Delivery Type	Delivery length / details
Lecture	10 x 1-hour lectures
Seminars / Tutorials	10 x 1-hour seminars
Workload Breakdown	Lecture and seminar attendance - 20 hours; lecture and seminar preparation (research and reading) - 135 hours; essay research and preparation - 45 hours.

Delivery Type

Delivery length / details

Lecture

10 x 1-hour lectures

Seminars / Tutorials

10 x 1-hour seminars

Workload Breakdown

Lecture and seminar attendance - 20 hours; lecture and seminar preparation (research and reading) - 135 hours; essay research and preparation - 45 hours.

Assessment Type	Assessment length / details	Proportion
Semester Assessment	Continuous assessment: 2 x 1,500-2,000-word essays.	40%
Semester Exam	2-hour examination (2 essay questions, equally weighted).	60%
Supplementary Exam	2/3 Hours 1 x 2-hour examination if continuous assessment submitted. 1 x 3-hour examination if no continuous assessment submitted.	100%

Assessment Type

Assessment length / details

Proportion

Semester Assessment

Continuous assessment: 2 x 1,500-2,000-word essays.

40%

Semester Exam

2-hour examination (2 essay questions, equally weighted).

60%

Supplementary Exam

2/3 Hours 1 x 2-hour examination if continuous assessment submitted. 1 x 3-hour examination if no continuous assessment submitted.

100%

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

1. Read in depth and critically, with a particular sensitivity to textuality.
2. Contextualise critical debates on the issues of 19th and 20th c. literary representations of the beast, animal and human.
3. Grasp elaborate contemporary philosophical concepts through 19th and 20th c. literary readings and beyond the literary.

Aims

The aim of this module is to cross-examine today's philosophical perception of animality versus the representation of the beast in literature. The objectives of this module are to provide students with critical reading skills, and to prepare them to deconstruct the historical distinction between animal and humanity/humanism, as well as to articulate their understanding of the contemporary blurring of these categories.

Brief description

This module, divided into two sections and taught in French, will respectively revisit the 18th c. classical and 19th c. Romantic and naturalist conceptions of the animal with the help of contemporary critical theory based on key texts by Lacan, Derrida and Deleuze. With this methodological apparatus, students will explore how nineteenth-century and contemporary avant-garde literature resorts to the establishment and subsequent confusion of genders and species in its dynamic re-questioning of the classical concepts of the beast, animal and human.
Through the combined study of novels, poetry and films, the module will expand on the notion of the inner animal and the subversion/transgression of the concepts of beauty and the ugly in contemporary philosophy.

Content

Texts and films to be studied are: Victor HUGO, Les Orientales (Gallimard/NRF Poesies, 1981); BAUDELAIRE, Les Fleurs du mal (Gallimard/NRF, 2003); LECONTE DE LISLE, Poemes barbares (Gallimard/NRF Poesies, 1985); LAUTREAMONT, Les Chants de Maldoror (Gallimard/NRF Poesies 1997);Comte de LAUTREAMONT, Les Chants de Maldoror (Gallimard/NRF Poesies 1997); ZOLA, La Bete humaine (Gallimard/Folio, 2001); Jean COCTEAU, La Belle et la bete (text and film - 1945 ; Marie DARRIEUSSECQ, Truisme (Gallimard/Folio, 1998); Eugene SAVITSKAYA, Sang de chien (Editions de Minuit, 1989). Some references to other relevant French films will be made (Jean Renoir La Bete humaine, 1938).

Skills Type	Skills details
Application of Number	Possibly, evaluation of statistical data in the secondary reading.
Communication	Oral communication developed in seminars; written communication developed in assessments and exam.
Improving own Learning and Performance	Students will be able to assess their own progress week by week through their increased understanding of the issues raised and the skills developed.
Information Technology	Use of on-line journals and source collections; delivery of course materials and information via email and e-learning system.
Personal Development and Career planning	Acquisition of transferable skills; in-depth acquaintance with literary/cultural studies as an academic subject.
Problem solving	Selection of reading material; answering questions posed by written assessment; seminar work.
Research skills	Preparation of written assessment; preparation for seminars.
Subject Specific Skills	Acquisition of French linguistic skills.
Team work	Debates and group presentation in seminars.

Skills Type

Skills details

Application of Number

Possibly, evaluation of statistical data in the secondary reading.

Communication

Oral communication developed in seminars; written communication developed in assessments and exam.

Improving own Learning and Performance

Students will be able to assess their own progress week by week through their increased understanding of the issues raised and the skills developed.

Information Technology

Use of on-line journals and source collections; delivery of course materials and information via email and e-learning system.

Personal Development and Career planning

Acquisition of transferable skills; in-depth acquaintance with literary/cultural studies as an academic subject.

Problem solving

Selection of reading material; answering questions posed by written assessment; seminar work.

Research skills

Preparation of written assessment; preparation for seminars.

Subject Specific Skills

Acquisition of French linguistic skills.

Team work

Debates and group presentation in seminars.

Course Delivery

Assessment

Learning Outcomes

Aims

Brief description

Content

Module Skills

Reading List

Notes