ENG6222 - Modernisms

Objectives:

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
Demonstrate detailed knowledge and understanding of the key characteristics of modernist literature, and of a specified selection of modernist texts.
Discuss and analyse modernist texts in relation to relevant intellectual and cultural contexts of the period covered, including modernist aesthetic responses to social, cultural, technological and political change.
Discuss and analyse modernist forms of literary innovation.
Write critically and sensitively on topics of their choice, drawing on a wide range of reading and showing awareness of critical debate.

Content:

In this module, students will study a diverse range of modernist fiction and poetry from c1890 - c1950. Students will consider the modernist preoccupation with 'newness' and the development of literary forms that 'break' with earlier artistic conventions. Modernist forms of literary innovation will be considered in relation to social, political and cultural upheavals of the period. Literary modernism will be placed in the context of other relevant cultural forms, including literary and artistic manifestos, little magazines, the visual arts, and film (as appropriate). Individual texts will be examined in relation to relevant concepts and movements which may include Futurism, Surrealism, Impressionism, and the Harlem Renaissance (as appropriate). The module as a whole aims to examine the diversity of modernist forms, and to examine modernism in a range of cultural contexts. Primary texts will include a combination of canonical and non-canonical modernist writing and, where appropriate, texts in translation.

Indicative list of themes covered by the module: the crisis of language, the city, war, technology, psychology and 'stream-of-consciousness' writing, modernism and race, modernism and gender, transnational modernism.

Learning and Teaching Information:

The course will be taught in weekly 2-hour seminars. Seminars will include tutor presentation, small-group workshop activities, student presentations and plenary discussion. Seminars will also include workshop activities in preparation for both assessments. Students will be given set reading and specific preparation tasks before each seminar and learning will be further supported by handouts.

Additional student consultations (15 mins) will be provided to discuss the second assignment.

Seminars
Hours: 22
Intended Group Size: 25

Individual consultations:
Hours: 0.25

Guided independent study
Hours: 177.75

Further details relating to assessment

Students will be given the opportunity to do a formative practice presentation in preparation for the first assessment. Students will have a 15 minute individual consultation in preparation for the second assessment.

Assessment:

001 Presentation; 7 minutes; Mid-Semester Two 25%
002 Essay; 3,000 words; End of Semester Two 75%

Fact File

Module Coordinator - Juliette Taylor-Batty
Level - 6
Credit Value - 20
Pre-Requisites - NONE
Semester(s) Offered -

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