LN253     
European Literature and Philosophy

This information is for the 2018/19 session.

Teacher responsible

Dr Olga Sobolev TW3 6.01A and Dr Angus Wrenn TW3 6.01A

Availability

This course is available on the BSc in Philosophy and Economics, BSc in Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method, BSc in Philosophy, Politics and Economics and BSc in Politics and Philosophy. This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit and to General Course students.

Available as an outside option to all undergraduate and General Course students. Students can take this course in any year of their studies following approval from the teacher responsible and subject to their own programme regulations.

Pre-requisites

Although an A-level pass or equivalent in Literature is useful, it is not an absolute requirement (especially for General Course students).

Course content

(a) Literary treatment of the major philosophical trends of the twentieth century, including the aesthetics of Bergson and Nietzsche, the analytical school of Russell; political philosophy of Isaiah Berlin, the existentialism of Heidegger and Sartre, the paradox of the absurd of Camus, French and East European Phenomenology; Wittgenstein and philosophy of language (b) Related trips to galleries and theatre productions during the year; (c) Use of archive recordings of authors, and video; (d) Students encouraged to draw upon background in their main discipline, and to read widely.

Teaching

10 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the MT. 10 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the LT. 1 hour of classes in the ST.

Structured activities during the reading week

Formative coursework

Two essays per year, presentations.

Indicative reading

Dostoevsky Crime and Punishment & The Grand Inquisitor; Kafka Metamorphosis & The Trial; Nabokov Lolita & Despair, Celan Todesfuge and other poems; St-Exupery The Little Prince; Solzhenitzyn One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich; Camus L'Etranger & The Myth of Sisyphus; Kundera The Unbearable Lightness of BeingFrayn CopenhagenStoppard Dogg's Hamlet Cahoot's Macbeth

Assessment

Exam (75%, duration: 3 hours) in the summer exam period.
Essay (25%, 2500 words) in the LT.

Student performance results

(2015/16 - 2017/18 combined)

Classification % of students
First 39.1
2:1 58
2:2 0
Third 1.4
Fail 1.4

Key facts

Department: Language Studies

Total students 2017/18: 25

Average class size 2017/18: 8

Capped 2017/18: Yes (24)

Value: One Unit

Guidelines for interpreting course guide information

PDAM skills

  • Self-management
  • Team working
  • Problem solving
  • Application of information skills
  • Communication
  • Specialist skills