Module Information
Course Delivery
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Essay Assignment 1 x 2000 word essay 2500 Words | 50% |
| Semester Assessment | Essay Assignment 1 x 2000 word essay 2500 Words | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Resubmit failed essay 1 x 2000 word essay 2500 Words | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Resubmit failed essay 1 x 2000 word essay 2500 Words | 50% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
Analyse the relationships beteen different theoretical approaches
Reflect on their own critical practice in a theoretically informed way
Employ particular theoretical approaches in the critical analysis of literary text
Evaluate the significance of particular theoretical approaches for the practice of literary criticism.
Brief description
The module aims to enable students to explore the relationship between literary theory and literary analysis by means of a weekly one-hour seminar and a weekly two-hour 'workshop' building upon the experience gained in previous theory modules. Thus, the key notion of the module is the provision of opportunities to gain experience of the practical application of literary theory to literary texts. It is intended that individual tutors are granted considerable scope to determine choice of material, and the precise definition and running order of topics. All tutors will, however, be expected to give equal emphasis to topics within three broad theoretical areas – politics and history; language and textuality; gender and sexuality – and to explore these topics in relation to four literary texts.
Aims
To enable students to gain experience of the practical application of literary theory to literary texts.
Content
William Shakespeare, The Tempest
Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights
Henry James, The Turn of the Screw
plus one text of the tutor's choice (indicative range from past practice: Daniel Defoe, Roxana; Jane Austen, Emma; Tennyson, selected poems; Virginia Woolf, Between the Acts; Toni Morrison, Beloved; Derek Walcott, selected poems; China Mieville, The City and the City)
The three broad theoretical headings, which all groups will use, are:
1. Politics and History
2. Language and Textuality
3. Gender and Sexuality
Tutors will decide individually on the order of treatment of these topics, and will match topic to text according to their own judgement. Tutors may wish to touch on several of the topics for a given text, rather than matching each of the four literary texts to just one of the four broad topics. In each week the one-hour seminar will be used to refresh and extend students' understanding of key theoretical concepts, and the two-hour workshop will be devoted to putting these concepts into use in the practical analysis of literary texts. Critical essays on the literary texts that have appropriate theoretical inflections will regularly be used as prompts and exemplars.
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | N/A |
| Communication | Students' writing in an academic context will be developed and assessed in the coursework and examination assignments. Oral skills will be developed in individual and group work in seminars, but not assessed. |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | This will be developed during the course of the seminars and in the assessment of tasks. |
| Information Technology | Students will be expected to present their work in word processed form (and will edit PC generated text); they will also be required to make use of computerized library resources. |
| Personal Development and Career planning | This will be addressed in the module's emphasis on independent and group work, and its attempt to develop professional presentational skills. |
| Problem solving | This will be developed during the course of the seminars and in the assessment tasks. |
| Research skills | This will be developed during the course of the seminars and in the assessment tasks. |
| Subject Specific Skills | Detailed critical and contextual analysis of literary texts and evaluation of the theoretical concepts. |
| Team work | This is built into the pedagogy of the module - all students will work in pairs and/or groups to comment on theories in relation to texts. |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6