Module Information
Module Identifier
EN10520
Module Title
CONTEMPORARY WRITING
Academic Year
2010/2011
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 2
Other Staff
Course Delivery
Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
---|---|
Seminars / Tutorials | 10 Hours. (10 x 1 hour seminars) |
Lecture | 20 Hours. (20 x 1 hour lectures: two per week for 10 weeks) |
Assessment
Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
---|---|---|
Semester Assessment | Continuous Assessment: 2000 word essay | 50% |
Semester Exam | 2 Hours (Answer two questions on a two hour examination paper) | 50% |
Supplementary Assessment | 2 Hours Students who fail the module will be required to make good any missing assessment elements and/or resubmit any failed coursework assignments (writing on a fresh topic), and/or sit the supplementary examination paper. |
Learning Outcomes
On the completion of this module students should be able to:
1. Demonstrate an informed critical understanding of selected examples of contemporary writing.
2. Relate these texts to contemporary cultural concerns.
3. Write about contemporary literary texts in a structured and disciplined manner.
Brief description
This module introduces a range of contemporary writing in English covering a wide variety of forms, styles, and linguistic registers but concentrating on the genres of poetry and the novel. The set texts raise a number of critical issues concerning literary form and language, cultural positioning and social identity. They are arranged under four thematic headings: 'Nation and Community', 'Place and Ethnicity', 'Sexualities and Dissidence' and Twenty-First Century Traumas'. This approach will enable students to engage with the sort of theoretical work they will encounter at a higher level in Part Two.
Content
Lectures 1-3 and Seminars 1-3: Nation and Community
Text: Ed. Richard Gwyn, 'The Pterodactyl's Wing'
Lectures 5-10 and Seminars 4-5: Place and Ethnicity
Texts: Mohsin Hamid 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist'; Anne Enright 'The Gathering'
Lectures 11-15 and Seminars 6-8: Sexualities and Dissidence
Texts: Jackie Kay 'The Trumpet'; Jeanette Winterson 'The Stone Gods'
Lectures 16-20 and Seminars 9-10: Twenty-First Century Traumas
Texts: Tom McCarthy 'Remainder'; James Meek' We Are Now Beginning Our Descent
Text: Ed. Richard Gwyn, 'The Pterodactyl's Wing'
Lectures 5-10 and Seminars 4-5: Place and Ethnicity
Texts: Mohsin Hamid 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist'; Anne Enright 'The Gathering'
Lectures 11-15 and Seminars 6-8: Sexualities and Dissidence
Texts: Jackie Kay 'The Trumpet'; Jeanette Winterson 'The Stone Gods'
Lectures 16-20 and Seminars 9-10: Twenty-First Century Traumas
Texts: Tom McCarthy 'Remainder'; James Meek' We Are Now Beginning Our Descent
Module Skills
Skills Type | Skills details |
---|---|
Application of Number | n/a |
Communication | Written - developing a sustained critical argument Oral - group discussions adn seminar presentations |
Improving own Learning and Performance | Independent research and reading |
Information Technology | Use of word-processing packages, use of Blackboard and other e-resources to research and access course documents and other materials |
Personal Development and Career planning | Increased critical self-reflection and the development of transferable, ICT, communication and research skills |
Problem solving | Evaluative analysis and critical skills |
Research skills | Independent research ad synthesizing information in an evaluative argument |
Subject Specific Skills | Reading, writing and researching skills involved in the interrogation of literary texts, and the conceptual/theoretical analysis of works of imaginative literature in relation to a range of other non- literary texts |
Team work | Group work in seminars and/or through the preparation of paired presentations for seminars |
Reading List
General Text(c2003.) The pterodactyl's wing :Welsh world poetry /edited by Richard Gwyn. Parthian Books Primo search Enright, Anne (2009.) The gathering /Anne Enright. Vintage Primo search Hamid, Mohsin (2008.) The reluctant fundamentalist /Mohsin Hamid. Penguin Primo search Kay, Jackie (1999) Trumpet /Jackie Kay. Picador Primo search Meek, James (2009.) We are now beginning our descent /James Meek. Canongate Primo search Winterson, Jeanette (2008.) The stone gods /Jeanette Winterson. Penguin Primo search
McCarthy, Tom (Feb. 2007) Remainder Vintage [Imprint] Primo search
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 4