| Unit name | Writing the Atlantic World |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ENGL20059 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Holberton |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of English |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit introduces students to the literary and cultural heritage of Britain’s empire in the Americas and the Caribbean, between 1590-1783. We will look at how diverse kinds of writing became entangled with the cultural exchanges of the Atlantic world. You will be asked to read from a selection of novels, plays, and poetry which reflect on the growth of Atlantic trade, colonisation, and slavery, and we will also examine forms and genres that will be less familiar, but which also give us insights into the period’s shifting attitudes and identities: travel writing and colonial promotion tracts, captivity narratives, memoirs, diaries, a native American language phrasebook, illustrations and maps. This unit is called ‘Writing the Atlantic World’ because it aims to think about empire from multiple perspectives. We read texts in the light of debates about the forms and legacies of early modern empire and globalization, and a range of critical approaches, such as thinking about narratives of enslavement in the context of the ‘Black Atlantic’, or the history of material culture. Throughout, we will be asking not only how English literature contributed to the development of imperial ideology, but also how it acknowledged and probed the ways in which England was being transformed by empire and globalization.
On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to demonstrate:
(1) a detailed knowledge and understanding of Atlantic world literature over an extended period of time;
(2) a critical understanding of the historical and cultural contexts that influence this body of literature;
(3) the ability to analyse and evaluate differing critical perspectives onto the primary literature;
(4) the ability to identify and evaluate pertinent evidence in order to illustrate a cogent argument;
(5) strengthened skills in argumentation, academic writing, and evaluation of textual evidence from a variety of different genres, appropriate to level I/5.
1 x 2-hour seminar per week.
1 essay of 2000 words (40%)
1 essay of 3000 words (60%)
Both essays will assess ILOs 1-5.
Early American Writings, ed. by Carla Mulford and Angela Vietto (Oxford: OUP, 2002)
Aphra Behn, Oroonoko and Other Writings, ed. Paul Salzman (Oxford: OUP, 1994)
Kevin J. Hayes, The Oxford Handbook of Early American Literature (Oxford University Press, 2008)
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (online texts available)
Kate Chedgzoy. Women's Writing in the British Atlantic World: Memory, Place and History, 1550–1700 (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
Suvir Kaul, Eighteenth-Century British Literature and Postcolonial Studies (Edinburgh University Press, 2009)
