2024/25 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

ENGL1221 Modern Fictions in English: Conflict, Liminality, Translation

20 creditsClass Size: 216

School of English

Module manager: Dr Andrew Warnes
Email: a.warnes@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable

Year running 2024/25

Module replaces

ENGL1220

This module is approved as a discovery module

Module summary

This module considers a rich array of modern narrative forms, responding to important questions of modern life and reflecting on storytelling’s power to divide, destroy and erase, as well as its capacity to resist, transform, and create. The formal innovations apparent in each new text will be considered. Through this course of careful reading and discussion, you will attain a clear view of some of the most important transformations of fiction in English since 1900. You will understand why these transformations mattered; why they represent an ethical as well as a cultural revolution; and why, therefore, English literary studies is such an essential field of academic enquiry for us today.

Objectives

This module provides an opportunity to study modern fictions in English by significant writers of the period. The texts will be used to illustrate a variety of narrative techniques and will represent a wide chronological range across the century. The module will introduce students to major literary movements in fiction in the 20th and early 21st centuries and will suggest a variety of critical strategies appropriate for the analysis of this work. On completion of the module, students will have been introduced to key innovations in fiction in English during this period and will have studied in detail examples of these forms.

Learning outcomes
Students will have developed:
- the ability to use written and oral communication effectively
- the capacity to analyse and critically examine diverse forms of discourse
- the ability to manage quantities of complex information in a structured and systematic way
- the capacity for independent thought and judgement
- critical reasoning
- research skills, including the retrieval of information, the organisation of material and the evaluation of its importance
- IT skills
- efficient time management and organisation skills
- the ability to learn independently.

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.
- Ability to learn independently.

Syllabus

This module's syllabus will explore a diverse and exciting range of modern fictional texts in English, encompassing both traditional and experimental forms of writing. It will examine how these fictions engage with the wider world from a variety of perspectives. Novels, short stories and other forms of fictional writings will be considered. Through this course of careful reading and discussion, you will attain a clear view of some of the most important transformations of fiction in English since 1900. You will understand why these transformations mattered; why they represent an ethical as well as a cultural revolution; and why, therefore, English literary studies is such an essential field of academic enquiry for us today.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Workshop	5	1.00	5.00
Lecture	15	1.00	15.00
Seminar	10	1.00	10.00
Private study hours			170.00
Total Contact hours			30.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			200.00

Private study

Reading of primary and secondary texts to be discussed in lectures and seminars; seminar preparation tasks; use of library and online resources; researching and writing assessed written assignments. Seminar tutors will provide extensive guidance, via both Minerva and in seminars, for private study activities and assignments.

Students are expected to devote 170 hours of private study time to this module, with the following suggested breakdown:
- Reading, preparation and follow-up for lectures and seminars: (25x4=) 100 hours;
- Preparation for essay assignment 1: 35 hours
- Preparation for essay assignment 2: 35 hours

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Weekly discussions in small group seminars; opportunities for one-to-one meetings with tutors in weekly consultation hours; opportunities to meet with the School's Writing Mentors; written feedback provided on both assessments.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	1,000 words	33.30
Essay	2,000 words	66.70
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

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: 02/08/2024

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