Romanticism and Modernity

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2009:

Usually admission to the postgraduate certificate, diploma or fourth year honours in English, creative writing or gender studies.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://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 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.

• 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;
• understand some of the cultural functions of the discourse of romanticism in contemporary culture.

An essay of 5000 words 100% (due at the end of semester).

• The Mary Shelley Reader (B T Bennett & C E Robinson (eds)), OUP
• Complete Poems (W Blake), Penguin
• Confessions of an English Opium Eater and Other Writings (T De Quincey), OUP
• Selected Writings (W Hazlitt), Penguin
• The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (J F Lyotard)
• Remembering Babylon (D Malouf), Penguin
• The White Hotel (D M Thomas), Penguin
• The Journals of Dorothy Wordsworth (D Wordsworth, M Moorman (ed)), OUP
• Selected Poems (W Wordsworth)

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

• social, ethical and cultural understanding;

• critical, creative and theoretical thinking;

• information management and information literacy;

• intelligent and effective communication knowledge and ideas;

• written communication skills.

Formerly available as 106-079. Students who have completed 106-079 are not eligible to enrol in this subject.