Teaching Responsibility

LJMU Schools involved in Delivery:

Humanities and Social Science

Learning Methods

Lecture
Seminar
Tutorial

Module Offerings

4109ENGL-SEP-MTP

Aims

1. To introduce students to the interdisciplinary study of English at undergraduate degree level through a variety of texts drawn from different historical periods and in different genres. 2. To define and demonstrate the use of key terms of critical writing, especially in close reading and the formal analysis of texts, and to ensure that students understand and use these terms accurately and carefully. 3. To establish the core studying and writing skills needed for the study of English at degree level, including attentive close reading, reading quickly and efficiently, the use of secondary criticism and research resources, and clear critical prose writing.

Learning Outcomes

1.
Compare, contrast, and appraise texts from a variety of historical periods and in different forms and genres, and make connections and distinctions between them.
2.
Apply and utilize critical key terms, with an informed understanding of the assumptions underpinning their use in literary-critical discussion.
3.
Demonstrate close reading skills, and the comprehension of complex literary texts.
4.
Evidence further reading and deploy secondary research for critical writing.
5.
Effectively revise and edit critical writing for greater clarity and articulacy.
6.
To identify and reflect upon the following aspects of personal development: strengths and weaknesses, motivations and values, ability to work with others.

Module Content

Outline Syllabus:The syllabus will use a variety of literary texts from across historical periods to exemplify literary genres (poetry, fiction, drama) and the use of critical terms and keywords. Indicative primary texts (this module allows any permutation of primary texts that exemplify the range of genres and keywords under discussion): 1. Keyword: Theme Text: Percy Shelley, ‘Ozymandias’ (1818) 2. Keyword: Style Text: Tony Harrison, ‘V’ (1985) 3. Keyword: Form Text: Don Paterson, 40 Sonnets (2015) 4. Keyword: Author Text: Shakespeare’s Sonnets (1609) 5. Keywords: Plot and Narration Text: Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights (1847) 6. Keyword: Character Wuthering Heights, week 2. 7. Curriculum Enhancement Field trip to Haworth (Bronte Museum) 8. Keyword: Context Text: Wordsworth, ‘Tintern Abbey’ (1798) 9. Keyword: Voice Text: Jamaica Kincaid, A Small Place (1988) 10. Keyword: Irony Text: Mike Leigh, Abigail’s Party (1977) 11. Keywords: Metaphor, Allegory Text: Samuel Beckett, Endgame (1957)
Module Overview:
This module introduces you to the study of English literature at undergraduate level, through set texts drawn from different historical periods and covering fundamental literary categories (poetry, fiction, non-fiction, drama). It will give you a grounding in the key terms that you will need in critical writing, such as form, narrative, character, and irony, and in the skills needed for English studies, including close reading, reading quickly and efficiently, and researching and writing essays.
Additional Information:This module incorporates some of the module aims and learning outcomes previously pursued and assessed on 4100ENGL Reading English, and incorporates some of its syllabus, with an increased focus on assisting students with developing core writing skills and informed use of the vocabulary required in critical writing. This new aspect is pursued in a model inspired by Raymond Williams’s classic book Keywords (1976), with its articulation of the complex and embedded histories of the words ordinarily used in literary and cultural criticism. Many projects in contemporary English studies continue to show the influence of this well-established model. Raymond Williams, Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society (1976)Julian Wolfreys, Critical Keywords in Literary and Cultural Theory (Palgrave, 2004)Tony Bennett et al, New Keywords: a Revised Vocabulary of Culture and Society (Blackwell, 2005)Colin MacCabe and Holly Yanacek, Keywords for Today (Oxford UP, 2018), and the Keywords Project online: https://keywords.pitt.edu/index.html

Assessments

Essay
Essay
Future Focus e-learning task