The Republic of Letters. The Literary Field in a Changing World. (2025/2026: Period 3)

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Course aim

Students become acquainted with the organisation and function of the literary field in the modern era. This field includes the production, circulation and reception of literature and the process of value attribution to literary texts. Student will gain knowledge of research traditions and debates concerning literary institutions. The student will be able to apply digital methods and tools. The student is able to design and conduct a research project in this field based on quantitative and qualitative analysis.

Course content

The concept of the ‘Republic of letters’ emerged in the Renaissance and currently refers to an international community of authors, translators, publishers, book sellers, critics and academics etc., who are involved in the process of producing, disseminating and accessing literature. In this course we will specifically focus on the different ways value is attributed to literature and on the agents/institutions that are involved in this process. Our perspective will be international, comparative and sociological. Our approach will be quantitative (using computational tools) as well as qualitative. Students will study current theories and debates on institutional research, gain knowledge about translation theory and empirical research practices, learn to use and analyse big datasets with computational techniques and develop a research project themselves.

Additional information

Period 3: Please note: the time slot shown here is not yet final and may still be modified until the 3rd Wednesday in September.


Please note: there is limited availability in the course for semester 1. Students with valid urgent reasons will be given priority over students who do not have a valid reason. Students who have no valid reason but have registered for Republic of Letters in period 1 will be enrolled, subject to availability. If you have enrolled without a valid urgent reason but the course is full, you will be deregistered.


Students can enrol without the proces of the waiting list in period 3.


This course explicitly aims at improving the digital skills of students in Literary Studies.

Three out of four courses of the Literary Studies' specialisation have to be completed.

Instructional formats

Lecture

Seminar
Explanation

During the lecture the topics of the week are introduced. During the seminars students discuss and reflect on the reading material and the assignments.

Contribution

Close collaboration with fellow students.

Preparation

Students do the reading for the lectures and prepare their contributions for the seminars as instructed by their seminar teachers.

Examination

Assignment(s) 1

Required | Weight 20% | ECTS 1.5

Demonstrating working knowledge of the literary field and the ability to design an independent research project.

Deadlines will be specified in the course syllabus.

Assignment(s) 2

Required | Weight 80% | Minimum grade 5.5 | ECTS 6

Conducting an independent research project.

Deadlines will be specified in the course syllabus.

Entry requirements and preknowledge

Entry Requirements

No data about mandatory entry requirements is available.

Preknowledge

Advanced knowledge of one of the domains in the field of comparative literature. Three out of four courses of the specialisation Literary Studies have to be completed. Second year students that have decided to study abroad in their third year, are allowed to enroll in this course, after having asked permission from the course coordinator.

Prerequisite knowledge can be obtained through

Specialisations Literary Studies

Languages

  • English
  • Dutch

Course Iterations

Related studies

Exams

There is no timetable available of the exams

Required Materials

  • ARTIKELEN
    Materials will be available via Brightspace.

Recommended Materials

No information available on the recommended literature

Remarks

Priority rules in period 1.

Coördinator

dr. J.L. Salman j.salman@uu.nl

Lecturers

J. van Boheemen MSc j.vanboheemen@uu.nl
dr. S. Kleij s.kleij@uu.nl
dr. O. da Costa Fialho O.Fialho@uu.nl
dr. J.L. Salman j.salman@uu.nl
dr. M. Tabur m.tabur@uu.nl

Enrolment

Attention: this course is not open to students from other faculties, so subsidiary students can't enroll for this course.

Enrollment
From Monday 3 November 2025 up to and including Friday 21 November 2025

Late enrollment
From Monday 19 January 2026 up to and including Tuesday 20 January 2026

Enrollment closed
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