AJ24093 Nature, Ethics and Politics in Modern Writing 1760-2010

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2011
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 2 credit(s) (plus 3 credits for an exam). Recommended Type of Completion: zk (examination). Other types of completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Stephen Paul Hardy, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B.A.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Timetable
each even Tuesday 14:10–15:45 G32
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 15 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/15, only registered: 0/15
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
This course this semester will primarily focus on aspects of the nineteenth century English historical imagination mostly in relation to the historical novel but beginning with aspects of Byron's 'Childe Harold', before moving on to consideration of Walter Scott's 'Waverley', George Eliot's 'Romola', and Walter Pater's 'Marius the Epicurian'; a twentieth century coda will be provided by an introductory purview of John Cowper Powys's 'Porius' and Thomas Pynchon's 'Against the Day'. The aim of the course will to be introduce participants to an appreciation of the sensibility and implications of writing (and reading) about a substantially different historical era in relation to the present and the ways in which serious artistic writing can and must transcend the limitations of 'factual' history writing. We will begin with Byron, in his (but not our) present, move to Scott writing 'Sixty Years' hence and move simulatenously forwards and backwards in time with the novels by the subsequent writers.
Syllabus
  • Week 1) 4.10 Byron: Don Juan: Canto 1 & introductions (first ten to twenty stanzas) to the other 15 Cantos (in each case consider the theme and argument of the introduction) Week 2) 18.10 W. Scott: Waverley Week 3) 1.11. G. Eliot: Romola(first half) Week 4) 15.11.G.Eliot: Romola (second half) Week 5) 29.11.W. Pater: Marius the Epicurean Week 6) 17.12.T. Pynchon: Against The Day (extract)
Literature
    required literature
  • SCOTT, Walter. Waverley. London: Caxton Pub., 382 s. info
  • Pynchon, Thomas Against The Day London Vintage 2007
  • POWYS, John Cowper. Porius : [a novel]. Edited by Judith Bond - Morine Krissdóttir. 1st pub. New York: Overlook Duckworth, 2007, 751 s. ISBN 9781585673667. info
  • ELIOT, George. Romola. London: Oxford University Press, 1916, 688 s. info
  • PATER, Walter. Marius the Epicurean : his sensations and ideas. Vol. 1. Library ed. London: Macmillan, 1910, 242 s. info
  • PATER, Walter. Marius the Epicurean : his sensations and ideas. Vol. 2. Library ed. London: Macmillan, 1910, 223 s. info
Teaching methods
The course will be taught through seminars. Teaching will take the form of seminar discussion and close-reading of required texts. The outcome will take the form of an essay in which aspects of the literature discussed will be analysed - partly in relation to perspectives derived from teaching in the seminar, though participants will also be asked to thnk for themselves
Assessment methods
Assessment will be by class contribution (attendance and oral participation) (40%) and a 6-10 page essay (60%).
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2012, Autumn 2013, Spring 2015, Autumn 2016.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2011, recent)
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