2011/12 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

ENGL3248 Pirates, Turks and Renegades: Staging the Mediterranean in Renaissance England

20 creditsClass Size: 10

School of English

Module manager: Dr Laurence Publicover
Email: l.publicover@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable

Year running 2011/12

Pre-requisite qualifications

Grade B at 'A' Level in English Language or Literature (or equivalent) or an achieved mark of 56 or above in a Level 1 module in English (or its non-UK equivalent). Please note: This module is restricted to Level 2 and 3 students.

Module replaces

ENGL3373

This module is approved as an Elective

Module summary

In this module we will read a number of Renaissance plays that stage cultural encounter in the Mediterranean. Some of these, such as Shakespeare's Othello and Antony and Cleopatra, are well known; others, such as Daborne's A Christian Turned Turk and Kyd’s Soliman and Perseda, will be rather less familiar. Lively and entertaining, these plays explore the effects of travel on identity; they are concerned with what happens to those who, leaving their native land, travel across the multicultural Mediterranean. Populated by daring merchants, lascivious pirates, and raging Turks, these plays ask radical questions about religious and national identity, and probe the ethics and effects of travel, commerce, and cultural exchange. In particular, they are concerned with two figures: the renegade (often a pirate), who abandons his Christian identity to seek a new life on the Islamic North African coast; and the Turk, who is often demonised, but who also allows English playwrights to explore some of their more extravagant desires.

Objectives

To study a number of Renaissance plays set within the Mediterranean, and to analyse 1) the ways in which they respond to England’s changing political and commercial role in that sphere; and 2) the ways in which the plays probe notions of personal, religious, and national identity.

Learning outcomes
Students will become familiar with a number of Renaissance dramas - some, like Antony and Cleopatra, fairly famous; others, like Daborne's A Christian Turned Turk, rather less well known. They will study the ways in which playwrights influence one another's dramatic representations of the Mediterranean, and they will also gain an understanding of the political, religious and commercial culture of the Renaissance Mediterranean. In particular, they will analyse figures, such as pirates and renegades, who move between Christian and Islamic worlds.

Skills outcomes
- Skills for effective communication, oral and written.
- Capacity to analyse and critically examine diverse forms of discourse.
- Ability to acquire quantities of complex information of diverse kinds in a structured and systematic way.
- Capacity for independent thought and judgement.
- Critical reasoning.
- Research skills, including information retrieval skills, the organisation of material, and the evaluation of its importance.
- IT skills.
- Time management and organisational skills.
- Independent learning.

Syllabus

Students will generally cover one play per week. Plays will include Othello, The Merchant of Venice, Antony and Cleopatra, The Renegado, The Fair Maid of the West, Soliman and Perseda, and A Christian Turned Turk. Students will also be introduced to theoretical material, including Said's Orientalism and Vitkus's Turning Turk.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Meetings	5	1.00	5.00
Seminar	10	1.00	10.00
Private study hours			185.00
Total Contact hours			15.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			200.00

Private study

- Teaching will be through weekly seminars (10 x 1 hour) plus up to 5 additional hours (content to be determined by the module tutor).
- The 5 additional hours may include lectures, plenary sessions, film showings, or the return of unassessed/assessed essays.

Students will be required to spend approximately 17 hours per week in addition to lectures and seminars involved in a number of private, independent activities. These include:
a) Reading and viewing the primary texts;
b) studying specific secondary materials and pursuing/researching materials in the library under their own initiative;
c) planning and drafting a short essay and a major piece of assessed work;
d) engaging with resources made available via the VLE.

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Seminar attendance, oral seminar performance, 'unassessed' and assessed essays.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	4,000 words One unassessed essay of 1,700 words is required. This does not form part of the assessment for this module, but is a requirement and MUST be submitted. Students who fail to submit the unassessed essay will be awarded a maximum mark of 40 for the module (a bare Pass).	100.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

One unassessed essay of 1,700 words is required. This does not form part of the assessment for this module, but is a requirement and MUST be submitted. Students who fail to submit the unassessed essay will be awarded a maximum mark of 40 for the module (a bare Pass).

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 07/03/2012

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