EL5851 - Self, Science and Society in Eighteenth Century Literature

[Offered in even-numbered years]

Credit points:	03
Year:	2010
Student Contribution Band:	Band 1
Administered by:	School of Arts & Social Sciences

This subject focuses on English writing between 1660 and 1785, with an emphasis on the eighteenth century. It examines how social and political change and the rise of science impacted on culture and the individual. Key themes include Whig and Tory Party Politics; New Worlds - Microscopic and Cosmological; Debating Women; The Country and the City; A Day in Eighteenth-Century London; The Plurality of Worlds; Slavery and the Slave Trade in Britain; Plagues, Epidemics and Medicine. These themes are addressed by some of the greatest thinkers and writers in the English canon, in a variety of modes including romance, satire, epic, novel, diary, philosophical and scientific writing, and travel and journal writing.

Learning Outcomes

• to broaden and intensify the literary critical skills and understanding attained by students at earlier levels, particularly where essay writing and extra-literary issues are concerned;
• to develop a comprehensive understanding of the set texts;
• to acquire a grounding in English literary histories which address and explore how the subjects of society, science and self are addressed in a range of literary modes;
• to acquire a grounding in the methodologies and critical practices appropriate to the themes of society, science and self;
• to achieve a broad knowledge of how English literature thematises society, science and self, with an emphasis on the 18th century.

Graduate Qualities

• The ability to think critically, to analyse and evaluate claims, evidence and arguments;
• The ability to define and to solve problems in at least one discipline area;
• The ability to speak and write logically, clearly and creatively;
• A coherent and disciplined body of skills, knowledge, values and professional ethics in at least one discipline area;
• The ability to reflect on and evaluate learning processes and products;
• The ability to learn independently and in a self-directed manner;
• A commitment to lifelong learning and intellectual development.

Inadmissible Subject Combinations:

EL2851 AND EL3051 AND EL3851 AND EL5051

Availabilities
Cairns, Internal, Study Period 1
Census Date 25-Mar-2010
Coord/Lect:	Assoc. Professor Stephen Torre.
Contact hours:	26 hours lectures 12 hours tutorials
Assessment:	end of semester exam (40%); tutorial attendance and participation (20%); essays (40%).
External, Study Period 1
Census Date 25-Mar-2010
Coord/Lect:	Assoc. Professor Stephen Torre.
Contact hours:	26 hours lectures - Two hours per week of reading online lectures 12 hours tutorials - Two hours per week for participation in and contribution to Discussion Board on LearnJCU
Method of Delivery:	WWW - LearnJCU
Assessment:	end of semester exam (40%); essays (40%); paricipation in and contribution to discussion board topics on learnjcu (20%).

Note: Minor variations might occur due to the continuous Subject quality improvement process, and in case of minor variation(s) in assessment details, the Subject Outline represents the latest official information.