Course Catalogue

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This course explores and analyses a diverse range of travel texts by Scottish writers and visitors to Scotland from 1700 until the present day. It engages with Scottish writers' preoccupation with their native land and landscape and grapples with topics including the tourist industry, geopolitics and nature-writing.

1 x 1hr Lecture per week over 10 weeks as scheduled on MyCampus and

1 x 1hr seminar per week over 10 weeks as scheduled on MyCampus

This is one of the Honours options in Scottish Literature and may not run every year. The options that are running this session are available on MyCampus.

Available to all students fulfilling requirements for Honours entry into Scottish Literature, and by arrangement to visiting students or students of other Honours programmes who qualify under the University's 25% regulation.

None

Essay (2000 words): 50%
Comparative Essay (1000 words): 25%

Blog Exercise (1000 words): 25%

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

This course aims to:

■ Read and analyse a range of Scottish writers' literary journeys across Scotland from the 18th century to the present day;

■ Compare travel writing about Scotland across different periods in time, and map key themes and ideas about Scotland across three centuries;

■ Reflect on writing and nation from several different geographic and theoretical perspectives.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ write critically about different genres and styles of writing, noting key 'Scottish' characteristics;

■ engage creatively with concepts of contemporary Scottish travel writing;

■ use archival skills to explore comparative texts and identify contemporary reviews of key texts;

■ use research skills to identify and explore independent topics and source primary and secondary texts for extended written work.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.