EL50C1: LOCATIONS AND DISLOCATIONS: THE ROLE OF PLACE IN LITERATURE (2023-2024)

It is said that a map is a convenient fiction, a representation of the shape a place might take if only one could see it; the co-ordinates of places such as ‘Scotland’, ‘Ireland’, England’ and ‘Australia’, their imaginative latitudes and longitudes, have been in a constant state of flux throughout the ages, refusing to yield an essential, authentic image. Place is often seen as something to be both embraced and abandoned, but it always remains central in any discussion of individual and communal identities. This course examines the social, political and cultural construction of places in literary texts. Key themes and issues to be discussed include: the idea of ‘home’; the rural and urban divide; the intersection of novel and nation; the role of nostalgia and longing in literature; the nature of community; the significance of emigration and displacement; utopian and dystopian communities; diasporic communities and the transatlantic imagination. This course examines how the writer’s sense of place can influence both the choice of subject matter as well as determine his or her approach to it.

Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.

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