Module Information
Course Delivery
Assessment
Due to Covid-19 students should refer to the module Blackboard pages for assessment details
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Portfolio 1 x 3000 word portfolio | 60% |
| Semester Assessment | Critical Essay 1 x 2000 word critical essay | 40% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Resubmit Portfolio Resubmit missing or failed 1 x 3000 word portfolio | 60% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Resubmit critical essay Resubmit missing or failed 1 x 2000 word critical essay | 40% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
1. Developed awareness of a range of formal techniques available for writing about issues of character, identity and relationship;
2. Integrate their understanding of contemporary theory into a reflexive and innovative writing practice;
3. Make constructive critical responses to their own and other students’ writing, and engage in appropriate revisions of their own work;
4. Demonstrate confident critical reflection on the relationship between theories of language, subjectivity and the writing process, especially as they relate to their own creative practice.
5. Make constructive critical responses to their own and other students’ writing, and engage in appropriate revisions of their own work.
Aims
Designed to be of particular interest to students who wish to explore in their own work issues of character, identity and relationship, and to students who wish to develop versatility in voice and perspective across different genres.
Brief description
This module focuses on concepts of self and identity in writing; historically, culturally, and in students' own creative practice. It encourages critical reflection on the relationship between subjectivity and language, and enables students to experiment with their writing 'voice' in the light of their theoretical reading. It will benefit students interested in exploring issues of character, identity and relationship in their work, and those who wish to develop versatility in voice and perspective across different genres.
Content
Using a repertoire of starter exercises, this seminar will begin to explore the cultural assumptions and formal complexities involved in 'writing selves', while generating material for further writing.
2. Who am 'I' in writing?
This seminar will explore contemporary conceptions of the self. What forces, internal and external, impact on and shape our sense self or selves? How might theoretical thinking about the human subject inform creative writing?
Reading: ‘Me’ Bennet & Royle
3. Writing from Experience
From a selection of prompted memories, students will compare the process of telling their own and each other's stories. How do we edit, structure and fictionalise 'real' events to create an effective narrative? How are issues of authorial intention and truthfulness negotiated in this kind of writing?
Reading: ’The Real Story’ Siri Hustvedt
4. Storytelling and Power
This seminar examines how we tell stories, the mechanics of plot and causality, but also considers the idea that we are all ‘in stories’. The relationship between narrative and power will also be explored.
Reading: ‘Narrative’ Bennett and Royle
5. Character and Realism
As readers we are so familiar with the well-rounded realist characters of novels such as Middlemarch and Tess of the D'Urbervilles that it is easy to forget that they are products of a particular writing process. What are the advantages of 'objective' narration? Are realist attitudes towards selfhood adequate for the writing of contemporary consciousness?
Reading: ‘Character’ Bennett and Royle
6. Dialogue and Relationship
This session will examine relationship and conflict in the writing of selves. It will explore Mikhail Bakhtin’s idea that language itself is dialogic, as well as exploring practical techniques for writing dialogue.
Reading: ‘Voices’ Andrew Cowan
7-8. Writing from Outside
These seminars will consider how Western humanist writing has 'silenced' selves marginalised by race, gender, sexuality or class. Following discussion of examples, students will discuss first or second hand experiences of alienation, disempowerment or stereotyping, and write an oppositional piece which employs an 'outsider's' perspective
Reading: Chapters 'Sexual Difference' and 'Racial Difference', Bennett and Royle
9-10. Writing Nature
Informed by current ecological thinking, these seminars will explore writing selves in the context of climate change, as well as addressing anthropomorphism and the literary representation of animals.
Reading: Chapters ‘Eco’ and ‘Animals’ Bennet and Royle
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | N/A |
| Communication | Through workshop and seminar discussion, and though writing the assignments. |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | Through independent reading and research |
| Information Technology | Use of digital resources for research |
| Personal Development and Career planning | Develop awareness of personal skills, improving work in response to peer and tutor feedback |
| Problem solving | Through dealing with problems of writing and research |
| Research skills | Understand a range of research methods. |
| Subject Specific Skills | Use appropriate critical and/or evaluative skills in presenting a written argument. |
| Team work | Play an active part in group activities in the seminar workshop. |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 5