The concept of the literary character has been around since the nineteenth century, partly supplanting the more traditional concept of the 'hero' or 'heroine' of a story. The question of what defines literary characters and how they compare to actual humans has given rise to different answers and conceptions at different times. In contemporary discussions, the question of non-human entities as literary characters has become a particularly important issue.
Our course will shed spotlights on the historical changes in the conception of literary characters - and at the ways and techniques of narrating them -, as well as on the relationship between conceptions of literary characters and the conceptions of the human vs. the non-human.
We will work with a set of shorter texts of different genres and periods, as well as with a range of analytical approaches to the phenomenon of the literary character.

In addition to some historical and contemporary material theorising the concept of the literary character, as well as some older examples, we will focus on two recent novels:
Nicola Barker, I Am Sovereign (2019), and
Laline Paull, Pod (2022).
Both are readily available at our local bookshop, and of course elsewhere.
Please obtain and start reading these novels as soon as your participation in the seminar is confirmed.

Further details on primary and secondary readings will follow.