Module ENGL3591: POST-WAR FICTION AND POETRY

Department: English Studies

ENGL3591: POST-WAR FICTION AND POETRY

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 present students with an advanced study of the fiction and poetry, and thought and culture, of the post-war period, 1945-the present.
• To cultivate an advanced critical understanding of the work of a selection of British and other literatures written in English during the period 1945 to the present, and to explore their various historical, intellectual and cultural contexts.

Content

• Focusing on significant literary writing in two genres (poetry and fiction), this module considers developments in post-war literature in English in the context of intellectual and social changes and political and historical developments during the period (eg., the end of empire, the impact of and responses to World War Two, the women’s movement, postmodernism in philosophy and the arts, the internationalisation of fiction, terrorism). Considering principally the works of British writers, the module also includes some world writing in English (eg. South Asian, African, Anglo-Irish). It also examines the cultural identity and role of the writer, as well as the range of literary forms of representation available in the rapidly changing cultures and contexts of the last half of the twentieth- and the early twenty-first centuries. The syllabus covers work written between 1945 and the present day and may include poetry by such writers as Larkin, Heaney, Hughes, Davie, Gunn, Muldoon, Mahon, Dunn, Walcott, Jennings, Harrison, Tomlinson, eg., and fiction by such writers as Orwell, Waugh, Murdoch, Golding, Spark, Lessing, McEwan, Ishiguro, Kingsley and Martin Amis, Desai, Gordimer, Coetzee, Rushdie, Naipaul, Banville, Byatt, Ondaatje

Learning Outcomes

• Students will be expected to demonstrate an advanced knowledge and understanding of a range of authors and literary forms of the post-war period and to be able to engage at the appropriate level with the literary and intellectual concepts and movements of the period (eg. postmodernism, The Movement, the Two Cultures debate, postcolonialism).

• 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 ability to discuss texts in their intellectual, historical and cultural contexts and to make comparisons and connections between authors and texts
• advanced skills in critical reasoning, including the ability to assess other critical readings and to engage with the problems of defining literary movements and literary forms of the post-war 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
• 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
• advanced skills in critical reasoning, including the ability to assess other critical readings
• advanced skills of effective communication and argument
• an advanced command of an extensive range of vocabulary and an appropriate critical terminology
• a sophisticated awareness of literature as a medium through which values are affirmed and debated

• Students studying this module will develop:
• a capacity to analyse literary works and other cultural artefacts critically and sensitively
• 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
• an advanced capacity for independent thought and judgement, and ability to assess the critical ideas of others
• advanced 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 essays: are written on a text or texts, or a literary topic, and they require 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 first essay is carefully marked and returned to students individually in one 15-minute handback session. Formative essays allow for students to explore and try out without risk different approaches to and perspectives on literary texts; both essays are 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: encouraged 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.
• Examination: tests 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, test that students have achieved stated learning outcomes.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

2 essays 1500-2000 words each. The second essay is optional.

■ 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