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Literature and the History of Ideas

Module description

This module introduces you to some of the most influential and powerful concepts relevant to the study of literature, and analyses them as they are found, represented and interrogated in a variety of literary texts. Engaging ideas from a range of domains (including aesthetics, philosophy and politics), the module covers a long historical sweep, from classical origins to some of the key positions of modern critical theory. Over the course of 11 seminars you will gain an insight into how literature can be juxtaposed with intellectual currents of its own period, as well as appreciate how traditions of thought can exist across time.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module will aim to introduce you to core philosophical, critical and aesthetic concepts that are relevant to the study and interpretation of literature. It sets out ways of reading given literary texts against some of the most resonant ideas of their own time, whilst also introducing you to the way that these ideas persist across literary history. Setting out foundational modes of critical analysis and inquiry, it prepares you for engaging with literary and cultural ‘texts’ at levels 2 and 3, as well as covering paradigms central to modern schools of literary and critical theory.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Through seminar contributions and/or written work, demonstrate competent knowledge and understanding of large-scale concepts and methodological questions relevant to literary studies
• 2. Demonstrate a competent knowledge and understanding of important literary texts

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Demonstrate competence in the close reading and analysis of set texts
• 4. Draw upon relevant critical writings when analysing literary texts, and document these sources in bibliographies

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Capably research, process and deploy information in written form to a set deadline and/or in a time-limited setting
• 6. Produce written work that conveys an argument competently, in clear and correct prose
• 7. Through exams, demonstrate knowledge and memory skills

Syllabus plan

Topics and text studies may include some of the following:

• Humanism and Posthumanism
• Power and Biopolitics
• Class and Marxism
• Empire and the Postcolonial
• Enlightenment and Terror
• Faith and the Secular
• Nature and Environmental Criticism
• Gender and Feminism
• Sex, Sexuality and Queer Theory
• Bodies and Affect
• Rhetoric and Politics

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to redo the assessment(s) as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Basic reading:

• You should purchase, or already be in possession of, The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 9th edition, ed. M.H. Abrams and Stephen Greenblatt, et. al. (New York and London: W.W. Norton, 2012).

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE: https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=8175 

Key words search

Literature, philosophy, critical theory