English and drama

Thinking Literature

Module code: Q3298
Level 4
30 credits in spring semester
Teaching method: Lecture, Seminar
Assessment modes: Coursework

We tell stories all the time; stories about ourselves and others, stories about origins, stories about where we see ourselves or the world as going.

Stories make up our lives and help construct our individual and collective identities. Thinking Literature 2 focuses on different kinds of prose narrative and their acts of storytelling, from the medieval to the contemporary. We’ll explore key concepts such as fictionality, realism, life-writing, and metafiction, while also gaining an overview of the history of these concepts' deployment in literature. We will pay some attention to the development of the novel as a form, from the eighteenth century to the present, but we will also contrast the novel with other forms including short stories, tales, letters, non-fictional prose, and comics.

Module learning outcomes

• Demonstrate understanding of the types of learning and study they will be involved in during their degree
• Reflect on their preparedness to participate in that study
• Write, edit and rewrite an essay in accordance with peer and tutor feedback
• Perform scholarly analysis of literary texts in a range of forms and from a range of historical periods