Admission requirements
Succesful completion of the following courses (or equivalent):
Literature 1A
Literature 1B
Literature 2
Literature 3(A/B) or Literature 4(A/B)
For this course transitional provisions apply. If you have to retake this course, please check the 'More info'-tab or contact your study advisor.
Description
Memory is almost everywhere in Shakespeare. Hamlet is centrally preoccupied with the question of how to remember the dead; the history plays examine the politics of historical memory; the Roman plays explore the idea of ‘remembering’ ancient Rome, with the theatre functioning as a kind of ‘memory machine’; the relations between memory and desire form a recurring theme in the sonnets. In this course, students will analyse the issue of memory in a cross-section of Shakespeare’s work, including history plays, tragedy, comedy, and poetry. They will also study a selection of recent work in memory studies and Shakespeare studies.
Course objectives
By the end of the course, students will:
have gained substantial knowledge of the various ways in which Shakespeare’s work explores the issue of memory;
have familiarized themselves with recent work in memory studies and in Shakespeare studies;
be able to draw creatively and critically on this work in their own literary analysis.
have further extended and deepened their powers of literary analysis through in-depth reading of texts;
have further honed their ability to engage in informed academic debate about literary texts and about broader issues such as memory;
have further honed their research and academic writing skills.
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
Seminar
Research
Assessment method
Assessment
Mid-Term: a 2500-word essay with a research component (engagement with two academic essays), presented according to the rules of the MLA stylesheet. Submitted via Turnitin on Brightspace.
End of term: Take-home exam. Submitted via Turnitin on Brightspace.
Weighing
Mid-Term: a 2500-word essay with a research component (40%); minimum grade required: 6,0.
End of term: Take-home exam (60%); minimum grade required: 5,0.
The final mark for the course is established by determination of the weighted average combined with additional requirements. To pass the course, the weighted average of the partial grades must be 5.5 or higher. NOTE: the minimum grade for the MLA style mid-term essay is a 6,0, and the minimum grade for the take-home exam is 5,0.
Resit
When the weighted average is below 5.5 or the grade for one of the assignments is lower than the minimum, the student will have to resit one (or both) of the assignments. Resit assignments will need to be revised according to the feedback provided and resubmitted on the day of the resit deadline via Turnitin on Brightspace.
Inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Assignments will be posted with feedback on Brightspace. Students are expected to study the feedback and to use this to improve on their next writing assignment. Students will be offered the possibility to review their exam answers.
Reading list
Jonathan Bate & Eric Rasmussen (eds.), The RSC Shakespeare: The Complete Works. Palgrave Macmillan.
Students may purchase either the 2022 edition (ISBN 9781350319967) or the 2008 edition (ISBN 9780230200951); no other editions are allowed.
Further reading material to be downloaded via the Leiden University Library online catalogue.
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.
Registration À la carte education, Contract teaching and Exchange
Information for those interested in taking this course in context of À la carte education (without taking examinations), eg. about costs, registration and conditions.
Information for those interested in taking this course in context of Contract teaching (with taking examinations), eg. about costs, registration and conditions.
For the registration of exchange students contact Humanities International Office.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Arsenaal
Remarks
Please see the Brightspace page for further literary and historical resources to prepare for your study.