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EN4348   Bodies and Selves in the Renaissance

Academic year(s): 2019-2020

Key information

SCOTCAT credits : 30

ECTS credits : 15

Level : SCQF level 10

Semester: 2

Availability restrictions: Not automatically available to General Degree students

Planned timetable: 1.00 pm - 3.00 pm Tue

This module will introduce students to literary texts which are concerned with corporeality and selfhood in the Renaissance period. This will offer students advanced study of major Renaissance texts, many of which are taught at sub-honours level, while encouraging an innovative approach to sources. Works by Rabelais, Spenser, Montaigne, Shakespeare, Webster, Lanyer and others will be explored alongside a variety of contemporaneous material including early modern medical, physiological, and philosophical texts. The aim of this course is to place the relationship between the body, the self, and sensory experience at the heart of our understanding of Renaissance literature. We will consider problems including: the relationship between body, mind, and language in the early modern period; the ways in which culture and society shape embodied life; the religious dimensions of bodily and sensory experience. Students should be prepared for an intense programme of primary and secondary reading and for heavily discussion-based seminars. Assessment will be by a progression of essays; there is no exam. (Group B)

Relationship to other modules

Pre-requisite(s): Before taking this module you must pass EN2003 and pass EN2004

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact: 2-hour seminar and 2 optional consultative hours.

Scheduled learning hours: 20

Guided independent study hours: 280

Assessment pattern

As used by St Andrews: Coursework = 100%

As defined by QAA
Written examinations : 0%
Practical examinations : 0%
Coursework: 100%

Re-assessment: 3-hour Written Examination = 100%

Personnel

Module coordinator: Dr G J Pertile
Module teaching staff: Dr Giulio Pertile (GJP4)