Postgraduate Course: Scottish Literature, Imagination, and Faith (THET11049)
Course Outline
| School | School of Divinity |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Scottish Literature, Imagination, and Faith introduces Level 11 students to the work of some of the key writers dealing with faith and fiction in Scotland from the Romantic period to the late twentieth century. Students are encouraged to explore the connections between a varied range of Scottish poets, authors, and dramatists in their evolving national, historical, social and theological contexts. |
| Course description |
Academic Description:
This interdisciplinary course will enable students to trace and examine the rich and constantly evolving nature of religious thought in Scotland through selected literary texts published from the Romantic period to the late-twentieth century. In order to achieve this, the work of a variety of writers from different religious (and non-religious) perspectives is considered in historical, theological and social contexts. By analysing key critical terms and concepts which inform Scottish literary texts, including plays, poetry, novels, and short stories, students will relate texts to the religious environments which shaped them. In this way, they will gain a fuller and more enriched understanding of the relationship between Scottish literature and religion.
Syllabus/Outline Content:
This course will begin with consideration of how national literatures are constructed, before moving on to explore selected Scottish texts, religious voices, and literary forms each week in their historical and theological contexts. The course is chronological in structure, and moves through writing reflecting romantic supernaturalism, themes of social and religious change, and Victorian religious pessimism, to twentieth-century reconstructions of Scotland's early religious history and conflict. The course's final weeks reflect the growing religious pluralism and diversity of modern Scotland in selected texts, which nonetheless draw on earlier Scottish literary forms and themes in their exploration of the nation's religious imagination.
Student Learning Experience Information:
This course has a programme of a weekly lecture and seminar, plus 5 additional tutorials for level 11 students. On the basis of students' preparatory reading of a range of literary texts and other writings, seminars will be used to explore and compare the connections between Scottish authors, poets, and dramatists in their evolving religious and social milieus. Preparation for seminars will also depend on students each leading (or co-leading) discussion in one week of the course. This will involve leading a conversation centred on key theological, ethical and religious themes in the texts. Students will also be required to give formal presentations in the seminar and they will submit these in written form.
The structure for this course is chronological, and though these texts respond to the age in which they are written, many also deal with historical religious conflicts, developments and devotions. As such, students will be encouraged to explore the connections between historical periods, and they will be guided through the examination of concepts such as national literature and religious change. Students will also be offered formative feedback as the course progresses. This will help them to develop the knowledge and analytical skills that will be assessed in the course's assignments.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2022/23, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 11,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 16,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 1,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
168 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
90 %,
Practical Exam
10 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
10% - Class presentation
30% - Creative writing exercise (1500 words)
60% - Extended final essay (2500 words)
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| Feedback |
Students will have the opportunity to submit and receive feedback on a plan for the extended essay. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Critically appraise the key literary texts and authors dealing with religious themes in Scotland from Romanticism to modernity.
- Identify, compare and contrast the depictions and responses of religious traditions in Scotland.
- Outline and explain the development of the Scottish literary-religious canon.
- Critically examine the differences in theological emphasis in literary texts by Scottish writers over the last two hundred years.
- Evaluate the usefulness and limitations of scholarship on the relationship between literature and religion.
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Reading List
| In the past, texts have included Robert Louis Stevenson's 'Thrawn Janet', Margaret Oliphant's A Beleaguered City, James BV Thomson's The City of Dreadful Night, John Buchan's Witch Wood, George Mackay Brown's Magnus, Muriel Spark's The Mandelbaum Gate, David Greig's The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart, and Anne Donovan's Buddha Da. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
- Critical thinking and reflection (developed through reflection on lectures, the seminar, in the creative writing exercise and extended essay)
- Working within a team (developed through leading the seminar discussion singly on in pairs)
- Research skills (developed through preparation for the presentation, the creative writing exercise and the extended essay)
- Effective communication skills (developed through contribution to seminar discussion and leading a seminar for one week in the course) |
| Keywords | Literature,poetry,drama,short stories,fiction,theology,religion,Bible |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Linden Bicket
Tel: (0131 6)50 8946
Email: L.Bicket@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Rachel Dutton
Tel: (0131 6)50 7227
Email: rdutton@ed.ac.uk |
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