| Unit name | The Bible and Literature |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ENGL20096 |
| Credit points | 30 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Jo Carruthers |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of English |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This course explores the influence of the English Bible on literary writings from the Early Modern period to the present day. It was the main, and often the only, readily available text in the sixteenth century and the Bible and its imagery and language saturated English culture far beyond theological boundaries. It is a text, as Harold Fisch has claimed, that $�the Western imagination cannot escape&�. The unit is concerned with familiarizing students with biblical literature and introduces a selection of literary works that appropriate the Bible. We will address questions such as: Why do writers invoke the Bible? How does a biblical allusion $�work&� in a piece of literature? How did the Bible function at different times for its readers and in culture at large? We will cover a range of literature from the devotional to the subversive, from the poem to the novel.
