Undergraduate Course: Modernity and the Discourse of Discovery 1550-1740 (ENLI10117)
Course Outline
| School |
School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College |
College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type |
Standard |
Availability |
Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) |
SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Credits |
20 |
| Home subject area |
English Literature |
Other subject area |
None |
| Course website |
http://www.englit.ed.ac.uk/studying/undergrd/honours/3year/2004-2005/coursedesc/ls3spr.htm |
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| Course description |
This course aims to examine the production of representations of early modern culture in the period between 1550-1740 by exploring a number of texts published during this time. The course begins by introducing a number of theoretical perspectives upon the relationship between colonial narratives and the production of early modern cultural history. The work of Michel de Certeau, Michel Foucault, Stephen Greenblatt, Laura Brown and Homi Bhabha will figure here. It then develops these insights in the context of seven key early modern texts: Thomas More's Utopia; John Milton's Paradise Lost; William Shakespeare's The Tempest; Aphra Benn's Oronooko; Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe; Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock; and Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. |
Course Delivery Information
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
| Students who successfully completet the course will enhance their knowledge of the literature of the period, with specific regard to a number of major genres and intellectual issues. They will be equipped to explore for themselves the meaning of cultural 'modernity' and, in particular, the links between the emergence of 'modern' philosophical discourse in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and the development of new political and cultural formations. It will enhance their ability to read critically and comparatively and to engage with an area of specialist research not otherwise available to students at Edinburgh. |
Assessment Information
| 1 essay of 2,500 words (25%); 1 two-hour exam (75%) |
| Please see Visiting Student Prospectus website for Visiting Student Assessment information |
Special Arrangements
| Numbers are limited and students taking degrees not involving English or Scottish literature need the written approval of the head of English Literature |
Contacts
| Course organiser |
Dr Lee Spinks
Tel: (0131 6)50 3616
Email: Lee.Spinks@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary |
Mrs Catherine Williamson
Tel: (0131 6)50 3620
Email: Catherine.Williamson@ed.ac.uk |
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1 September 2010 5:59 am
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