ENG6742 - Writing Practices 3: Experimental Writing

Objectives:

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
Identify and analyse avant-garde, innovative or experimental practices in a range of poetry and prose post-1950
Demonstrate an understanding of the recent (post-1950) history and theory of the avant-garde
Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between theoretical ideas and writing practice
Develop their own experimental writing practice which will lead to the writing of their own innovative work.

Content:

The module combines creative writing, critical reading and historical/theoretical components to give students the opportunity to understand what experimental writing is and to develop their own practice. Throughout the module, the emphasis is on writing using a range of procedures and strategies. The module looks at innovations in prose and poetry and explores such techniques as chance, substitution, and fractured narrative and time structures. It also explores historical and theoretical aspects of experimental writing.

Learning and Teaching Information:

Learning and teaching methods will combine seminars and creative writing workshops, with directed reading and creative writing tasks to be completed outside the classroom. Typical sessions will be divided between critical discussion of selected texts and discussion of students’ writing. On occasions, there will be in class writing exercises. As the module progresses, the focus will shift more towards students’ work in progress. Workshops
Hours: 24
Intended Group size: 20

Guided independent study
Hours: 176

Further details relating to assessment
2,250 words of the final portfolio may be made up of a collection of short pieces or one long piece, as agreed with the Module Tutor. For guidance, 1,000 words of prose submission is generally considered as equivalent to 30 lines of poetry. 750 words should be given to reflective analytical commentary.

Other relevant matters
Formative assessment is built-in to the teaching sessions. At each session from the second teaching week onwards, in both semesters, students will take turns to read out their draft pieces of creative writing and receive verbal feedback in class from the tutor and fellow students. The one exception to this will be in the third session, which will be given over to a seminar on the history and theory of the avant-garde.

Assessment: