Module ENGL2621: Modern Literature and the British Secret State

Department: English Studies

ENGL2621: Modern Literature and the British Secret State

Prerequisites

• Any Single or Joint Honours finalist student wishing to take this Special Topic module must have satisfactorily completed the required number of core modules. Combined Honours and Outside Honours students must have satisfactorily completed either two Level 1 core introductory modules, or at least one Level 1 core module and one further lecture based module in English at Level 2.

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• This course will analyse the numerous and often highly controversial interactions Britain’s secret services (such as MI5 and MI6) had with twentieth century literature and culture.
• t will look at how the espionage novel has portrayed British intelligence agencies and their engagement with major political events of the twentieth century, how key espionage scandals have been depicted in literary works, and how ex-intelligence officers have launched careers as writers or memoirists.
• It will also examine elements such as the actual surveillance records kept on authors, and how the secret state subsidised or supported certain events in literary history.

Content

• Primary texts covered in this course may include John Buchan, The Thirty-Nine Steps, Robert Erskine Childers, The Riddle of the Sand, Ian Fleming, Casino Royale, Graham Greene, Our Man in Havana and The Quiet American, Joseph Conrad, The Secret Agent, W. Somerset Maugham, Ashenden: Or the British Agent, John Le Carré, The Spy who Came in from the Cold and Absolute Friends, Stella Rimington, Open Secrets and Secret Asset, George Orwell, Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty Four. We will also consider the film adaptations of most of these works.
• Other material drawn on will include the recent official histories of MI5 and MI6, and extracts from MI5 archival documents.

Learning Outcomes

• A close knowledge of a range of literary works that depict the covert arms of the British government.
• Insight into the functions of secret services, and the many political and ethical issues that surrounding them.
• An understanding of some of the forces that have monitored, censored and subsidised important elements of modern literature and culture.

• 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 in which they will receive feedback on their essay plan.

■ 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