Newcastle University

Pre Requisite Comment

N/A

Co Requisite Comment

None

Aims

To study writing produced in Britain and beyond during the ‘long’ eighteenth century;
To develop students' ability to consider literary texts in their historical and cultural contexts;
To analyse textual form and content in detail;
To communicate their critical responses to these texts in speech and writing.

Many genres and forms will typically be considered – fiction, drama, poetry, children’s literature, travel writing, life writing, and so on – and this material will be placed in its historical, cultural and social contexts. The overarching intellectual aim of the module will be to enable students to understand how encounters with new peoples, places and ideas were reflected in, mediated by, and sometimes actually created in, literature.

Outline Of Syllabus

The core idea of this module is that the literature of this period engages in diverse and complex ways with the discovery, understanding, and representation of ‘new worlds’ – not only geographical new worlds, but also social, cultural, and political ones too. Such engagement took place as many phenomena that we now recognize as modern (scientific experiment, celebrity, global trade, feminism) began. As we study works of prose, poetry, drama, letters, biography, and other kinds from the 1680s to the 1780s, we will examine how new worlds of such force were written into being that they still shape our thinking today.

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

It is intended that students should develop:
- an understanding of British cultural history during the long eighteenth century;
- an awareness of the ways in which encounters with new cultures, and social, political and intellectual change, can shape literary production, and vice versa;
- an awareness of the ways in which marginalised and suppressed groups sought to use literature as a means of enfranchisement;
- a knowledge of the contexts, contents and significance of the set texts.

Intended Skill Outcomes

It is intended that students should develop:
- an ability to offer critical readings of specific texts across a range of genres and forms;
- an ability to explore the relationship between text and historical, ideological, cultural and social contexts;
- an awareness of, and ability to use, appropriate critical language for discussing multifarious forms of literary production;
- the capacity to present conclusions coherently and convincingly, both verbally and in written form.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Lectures provide an overview of contextual and critical debates, either for specific texts or for the period more generally. Structured guided learning and small-group teaching offer the opportunity to link these debates to detailed engagement with the texts. Independent study, both alone and in peer study groups, is essential to equip students to engage with other learning methods. Workshops supplement students' understanding of specific texts and provide additional opportunities to hone academic skills necessary for the module assessment.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

A mid-module, 1500-word formative essay will provide students the opportunity to practise writing on eighteenth-century material and constructing their own argument in response to a keyword prompt. Extensive feedback and support will be provided.

The end-of-module 3000-word essay will also take the form of a keyword essay, allowing students to consolidate the skills honed in the formative in order to make an argument that embraces the breadth and depth of material on this module.

General Notes

N/A