This module, which builds on the knowledge acquired in Year One, looks at literature and the arts during major periods of European cultural history, seen as exemplary of a process of circulation, diffusion and adoption of new ideas and styles. It is not intended as a general overview nor as a comprehensive survey.
It investigates cross-national ‘influences’ across a broad range of works, and assimilation through translation and imitation in a variety of genres and media, and emphasises the way in which we all modify the cultural ‘goods’ we acquire and adapt them to our specific needs.
The module also highlights the theoretical and practical issues raised by the periodization of history in general and literary history in particular, and encourages a critical reappraisal of the various myths associated with the periods and movements studied.
The Baroque
Set texts:
Calderon, Life is a Dream (Drama Classics, 1998)
Corneille, The Theatrical Illusion (Penguin Classics, 2005)
Quevedo, The Swindler, in Two Spanish Picaresque Novels (Penguin Classics, 2003)
Assessment criteria
You will be assessed according to your ability to:
• Identify and analyse some of the ways in which literature interacts with other forms and media of cultural expression
• Demonstrate understanding of how literary and cultural production can be shaped by economic, political and social factors
• Identify and articulate the various coherent stages of an evolution
• Provide relevant and precise definitions of the movements, philosophies, art forms, etc. studied on the module
• Demonstrate good command of an adequate and relevant critical language
