Art History and Visual Culture
Citizens of the World
- Overview
- Module description
Citizens of the World (EAS3234)
30 credits
What did it mean to be a citizen of the world in the eighteenth century and Romantic period? This module, designed for specialist and non-specialists, explores the shift from the cosmopolitan view that the enlightened person was at home everywhere to the Romantic view that one may be an exile even in one’s own country. The module examines major works by writers such as Austen, Voltaire, Wollstonecraft, Polidori and Keats, as well as lesser-known texts, to build up a detailed view of eighteenth-century and Romantic literary culture. We will explore themes such as nation, empire, slavery, identity and literature’s evolving role in mediating between the self and the wider world.
