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EL30QA: SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL: SCOTTISH SHORT STORIES (2023-2024)

Last modified: 23 Jul 2024 10:43


Course Overview

While the short story is often said to have developed in America, nineteenth-century Scottish writing is in fact instrumental in the emergence of the form. Often drawing on oral and folk traditions Scottish writers in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries employ the supernatural, or our fear of it, to explore subjects such as guilt, fear, remorse and the extent to which we can control our own destinies. This course will explore the ways in which the short story in Scotland develops from the early nineteenth century until the beginning of the twentieth. It will include writers such as Walter Scott, James Hogg, John Galt, Margaret Oliphant, Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle and Jane Findlater. 

Course Details

Study Type Undergraduate Level 3
Term First Term Credit Points 30 credits (15 ECTS credits)
Campus Aberdeen Sustained Study No
Co-ordinators
  • Dr Natalie Harries

What courses & programmes must have been taken before this course?

  • Any Undergraduate Programme (Studied)
  • English (EL) (Studied)
  • Either Programme Level 3 or Programme Level 4

What other courses must be taken with this course?

None.

What courses cannot be taken with this course?

Are there a limited number of places available?

No

Course Description

While the short story is often said to have developed in America, nineteenth-century Scottish writing is in fact instrumental in the emergence of the form. Often drawing on oral and folk traditions Scottish writers in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries employ the supernatural, or our fear of it, to explore subjects such as guilt, fear, remorse and the extent to which we can control our own destinies. This course will explore the ways in which the short story in Scotland develops from the early nineteenth century until the beginning of the twentieth. It will include writers such as Walter Scott, James Hogg, John Galt, Margaret Oliphanz, Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Jane Findlater and Lewis Grassic Gibbon. This course will examine a century of Scottish short stories, their relationship to the Gothic and the supernatural and the themes they raise through this approach.


Contact Teaching Time

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

Teaching Breakdown

More Information about Week Numbers


Details, including assessments, may be subject to change until 30 August 2024 for 1st term courses and 20 December 2024 for 2nd term courses.

Summative Assessments

Contribution to Discussion Boards

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 10
Assessment Weeks 18 Feedback Weeks 21

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Feedback

Feedback will be given in a written form and orally on request.

Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
Sorry, we don't have this information available just now. Please check the course guide on MyAberdeen or with the Course Coordinator

Essay

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 50
Assessment Weeks 18 Feedback Weeks 21

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Feedback

Feedback will be given in written form. The opportunity for oral feedback will be provided

Word Count 2500
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
Sorry, we don't have this information available just now. Please check the course guide on MyAberdeen or with the Course Coordinator

Seminar Assessment Mark

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 10
Assessment Weeks 18 Feedback Weeks 21

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Feedback

Feedback will be given orally throughout the course and in written format at the end.

Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
Sorry, we don't have this information available just now. Please check the course guide on MyAberdeen or with the Course Coordinator

Exercise

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 30
Assessment Weeks 12 Feedback Weeks 15

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Feedback

Feedback will be given in a writtten form. An opportunity for oral feedback will be provided.

Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
Sorry, we don't have this information available just now. Please check the course guide on MyAberdeen or with the Course Coordinator

Formative Assessment

There are no assessments for this course.

Resit Assessments

1 x 3000 word comparative essay

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 100
Assessment Weeks Feedback Weeks

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Feedback Written Feedback
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
Sorry, we don't have this information available just now. Please check the course guide on MyAberdeen or with the Course Coordinator

Course Learning Outcomes

Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualCreateStudents will be able to construct coherent and cogent arguments to support their hypotheses concerning a selection of short stories
ConceptualEvaluateStudents will be able to analyse a range of thematic impulses at play within selected short stories
ConceptualUnderstandStudents will be able to understand a range of strategies adopted by writers in the period studied
ConceptualEvaluateStudents will be able to offer a critique of the effectiveness of narrative strategies in a range of stories
ReflectionEvaluateStudents will be able to reflect upon their own knowledge and how it develops throughout the course
ConceptualCreateStudents will be able to produce coherent arguments and communicate these both in written form and verbally.

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