UCL - Research seminar in English literature

[GERM2872]

[15h] 10 credits

This course is taught in the 1st semester.

Teacher(s): Guido Latre

Language: English

Level: Second

Aims
Main themes
Content and teaching methods
Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Aims

To give the students a chance to participate in a collective research project, to integrate a personal research project in this methodological framework, possibly in connection with the realisation of their licence dissertation and other research activities.

Main themes

The content of the seminar depends on the research carried out in the unit and the licence dissertations undertaken by the students; it thus changes every year.

Content and teaching methods

The content of the seminar depends on the research carried out in the unit and the dissertations undertaken by the students; it thus changes every year.
This year, the seminar will have as its overall topic "The Shock of the Modern." Two major transitions from a more traditional society based on religion to a more secular society will be considered: (1) The Age of the Renaissance (William Tyndale, John Donne), and (2) The Age of Modernism (T.S. Eliot's Waste Land and Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited - the latter in the form of both the novel and the television adaptation starring Jeremy Irons). The subject of the seminar is related to what is currently a major issue in the relationship between western societies and the muslim world: to what extent is religion expected to have an impact on our political and social ideas and behaviour ?

Method : Student research is guided individually and in groups. Students are asked to present their results to the class. A critical discussion follows and enables the students to integrate further comments before the final written essay.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Prerequisites : To have successfully followed the courses on the history of English literature in the Bachelor, and to show a strong interest in this area of research.

Evaluation : Continuous assessment of each student's participation in the seminar, completed by an assessment of the essay drawn from the results of the seminar.
One-day visit to the Plantin Moretus Museum, Antwerp.