Module ENGL3131: AMERICAN FICTION LEVEL 3

Department: English Studies

ENGL3131: AMERICAN FICTION LEVEL 3

Prerequisites

• At least one of the following modules: Introduction to Drama (ENGL1011), Introduction to the Novel (ENGL1061), Introduction to Poetry (ENGL1071).

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To introduce students to an extensive range of US fiction, including novels, short stories and a variety of other narrative forms.
• To cultivate an advanced critical understanding of the cultural, historical and intellectual contexts that frame and inform the development of US fiction.

Content

• This module provides an advanced survey of US fiction, typically ranging from the early 19th century to the present day. It provides students with a rigorous introduction to questions of American identity and society and it explores how many of the USA’s foundational myths and beliefs have been challenged by diverse narratives and voices.
• The module is organised using a series of distinct but interconnected ‘units’. These units concentrate on specific periods and places in the history of American fiction (such as ‘the South’ or the ‘American Renaissance’) and/or specific thematic issues (such as slavery or the frontier). The units therefore serve a double purpose by providing a specialised, in-depth focus on particular aspects of American fiction while at the same time encouraging students to think across the time-line, to make connections and comparisons, and to trace continuities. The units represent a controlled yet dynamic way of exploring the preoccupations and aspirations that might be shared (and indeed approached very differently) across the American ‘multiverse’.
• The module covers a variety of literary genres and modes: epic novels, short stories, best-sellers, cult and/or experimental fictions, Romance, Realism and so on. It also examines the relationships between American literary production and other cultural forms such as painting, film and television.
• The following issues will remain important throughout the module: the problematics of studying fiction within a national framework; changing representations of the United States and the legacies of its traumatic past; gender, ethnicity and multicultural perspectives; rhetorical constructions of identity; landscape and material/imagined spaces; institutions and infrastructure; voice, authenticity and appropriation; debates about the US literary canon and cultural hierarchies.
• Sample texts may vary from year to year but will normally include works from a selection of the following writers: Henry James, Edith Wharton, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Mitchell, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Frederick Douglass, Mark Twain, William Faulkner, Toni Morrison, Louise Erdrich, James Fenimore Cooper, Sylvia Plath, Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Thomas Pynchon, Annie Proulx, Don DeLillo.
• Audio-visual material will be used where appropriate in lectures to help students read literature within broader cultural contexts.
• The module uses extensive specialist DUO resources in order to support original and independent research.
• The module includes a distinctive summative essay component that requires students to compare a passage from a core lecture text with material of their own choosing. This exercise is designed to promote and facilitate the kinds of trans-historical and trans-media connections that are built into the lecture programme.

Learning Outcomes

• Students studying this module be will be able to:
• demonstrate a sophisticated knowledge of a substantial range of US fiction (including a range of periods and forms).
• display analytical-critical skills in approaching specific US texts.
• show awareness of issues raised by reading US fiction within its cultural, historical and intellectual contexts, and within a national frame.

• 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, authors, and critical approaches within this literary period
• an informed awareness of formal and aesthetic dimensions of literature and an ability to offer cogent analysis of their workings in specific texts relating to this literary period
• a 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 this literary period
• skills of effective communication and argument
• an awareness of conventions of scholarly presentation, and bibliographic skills, including accurate citation of sources and consistent use of scholarly conventions of presentation
• a command of a broad range of vocabulary and an appropriate critical terminology
• an awareness of literature as a medium through which values are affirmed and debated
• an ability to engage in independent research at an appropriate level

• Students studying this module will develop:
• a capacity to analyse critically
• 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
• a competence in the planning and execution of essays
• 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

• Lectures: enable students to gain subject-specific knowledge of cultural, aesthetic and intellectual issues in relation to individual works and authors, an area or period, or a theoretical or language-related topic; encourage students to be aware of the range and variety of approaches to literary study; present ideas and information to encourage, on the part of students, further thought and discussion
• Tutorials: enable students to explore, in a selective way, through small-group discussion, specific texts and topics (many of which will be addressed by lectures); to focus on selected literary issues and problems; and guide them in developing subject-specific analytical skills and knowledge
• Formative essay: written on a text or texts, or a literary topic, it requires the student to demonstrate appropriate subject-specific knowledge and skills, such as the ability to articulate knowledge and understanding of concepts and theories relating to literary study. Written feedback is offered on all formative work. The essay is carefully marked and returned to students individually in one 15-minute handback session. The formative essay allows for students to explore and try out without risk different approaches to and perspectives on literary texts; the essay is useful for revision purposes. A considerable element of choice of essay topics encourages development in students of their capacity for independent thought and judgement.
• Essay handback: encourages students to reflect critically and independently on their work
• Independent but directed reading in preparation for lectures and tutorials provides opportunity for students to enrich subject-specific knowledge and enhances their ability to develop appropriate subject-specific skills.
• 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; test that students have achieved stated learning outcomes; they also test the ability to present word-processed work, observing scholarly conventions. The nature of the coursework component encourages independent work.
• Examination: test the student's ability to present subject-specific knowledge, to select appropriate materials, and to construct and manage clear and effective arguments in a timed period; to demonstrate independent thinking, and test that students have achieved stated learning outcomes.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

One essay 1500-2000 words.

■ 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