Romanticism and Modernity

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2016:

Total expected time commitment is 170 hours across the semester, including class time.

Admission to the postgraduate certificate, postgraduate diploma or four year honours in English & theatre studies, or gender studies.

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For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry.

The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

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 aspects of the role played by the ideology and discourse of romanticism in contemporary culture, with particular reference to the sublime and sexuality. Students who successfully complete this subject will be familiar with some of the key concepts and tropes of romanticism, have a broad understanding of the relation between romanticism and modernity, and understand some of the roles played by romanticism in contemporary culture.

Students who complete this subject will:

• be familiar with some of the key concepts and motifs 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.

An essay of 5000 words 100% (due in the examination period).

Students are required to attend a minimum of 80% (or 10 out of 12) classes in order to qualify to have their written work assessed. Any student who fails to meet this hurdle without valid reason will not be eligible to pass the subject. All required written work must be submitted in order to pass the subject. Essays submitted after the due date without an extension will be penalised 2% per day. Essays submitted after two weeks of the assessment due date without a formally approved application for special consideration or an extension will only be marked on a pass/fail basis if accepted.

• Mathilda in The Mary Shelley Reader, B T Bennett, et al, eds (OUP).
• The Marriage of Heaven and Hell in Complete Poems, W Blake (Penguin).
• Confessions of an English Opium Eater and Other Writings, T DeQuincey (OUP).
• Liber Amoris in Selected Writings, W Hazlitt (Penguin).
• 'Answering the Question: What Is Postmodernism?', in The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge, J F Lyotard (U of Minnesota P).
• Remembering Babylon, D Malouf (Penguin).
• The White Hotel, D M Thomas (Penguin).
• The Grasmere and Alfoxden Journals, D Wordsworth (OUP).
• The Pedlar, Tintern Abbey, the Two-Part Prelude, W Wordsworth (Cambridge).

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

Students who successfully complete this subject will develop:

• skills in social, ethical and cultural understanding;
• skills in critical, creative and theoretical thinking;
• skills in information management and information literacy;
• skills in intelligent and effective communication knowledge and ideas; and
• written communication skills.