Module Identifier EN35720  
Module Title LITERARY LIVES, BIOGRAPHICAL FICTIONS  
Academic Year 2007/2008  
Co-ordinator Dr David E Shuttleton  
Semester Intended for use in future years  
Next year offered N/A  
Next semester offered N/A  
Course delivery Seminars / Tutorials   1 x 2 hour seminar each week  
Assessment
Assessment TypeAssessment Length/DetailsProportion
Semester Assessment 1 X 2,500 WORD ESSAY  60%
Semester Assessment 30 MINUTE GROUP SUMMATIVE ORAL PRESENTATION  40%
Supplementary Assessment AN ESSAY ON A NEW TOPIC to be submitted in the event of failure in the essay assessment.  60%
Supplementary Assessment 15 MINUTE SCRIPT ON A NEW TOPIC WITH ACCOMPANYING VISUALS, written as if for delivery, to be submitted in the event of failure in the oral presentation  40%

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
Demonstrate an informed critical engagement with a representative range of literary biographies, related fictions and memoirs.

Analyse the particular critical problems relating to such matters as style, narrative method and cultural significance raised by a comparative study of literary life-writing

Demonstrate how the writing of literary lives has been influenced by such cultural factors as Romanticism, Freudianism, feminism, and contemporary literary theory.

Demonstrate through oral presentation a critical understanding of the changing genre of literary biography and of how this genre has come to be creatively refracted through related biographical fictions.

Aims

This Option Module is designed to be undertaken by Year Two students. It contributes to a move to extend the use of oral assessment in the degree scheme. By providing the opportunity to study a range of literary biographies alongside related generic experiments and autobiographical reflections upon the writing of literary lives, it will enable students to develop an informed critical engagement with an important and mutating literary genre. In the second half of the Module increasing attention will be given to the cross-over of ideas between reflexive, creative experimentation in modern literary biography and associated critical and theoretical ideas.

Brief description

This Option Module is designed to be undertaken by Year Two students. It contributes to a move to extend the use of oral assessment in the degree scheme. By providing the opportunity to study a range of literary biographies alongside related generic experiments and autobiographical reflections upon the writing of literary lives, it will enable students to develop an informed critical engagement with an important and mutating literary genre. In the second half of the Module increasing attention will be given to the cross-over of ideas between reflexive, creative experimentation in modern literary biography and associated critical and theoretical ideas.

Content

This Option Module is designed to be undertaken by Year Two students. It contributes to a move to extend the use of oral assessment in the degree scheme. By providing the opportunity to study a range of literary biographies alongside related generic experiments and autobiographical reflections upon the writing of literary lives, it will enable students to develop an informed critical engagement with an important and mutating literary genre. In the second half of the Module increasing attention will be given to the cross-over of ideas between reflexive, creative experimentation in modern literary biography and associated critical and theoretical ideas.

Module Skills

Problem solving by developing evaluative analysis and critical skills and formulating and conducting a detailed argument  
Research skills by developing the ability to map generic changes and significant cultural markers both within and between literary texts from different historical periods  
Communication through group discussions and presentations  
Improving own Learning and Performance by developing skills to undertake independent reading and research and associated time management.  
Team work through group presentations  
Information Technology through power-point presentations  
Personal Development and Career planning through critical self-reflection and by developing transferable research and communication skills.  
Subject Specific Skills The detailed, informed critical analysis of literary texts, and the evaluation of related intellectual and theoretical concepts  

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 6