, D. Barthelme) and films (by D. Lynch, R. Scott, S. Kubrick). We will critically approach the contemporary notions of language and identity, examining such concepts as irony, metafiction, intertextuality and hyperreality.
Content warning: Please note that the selected literary and cinematographic material, while chosen with care and without intention to offend or sensationalize, may contain sensitive topics, including references to violence, death, abuse, medical issues and sexuality.
4. dr Przemysław Ostalski, Linguistic puzzles (and different ways to solve them)
The objective of the course is to give students an overview of the syntactic, lexical, phonetic and phonological variation across different languages of the world. The course analyzes linguistic puzzles/problems and provides a unique educational activity that combines analytic reasoning and linguistic/cultural awareness. Students learn about the richness, diversity and systematicity of language, while exercising natural logic and reasoning skills. Additionally students discover ways in which speakers of different languages approach reality.
5. prof. dr hab. Andrzej Wicher