Literary Studies: From Romanticism to the Present (11153.1)

Literary Studies: From Romanticism to the Present focuses on a shifting range of literary texts from the last two hundred years. Students can expect to read and think about books as diverse as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land or Alison Bechdel's recent, autobiographical account of growing up in a funeral parlour (Fun Home). The unit offers an historical framework in which to approach such diversity: the rise, around the start of the nineteenth century, of the idea that anything can become the substance or form of art, from Byron's wild and free speech through to the emergence of women's biography, indigenous science fiction, the rise of the graphic novel and more.

Learning outcomes

After successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
1. Discuss literary texts in an historical framework extending from the Romantics into the present;
2. Identify how literary texts of this period work to expand our understandings and empathies; and
3. Assess new literary texts in terms of their intellectual, emotional and political ambitions.

Graduate attributes

1. UC graduates are professional - use creativity, critical thinking, analysis and research skills to solve theoretical and real-world problems
2. UC graduates are global citizens - communicate effectively in diverse cultural and social settings
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - adapt to complexity, ambiguity and change by being flexible and keen to engage with new ideas

Prerequisites

None.

Corequisites

None.

Incompatible units

None.

Equivalent units

None.

Assumed knowledge

None.