Module Information

This module offers students the opportunity to critically and creatively engage with a range of fictional and non-fictional material which takes as its subject the work of observing, interpreting, and articulating the exploration of the far reaches of this world and beyond. It will form base knowledge on which later modules (such as Writing and Place, Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy, Place and Self) will build. It will be a dual assessment module, open to both English Literature and Creative Writing students.

This module offers students the opportunity to critically and creatively engage with a range of fictional and non-fictional material which takes as its subject the work of observing, interpreting, and articulating the exploration of the far reaches of this world and beyond. The module will begin with an introduction to the theoretical and practical strategies associated with travel writing in general, before considering factual and fictional accounts of discovery voyager through a comparison of Charles Darwin and Patrick O’Brian. The module will then contrast Antarctic exploration from the perspective of Captain Scott’s all-male expedition and the all-female cast of Ursula Le Guin’s ‘Sur’. Expeditions to the Himalayas will be discussed through work by Jon Krakauer and Michelle Paver. The final part of the module will examine the most extreme form of travel writing there is – books written by the Apollo astronauts – and compare it to Jules Verne’s prescient fictional depictions of lunar exploration. The module will introduce students to range of authors, theoretical concepts and writing practices which will form a base knowledge on which later modules can build. Teaching delivery will consist of ten 50-minute lectures and ten 2-hour seminar/workshops. It will be an dual assessment module, open to both English Literature and Creative Writing students.