Writing the Body Politic (U02766)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : LLC-4-U02766

The course will examine a selection of texts exploring the reinvention of cultural identity in American poetry from Walt Whitman to the present day. The course encompasses such broad cultural and intellectual movements as "Transcendentalism", "Modernism" and the "Postmodern". The term "body politic", while inescapably cultural and political in its primary emphasis, is also intended to felicitate discussion of those issues of sexuality and gender that inflect cultural and political subjectivities.

Entry Requirements

? This course is not available to visting students.

? Pre-requisites : Passes in Enlgish or Scottish Literature 1, and English or Scottish or American Literature 2, with a mark of 50 or above at the first attempt in the second year course. Passes in third year courses in the subject area amounting to at least 40 credits.

? Special Arrangements for Entry : Numbers are limited to 15, with priority given to students taking degrees involving English or Scottish Literature and Visiting Students placed by the Admissions Office. Students not in these categories need the written approval of the Head of English Literature before enrolling. In the case of excess applications places will be decided by ballot.

? Costs : Essential course texts.

Subject Areas

Home subject area

English Literature, (School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, Schedule G)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 4th year

? Delivery Period : Semester 2 (Blocks 3-4)

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

? Other Required Attendance : 1 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Thursday	14:00	15:50	Central

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

Students will benefit from the course's close attention to textual detail and the broader contextual framework within which the texts operate. Issues of cultural identity and value will be examined in a context that also enable students to examine the nature and utility of these more general ideological formations.

The course will enhance students' ability to read critically and comparatively and to engage with an area of specialist research not otherwise available to students at Edinburgh.