Course module - Writing, Identity And Nation
Code : ENGL20491 Credit rating: 20 Semester : 1
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Aims |
Objectives |
Assessment |
Information
|
Course Content |
Course Materials |
Tutors |
Timetable |
Teaching Methods |
Keywords
Aims
- To develop an understanding of theories of nationhood, the colonial and the post-colonial in a literary context;
- To develop the skills to analyse literature in its historical and cultural contexts;
- To develop the ability to work between literary texts and theories, and across different literary genres, with particular reference to 20th century and 21st century literature;
- To foster skills of written and oral forms of expression, and of critical and analytical thinking, at a level appropriate to Level 2 of an English Studies degree.
Objectives (Learning Outcomes)
On completion of the course, students should be able to demonstrate:
- A Knowledge of theories of nationhood, the colonial and post-colonial in a literary contexts;
- An ability to anlayse texts in their historical and cultural contexts;
- An ability to relate literary theories to different literary genres, with particular reference to 20th century and 21st century literature;
- An ability to present work which is characterised by analytical thought and sustained, coherent argument, in written and oral forms, at a level appropriate to Level 2 of an English Studies degree.
Assessment
One 2,500-word essay (40%); one 2-hour unseen written examination (60%).
The use of dictionaries in the examination is prohibited. This rule applies to all categories of students, including all Visiting Students.
Information
THIS COURSE IS NOT AVAILABLE AS FREE CHOICE.
Course Content
This course addresses issues of nationhood and identity in twentieth-century British and Irish writing, and in recent works by contemporary postcolonial writers. The course ranges across a wide geographical area and covers a broad spectrum of literary styles, themes and narrative voices. While the primary focus is on selected novels, poems and plays, the course also examines key concepts in literary and cultural theory. Authors discussed include W. B. Yeats, D. H. Lawrence, Seamus Heaney, Eavan Boland and Zadie Smith.
Course Materials
Tutor(s)
Harte, Dr Liam
Timetable
PROVISIONAL TIMETABLE FOR 2013-2014
Lecture: Wednesday, 10.00-12.00
Seminars: T B A
Teaching Methods
One 2-hour lecture plus one 1-hour seminar per week.
Preliminary reading
The best way to prepare for this course is to read the longer primary works over the summer months. Here are the five prescribed novels:
Gurnah, Abdulrazak. By the Sea (Bloomsbury, 2002)
Lawrence, D. H. The Rainbow, ed. Mark Kinkead-Weekes (Penguin, 2007)*
Selvon, Samuel. The Lonely Londoners, ed Susheila Nasta (London: Penguin, 2006)
Smith, Zadie. White Teeth (Penguin, 2001)
Welsh, Irvine. Trainspotting (Vintage, 1994)
* Please make sure you buy the Penguin edition of this novel.
Look for ISBN-10: 0141441380 / ISBN-13: 978-0141441382.
For those of you who, having completed these five novels, wish to consult some critical works, we can recommend the following:
Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities (1991)
Bhabha, Homi (ed.). Nation and Narration (1990)
Colls, Robert. Identity of England (2002)
Crawford, Robert. Devolving English Literature (1992)
Gilroy, Paul. There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack (1987)
Kumar, Krishnan. The Making of English National Identity (2003)
Nairn, Tom. After Britain: New Labour and the Return of Scotland (2000)
Nairn, Tom. The Break-up of Britain: Crisis and Neo- Nationalism (1977)
Norquay, Glenda and Smyth, Gerry (eds.). Across the Margins (2003)
Osmond, John. The Divided Kingdom (1988).