CO4033 Essays, Manifestos, and Epigrams
Academic year
2024 to 2025 Semester 1
Curricular information may be subject to change
Further information on which modules are specific to your programme.
Key module information
SCOTCAT credits
15
SCQF level
SCQF level 10
Planned timetable
3 pm - 5 pm Monday
Module coordinator
Dr E R Laügt
Module Staff
Team taught
Module description
This module will offer an introduction to the comparative study of literary non-fiction. Our focus will be on the essay from its early modern beginnings to the present, but we will also study a range of other playful, bold, provocative, provisional, and fragmentary literary forms, including the manifesto and the epigram (or the short, pithy saying, now sometimes in the form of a Tweet). As we compare these diverse forms, we will also attend to the different roles they play in different literary and cultural traditions. Some of our key questions will include the following: What accounts for the essay form's lasting influence across so many contexts? What makes the manifesto a quintessentially 'modern' form? What does it mean to study short literary forms in an age of contracting attention spans? What can we learn as writers from the essayists and others whose works we will study?
Assessment pattern
Coursework = 100%
Re-assessment
Coursework = 100%
Learning and teaching methods and delivery
Weekly contact
Weekly ninety-minute seminars
Scheduled learning hours
17
Guided independent study hours
130
Intended learning outcomes
- Closely and critically analyse a range of non-fiction literary forms
- Understand the historical developments and the formal range of both the essay form and the manifesto
- Read comparatively in nuanced and complex ways, attending to form as well as to social context and aspiration
- Write in an expanded and experimental way, borrowing techniques from the writers studied where appropriate
- Appreciate the continuing relevance of the essay, manifesto, and epigram forms to current digital cultures