| Unit name | Comedy and the Literary Arts |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ENGL29024 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Mason |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None. |
| Co-requisites |
None. |
| School/department | Department of English |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit asks how it might be that, while humour probably is the most temporary of human expressions, certain literary works have been considered comic by several generations. Selected works by Chaucer, Shakespeare, Jonson, Dryden, Pope, Byron and Dickens are studied in some detail alongside some general theories of the comic from Horace to the present. Portions of Greek, Latin, Spanish, French and Italian works will be read in translation.
Aims:
This course is designed to acquaint students with a variety of works of different periods to which the adjective comic has been attached, to derive notions of the relations between these works, and to examine some ancient and modern general debates about the nature of the comic in relation to possibly common constituents of the human mind?
On successful completion of this course students will be able to:
show knowledge of the work of a series of comic writings in relation to succeeding works that might be considered to be consequential; read comic writings with understanding and precision; prepare coherent written arguments deploying an appropriate critical vocabulary and supported by appropriate evidence and analysis; give presentations as an individual and as part of a group; use a wide variety of printed and on-line information and sources appropriate to this area of study.
1 x 2 hour seminar per week in one teaching block, plus 1-to-1 discussion in consultation hours where desired.
