Literature, Science & Revolution: Electricity from Franklin to Frankenstein - CES00012M

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  • Department: Centre for 18th Century Studies
  • Credit value: 20 credits
  • Credit level: M
  • Academic year of delivery: 2022-23

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Autumn Term 2022-23

Module aims

  • To explore the relation between scientific discourse and the languages of literary expression and political debate in the long eighteenth century
  • To investigate the functions of figurative language in scientific and literary texts of the eighteenth century
  • To introduce students to the skills and techniques of interdisciplinary research

Module learning outcomes

Subject content

  • Knowledge of a wide range of eighteenth-century debates about electricity across a range of discourses
  • Awareness of the political significance of scientific controversy at the period
  • Extensive knowledge of recent critical and historical work relating to this topic

Academic and graduate skills

  • The research skills necessary to make good use of research resources available, including historical material such as newspapers and caricatures as well as literary texts
  • The research skills necessary to interdisciplinary study

Indicative assessment

Task % of module mark
Essay/coursework 100

Special assessment rules

None

Indicative reassessment

Task % of module mark
Essay/coursework 100

Module feedback

Written feedback, given in Week 5 for original assessment, and within two weeks of submission for re-assessed work

Indicative reading

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

Percy Bysshe Shelley Prometheus Unbound

Erasmus Darwin, The Economy of Vegetation

Helen Maria Williams A Tour in Switzerland.