Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students will have developed:
1. A revised understanding of British Romanticism that emphasises its engagement with the sexual body and its resistance to normative social codes;
2. An awareness of how Romantic-era texts reflect changing social, cultural, and political contexts;
3. An ability to apply a range of critical and theoretical perspectives, from medical humanities to theories of sexuality, to the analysis of Romantic texts;
4. A familiarity with a range of lesser known Romantic-era forms and genres such as confessions and drama.
Please note that Generative AI technologies may not be used on this module in line with the UCD College of Arts and Humanities guidelines.
Indicative Module Content:
Students will examine Gothic novels by Mathew Lewis, Charlotte Dacre, Mary Shelley, and Charles Maturin, as well as psychological novels and dramas by William Godwin, Percy Shelley, Thomas De Quincey, and Lord Byron. Students will engage with a number of writers and texts they might not previously have read. They will also engage with a wide range of critical and theoretical approaches from queer and postcolonial theory to gender, race and disability studies. Students will be expected to move beyond conventional approaches to Romanticism (i.e. Romantic nature, Romantic genius, the lyric form) towards distressed forms and non-normative identities and subjectivities. Topics covered may be difficult for some students, including drug addiction, pornography, sexual assault, incest, suicide, and murder. Advance notice and content warnings will be provided at several stages of the module.