LW4006: LITERATURE AND ART IN INTELLECTUAL HISTORY (2014-2015)

Course Aims: The course forms an essential part of an effort to advance students' ability to pursue a cross-disciplinary and comparative approach to literary study. It is a cornerstone of the Literature in a World Context programme, which seeks to train students in an approach to literature that takes into account the contemporary conditions of studying literature in a global context. The course will prepare students for reading literature in conjunction with reflective texts from other fields in the humanities, the social sciences and the sciences (some of which rely upon literature and literary techniques in important ways). It will introduce them to the broader field of the study of ideas and intellectual movements, even as it sensitizes them to the theoretical and methodological challenges involved in moving between literary or artistic productions and works of philosophy or science. It will help them to situate literary works within broader intellectual movements. Main Learning Outcomes: A: Students will develop advanced knowledge and understanding of: 1. theories and key issues relating to literature in the context of intellectual history, including the history of science; 2. disciplinarity, interdiscliplinarity, cross-disciplinarity; 3. significant individual works and groups of works of literature and culture from around the world and across time, and central ideas and influences on these works; 4. the terminology and techniques required for discussion of literature in a world context. B: Intellectual and Practical Skills. Students will develop the ability to: 1. engage in critical thinking, through reflection upon the role of literature in the age of globalization; 2. engage with the process of learning in a constructive and self-motivated fashion; 3. articulate views and engage in reflective discussion, responding in measured fashion, orally and in written form, to other points of view; 4. assemble material relevant to an assignment by using appropriate sources of information, and select and organise primary and secondary material relevant to an oral or written task, with appropriate forms of acknowledgement; present the results of investigations carried out individually and, where appropriate, in small teams, communicating effectively both orally and in writing, constructing a coherent and structured argument, and paying due attention to the communicative and analytic function of the language and terminology employed. Content: This course approaches literary study in the context of intellectual history, including the history of science. It reads literary texts together with works from philosophy and other fields of intellectual endeavour (for example: psychology, anthropology, theory of art, and political theory) to explore how literature complements and sometimes challenges efforts to grasp human experience and the meaning of socio-historical movements. The course will therefore offer a broad intellectual perspective on forms of artistic representation and an advanced introduction to a vital dimension of literary study. While the focus will tend to fall on the modern period, topics will be drawn from a wide range of historical periods and forms of literature. All texts will be read in translation.

This course is not available as part of a graduating curriulum with the level 3 version of the course - LW 3006 Literature and Art in Intellectual History.

Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.

View LW4006 Timetable

More Information about Week Numbers

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment (100%): two 3,500 word essays, weighted equally. Resit: For honours students only: candidates achieving CAS mark of 6 - 8 may be awarded compensatory level 1 credit. Candidates achieving a CAS mark of less than 6 will be required to submit a new essay.

Informal oral feedback on performance in class.

Feedback on essays will be in the form of written comments on work, utilizing a standard feedback sheet. Additionally students will be invited to make appointments to discuss their work with their tutor. Informal feedback will be provided in oral form.

None.