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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2017/2018

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures : English Literature

Postgraduate Course: Republican Visions (PG Version) (ENLI11231)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Literatures, Languages and Cultures CollegeCollege of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThe aim of this course is to explore the various ways in which a number of key modern American writers have interrogated and refashioned the rhetoric and the ideology of the American Republic. To this end, the course begins by identifying and discussing some of the central ideological constituents of the discourse of American republicanism (the idea of American "exceptionalism," the claims of manifest destiny, the rhetoric of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, the importance of the tradition of Puritan redemption, and so on). Having established this ideological background, the course proceeds to examine the way that nine writers have drawn upon the historical and cultural repertoire of American republicanism in order to consider the influence of this intellectual inheritance upon contemporary ideas of subjectivity, cultural value and the relationship between politics and ethics. This course is taught jointly with undergraduate students.
Course description The aim of this course is to explore the various ways in which a number of key modern American writers have interrogated and refashioned the rhetoric and the ideology of the American Republic. To this end, the course begins by identifying and discussing some of the central ideological constituents of the discourse of American republicanism (the idea of American "exceptionalism," the claims of manifest destiny, the rhetoric of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, the importance of the tradition of Puritan redemption, and so on). Having established this ideological background, the course proceeds to examine the way that nine writers have drawn upon the historical and cultural repertoire of American republicanism in order to consider the influence of this intellectual inheritance upon contemporary ideas of subjectivity, cultural value and the relationship between politics and ethics.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2017/18, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  3
Course Start Semester 2
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 176 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) 4,000 word essay (100%)
Feedback Not entered
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. identify the various formal consitituents of the discourse(s) of American Republicanism;
  2. have developed the ability to interrogate the often complex relationship between the modalities of literary narrative and the forms and structures of historiographical writing;
  3. use the course's emphasis upon generic and discursive constructions such as "realism", "modernism", "postmodernism", "historiography" and "ideology" to develop a conceptual sophistication that will serve them well during their degree programme.
Reading List
None
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsNot entered
Contacts
Course organiserDr Lee Spinks
Tel: (0131 6)50 3616
Email: Lee.Spinks@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Kara Mccormack
Tel: (0131 6)50 3030
Email: Kara.McCormack@ed.ac.uk
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