106-423 Romanticism and Modernity

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Subject Description:

This subject offers an introduction to romanticism as a paradigmatic discourse of modernity, with particular emphasis on questions of gender, aesthetics and subjectivity. It also examines the role played by the ideology and discourse of romanticism in contemporary culture, through a study of the sublime, sexuality, monstrosity, and 'the aesthetics of murder'. Students who successfully complete this subject will be familiar with some of the key concepts and tropes in the discourse of Romanticism; have a broad understanding of the relation between Romanticism and Modernity; and understand some of the cultural functions of the discourse of Romanticism in contemporary culture.

Assessment:

Prescribed Texts:

• B T Bennett and C E Robinson eds, The Mary Shelley Reader, Oxford UP.
• J Black, The Aesthetics of Murder: A Study in Romantic Literature and Contemporary Culture, Johns Hopkins UP.
• W Blake, Complete Poems, Penguin.
• E Burke, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful, Penguin.
• T De Quincey, 'Murder Considered as a Fine Art': Confessions of an English Opium Eater and Other Writings, Oxford UP.
• S Freud, The Ego and the Id, Pelican.
• S Freud, On Sexuality, Pelican.
• W Hazlitt, Selected Writings, Penguin.
• D M Thomas, The White Hotel, Penguin.
• M Wollstonecraft, Mary and the Wrongs of Woman, World's Classics.
• J F Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge
• D Malouf, Remembering Babylon, Penguin.
• W Wordsworth, Selected Poems
• Film: K Branagh, Frankenstein