Unit name | Writing the Margins |
---|---|
Unit code | ENGL20109 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | I/5 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
Unit director | Dr. Sebastiaan Verweij |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None. |
Co-requisites |
None. |
School/department | Department of English |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit will introduce students to another kind of early modern period: that which played out on the relative margins of society, texts, gender, politics, race, sexuality, class, and geography. If the first year course ‘Literature 1550-1740’ presents (to some degree) a broad and canonical overview, it is the purpose of this unit both to complement and to problematize this period, by attending to the several kinds of decentred or marginalized voices, texts, and genres.
Examples of subjects that will be explored in this unit include:
Students will read a wide range of marginal texts from the period, sometimes alongside more canonical or central texts, in order to develop a deeper and more critical understanding of one of the most rewarding periods of English literature. Teaching will proceed on a modular basis, with 2/3 week periods devoted to a single ‘marginal’ issue, populated by a variety of primary and secondary texts.
On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
1 x two-hour seminar per week
1 x 1,800 words summative essay (40%) [due near the end of the unit] [ILOs 1-5]
1 x 2.5 hour exam (60%) [ILOs 1-5]
Woudhuysen, Henry, and David Norbrook, eds. The Penguin Book of Renaissance Verse: 1509-1659. London: Penguin, 1993.
Hattaway, Michael, ed. A New Companion to English Renaissance Literature and Culture. 2 vols. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.
Stevenson, Jane, and Peter Davidson, eds. Early Modern Women Poets 1520-1700. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.