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Semester 2

Haunted Imaginations: Scotland and the Supernatural' (ENLI10349)

Subject

English Literature

College

CAHSS

Credits

20

Normal Year Taken

3

Delivery Session Year

2023/2024

Pre-requisites

Visiting students must have completed 4 English Literature courses at grade B or above. We will only consider University/College level courses, and we do not consider civilisation & other interdisciplinary courses, freshman seminars, writing/composition courses or film/cinema/media courses; visiting students who have taken multiple courses in literature in other languages, should have passed at least two courses in English Literature as well. **Please note that this course may incur additional costs to purchase core texts** **Please see Additional Restrictions below**

Course Summary

This course will explore representations of the supernatural - tracing a chronological trajectory from the early modern to the contemporary moment - in a diverse range of Scottish writing by both canonical and non-canonical writers. It encompasses traditional forms such as ballads and folktales, Romantic and Victorian fictions, and contemporary fantasy and fabulisms. Scotland's traditional cultural, literary, and mythic associations with the otherworld are well-attested; but the course will encourage you to explore and examine critically the notion of a distinctively 'northern Gothic', and to attend closely to the ways in which this body of literature manifests what Marina Warner calls the 'inextinguishable famishing for the fantastic' ; the diversity of ghosts, fairies, witches, and other creatures which haunt this body of literature.

Course Description

We will examine and evaluate the contribution of Scottish writers to specific genre and modes for example, Gothic fiction, ghost story, fairy tale, and their contemporary reimaginings and revisions. We will also seek to place the representation of these diverse 'spirit worlds' within appropriate aesthetic, cultural, and social contexts. We shall explore whether certain types or kinds of 'supernaturalism' relate to specific cultural fears and anxieties; if and why Scottish culture is subject to particular kinds of 'haunting'; and whether 'haunted' fictions have subversive or political potential. Throughout we will pay close, sensitive attention to the primary materials in order to elucidate their aesthetic, psychological, and cultural implications.

Assessment Information

Written Exam 0%, Coursework 100%, Practical Exam 0%

Additional Restrictions

Unless you are nominated on an English Literature exchange agreement, visiting students are only permitted to enrol in one 3rd year English Literature course each, per semester, before the start of the relevant semester’s welcome period – and spaces on each course are limited so cannot be guaranteed for any student. Enrolment in a second course from this group will depend on whether there are still spaces available in the September Welcome Period, and cannot be guaranteed, and students will not be permitted to enrol in three 3rd year English Literature courses in the same semester at any time. It is NOT appropriate for students to contact staff within this subject area to ask for an exception to be made; all enquiries to enrol in these courses must be made through the CAHSS Visiting Student Office. This is due to the limited number of spaces available in this very popular subject area.

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