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2013/14 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

ENGL3311 Telling Lives: Reading and Writing Family Memoir

20 creditsClass Size: 20

School of English

Module manager: Dr Jay Prosser
Email: j.d.prosser@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2013/14

Pre-requisite qualifications

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

Please note: this module is restricted to Level 3 students.

This module is mutually exclusive with

ENGL3303

Telling Lives: Reading and Writing Family Memoir

Module replaces

ENGL3303 Telling Lives

This module is approved as an Elective

Module summary

Telling your family stories has become one of the most popular and compelling forms of writing, in what has been called our ‘age of memoir.’ This module engages some of the best examples in both a critical and a creative capacity. In the first part of the module, we read six writers’ very different approaches to telling family lives. Through the use of stories, photographs, place, another’s voice, letters and objects, the texts remember the past, spill family secrets, struggle with inheritance – and the writers discover something about themselves in the act of writing. The second part of the module uses the texts as possibilities for students’ own writing, as we borrow from and develop some of the techniques for remembering family pasts. The module is taught by a tutor who is completing his own family memoir; the creative workshops will begin the sharing of writing-in-progress with his work.

Objectives

To introduce students to contemporary family memoirs.
To read memoirs with a critical and creative eye.
To help students produce creative writing related to memoirs.

Learning outcomes
Introductory knowledge of contemporary family memoirs.
Ability to read memoirs critically and creatively.
Ability to recognise and model creatively some of the techniques of contemporary memoirs.

Skills outcomes
Autobiography criticism; literary criticism; creative writing.

Syllabus

Telling your family stories has become one of the most popular and compelling forms of writing, in what has been called our ‘age of memoir.’ This module engages some of the best examples in both a critical and a creative capacity. In the first part of the module, we read six writers’ very different approaches to telling family lives. Through the use of stories, photographs, place, another’s voice, letters and objects, the texts remember the past, spill family secrets, struggle with inheritance – and the writers discover something about themselves in the act of writing. The second part of the module uses the texts as possibilities for students’ own writing, as we borrow from and develop some of the techniques for remembering family pasts. The module is taught by a tutor who is completing his own family memoir; the creative workshops will begin the sharing of writing-in-progress with his work.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Workshop	4	1.00	4.00
Lecture	5	1.00	5.00
Seminar	6	1.00	6.00
Private study hours			185.00
Total Contact hours			15.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			200.00

Private study

The first six weeks of teaching will consist of 1 hour seminars, followed by four weeks of 1 hour creative writing workshops, in which students are expected to share their work. 5 additional hours will be used for lectures and r the return of unassessed/assessed essays and feedback.

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Attendance at seminars/workshops/tutorials.
Submission of essays.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	Critical Writing of 2,000 words	50.00
Essay	Creative Non-Fiction (Family Memoir) of 3,000 words	50.00
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: 14/03/2014

Disclaimer

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• Undergraduate module catalogue
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