The Shock of the New: Modern & Contemporary Literature
MODULE CODE
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Module Aims
Aim 1
Extend knowledge of the chronology of English Literature developed in level four and five period modules into the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries.
Aim 2
Encourage wide and varied reading, and an appreciation of imagination and creativity in the production of texts.
Aim 3
Develop skills in close reading across a diverse range of texts with distinct historical, social and cultural origins.
Aim 4
Examine formal and thematic aspects of modernist and later twentieth-century and twenty-first-century texts.
Aim 5
Foreground the significance of cultural and historical contexts in twentieth-century and twenty-first-century literature.
Aim 6
Examine the construction of gender, class and race in twentieth-century and twenty-first-century texts.
Aim 7
Consider intertextuality within and across a range of twentieth century literary texts.
Aim 8
Enhance critical thinking
Module Content
Topics may include but not be limited to the following:
This first part of this module takes in canonical texts from the modernist period, ensuring that students acquire an understanding of the work of major figures in early twentieth-century literature. Students examine the cultural and historical contexts in which the texts are produced, focussing on formal innovation across different kinds of literature. The module goes on to explore major transitions that occurred in the mid- and late Twentieth Century, before turning to twenty-first century writing. Students are encouraged to think comparatively, attending to connections between the texts on the module: myth and history; gender; the complexities of racial and ethnic identities; formal fragmentation; subjectivity and the representation of consciousness; the impact of technology and the experience of the city are among the recurring themes.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module, a student will be able to:
Teaching Methods
This module will be delivered on campus through a weekly lecture and seminar, with occasional tutorials. The lectures will outline the main critical and theoretical debates surrounding the texts. The seminars will provide the opportunity for the more detailed application and discussion of this material. Lectures and seminars will pay close attention to formal developments and innovations in the fiction and poetry under examination. Seminar presentations will enable students to take an active role in their own learning.
The seminars will give particular guidance on writing and critical skills in preparation for the assessments. There will also be an opportunity for you to participate in the delivery of learning information, through your own contributions and through informal group exercises set by your tutor. In seminars, you will be expected to offer opinions, listen to the opinions of others, and debate key points that enhance your understanding of the literary texts and its importance to academic study. In seminars, therefore, you develop key skills in debating, critical thinking, close reading, analysis and negotiation, as well as subject-specific knowledge and understanding.
All assessment briefs will be delivered in teaching sessions.
Assessment Methods
This module is assessed through one Research essay and one Exam.
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Compulsory
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