Module Information
Course Delivery
Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
---|---|
Practical | 10 x 2hr workshops |
Seminars / Tutorials | 10 x 2hr seminars |
Assessment
Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
---|---|---|
Semester Assessment | 2 X 3000 WORD ESSAYS | 100% |
Supplementary Assessment | Resubmit or resit failed elements and/or make good any missing elements. Where this involves re-submission of work, a new topic must be selected. | 100% |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this module, students should be able to:
1. demonstrate a broad knowledge of American literature in the 20th century and an understanding of the social and political contexts in which the set texts were written'
2. descripe issues of gender, class, and/or race in relation to ethnic and regional experiences of America during the period and examine their representation in the set texts;
3. engage in coherent oral discussion of the texts;
4. read literary texts in an informed and critical manner;
5. write about the subject in a well structured and argued manner.
Brief description
The main objective of this module is to provide a general introduction to the wide range and extraordinarily rich diversity of the literatures of the United States of America in the twentieth century. Particular attention will be paid to the way in which literary texts record and respond to the social, political, and economic crises of the two World Wars, the Great Depression, and the Cold War. Students will be encouraged to explore the different thematic preoccupations and formal strategies which develop from the various social and cultural experiences of Americans during the century. Questions of gender, class, ethnicity, and sexuality will be examined critically and contextually. Although the novel is given some priority as a genre, students will also study examples of short fiction, drama and poetry. Audio-visual materials will be introduced and discussed as appropriate, and students will have opportunities to hone their oral and written communication skills during workshop sessions.
Aims
This module introduces students to the diversity of twentieth-century American literature, in the novel, short stories, poetry, and drama. It combines close reading, contextual materials, and relevant critical theories in order to develop sophisticated and multi-layered inerpretations of the primary texts.
Content
Week 2 - Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms
Week 3 - Zora Neale Huston, The Complete Stories
Week 4 - William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying
Week 5 - Arthur Miller, All My Sons
Week 6 - Sloan Wilson, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
Week 7 - Adrienne Rich, Diving Into he Wreck
Week 8 - Don DeLillo, White Noise
Week 9 - Toni Morrison, Paradise
Week 10 - Looking Back: Revision session
Module Skills
Skills Type | Skills details |
---|---|
Application of Number | N/A |
Communication | * Written communication in the form of essays * Oral presentations in small groups * Oral communication in seminars |
Improving own Learning and Performance | * Developing own research skills * Time management |
Information Technology | * Use of electronic resources and e-learning technologies (electronic databases and Blackboard) * PowerPoint for group presentations * Production of written work using word-processing program |
Personal Development and Career planning | * Critical self-reflection * Development of transferable communication and research skills |
Problem solving | * Formulating and developing an argument |
Research skills | * Independent research for presentations * Independent research for assignments |
Subject Specific Skills | Ability to ¿compare and contrast¿ between texts; Ability to comment on relationship between society and literary forms |
Team work | * Group work for oral presentations |
Reading List
General TextDeLillo, Don. (2011.) White noise /Don DeLillo. Picador Primo search Morrison, Toni. (1999.) Paradise. Vintage Primo search Rich, Adrienne (2013.) Diving into the wreck :poems 1971-1972 /Adrienne Rich. W.W. Norton Primo search Should Be Purchased
Faulkner, William (1996.) As I lay dying Vintage Primo search Hemingway, Ernest (2004) A Farewell to Arms Arrow Books Primo search Hurston, Zora Neale (June 2008) The Complete Stories (P.S.) Harper Perenial Primo search Miller, Arther (2009) All My Sons Penguin Modern Classics Primo search Wilson, Sloan (2005) The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit Penguin Primo search Recommended Text
(2001.) Beginning ethnic American literatures /Helena Grice ... [et al.]. Manchester University Press ; Primo search (2012.) The Cambridge companion to American fiction after 1945 /[edited by] John N. Duvall. Cambridge University Press Primo search (2005.) The Cambridge companion to American modernism /edited by Waler Kalaidjian. Cambridge University Press Primo search The Cambridge companion to American novelists /edited by Timothy Parrish, Florida State University. Primo search (2012.) The Cambridge companion to American poetry since 1945 /edited by Jennifer Ashton. Cambridge University Press Primo search (2006.) The Cambridge companion to modern American culture /edited by Christopher Bigsby. Cambridge University Press Primo search Scofield, Martin. (2006.) The Cambridge introduction to the American short story /Martin Scofield. Cambridge University Press Primo search
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6