| Unit name | Literature and Science: Newton to Darwin |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ENGL20054 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Rosalind Powell |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of English |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries witnessed an abundance of exciting scientific discoveries from the rise of experimental science early in the period to the later understanding of electricity and evolution. Writers such as Johnson, Shelley and Tennyson responded to and were influenced by these ideas and challenges.
In this period science was consumed, critiqued, and celebrated by the ordinary reader in literary forms. This unit will consider modes of experimentation and creativity, literary and scientific celebrity, debates about old and new knowledge from Pope to Keats, the treatment of science in a Christian context from creation to Darwinian evolution, the role of the imagination, and the treatment of scientific publications as texts that influenced and were influenced by literature.
On successful completion of this unit students will have:
(1) demonstrated a detailed knowledge and critical understanding of literary texts that engage with scientific and philosophical ideas;
(2) demonstrated an understanding of major critical approaches to the primary texts;
(3) engaged directly with scientific and philosophical texts and theories in order to reflect on the changing status of literature and ideas;
(4) demonstrated a critical understanding of the key debates about the relationship between literature and science;
(5) strengthened their skills in academic writing, argumentation, and evaluation of evidence from primary and critical literature, appropriate to level I/5.
1 x 2 hours seminar weekly
1 case study of 2000 words (40%)
1 essay of 3000 words (60%)
Both assessments will assess ILOs 1-5.
Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man (1734)
Samuel Johnson, Rasselas (1759)
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1818)
Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species (1859)
David Locke, Science as Writing (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992)
Martin Willis, Literature and Science: A Reader’s Guide to Essential Criticism (London: Palgrave, 2015)
