Module Identifier
EN38330
Module Title
ROMANTIC EROTICISM
Academic Year
2008/2009
Co-ordinator
Dr Richard J Marggraf-Turley
Semester
Semester 2
Other Staff
 

Course Delivery

Delivery Type Delivery length / details
Seminars / Tutorials 10 x 2hr seminars
 

Assessment

Assessment Type Assessment length / details Proportion
Semester Assessment 2 Hours   ESSAY 1: 3000 WORDS  50%
Semester Assessment 2 Hours   ESSAY 1: 3000 WORDS  50%
Supplementary Assessment Resubmit or resit failed elements and/or make good any missing elements 

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this module, students should be able to:

1. Analyse and evaluate a range of Romantic texts and images in their historical and social context

2. Discuss political, legal and aesthetic issues associated with transgressive writing and visual culture in the Romantic period

3. Apply critical, theoretical and analytical skills to texts and images on this module

Content

1. Introduction

2. 'Political Ravishment': Pornography and Romantic Satire
Texts: Prints and sketches by James Gillray, Thomas Rowlandson, William Blake and Henry Fuseli.

3. Women and Erotic Drama: The Chapter of Accidents
Texts: Sophia Lee, The Chapter of Accidents (1780)

4. Merry Muses: Romanticism's Banned Books
Texts: selections from Robert Burns, The Merry Muses of Caledonia (1799)

5. 'A Sight to dream of, not to tell': Obscenity and Christabel
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 'Christabel' (1816); William Hazlitt, review of 'Christabel', Examiner (1816).

6. 'Depraved morality . . . and indecency': The Story of Rimini
Texts: Leigh Hunt, The Story of Rimini (1816); extracts from reviews of Hunt, Keats and Barry Cornwall.

7. 'O blush not so!': Keats and Bawdy
Texts: 'Isabella', 'The Eve of St Agnes', 'Lamia', 'Ode on a Grecian Urn', 'O blush not so!', 'Unfelt, unheard, unseen', 'Upon my life, Sir Nevis, I am piqued'; extracts from Keats's Letters; extracts from reviews of Keats.

8. 'Droop not': Don Juan and Romantic Masculinities
Texts: Lord Byron, Don Juan (1819-24); extracts from Byron's Letters; extracts from contemporary 19th-century reviews.

9. 'Drive me to distraction': Liber Amoris and the Politics of Obsession
Texts: Hazlitt, Liber Amoris (1823); extracts from Hazlitt's Letters; extracts from contemporary 19th-century reviews.

10. Conclusion

Brief description

This module examines erotic texts and images in the Romantic period. Placing these transgressive works in their contemporary late-eighteenth and early nineteenth-century contexts, as well as considering them from the perspective of modern theories of gender, sexuality and identity, Romantic Eroticism addresses the following questions: How does Romanticism construct the `obscene?? What is the political resonance of terms such as 'vulgar' or 'depraved' in literary reviews at this juncture? What is the relationship between pornography and political satire? To what extent can 'obscene' art be considered an attack on elite culture? What is the literary value of Romantic bawdy? How do these works stand in relation to private and public spheres? How is 'pleasure' constituted by Romantic texts?

Aims

1. To assess and evaluate an important tradition of writing in the Romantic period.
2. To discuss how significant Romantic challenges to established power were conducted through canonical and non-canonical erotic publications.
3. To build on analytical and theoretical skills developed in Core modules

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 6