Module ENGL3211: FICTIONS OF TERRORISM (SPECIAL TOPIC)

Department: English Studies

ENGL3211: FICTIONS OF TERRORISM (SPECIAL TOPIC)

Prerequisites

• Successful completion of either ENGL2011 Theory and Practice of Literary Criticism or ENGL2021 Shakespeare.

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• This module aims to explore the complex and contentious links between fiction and various forms of terrorism / political violence in the 20th century and beyond — anarchism and revolutionary leftism, Islamist fundamentalism, State terror, ‘eco’ terrorism and so on.
• The module seeks to investigate how fictional texts represent the politics, ethics, motives, operations and consequences of terrorism from a dynamic range of perspectives. The subject of terrorism abounds in (post)modern fiction — from the literary novel to the airport thriller, from arthouse cinema to the Hollywood blockbuster — and attempts to depict terrorist violence on the page and screen have often proved to be controversial or polarising. This module therefore seeks to go beyond the immediate shock-value of the topic by encouraging a detailed examination of the historical and ideological forces that might shape such fictions.
• In addition, the module aims to engage students with a set of advanced theoretical questions raised by the relationship between fiction and terrorism. It places a particular emphasis on the unsettling overlap between concepts of authorship and political violence.
• By including American, British and ‘World’ fictions, the module aims to promote and develop the analytical skills acquired via core modules in a comparative, interdisciplinary framework.

Content

• The module is both wide-ranging and strategically focused. Organised around a series of historical/conceptual ‘snapshots’, it begins with dynamite violence at the dawn of the twentieth century and moves forward to encompass the mass-media spectacles and neo-colonial wars of the present day. Within this framework, the module touches down in a range of geopolitical settings and contexts — from Sheffield to Nablus, New York to Khartoum. The structure of the module is therefore designed to actively dramatise the complex network of global relations that defines the reality and representation of terror. If, as Salman Rushdie asserts, “everywhere is now a part of everywhere else” — if “our lives, our stories” flow “into one another’s” (with potentially explosive results) — then the texts and topics studied will reflect this.
• Special attention will be paid to the following questions: What is the precise nature of the relationship between fiction and terrorism? And in what ways might the line between reality and representation become blurred? How has our understanding of terrorism been shaped, influenced or subverted by textual production? Is it legitimate to speak of an ‘aesthetics’ of terrorism? And can a terrorist ever be described as a kind of ‘author’ or ‘interpreter’ of culture? Why do fantasies of terroristic destruction have such a hold on the creative imagination? Does the critical analysis of fiction take us closer to (or indeed further away from) a stable definition of what terrorism actually is? The module will also address ongoing debates about multiculturalism, globalization, civil liberties, trauma and so on.
• Texts will typically range from literary novels by the likes of Joseph Conrad, Don DeLillo, Edward Abbey and Salman Rushdie to short stories by Bharati Mukherjee and David Foster Wallace and films by Olivier Assayas, Hany Abu-Assad, Chris Morris and Paul Greengrass. Students will also be expected to engage with a range of secondary materials appropriate to the specific topic under scrutiny (from anarchist manifestoes to cutting-edge critical theory).

Learning Outcomes

• Students are expected to develop a broad but sophisticated knowledge of the relationship between fiction and terrorism within the frameworks of modernity and postmodernity.
• Students will acquire a detailed understanding of the critical/theoretical debates surrounding this relationship and a sound appreciation of the historical factors that have shaped it.
• Students will become aware of how terrorism has actively contributed to the development of particular cultural forms (and vice versa).

• Students studying this module will develop:
• Critical skills in the close reading and analysis of texts
• An ability to demonstrate knowledge of a range of texts and critical approaches
• Informed awareness of formal and aesthetic dimensions of literature and ability to offer cogent analysis of their workings in specific texts
• Sensitivity to generic conventions and to the shaping effects on communication of historical circumstances, and to the affective power of language
• An ability to articulate and substantiate an imaginative response to literature
• An ability to articulate knowledge and understanding of concepts and theories relating to literary studies
• Command of a broad range of vocabulary and an appropriate critical terminology
• Awareness of literature as a medium through which values are affirmed and debated

• Students studying this module will develop:
• A capacity to analyse critically
• Skills of effective communication and argument
• An ability to acquire complex information of diverse kinds in a structured and systematic way involving the use of distinctive interpretative skills derived from the subject
• Competence in the planning and execution of essays
• Awareness of conventions of scholarly presentation, and bibliographic skills including accurate citation of sources and consistent use of scholarly conventions of presentation
• A capacity for independent thought and judgement, and ability to assess the critical ideas of others
• Skills in critical reasoning
• An ability to handle information and argument in a critical manner
• Information-technology skills such as word-processing and electronic data access information
• Organisation and time-management skills

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Seminars: encourage peer-group discussion, enable students to develop critical skills in the close reading and analysis of texts, and skills of effective communication and presentation; promote awareness of diversity of interpretation and methodology
• Consultation session: encourages students to reflect critically and independently on their work
• Independent but directed reading in preparation for seminars provides opportunity for students to enrich subject-specific knowledge and enhances their ability to develop appropriate subject-specific skills.
• Typically, directed learning may include assigning student(s) an issue, theme or topic that can be independently or collectively explored within a framework and/or with additional materials provided by the tutor. This may function as preparatory work for presenting their ideas or findings (sometimes electronically) to their peers and tutor in the context of a seminar.
• Coursework: tests the student's ability to argue, respond and interpret, and to demonstrate subject-specific knowledge and skills such as appreciation of the power of imagination in literary creation and the close reading and analysis of texts; they also test the ability to present word-processed work, observing scholarly conventions. In individual Special Topics, the essay may, where appropriate to the subject, take an alternative form, such as 'creative criticism'.
• Feedback: The written feedback that is provided after the first assessed essay allows students to reflect on examiners' comments, giving students the opportunity to improve their work for the second essay.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Before the first essay, students will have an individual consultation session in which they are entitled to show their seminar leader a list of points relevant to the essay and receive oral comment on these points. Students may also, if they wish, discuss their ideas for the second essay at this meeting.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University