Browse Hierarchy HST5407: The Making of the Modern Self

This module looks at changing meanings and experiences of selfhood from the late 17th to the early 20th century, beginning with John Bunyan (the spiritual self) and ending with Sigmund Freud (unconscious fantasy and selfhood) and including sessions on female selfhood (Mary Wollstonecraft), the enslaved self (Olaudah Equiano), and queer selfhood (Oscar Wilde). The module is interdisciplinary and combines close readings of key texts (especially but not exclusively autobiographical texts) with analyses of the historical changes shaping modern perceptions of the self. The focus is primarily on Britain but with individual sessions on major non-British theorists of selfhood (Rousseau, Freud). This is an interdisciplinary module that incorporates disciplinary methods drawn from both history and literary studies. Students evaluate the value of an interdisciplinary approach to the interpretation of texts by showing the interplay between literary traditions, socio-historical influences, and personal psychology in the writings under consideration.