LT4233 Transformed Texts: Rewriting Roman Literature

Academic year

2024 to 2025 Semester 2

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

Available to General Degree students with the permission of the Honours Adviser.

Planned timetable

TBC

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

Module coordinator

Dr T E Z Kearey

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

Module Staff

Dr Talitha Kearey

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

Module description

Roman literature is, from its earliest beginnings, a ‘translated’ national literature. Even as Roman authors proclaim their inventive genius, they fret over the weight of the Greek tradition and figure themselves as derivative and belated. Later writers test literary norms with their taste for extravagant quotation, remixing, impersonation and appropriation. This course interrogates relationships between texts by moving beyond the paradigms of ‘allusion and intertextuality’, focusing on five types of textual transformation : allusive adaptation of myth; translation; recombination; impersonation and forgery; and modern forms of ‘transformative' rewriting. It recognises that literary experimentation and innovation were always at the heart of the Roman canon. Grappling with questions of tradition and invention, it puts notions of ‘literature’, ‘national literature’ and ‘identity’ under the microscope: this is a course about literary practice, critical discourse, and cultural interactions.

Relationship to other modules

Pre-requisites

40 CREDITS FROM LT2001, LT2002, LT2003, LT2004, OR A PASS IN LT3018, OR EVIDENCE OF EQUIVALENT LINGUISTIC ACHIEVEMENT.

Assessment pattern

Coursework - 60%, Written exam - 40%

Re-assessment

Written exam - 100%

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact

1 lecture (x 11 weeks), 1 seminar (x 11 weeks).

Scheduled learning hours

22

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

Guided independent study hours

278

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

Intended learning outcomes

  • Identify, describe and understand the major categories, techniques and key features of ‘rewritten’ literature in Roman antiquity and its reception.
  • Analyse a range of texts in terms of their interactions with each other and their cultural, historical-political and intellectual contexts.
  • Demonstrate aptitude in translation skills and the ability to handle texts in the original Latin.
  • Construct nuanced, wide-ranging and critically aware arguments based on an analysis of primary and secondary sources.
  • Independently design and complete a creative exercise, under supervisory guidance, and critically analyse it in relation to the module’s themes.