UCL - Research seminar in English literature

[GERM2872]

[15h] 5 credits

This course is taught in the 2d 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 "Biblical Themes and Images in English Literature." 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, The King James Bible, John Donne), and (2) The Age of Modernism (Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, 1945). Waugh's famous novel will be compared with a 1981 adaptation for the television screen (starring Jeremy Irons, 1981), and a wide screen adaptation by Andrew Davies (2008). 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 ?

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.