Module Identifier EN10420  
Module Title ASPECTS OF GENRE  
Academic Year 2001/2002  
Co-ordinator Dr Paulina Kewes  
Semester Semester 2  
Other staff Dr Christoph Lindner, Mrs Carol Marshall, Dr Damian Walford Davies, Dr Elizabeth McAvoy, Dr Elizabeth Oakley-Brown, Mrs Lillian Stevenson, Dr Michael Franklin, Mr Michael Smith, Mr Rory McKinley, Ms Rebecca Nesvet, Mr Robert Cooper, Dr Sean Matthews, Dr Sarah Prescott  
Course delivery Lecture   20 Hours (20 x 1 hour lectures: two per week for 10 weeks)  
  Seminars / Tutorials   10 Hours (10 x 1 hour seminars)  
Assessment Essay   1 essay of 1,500 words; 1 essay of up to 3,000 words   60%  
  Essay   1,000-1,500 words.   20%  
  Exam   2 Hours Answer two questions on a two hour paper   40%  
  Resit assessment   Resit or resubmission of failed elements    
  Resit assessment   Resubmit any failed elements and/or make good any missing elements    

Brief description


This module falls into three sections - the three mega-genres of poetry, drama, prose fiction. Within each section, the aims and the rationale for choice of texts are slightly different. In the poetry section the emphasis is on the variety possible within the mega-genre, with the oral-formulaic Sir Orfeo at one extreme, and the linguistic compression of Shakespeare's sonnets at the other. In the drama section, one genre is chosen - comedy, and the focus is on the way the genre is adapted and recreated through time, potentially opening out towards questions of the relation betwen history and literature, and towards issues such as intertextuality. In the prose fiction section, one genre is again chosen - the uncanny - but here, very broadly speaking, the genre is defined by content rather than by form. The module aims to use these three sections to challenge and develop students' understanding of literary forms. Such knowledge will be relevant not only to English students in Part 2, but other art subjects.

Aims and objectives


to introduce students to texts from a range of genres;
to enable students to understand the usefulness of the concept of genre;
to introduce students to the ways in which genres change over time;
to help students develop critical skills appropriate to different genres.

Learning outcomes


On the completion of this module students should typically be better able to:
read literary texts in an informed and critical manner;
discuss literary texts coherently;
write about them in a well-structured and well-argued manner;
understand the complexities of literary modes and kinds.

Reading Lists

Books
** Reference Text
William Shakespeare. Much Ado About Nothing. ed F. H. Mares (Cambridge)
Congreve. The Way of the World. 2nd. ed. Brian Gibbons (New Mermaids, 2nd edn.)
Oscar Wilde. The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays. ed. Peter Raby World's Classics)
James Hogg. Confessions of a Justified Sinner,. ed. J. A. Cuddon (Everyman)
Stephen H. A. Stephen (ed.). (1995) 'Sir Orfeo' in Middle English Romances. Norton Critical
William Shakespeare. The Sonnets. Everyman Poetry
A.C. Cawley. 'The Franklin's Tale' in Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales. ed. A.C. Cawley (Everyman)
Joseph Conrad. 'The Secret Sharer' in Typhoon and Other Tales. ed. Cedric Watts (World's Classics)
Jane Austen. Northanger Abbey. ed. John Davie (World's Classics)