Last modified: 05 Oct 2023 08:46
The distant past has long haunted the Western imagination, from lost races of Otherworldly beings and the ruins of antediluvian civilizations to that most enduring of Victorian inventions, the dinosaur. As the sheer depth of past time has expanded beyond human comprehension, our imaginations have populated those vast spaces with images mingling fact and fantasy to bring them to life, imprinting them with the cultural and personal concerns of our own time. Using textual and visual sources, this course explores how deep time has been represented in fiction and nonfiction since 1800.
| Study Type | Undergraduate | Level | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Term | Second Term | Credit Points | 30 credits (15 ECTS credits) |
| Campus | Aberdeen | Sustained Study | No |
| Co-ordinators |
|
||
Ever since the Enlightenment, the distant past has haunted the Western imagination, from lost races of Otherworldly beings and the ruins of antediluvian civilizations to that most enduring of Victorian inventions, the dinosaur. As the sheer depth of past time has expanded beyond human comprehension, our imaginations have populated those vast spaces with images mingling fact and fantasy to bring them to life. Deep time has shaped the modern imagination in fundamental ways, in ‘high’ and ‘popular’ culture alike. This course explores some of the cultural and personal meanings which have become attached to visions of the distant past in modern imaginative literature, from the early Victorian era (when the reality of deep time was first made apparent to a wide readership) onwards. Its primary focus is narrative fiction, for example imagined voyages into the deep past and present-day encounters with exotic or Gothicized survivals. But it will also include non-fictional genres and visual sources to explore how fictional authors and scientists alike have met the challenge of grasping the prehuman past imaginatively and infusing it with narrative momentum or human interest.
Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 30 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback | ||||
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
|
|
||
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 50 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback | Word Count | 3000 | ||
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
|
|
||
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 20 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback | ||||
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
|
|
||
There are no assessments for this course.
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Factual | Remember | ILO’s for this course are available in the course guide. |
We have detected that you are have compatibility mode enabled or are using an old version of Internet Explorer. You either need to switch off compatibility mode for this site or upgrade your browser.
