Taught Courses

 

This course analyses the concept of culture and studies the relationship between culture, behavior and the communication of individuals and groups. It develops appreciation for the challenges and opportunities posed by increasingly intercultural world and aims to develop analytical interpersonal skills for successful intercultural interaction and for overcoming cultural barriers.

‘English Literature in the Restoration and the Eighteenth Century’ is the second in a series of four undergraduate survey courses on English literature, opening with the Celts and the Anglo Saxons and ending up with various literary samples from the twentieth century. However, the seminars in this particular module are designed to provide a survey of eighteenth-century English literature, a period remarkable for its boldness of aesthetic experimentation and intellectual enquiry. The eighteenth century in Britain continued to compromise a period of unparalleled social, political, religious and economic change. The century witnessed the beginnings of Enlightenment consciousness, the rapid expansion of the British Empire and the birth of the modern political order in the United Kingdom of Britain. In the context of scientific progress, the ethical imperatives of a commercial empire, and revolutionary upheaval, writers of the period produced powerful works of literature across a range of genres and styles. They were constantly reevaluating what should count as literature, so this module is designed to explore the way forms for writing poetry and prose allowed authors to innovate carefully while remaining anchored in tradition. Therefore, concepts like ‘neoclassicism’, ‘Augustanism’, ‘empiricism’, ‘sentimentalism’, the doctrine of ‘natural goodness’ and ‘rationalism’ will be thoroughly examined. Mathew Arnold called the eighteenth century an ‘age of prose’; alluding to the fact that great prose does dominate the age. Indeed, the growth of new kinds of prose took the initiative away from verse (e.g. novel, literary criticism, biography, politics, history, aesthetics, economics, letters, journal, travel writing and sermons.) With the introduction of literary periodicals, such as The Spectator, the periodical essay, short and intended for consumption by the middle-class coffeehouse audience, became the vogue. The so-called ‘Age of Reason’ was also the ‘Age of Satire’. In effect, satirical pieces – in verse and prose – will be critically analyzed. Further, students will read and analyze literature in the context of the broad social, historical, and philosophical movements of the time to gain an understanding of the cultural forces that shaped the eighteenth-century literary production.

This course aims at helping students develop their ability and confidence to initiate communication and respond appropriately. It also aims at helping students cope with different social situations successfully.