Module Identifier EN10520  
Module Title CONTEMPORARY WRITING  
Academic Year 2003/2004  
Co-ordinator Dr Richard J Marggraf-Turley  
Semester Semester 2  
Other staff Mrs Carol M Marshall, Dr Julia H M Reid, Ms Louise Marshall, Marie Hockenhull Smith, Dr Matthew R Jarvis, Dr Richard J Marggraf-Turley  
Course delivery 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 TypeAssessment Length/DetailsProportion
Semester Exam2 Hours (Answer two questions on a two hour examination paper)  50%
Semester Assessment Continuous Assessment: 2 essays (1,500-2,000 words)  50%
Supplementary Assessment Resubmit any failed elements and/or make good any missing elements. 

Learning outcomes

On the completion of this module students should typically be better able to:

- read literary texts in an informed and critical way;
- discuss literary texts coherently;
- write about literary texts in a well-structured and well-argued manner.

Brief description

This module introduces a range of contemporary writing in English covering a wide variety of forms, styles, and linguistic registers: tales, short-fiction, poetry, drama, film-adaptations, elements of pulp fiction, modernist and post-modernist fiction. 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: 'Class', 'Negotiating Identities', 'Sexualities' and 'Cultures in Contact'. This approach will enable students to engage with the sort of theoretical work they will encounter at a higher level in Part Two.

Aims

to introduce students to key aspects of contemporary writing in English through a wide range of forms, style, and linguistic registers in poetry, short fiction, drama, and film;
to introduce students to a range of current issues and debates in English Studies and contemporary writing;
to increase the reading range of students and encourage them to become reflective and responsive readers.

Content

There will be two lectures each week. Each topic will be introduced in a general lecture, and each of the set texts will be examined in two lectures, one specifically on the text, the other on a wider range of issues raised by the text.

In the seminars, students can present and investigate their own ideas on the meaning and worth of the set texts. What has the text communicated to you personally, and how does your opinion relate to those of other students and critics?

Set Texts
Class:
Tony Harrison, Selected Poems (Penguin, 1995)
A.S. Byatt, Elementals, 1998

Negotiating Identities:
Charlotte Williams, Sugar and Slate (Planet 2002)
Caryl Phillips, The Nature of Blood (Faber, 1997)

Sexualities:
Jonathan Harvey, Beautiful Thing (Methuen, 1996)
Jeanette Winterson, The Passion (Vintage 1996)

Cultures in Contact:
Zadie Smith, White Teeth (Penguin 2001)
Alex Garland, The Beach (Penguin, 1996)
(Subject to release of videos, we shall also consider the new film adaptations of both titles)

Reading Lists

Books
** Recommended Text
Tony Harrison (1995) Selected Poems Penguin
A.S. Byatt (1998) Elementals Vintage
Caryl Phillips (1997) The Nature of Blood Faber
Jonathan Harvey (1994) Beautiful Thing Methuen
Jeanette Winterson (1996) The Passion Vintage
Zadie Smith (2001) White Teeth Penguin
Alex Garland (1996) The Beach Penguin
Charlotte Williams (2002) Sugar and Slate Planet

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 4