Undergraduate Course: Ideology and Literature (ENLI10083)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Is ideology a system of belief, a form of 'false' consciousness, or the inescapable matrix through which we are compelled to encounter 'reality'? Can poetry, plays, and novels provide a unique perspective upon the ways in which ideology operates within individuals and society, or is literature condemned to repeat the ideological reflexes that enable it to have a voice in the first place? This course will examine these questions through its reading of selected texts from the 19th and 20th centuries, including works by William Wordsworth, Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot, Bertold Brecht, and Samuel Beckett. |
| Course description |
This course will examine these questions through its reading of selected texts from the 19th and 20th centuries, including works by William Wordsworth, Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot, Bertold Brecht, and Samuel Beckett. The course will also explore theories of subjectivity, class, and the unconscious, from Marx to Zizek. Further reading will include the work of Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, Raymond Williams, Jerome McGann, and Terry Eagleton.
The main topics covered will be:
-- Capitalism, class, and consciousness
-- The 'Romantic Ideology'
-- Ideology and subjectivity
-- 'Structures of feeling'
-- The 'political unconscious'
-- Ideology and history
-- Modernism, form and ideology
-- The author as producer
-- Ideology and structuralism
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | A MINIMUM of 4 college/university level literature courses at grade B or above (should include no more than one introductory level literature course). Related courses such as civilisation or other interdisciplinary classes, Freshman Year Seminars or composition/creative writing classes/workshops are not considered for admission to this course. Applicants should also note that, as with other popular courses, meeting the minimum does NOT guarantee admission. In making admissions decisions preference will be given to students who achieve above the minimum requirement with the typical visiting student admitted to this course having 4 literature classes at grade A.
** as numbers are limited, visiting students should contact the Visiting Student Office directly for admission to this course **
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| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate knowledge of the history and theories of the concept of 'ideology'.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the relationship between ideology and literature.
- Demonstrate knowledge of selected poetic, fictional and dramatic works from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
- Demonstrate the ability to deploy critical skills in the ideological analysis of literary texts.
- Demonstrate an ability to make arguments about ideology and literature in relation to modern scholarship and criticism.
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Reading List
William Wordsworth, selected poems (N)
Percy Bysshe Shelley, selected poems (N)
Charlotte Bronte, The Professor (1857) (Penguin)
George Eliot, Felix Holt the Radical (1866) (Penguin)
Bertold Brecht, The Caucasian Chalk Circle (1948) (Penguin)
Samuel Beckett, Endgame (1957) (Faber & Faber)
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, selected texts (H)
Louis Althusser, selected texts (H)
Slavoj Zizek, 'The Spectre of Ideology (1994) (H)
Sophie Fiennes, The Pervert's Guide to Ideology (2012) (Film)
(N) Norton Anthology of English Literature, 10th ed.
(H) = Handout provided by course organiser
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Additional Information
| Course URL |
http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/literatures-languages-cultures/english-literature/undergraduate/current/honours |
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Special Arrangements |
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. |
| Additional Class Delivery Information |
2 hour(s) per week for 10 week(s). 1 hour a week attendance at Autonomous Learning Group - times to be arranged |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Tim Milnes
Tel: (0131 6)50 3615
Email: tim.milnes@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Hope Hamilton
Tel: (0131 6)50 4167
Email: hope.hamilton@ed.ac.uk |
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