Module Information
Course Delivery
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Takeaway exam | 50% |
| Semester Exam | One x 2000 word essay | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Takeaway exam | 50% |
| Supplementary Exam | One x 2000 word essay | 50% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
Demonstrate critical and interpretative skills appropriate to Level 1 and deploy an appropriate critical vocabulary.
Demonstrate an analytical approach to issue of form, genre and language in American literature.
Demonstrate an ability to relate literary texts to appropriate historical and cultural contexts
Brief description
This module surveys American literature and culture from founding narratives which sought to define the new Republic, and through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, examining the construction of a specifically American identity in relation to the social and cultural changes which have characterised American experiences in this period. The first half of the course explores the historical development of America via myths and legends, the search for independent and autonomous selfhood and the importance of motifs of freedom, space and wilderness; and issues of race, gender and politics. The second half of the module then explores the changing shape of American selfhood in the twentieth century, the ethnicizing of America, the advent of consumerism and the emergence of women's voices as politically significant.
Content
Week 1:
Lecture Introduction to American Literature.
Seminar Introduction
Week 2
Lecture Nathaniel Hawthorne Part 1
Seminar Founding narratives
Week 3: Poetry and democracy:
Lecture Whitman, Leaves of Grass
Seminar Poetry and democracy
Week 4
Lecture The Literature of Slavery
Seminar The South/Slavery/Dissident voices
Week 5
Lecture The South in American Literature
Seminar The South/Slavery/Dissident voices
Week 6: Women's Voices
Lecture Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "The Yellow Wallpaper"
Seminar Women's Voices
Week 7:
Lecture Kate Chopin, "The Story of an Hour"
Seminar Women's Voices
Week 8:
Lecture Rights and Causes in late 19th / early 20th Century
Seminar Immigrant Experiences
Week 9:
Lecture The American Dream: Fitzgerald, "The Great Gatsby"
Seminar Immigrant Experiences
Week 10:
Lecture Concluding lecture & exam advice
Seminar The American Dream
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | n/a |
| Communication | (written) By developing a sustained critical argument. (oral) Through group discussions and seminar presentations. |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | Through independent research and reading. |
| Information Technology | By using word-processing packages and making use of Blackboard and other e-resources to research and access course documents andn other materials. |
| Personal Development and Career planning | Through increased critical self-reflection and the development of transferable, ICT, communication and research skills. |
| Problem solving | By evaluative analysis and critical skills. |
| Research skills | By independent research and synthesizing information in an evaluative argument. |
| Subject Specific Skills | Textual analysis of a range of American literature. Development of contextual understanding of American literature and culture from the colonial period to the present day. Continuing development of reading and writing skills taught in Part One |
| Team work | Through group work and presentations in seminars. |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 4