Undergraduate Course: Ower True Tales: Scott and Historicism (ENLI10261)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course will aim to foster an understanding of the relationship between literature, history and philosophy in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries through reading the work of Walter Scott alongside major works in historiography, philosophy and cultural theory. The course will begin by looking at the claims made on Scott's behalf by Georg Lukács, and by reading Redgauntlet and The Antiquary against the background of Enlightenment and Romantic historiography, including both Scott's predecessors such as David Hume, as well as Lukács's own great inspirations Hegel and Marx, in order to develop a sense of his work's intellectual moment. We will then turn to look at The Pirate in the light of Northrop Frye's discussion of Walter Scott, and consider Hayden White's use of Frye to suggest that nineteenth century historiography never made the break with generic paradigms on which its claim to objectivity depends. Subsequent weeks will consider in relation to Old Mortality and The Bride of Lammermoor in relation to twentieth century reactions to the Enlightenment historicist project by thinkers associated with the Frankfurt School such as Walter Benjamin and Theodor Adorno, and by recent French philosophers such as Jacques Derrida. This final section will seek to raise questions about the links between the nation state and violence, about history and trauma, and the contemporary legacy of the Enlightenment project. But we will also consider whether such investigations might not in their turn be accused of merely substituting a tragic for a comic paradigm. |
| Course description |
Not entered
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Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students should be able to demonstrate:
1) Familiarity with a range of Scott's novels.
2) Knowledge of the intellectual, historical and literary contexts for Scott's work.
3) An understanding of contemporary debates about the legacy of Enlightenment.
4) The ability to relate detailed readings of Scott's work to wider issues of cultural history
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Additional Information
| Course URL |
http://www.englit.ed.ac.uk/undergraduate/Honours/FourthYear/4thYear_Home.htm |
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Special Arrangements |
Numbers are limited and students taking degrees not involving English or Scottish literature need the written approval of the head of English Literature. |
| Additional Class Delivery Information |
1 hour(s) per week for 10 week(s). 1 hour a week attendance at Autonomous Learning Group - times to be arranged |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Alex Thomson
Tel: (0131 6)50 3058
Email: |
Course secretary | Mrs Catherine Williamson
Tel: (0131 6)50 3620
Email: |
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