2024/25 Undergraduate Module Catalogue
ENGL3579 Law and Literature: Transgression, Justice, and Interpretation
20 creditsClass Size: 28
School of English
Module manager: Dr Alexander Thom
Email: a.d.thom@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable
Year running 2024/25
This module is not approved as a discovery module
Module summary
Transgression and justice are familiar themes for literature. This course explores literary responses to life before the law: from Greek drama to modern detective novels. Crime often appears in fiction as an occasion for establishing physical and psychological truths, typically led by a gifted reader of signs. However, as often as not, the law’s relationship to both justice and truth also comes into question.Objectives
This module aims to introduce students to a range of literary texts, forms, and genres from Ancient Greece to contemporary crime novels. Through seminar discussion, close reading, and essays, students should become able:• to appraise contrasting perspectives on the law, as depicted by literary texts
• to identify and analyse formal and stylistic literary conventions and their evolution
• to explain and investigate relevant historical and cultural contexts
• to evaluate and apply current scholarship on literature and law
Learning outcomes
On successful completion of the module, students should be able to:
1. apply a broad understanding of how law has been depicted through the history of literature
2. critique specific narratives concerning crime and law in detail
3. investigate and appraise the wider scholarship and debates around literature and law, and the philosophical and social questions these topics pose
Skills Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
4. Conduct independent research, gathering information from a range of sources, and engaging in good academic practice in referencing their sources.
5. Produce independent arguments demonstrating advanced proficiency in critical thinking and writing skills.
Syllabus
Details of the syllabus will be provided on the Minerva organisation (or equivalent) for the module
Teaching methods
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
| Lecture | 5 | 1.00 | 5.00 |
| Seminar | 10 | 1.00 | 10.00 |
| Private study hours | 185.00 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 15.00 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 200.00 | ||
Methods of assessment
Coursework
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
| Essay | 1000 words | 30.00 |
| Essay | 3000 words | 70.00 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100.00 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated. Weekly dialogue in small-group seminars; one-to-one meetings, if requested, in weekly office hours; individual written feedback on mid-semester assignment.
Reading list
The reading list is available from the Library websiteLast updated: 09/08/2024
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- Undergraduate module catalogue
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