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2006/07 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

MODL3100 Literature, Religion and Enquiries into Value

20 creditsClass Size: 45

Module manager: Dr Jonathan Sutton
Email: J.F.Sutton@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2006/07

Pre-requisite qualifications

Satisfactory completion of level 2

This module is approved as an Elective

Module summary

This module is open only to Level 3 students.The objective is to provide a module suited to the needs of any student interested in reflecting on the inter-relationship between literature and religion and, more broadly, on enquiries into value. Work will focus on a select range of authors, poets and critics. The module specifically aims to widen the student's vocabulary in the area of cultural analysis, to consider categories such as 'didactic' and 'religiously engaged' as applied to literature and to highlight some important aspects of the complex inter-relationship between literature and religion.Assessment comprises a textual commentary in Semester 1 and one assessed 3000-word essay in Semester 2.For more information, please contact the Departmental Secretary Mrs A. Guliyeva (A.Guliyeva@leeds.ac.uk).

Objectives

To provide a module suited to the needs of any student in SMLC, Theology & Religious Studies or elsewhere, interested in reflecting on the inter-relationship between literature and religion and, more broadly, on enquiries into value. Work will focus on a select range of authors, poets and critics. The module specifically aims to widen the student's vocabulary in the area of cultural analysis, to consider categories such as 'didactic' and 'religiously engaged' as applied to literature and to highlight some important aspects of the complex inter-relationship between literature and religion. Enquiries into value entail critical reflection on some of our most deep-lying assumptions, social and cultural values. This module will focus mainly on literary and religious examinations of these values, either as endorsements or criticism or subversion of these values.

On completion of this module, students should:
1. Be able to produce well-organised and logically structured essay work
2. Be able to use evidence from a wide range of sources in support of an argument
3. Be capable of initiating and sustaining independent and critical discussion, showing a readiness to test their own ideas against the ideas of others

Syllabus

Semester 1

1- 'The City as Catalyst' : Baudelaire, Dostoevsky, Eliot

2 - Didactic Literature and Religiously Engaged Literature: Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Eliot

3 - Problems in the Literary Depiction of Virtue: Dostoevsky's characters Prince Myshkin, Bishop Tikhon and the Elder Zosima

Semester 2

4 - Towards a 'Theological Poetics': Andrew Shanks and Michael Edwards

5 - Aspects of Metaphor and Figurative Language in Literature and Religion:
Janet Soskice, Ananda Coomaraswamy, Micheal O'Siadhail, George Steiner

Teaching methods

24 Lectures (2 introductory, 2 concluding and 4 lectures on each part of module)


12 Seminars (1 introductory, 1 concluding and 2 on each part of module)


Private study

164 hours

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Assessment of contributions in seminar discussions.

Methods of assessment

One critical commentary of app. 1500 words at the end of Semester 1;
One 3000-word essay at the end of Semester 2.

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 26/11/2007

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