2016/17 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

ENGL1250 Prose: Reading and Interpretation

20 creditsClass Size: 370

School of English

Module manager: Dr Denis Flannery
Email: d.j.m.flannery@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable

Year running 2016/17

Pre-requisite qualifications

Grade B at A level in English Language or Literature or equivalent.

Module replaces

ENGL1120

This module is not approved as a discovery module

Module summary

From Charlotte Dacre's Gothic tale of possession by the devil to James Baldwin's electrifying analysis of race in America, from Virginia Woolf's urban dreamscapes to the repressed violence of Dickens's Great Expectations, and from Henry James's ghosts to Karl Marx's spectres, this module provides you with the opportunity to experience the pleasures, possibilities and challenges of reading, interpretingand writing prose. It explores the fundamentals of narrative form, theoretical approaches such as Marxism and psychoanalysis, and topics like race, politics, authorship, and gender difference. Investigating a wide range of genres, it asks what is at stake when writers take prose into the realms of experiment, fantasy, and critique. Taught through a combination of lectures and small group work, this foundational course will help you to understand and engage with what happens when literature seeks to represent life in all its complexity, anguish, and beauty.

Objectives

On completion of this module, students will be able to read prose texts with an awareness of historical context; they will possess the fundamental critical skills and terminologies required to produce close textual readings of both fictional and non-fictional writing and they will be familiar with a range of critical and theoretical approaches to literature and culture across history.

Learning outcomes
In terms of Academic Excellence this module develops critical thinking, flexibility of thought and analytical skills. It supports and develops the ability to work autonomously, initiative, planning and organisational skills. Students will learn to analyse information, synthesise views and make connections; students will be critically aware of, and be informed by, current knowledge; and will develop research skills. In short:

- Skills for effective communication, oral and written.
- Capacity to analyse and critically examine diverse forms of discourse.
- Ability to acquire quantities of complex information of diverse kinds in a structured and systematic way.
- Capacity for independent thought and judgement.
- Critical reasoning.
- Research skills, including information retrieval skills, the organisation of material, and the evaluation of its importance.
- IT skills.
- Time management and organisational skills.
- Independent learning.

Skills outcomes
- Skills for effective communication, oral and written.
- Capacity to analyse and critically examine diverse forms of discourse.
- Ability to acquire quantities of complex information of diverse kinds in a structured and systematic way.
- Capacity for independent thought and judgement.
- Critical reasoning.
- Research skills, including information retrieval skills, the organisation of material, and the evaluation of its importance.
- IT skills.
- Time management and organisational skills.
- Independent learning.

Syllabus

This module aims to lay a solid foundation for the study of English at university level through the analysis of a number of different prose texts. It explores the mechanics of prose writing and considers a range of critical and theoretical approaches to literature. By the end of the module, students will have developed as readers and as writers, with improved close reading skills, a greater understanding of critical tools and terminology, and an awareness of some of the conceptual issues raised by interpreting prose in English. Topics to be examined will include: genre; narrative form; writing and subjectivity; race and nation; literature and politics; gender difference; and authorship.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Lecture	22	1.00	22.00
Seminar	10	1.00	10.00
Private study hours			168.00
Total Contact hours			32.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			200.00

Private study

The module will be taught through weekly seminars (10 x 1 hour) and lectures (22 x 1 hour).

Private Study: To include preparation and reading for each weekly seminar; additional reading from the indicative reading list; preparation of any unassessd tasks as required.

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

- Seminar contribution
- Feedback on close reading assignment
- Feedback on essay

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Assignment	500 word close reading	15.00
Essay	1,500 words	35.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		50.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Exams

Exam type	Exam duration	% of formal assessment
Standard exam (closed essays, MCQs etc)	2 hr	50.00
Total percentage (Assessment Exams)		50.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 26/04/2016

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