EN4362 Mind, Body and Soul: Literature in the Enlightenment

Academic year

2024 to 2025 Semester 1

Further information on which modules are specific to your programme.

Key module information

SCOTCAT credits

30

The Scottish Credit Accumulation and Transfer (SCOTCAT) system allows credits gained in Scotland to be transferred between institutions. The number of credits associated with a module gives an indication of the amount of learning effort required by the learner. European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits are half the value of SCOTCAT credits.

SCQF level

SCQF level 10

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) provides an indication of the complexity of award qualifications and associated learning and operates on an ascending numeric scale from Levels 1-12 with SCQF Level 10 equating to a Scottish undergraduate Honours degree.

Availability restrictions

Not automatically available to General Degree students

Planned timetable

2.00 pm Tue and 2.00 pm Thu

This information is given as indicative. Timetable may change at short notice depending on room availability.

Module coordinator

Prof T E Jones

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module Staff

Dr Tom Jones (TEJ1)

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module description

The Enlightenment is a contested historical category, with arguments about literature and philosophy contributing to the definition of what enlightens a human subject. By reading major texts of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, this module will explore the ways in which literature constructs relationships between the rational, emotional, spiritual and physical aspects of human life. Students will be encouraged to ask how the physical, emotional and spiritual impinge upon rational accounts of enlightenment, looking at the way literary texts such as Rochester's poems, Pope's Essay on Man, and Sterne's Tristram Shandy complicate accounts of the age of reason given from the perspective of the history of ideas. Students will consider and question the relationship between literature and broader intellectual movements by conducting close readings of literary texts and understanding their intellectual context. (Group C)

Relationship to other modules

Pre-requisites

BEFORE TAKING THIS MODULE YOU MUST PASS EN2003 AND PASS EN2004

Assessment pattern

Coursework = 100%

Re-assessment

exam = 100%

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact

2 x 1-hour seminars, and 2 optional consultative hours.

Scheduled learning hours

20

The number of compulsory student:staff contact hours over the period of the module.

Guided independent study hours

280

The number of hours that students are expected to invest in independent study over the period of the module.

Intended learning outcomes

  • Demonstrate a knowledge of the ways in which literature constructs relationships between the rational, emotional, spiritual and physical aspects of human life.
  • Understand how the physical, emotional and spiritual impinge upon rational accounts of enlightenment
  • Demonstrate a knowledge of the way literary texts such as Rochester's poems, Pope's Essay on Man, and Sterne's Tristram Shandy complicate accounts of the age of reason
  • Consider and question the relationship between literature and broader intellectual movements by conducting close readings of literary texts and understanding their intellectual context.