OFFICE OF LIFELONG LEARNING
NEW OR REVISED CREDIT COURSE PROPOSAL
SECTION A
Course title
Literature and Visual Arts – A Journey in Style
School BoS
Date of Meeting
SCQF level 7
LLC
January 2012
Credit points
New Y/N
Revised Y/N
new
Details of any pre-requisite
courses (if any) or other
requirements
Course operational with
effect from (date)
Course proposed by
Course tutor(s)
Include qualifications
Departmental URL
10
Contact teaching
hours
If replacement,
name of course
replaced
20
Weeks/days
10/1
September 2012
Ann Edmond
Contact
details
a.edmond
@ed.ac.uk
Rolland Man – MSc (Bucharest University) MA (Central European
University Warsaw)
Katja Robinson – BA, MA (University of Reading)
David Melville Wingrove – AB (Harvard University), MA
(University of Wales)
www.ed.ac.uk/studying/short-courses
SECTION B
Short description
of course
LLC BoS 18 January 2012
This innovative and cross-disciplinary course aims to explore
literature and visual arts from four leading schools (Classical,
Romantic, Gothic and Baroque) within a unified cultural context.
Rather than study different art forms in isolation, we will examine
works of literature in relation to painting, architecture and
sculpture of the same style and/or period. In so doing, we hope to
give a picture of the wider cultural context in which a work of art is
produced, and of the vibrant and active dialogue that has always
existed between artists in various disciplines. The course will
provide a brief survey of the four key styles, and examine
representative works of art and literature from each one.
Intended learning
outcomes
Contents
By the end of this course, students should be able to:

explain the four different artistic and literary styles studied in their
social, political and moral context;
 identify elements of contrasting styles and approaches, as well as the
aims of different schools in the four periods studied;
 discuss the ways in which one art form may influence another.
Week 1 – “What Do We Mean by Style?”
Introduction to key concepts: Classical, Gothic, Baroque and Romantic.
(RM)
Week 2 – The Classical Ideal
Classical art and architecture (KR).
Week 3 – Of Man and the Gods
Classical and neo-classical drama: Hippolytus (Euripides) vs. Phaedra
(Racine) (RM)
Week 4 – The Art of Darkness
Gothic art and architecture (KR)
Week 5 – Literature and the Gothic Revival
The Gothic novel: The Castle of Otranto (Horace Walpole) (DW)
Week 6 – A Fanfare in Form
Baroque art and architecture (KR)
Week 7 – A Cathedral in Prose
Baroque and the novel: Baltasar & Blimunda (José Saramago) (RM)
Week 8 – The Artifice of Nature
Romantic art and architecture (KR)
Week 9 – Passion and its Demons
The Romantic novel: Wuthering Heights (Emily Brontë) (DW)
Week 10 – The Future of Style?
Summary and comparisons between the four schools (RM)
Transferable skills
Organisation of teaching


Discussing a work of art within its historical and cultural context.
Contrasting and evaluating different approaches to a given work of
art.
 Participating in group discussions and debates.
 Understanding and reconciling divergent points of view.
Classes will be based on a mixture of lectures and discussions. While
each session will be led by one of the three tutors, the other two tutors
will aim to be present at each session.
Classes will be supplemented by slides, DVD clips and musical extracts.
The reading of the set texts is essential.
LLC BoS 18 January 2012
Components of
assessment
One 2000 word essay submitted after the course finishes, worth 100% of
the total course mark
Course Readings
Essential
Brontë, Emily (2004) Wuthering Heights, London, Penguin Classics
Euripides & Vellacott, Philip (2005) Three Plays: ‘Alcestis’, ‘Hippolytus’,
‘Iphigenia in Tauris’, London, Penguin Classics
Racine, Jean & Cairncross, John (2004) Iphigenia/Phaedra/Athaliah,
London, Penguin Classics
Saramago, José (2001) Baltasar & Blimunda, London, Vintage Classics
Walpole, Horace (2002) The Castle of Otranto, London, Penguin Classics
Recommended
Gombrich, Ernst (1995) The Story of Art (16th revised edition), London,
Phaidon
Graham-Dixon, Andrew (ed.) (2008) Art: The Definitive Guide, London,
Dorling Kindersley
Honour, Hugh and Fleming, John (2005) A World History of Art (7th
edition), London, Laurence King
Paglia, Camille (1992) Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti
to Emily Dickinson, London, Penguin Books
Piper, David (2006) The Illustrated History of Art, London, Bounty Books
Web sources
Class handouts
LLC BoS 18 January 2012
Lecture notes and/or discussion questions for each session.