Module Information
Course Delivery
Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
---|---|
Seminar | 11 x 2 Hour Seminars |
Workshop | 11 x 2 Hour Workshops |
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.
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
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.
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 |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6