Undergraduate Course: Edinburgh: City of Literature (LLLG08001)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 8 (Year 1 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Part-year visiting students only |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Edinburgh has an enormously rich literary heritage and was the first city in the world to receive UNESCO City of Literature status. This course examines some of Edinburgh's most celebrated literary talents, some Edinburgh locals and other Edinburgh visitors. Alongside works by among others Robert Burns, Robert Louis Stevenson, Ian Rankin, Muriel Spark and Irvine Welsh, the course will explore these writers' presence in the city through manuscript collections and objects in the National Libraries and Museums of Scotland and the Edinburgh Writers' Museum. We will also follow their footsteps through the city and see how their presence has been marked with monuments, plaques and other forms of cultural heritage. We will consider how these writers represent the city in their works and how it has shaped their writing. |
| Course description |
WEEK 1
MONDAY
Introductory Lecture: Edinburgh as a literary city
Lecture: Burns in Edinburgh
Tutorial: Burns: Selected Poetry
TUESDAY
Burns in Edinburgh walk and visit to National Library of Scotland
Tutorial: Burns: Selected Poetry
WEDNESDAY
Lecture: Robert Louis Stevenson and Edinburgh
Tutorial: Robert Louis Stevenson: Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
THURSDAY
Stevenson in Edinburgh walk and visit to Writers¿ Museum
Tutorial: Robert Louis Stevenson: Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
FRIDAY
Essay workshop
WEEK 2
MONDAY
Lecture: Arthur Conan Doyle in Edinburgh
Tutorial: Arthur Conan Doyle: Sherlock Holmes: Selected Stories
TUESDAY
Doyle in Edinburgh visit to Edinburgh College of Surgeons
Tutorial: Arthur Conan Doyle: Sherlock Holmes: Selected Stories
WEDNESDAY
Lecture: Muriel Spark and Edinburgh
Tutorial: Muriel Spark: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
THURSDAY
Spark in Edinburgh visit to National Library of Scotland
Tutorial: Muriel Spark: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
FRIDAY
Oral presentation workshop
WEEK 3
MONDAY
Lecture: Ian Rankin and Edinburgh
Tutorial: Ian Rankin: Set in Darkness
TUESDAY
Rankin in Edinburgh walk
Tutorial: Ian Rankin: Set in Darkness
WEDNESDAY
Lecture: Irvine Welsh and Edinburgh
Tutorial: Irvine Welsh: Trainspotting
THURSDAY
Welsh in Edinburgh walk
Tutorial: Tutorial: Irvine Welsh: Trainspotting
FRIDAY
Assessed oral presentations and essay workshop
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | Costs of essential books on reading list and any entrance fees for study visits. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- By the end of the course students should be able to:
Discuss texts confidently in groups and as part of an assessed oral presentation.
- Assess literature based, to a certain extent, on their own close reading
- Place literature in its historical and geographical context
- Understand the cultural remains left by writers in Edinburgh.
- Write detailed and confident essays in response to assessment questions.
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Reading List
Essential:
Burns, Robert, 2013. Selected Poems and Songs. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Stevenson, Robert Louis, 2008. Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Oxford, Oxford World¿s Classics.
Doyle, Arthur Conan, 2008. Sherlock Holmes: Selected Stories. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Spark, Muriel, 2000. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Penguin: Harmondsworth.
Rankin, Ian, 2000. Set in Darkness. London: Orion.
Welsh, Irvine, 1994. Trainspotting. London: Vintage.
Recommended:
Mullan, John, 2008. How Novels Work OUP, Oxford.
Wallace, Gavin and Stevenson, Randall, eds., 1993. The Scottish Novel Since the 1970s. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Skoblow, Jeffrey, 2001 Dooble Tongue: Scots, Burns, Contradiction. Newark: University of Delaware Press.
Stevenson, Robert Louis (2003) Stevenson¿s Scotland Edinburgh, Mercat Press.
Edwards, Owen Dudley, 1984. The Quest for Sherlock Holmes. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Mackaill, Alan and Kemp, Dawn, 2007. Conan Doyle and Joseph Bell: The Real Sherlock Holmes. Edinburgh: Royal College of Surgeons.
Gardiner, Michael and Maley, Willy. eds., 2010. The Edinburgh Companion to Muriel Spark. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Morace, Robert, 2001. Irvine Welsh¿s Trainspotting: A Reader¿s Guide. London: Continuum.
Rankin, Ian, 2005. Rebus¿ Scotland. London: Orion.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
* Close critical reading of passages from texts.
* Small group working.
* Setting literature in historical, social and political context.
* Advance preparation of material for class including work for essays and class discussion.
* Wide reading. Students will be encouraged to work around the subject by reading relevant secondary material.
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| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Anya Clayworth
Tel:
Email: aclaywor@staffmail.ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Rachel Martin
Tel: (0131 6)50 9418
Email: rachel.martin@ed.ac.uk |
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