2018-2019 Academic Catalog 
    
    Mar 28, 2024  
2018-2019 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

ENG 363 - Traumatic Tales: British Romantic Literature and Nationhood


This course examines the formation of British national identity through its troubling origins in women’s subordination, class hierarchy, slavery, colonial rule and imperialism. Focusing on the slave narrative, confessional poetry and the political and domestic novel, this seminar will explore the ways in which Romantic writers attempted (and often failed) to articulate an alternative national narrative against the national hegemony, which erased state acts of exploitation and terror. To better understand the concept of national trauma, we will also read extensively in psychoanalytic and critical social theory related to genocide, accidents and torture.

Anticipated Terms Offered: Every other year.