ENG 275 - Topics: Digital Explorations of Mary Shelley (1)

Mary Shelley’s speculative novel, The Last Man (1826), tells the story of a fictional pandemic, the result of a mysterious pathogen, from the perspective of humanity’s lone survivor. Although less well-known than Frankenstein, The Last Man-with its reflections on devastations wreaked by war, colonialism, disease and loneliness, alongside its celebration of humanity’s capacity for love-is arguably a novel for today. Students in this project-based course will study the novel and Shelley’s life in depth, while learning about new, digital-based ways of engaging with literature that even Shelley may not have dreamed possible. The culminating work will be a project that digitally showcases students’ discoveries about this remarkable piece of fiction. As an introduction to Digital Literary Studies, this course will interest students who enjoy reading literature and would like to develop new digital and quantitative literacy skills, as well as students already familiar with digital analytics, programming, or GIS who wish to learn more about literary studies. Prerequisite(s): Writing (W) course or ENG 201.
(Humanities)