Unit name | Lives and Letters (Level H Special Subject) |
---|---|
Unit code | HIST30075 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | H/6 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
Unit director | Dr. Grace Huxford |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | Department of History (Historical Studies) |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit examines how people have perceived and described themselves over the twentieth century (the era Eric Hobsbawm described as the ‘age of extremes’). Did people’s views of themselves change in the course of the twentieth century? And in what ways have people described themselves? In this unit, students will explore how historians can use life-writing material to explore the history of the twentieth century and the history of selfhood. Students will explore cutting-edge historical debates about how useful life-writing material can be to historians. Texts will include autobiographies, letters, diaries, biographies, films and novels. We shall also study the substantial life-writing material of twentieth-century British author George Orwell as a specific reference point for studying political selfhood, letter/diary-writing and biography-writing throughout the period covered by this unit.
By the end of the unit, successful students will be able to:
1 x 2 hour seminar per week
One 3,500 word essay (50%) and one two-hour examination (50%). Both assessments assess ILOs 1-4.