Studying at York
Remaking the Eighteenth Century - ENG00137H
- Department: English and Related Literature
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: H
- Academic year of delivery: 2024-25
Module summary
Recent years have seen a flourishing of contemporary writers and artists rewriting and reimagining the literature and culture of the 18th century. Many of these novels, poem cycles, and visual pieces have sought to draw attention to people who were excluded by the period’s social and racial hierarchies. In this module, you will encounter a diverse collection of 21st century texts and visual works that intervenes creatively and critically with the 18th century, and spotlight voices that were excluded from and written out of canonical accounts.
Over the module, you will explore a range of genres that connect the present to the past. Together we’ll read the 18th century writings of servants, immigrants, and enslaved labourers in order to understand the textual and material traces they left behind, and to familiarise ourselves with innovative forms of 18th century print and visual culture. These sources will be paired with recent rewritings and reimaginings that seek to highlight the voices of those who were marginalised and oppressed in the period. Reading contemporary revisions to the 18th century will allow us to think about the place of creativity, craft, and textual and visual experimentation in engaging the legacies of the past. These 21st century creative afterlives will enable us to consider the 18th century’s complex legacies and their implications for the present. What new stories about the past can our century tell?
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Semester 1 2024-25 |
Module aims
This module aims to develop your understanding of the cultural, creative, and critical afterlives of the 18th century. It aims to facilitate your familiarity with a diverse range of voices in the 18th century and how these voices have been embraced, revived, and reinvented by 21st writers, critics, and artists.
Module learning outcomes
On successful completion of the module, you should be able to:
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Demonstrate an advanced understanding of and engagement with how writers in the 21st century are creatively rewriting the 18th century
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Demonstrate an advanced understanding of and engagement with textual and visual analysis of 18th century sources and 21st century revisions to them
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Evaluate key debates within the relevant critical fields of Black Studies and Atlantic World Studies
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Produce independent arguments and ideas which demonstrate an advanced proficiency in critical thinking, research, and writing skills.
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Special assessment rules
None
Additional assessment information
Throughout the module, you will have the opportunity to pitch, road-test, and develop essay ideas. Feedback will be integrated into your seminars or the ‘third hour’ (i.e. the lecture or workshop).
You will submit your summative essay via the VLE during the revision and assessment weeks at the end of the teaching semester (weeks 13-15). Feedback on your summative essay will be uploaded to e:Vision to meet the University’s marking deadlines.
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Module feedback
You will receive feedback on all assessed work within the University deadline, and will often receive it more quickly. The purpose of feedback is to inform your future work; it is designed to help you to improve your work, and the Department also offers you help in learning from your feedback. If you do not understand your feedback or want to talk about your ideas further you can discuss it with your tutor or your supervisor, during their Open Office Hours.
For more information about the feedback you will receive for your work, see the department's Guide to Assessment.
Indicative reading
Module texts will be drawn from the following:
Selected examples of memoirs and narratives of servants and actresses
Jo Baker, Longbourn
Selected examples of Old Bailey Trials
Sara Collins, The Confessions of Frannie Langton
Charles Ignatius Sancho, selected letters
Paterson Joseph, The Secret Lives of Charles Ignatius Sancho
Phillis Weatley Peters, selected poems
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, The Age of Phillis, selected poems
NourbeSe Philip, Zong! (and linked performances and readings)
Francis Spufford, Golden Hill
Selected visual and video pieces by Agostino Brunias, Yinka Shonibare, Fabiola Jean-Louis, Ellen Gallagher, and Theo Eshetu