EL40QV: HORRIBLE HISTORIES: VIOLENCE AND TRAUMA IN THE SCOTTISH NOVEL (2024-2025)

Scotland's history is one of violence, bloodshed and trauma. This is reflected in its literature, above all in the fiction of the nineteenth century. Focusing on pivotal moments of upheaval in Scotland's past such as the Covenanting Wars and the Jacobite Risings this course will explore the ways in which these violent events are reflected in the works of writers such as Walter Scott, James Hogg, Robert Louis Stevenson and those in the modern period who have inherited their legacy. Exploring key concepts such as how the novel might approach and engage with the past, the extent to which it may operate as a form of commemoration and the limits which traumatic events place upon forms of narration, the course will examine the ways in which we can comprehend and remember a nation's violent history through the form of the novel.

• Either Programme Level 4 or Programme Level 5
• Any Undergraduate Programme (Studied)
• Either English (EL) or Literature In A World Context (LW)

• EL40QT Historical Nation: Writing Scotland's Past (Studied)
• EL45QV Horrible Histories: Violence and Trauma in the Scottish Novel (Studied)

One or more of these courses have a limited number of places. Priority access will be given to students for whom this course is compulsory. Please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions for more details on this process.