Literary Constructions of Madness
| Code | School | Level | Credits | Semesters |
| ENGL4369 | English | 4 | N/A | April Full Year UK, Full Year UK, January Full Year UK |
- Code
- ENGL4369
- School
- English
- Level
- 4
- Credits
- N/A
- Semesters
- April Full Year UK, Full Year UK, January Full Year UK
Summary
This pod introduces students to the depiction of ‘madness’ in literature and theatre from the nineteenth century to the present day. In tracing the early developments, continuity and changes in the representation of ‘madness’, students will both reflect on and critique the ways in which medical, political and social assumptions operate in determinate ways at different times. Examining this intersection between public discourses and private experience, students will engage with ideas of patriarchal authority and female agency, gender essentialism and self-determination, and literary convention and self-expression.
Target Students
Students registered on the School of English online Masters scheme.
Assessment
- 100% Participation: Student participation.
Assessed by end of designated period
Educational Aims
This module comprises an optional component in the following pathways: Applied English, Drama and Performance, English Literature, Modern and Contemporary Literature, and Romantic and Gothic Writing. As such, it contributes in its specific aims to the programme-level coverage of these pathways.Learning Outcomes
- Demonstrate a critical awareness of literary and/or theatrical conventions utilised in the representation of ‘madness’.
- Perform close analysis of texts, contextualised by an understanding of the relevant medical, social, political and cultural assumptions concerning ‘madness’ at that time.
- Apply appropriate critical and theoretical frameworks to the study of texts, such as theories of gender and sexuality, Foucauldian historical materialism, or theories around body-presence, aesthetics and ethics of spectatorship.
- Demonstrate knowledge and skills acquired to the appropriate disciplinary and professional standard.
- Assimilate and present subject-specific material in an appropriate format (assessed within the ‘Assessment Portfolio’ 1, 2 or 3).