Department of English Options Booklet

Department of English

Options Booklet

Level 5 and Level 6

2021-22

Dear Department of English Students,

This booklet applies to Levels 5 and 6 of all undergraduate degree programmes offered by the Department of English.

The booklet includes provisional reading lists for the units offered by the English department in the 2021-22 academic year. We will confirm reading lists for our units in early July, and it is a good idea to wait until then before purchasing texts for your units.

Here you’ll find details of all the units available to students. Please note that CORE units are restricted to students on those degree programmes unless explicitly stated otherwise.

Units can be selected subject to places being available. Please contact Helen Nicholson ([email protected]) to check whether there is a space on the unit.

** All units are worth 30-credits (15 ECTS)

Some important things to note…

From September 2020, the University changed its framework to a block teaching model which offers significant pedagogic advantages. This model is based on an intensive delivery of each unit in six weeks (plus assessment time), which allows you to focus on one or at most two units at a time, rather than four. The exceptions to block delivery are our two L6 (final year) Project units, which run throughout the year, giving you the time to develop your extended individual learning project with the support of your supervisor across your final year.

The academic year consists of four blocks of 6 weeks, each followed by an Assessment week. Full time students take 120 credits across the year – please do make sure you do a final count of the credits once you’ve made your selection to ensure you have the right number of credits. Normally students take 30 credits per block.

Level 5, 2021-22

Level 5 departs from the 100% core structure found at Level 4, enabling students to select option units from a range of subject areas subject to timetable limitations.

Like other departments across the University, English includes elements of teaching and assessment at Level 5 designed to build student confidence in presentation and teamworking. The experience of giving an individual presentation in class or on Teams, or working with fellow students to lead a seminar or webinar, may be daunting at first but can be an incredibly rewarding experience, and will help you develop both your abilities in the subject and a set of skills which will be valuable beyond the University.

Other excellent ways to broaden your horizons and develop your confidence and employability which are available to you at Level 5 are the exchange programmes, for which some of you have already signed up (the deadline for this has now passed), and RISE activities. You will also find out more about the possibility of spending next year (your third year) on a Placement year, or a Study Year abroad.

Below is an outline of the timetable for 2021-22, showing the units available for each of our course routes. Please select your units carefully, paying close attention to the CREDIT VALUES.

Joint and Combined Honours students should please ensure they consult their other department’s unit timetable to avoid clashes.

Level 5 Structures 2020-21, by programme

Below, you’ll find delivery maps showing the Core and Option unit for each programme cohort, plus some examples of possible unit profiles. Cores are in orange, and paler orange indicates core options.

BA ENGLISH Level 5 Term 1 (Sept—Xmas) Term 2 (Jan– May) Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 CORE UNITS Postwar 19th Century Students take 60 Literature & Writing // credits of Core units. Culture // Modernism (15 + . Contemporary 15 credits) Literature & Culture (15+15 credits) OPTION UNITS Critical & Manchester & the Students select 60 Cultural Theory City (30 credits) credits total of 1 (30 credits) option units In Blocks 1 and 3. Please select Writing After Enlightenment NO MORE THAN 30 the British and Romanticism credits per block. Empire: Race, (30 credits) Nation and Students may take Creative Writing Theory (30 Workshop 1 (for 15 credits) credits), or Creative Film Modes & Creative Writing Writing Workshop 1 Genres 1 & 2 Workshop 1 (15) and 2 (for a total of 30 credits). (15+15 credits. co-requisite) American Creative Writing Postwar Workshop 2 (15) Literature & Culture // American Contemporary Literature & Culture (15+15 credits)

Engaging the Humanities 1 (15) Manchester & the City (15)

Fit for the Future: Careers (15)

BA ENGLISH: EXAMPLE OPTION CHOICES NB – this selection of samples is purely illustrative and is NOT EXHAUSTIVE! Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 Student A. Writing After Postwar Creative Writing 19th Century Takes Core units the British Literature & Workshop 1 & 2 Writing // in Blocks 2 and Empire: Race, Culture // (15+15 credits Modernism (15 + 4, plus 30-credit Nation and Contemporary 15 credits) options in both Theory (30 Literature & Blocks 1 and 3. credits) Culture (15+15 Total: 120 credits) credits.

Student B. Takes Film Modes & Postwar Manchester & the 19th Century Core units in Genres 1 & 2 Literature & City (15) Writing // Blocks 2 and 4, (15+15 credits. Culture // Modernism (15 + plus 30-credits of co-requisite) Contemporary 15 credits) option units in Literature & both Blocks 1 Culture (15+15 and 3. In Block 1, credits) FMG 1&2 are co- Fit for the Future: requisites. In Careers (15) Block 3, Student B chooses to take two independent, 15- credit units. Total: 120 credits.

BA ENGLISH & AMERICAN LITERATURE Level 5 Term 1 (Sept —Xmas) Term 2 (Jan – May) Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 CORE UNITS American American 19th Students take Postwar Century Writing 60 credits of Literature & // American Core units. Modernism Culture // (15+15 credits) American Contemporary Literature & Culture (15+15 credits)

OPTION UNITS Postwar Enlightenment Students select Literature & and Romanticism 60 credits total Culture // (30 credits) of option units Contemporary In Blocks 2 and Literature & 3. Please select Culture (15+15 NO MORE THAN co-requisites) 30 credits per Contemporary Manchester & the block. Literature & City (30 credits) Culture (15) Students may take Creative Creative Writing Creative Writing Writing Workshop 1 (15) Workshop 1 (15) Workshop 1 (for 15 credits), or

Creative Writing

Workshop 1 and Creative Writing Creative Writing 2 (for a total of Workshop 2 (15) 30 credits). Workshop 2 (15) Students may NOT select the Engaging the same unit twice. Humanities 1 (15) Manchester & the City (15)

Fit for the Future: Careers (15)

BA ENGLISH & AMERICAN LITERATURE: EXAMPLE OPTION CHOICES NB – this selection of samples is purely illustrative and is NOT EXHAUSTIVE! Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 Student A. American Postwar Creative Writing Enlightenment and American 19th Takes Core units in Literature & Workshop 1 & 2 Romanticism (30 Century Writing // Blocks 1 and 4, Culture // (15+15 credits credits) American plus 30-credit American Modernism (15 + options in both Contemporary 15 credits) Blocks 2 and 3. Literature & Total: 120 credits. Culture (15+15 . credits)

Student B. Takes American Postwar Postwar Literature Manchester & the American 19th Core units in Literature & & Culture // City (15) Century Writing // Blocks 1 and 4, Culture // Contemporary American plus 30-credits of American Literature & Culture Modernism (15 + Fit for the Future: option units in Contemporary (15+15 credits co- 15 credits) Careers (15) both Blocks 2 and Literature & requisites) 3. In Block 1, FMG Culture (15+15 1&2 are co- credits) requisites. In Block 3, Student B chooses to take two independent, 15-credit units. Total: 120 credits.

Student C. Takes American Postwar Creative Writing Creative Writing American 19th Core units in Literature & Workshop 1 (15) Workshop 2 (15) Century Writing // Blocks 1 and 4. In Culture // American Blocks 2 and 3, 15 American Modernism (15 + credit options are Contemporary 15 credits) taken. Total: 120 Literature & Contemporary Engaging the credits. Culture (15+15 Literature & Culture Humanities (15) credits) (15)

BA ENGLISH & CREATIVE WRITING Level 5 Term 1 (Sept 14 2020—Dec 11 2020) Term 2 (Jan 11 2021 – April 30 2021) Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 CORE UNITS Remake/Remodel 1 Creative Writing Creative Writing Students take 60 & 2 (15+15 credits) Workshop 1 (15 Workshop 1 (15 credits of Core credits) credits) units.

Remake/Remodel represents 30 Core credits. The Creative Writing Creative Writing other 30 Core Workshop 2 (15 Workshop 2 (15 credits come from credits) credits) Creative Writing Workshop 1 & 2. BOTH units must be taken, totalling 30 credits, but these units can be taken in various combinations in either Block 2 or Block 3, depending on preference of option units.

OPTION UNITS Postwar Literature Enlightenment and 19th Century Students select 60 & Culture // Romanticism (30 Writing // credits total of Contemporary credits) Modernism (15 + option units In Literature & 15 credits co- Blocks. Culture (15+15) requisites)

Please select NO MORE THAN 30 Contemporary Modernism (15 credits per block. Literature & credits) Culture (15) Manchester & the City (30 credits)

Engaging the Engaging the Humanities 1 (15) Humanities 2 (15)

Manchester & the City (15)

Fit for the Future: Careers (15)

BA ENGLISH & CREATIVE WRITING: EXAMPLE OPTION CHOICES NB – this selection of samples is purely illustrative and is NOT EXHAUSTIVE! Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 Student A. Remake/Remodel 1 Postwar Literature Creative Writing 19th Century Takes Core units in & 2 (15+15 credits) & Culture // Workshop 1 & 2 Writing // Blocks 1 and 3, Contemporary (15+15 credits) Modernism (15 + plus 15+15 option Literature & 15 credits co- combinations in Culture (15+15 requisites) Blocks 2 and 4. credits co- Total: 120 credits. requisites)

Student B. Takes Remake/Remodel 1 Creative Writing Manchester & the 19th Century Core units in & 2 (15+15 credits) Workshop 1 & 2 City (15 credits) Writing // Blocks 1 and 2, (15+15 credits) Modernism (15 + plus two 15-credit 15 credits co- Fit for the Future: units in Block 3, requisites) Careers (15) and a 15+15 combination in Block 4. Total: 120 credits.

Student C. Takes Remake/Remodel 1 Creative Writing Creative Writing Modernism (15) Core units in & 2 (15+15 credits) Workshop 1 (15) Workshop 2 Blocks 1 and splits Creative Writing Workshop across Blocks 2 & 3, meaning they take option units worth 15 credits each in Contemporary Engaging the Engaging the Blocks 2 & 3. In Literature & Humanities 1 (15) Humanities 2 (15) Block 4, they take Culture (15) two, 15-credit units. Total: 120 credits.

BA ENGLISH & FILM Level 5 Term 1 (Sept 14 2020—Dec 11 2020) Term 2 (Jan 11 2021 – April 30 2021) Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 CORE UNITS Film Modes & Theorising the Students take 60 Genres 1 & 2 Screen 1+2 (15+15 credits of Core (15+15 credits) credits) units.

OPTION UNITS Enlightenment and 19th Century Students select 60 Romanticism (30 Writing // credits total of credits) Modernism (15 + option units In 15 credits co- Blocks 3 and 4. requisites) Please select NO Manchester & the Modernism (15 MORE THAN 30 City (30 credits) credits) credits per block. Creative Writing Students may take Workshop 1 (15) Creative Writing Creative Writing Workshop 1 (for Workshop 2 (15) 15 credits), or Engaging the Engaging the Creative Writing Humanities 1 (15) Humanities 2 (15) Workshop 1 and 2 (for a total of 30 Manchester & the credits) City (15)

Fit for the Future: Careers (15)

BA ENGLISH & FILM: EXAMPLE OPTION CHOICES NB – this selection of samples is purely illustrative and is NOT EXHAUSTIVE! Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 Student A. Film Modes & Theorising the Manchester & the 19th Century Takes Core units in Genres 1 & 2 Screen 1+2 (15+15 City (30 credits) Writing // Blocks 1 and 2, (15+15 credits) credits) Modernism (15 + plus a 30-credit 15 credits co- option in Blocks 3, requisites) and a 15+15 combination in Block 4. Total: 120 credits.

Student B. Takes Film Modes & Theorising the Creative Writing 19th Century Core units in Genres 1 & 2 Screen 1+2 (15+15 Workshop 1 (15) Writing // Blocks 1 and 2, (15+15 credits) credits) Modernism (15 + plus two 15-credit 15 credits co- units in Block 3, requisites) and a 15+15 Fit for the Future: combination in Careers (15) Block 4. Total: 120 credits.

Student C. Takes Film Modes & Theorising the Manchester & the Modernism (15 Core units in Genres 1 & 2 Screen 1+2 (15+15 City (15) Blocks 1 & 2. The (15+15 credits) credits) student takes Engaging the Humanities 1 (15 credits) alongside Manchester & the City (15 credits) in Engaging the Engaging the Block 3, and takes Humanities 1 (15) Humanities 2 (15) Engaging the Humanities 2 (15) in Block 4 alongside Modernism (15 credits). Total: 120 credits.

BA ENGLISH & HISTORY Term 1 Term 2 Students take 60 Block 4 credits in each Block 1 Block 2 Block 3

subject.

JH ENGLISH CORE Postwar Contemporary 19th Century Writing Modernism (15) OPTIONS. Literature & Literature & Culture (15) Select at least 30 Culture (15) (15) credits from this row, plus another 30 credits of English either from this row or from the English Options below. NB. You may not select the same unit twice. You should select NO MORE than 30 credits per block. JH HISTORY CORE Reading History 1 Reading History 2 UNITS. (15) (15) Students take 30 credits of Core units. Please select 30 credits of options in Block 2 from the list of History Options below.

ENGLISH Critical & Cultural Manchester & the OPTIONS (Select Theory 1 (30 City (15) up to 30 credits credits) from English Writing After the Creative Writing Creative Writing Options, making British Empire: Workshop 1 (15) 60 credits of Workshop 1 (15) Race, Nation and English in total. Theory (30 Select no more credits) than 30 credits per Film Modes & Creative Writing Creative Writing block. Workshop 2 (15) Workshop 2 (15) Genres 1 & 2 Students may take (15+15 Creative Writing credits. co- Workshop 1 (for requisite) 15 credits), or American Engaging the Engaging the Creative Writing Postwar Humanities 1 (15) Humanities 2 (15) Workshop 1 and 2 Literature & (for a total of 30 Culture // credits). American Students may Contemporary NOT select the Literature & same unit Culture (15+15 credits. Co- twice. requisite) Fit for the Future (Careers) (15)

HISTORY Critical Conflict in Modern Nazi Society (15) Northern Ireland OPTIONS (Select Approaches to Ireland 1798-1923 (15) 30 credits from History 1 (15) (15) English Options, plus 30 credits British Society Meet the Spanish Civil War in from History Continuity and Victorians (15) History and Options. Select no Change 1900-1939 Memory (15) more than 30 (15) credits per block.) Revolutionary China: From Manchuria to From the Great From Confucian Hiroshima (15) War to the Great Empire to Economic Depression (15) Superpower, 1800– 2000 (15)

US Foreign Policy American Slavery The Clash of (15) (15) Civilisations (15) Pilgrimages and Women in Power Roman Empire (15) Shrines in Medieval in Early Modern Europe Europe (15) (15)

Culture, Community Egypt: Age of the and Conflict in Pharaohs (15) Classical Greece (15) Public History (15)

BA ENGLISH & HISTORY: EXAMPLE OPTION CHOICES NB – this selection of samples is purely illustrative and is NOT EXHAUSTIVE! Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 Student A. Postwar Literature Contemporary Manchester & the Modernism (15) Takes English Core & Culture (15) Literature & City (15) units in Blocks 1 Culture (15) and 2, plus a 15- credit English options in Blocks 3 Critical Approaches Conflict in Modern Reading History 1 Reading History 2 and 4. History to History 1 (15) Ireland (15) (15) (15) cores are taken in

Blocks 3 and 4, and a History option is selected for Block 2. Total: 120 credits.

Student B Postwar Literature Creative Writing Creative Writing Modernism (15) Takes English Core & Culture (15) Workshop 1 (15) Workshop 2 (15) units in Blocks 1 and 4, plus a 15- credit English options in Blocks 2 Critical Approaches US Foreign Policy Reading History 1 Reading History 2 and 3. History to History 1 (15) (15) (15) (15) cores are taken in

Blocks 3 and 4, and a History option is selected for Block 2. Total: 120 credits.

Student C Writing After the Contemporary American Slavery Modernism (15) Takes English Core British Empire (30) Literature & (15) units in Blocks 2 Culture (15) and 4, plus a 30- credit English option in Block 1. Culture, Community Reading History 1 Reading History 2 History cores are and Conflict in (15) (15) taken in Blocks 3 Classical Greece and 4, and History (15) options in Blocks 2 and 3. Total: 120 credits.

Student D Critical & Cultural Conflict in Modern 19th Century Modernism (15) Takes English Core Theory (30) Ireland 1798-1923 Writing (15) units in Blocks 3 and 4, and a 30- credit English option in Block 1. British Society Reading History 1 Reading History 2 Two 15-credit Continuity and (15) (15) History options Change 1900-1939 are taken in Block 2, and History Cores are taken in Blocks 3 & 4. Total- 120 credits.

Student E Postwar Literature Creative Writing 19th Century Northern Ireland Takes English Core & Culture (15) Workshop 1 Writing (15) units in Blocks 1 and 3, and a 15+15 English combination in Critical Approaches Creative Writing Reading History 1 Reading History 2 Block 2. History to History 1 (15) Workshop 2 (15) (15) Cores are taken in Blocks 3 & 4, and options in Blocks 1 and 4. Total- 120 credits.

BA ENGLISH & MULTIMEDIA JOURNALISM Level 5 Term 1 Term 2 Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 CORE UNITS Editing & Production 1 Media Law & Regulation Students take 60 credits of Core units. 445Z0066 & Editing & 1 445Z0057 & Media Law Production 2 445Z0054 (15+15) and Regulation 2 445Z0058 (15+15)

OPTION UNITS. Postwar Contemporary 19th Modernism Students select 60 credits total of Option Literature & Literature & Century (15) units. Please select 15 credits of options Culture (15) Culture (15) Writing (15) maximum per block, making 30 credits per Creative Creative block in total when added to your Core units. Writing Writing Workshop 1 Workshop Info on MMJ units can be found here: (15) 2 (15) https://mmjoptionsmmu.business.blog/mmu- Engaging Engaging multimedia-journalism-options-2020-21- the the level-5/ Humanities Humanities or please contact Pete Murray: 1 (15) 2 (15) [email protected] Manchester & the City (15) Fit for the Future: Careers (15)

BA ENGLISH & MULTIMEDIA JOURNALISM: EXAMPLE OPTION CHOICES NB – this selection of samples is purely illustrative and is NOT EXHAUSTIVE! Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 Student A Editing & Production 1 445Z0066 & Media Law & Regulation 1 445Z0057 Editing & Production 2 445Z0054 & Media Law and Regulation 2 (15+15) 445Z0058 (15+15) Postwar Creative Writing Engaging the Engaging the Literature & Workshop 1 (15) Humanities 1 (15) Humanities 2 Culture (15) (15)

Student B Editing & Production 1 445Z0066 & Media Law & Regulation 1 Editing & Production 2 445Z0054 445Z0057 & Media Law and (15+15) Regulation 2 445Z0058 (15+15)

Postwar Contemporary Creative Writing Modernism (15) Literature & Literature & Workshop 2 (15) Culture (15) Culture (15)

BA CREATIVE WRITING Level 5 Term 1 (Sept—Dec) Term 2 (Jan– May) Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 CORE UNITS Remake/Remodel 1 Creative Writing Creative Writing Creative Writing Students take 90 & 2 (15+15 credits) Workshop 1 (15 Workshop 1 (15 Workshop 3 & 4 credits of Core credits) credits) (15+15 credits) Units: Creative Writing Creative Writing Remake/Remodel, Workshop 2 (15 Workshop 2 (15 and Creative credits) credits) Writing Workshops 1—4.

Creative Writing Workshop 1 & 2 may be taken in various combinations in either Block 2 or Block 3, depending on preference of option units.

OPTION UNITS Creative Practice 2 Eco-Media (30 Select 30 credits of (30 credits) credits) option units in total. Postwar Literature Enlightenment & Culture // and Romanticism Please select NO Contemporary (30 credits) MORE THAN 30 Literature & credits per block. Culture (15+15)

Contemporary Manchester & the Literature & City (30 credits) Culture (15) Engaging the Humanities 1 (15)

Manchester & the City (15)

Fit for the Future: Careers (15)

BA CREATIVE WRITING: EXAMPLE OPTION CHOICES NB – this selection of samples is purely illustrative and is NOT EXHAUSTIVE! Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 Student A. Takes Remake/Remodel 1 Creative Practice 2 Creative Writing Creative Writing Core units in & 2 (15+15 credits) (30 credits) Workshop 1 & 2 Workshop 3 & 4 Blocks 1, 3 and 4, (15+15 credits) (15+15 credits) and a 30-credit option unit in Block 2. Total: 120 credits.

Student B takes Remake/Remodel 1 Creative Writing Eco-Media (30) Creative Writing Core units in & 2 (15+15 credits) Workshop 1 & 2 Workshop 3 & 4 Blocks 1, 2 and 4, (15+15 credits) (15+15 credits) and a 30-credit option unit in Block 3. Total: 120 credits.

Student C takes Remake/Remodel 1 Creative Writing Creative Writing Creative Writing Core units in & 2 (15+15 credits) Workshop 1 (15) Workshop 2 (15) Workshop 3 & 4 Blocks 1 and 4, (15+15 credits) and splits CWW1 and 2, taking 15- credit workshops in both Blocks 2 Contemporary Fit for the Future and 3. Student C Literature & Culture (15) pairs those (15) workshops with 15-credit option units in both Blocks 2 and 3. Total: 120 credits.

BA FILM & MEDIA STUDIES Level 5 Term 1 (Sept—Dec) Term 2 (Jan– April) Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 CORE UNITS Film Modes & Theorising the Media Platforms 1 Students take 90 Genres 1 & 2 Screen 1+2 (15+15 & 2 (15+15 credits) credits of Core (15+15 credits) credits) Units OPTION UNITS World Cinema (30 Select 30 credits of credits) option units in Eco-media (30) Block 3. Enlightenment and Romanticism (30 Students may take credits) Creative Writing Manchester & the Workshop 1 (for 15 City (30 credits) credits), or Creative Writing Workshop Creative Writing 1 and 2 (for a total Workshop 1 (15) of 30 credits) Creative Writing Workshop 2 (15) Please select NO Engaging the MORE THAN 30 Humanities 1 (15) credits per block. Manchester & the City (15)

Fit for the Future: Careers (15)

BA FILM & MEDIA STUDIES: EXAMPLE OPTION CHOICES NB – this selection of samples is purely illustrative and is NOT EXHAUSTIVE! Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 Student A. Film Modes & Theorising the World Cinema (30) Media Platforms 1 Takes Core units Genres 1 & 2 (15+15 Screen 1+2 (15+15 & 2 (15+15 credits) in Blocks 1, 2 and credits) credits) 4, and a 30-credit option unit in Block 3. Total: 120 credits.

Student B Film Modes & Theorising the Creative Writing Media Platforms 1 Takes Core units Genres 1 & 2 (15+15 Screen 1+2 (15+15 Workshop 1 & 2 & 2 (15+15 credits) in Blocks 1, 2 and credits) credits) (15+15 credits) 4, and a 15+15 combination in Block 3. Total: 120 credits.

Student C Takes Film Modes & Theorising the Creative Writing Media Platforms 1 Core units in Genres 1 & 2 (15+15 Screen 1+2 (15+15 Workshop 1 (15) & 2 (15+15 credits) Blocks 1, 2 and 4, credits) credits) Fit for the Future: and two, 15-credit Careers (15) option units in Block 3. Total: 120 credits.

BA COMBINED HONOURS (Languages, Linguistics & TESOL) Level 5 Term 1 Term 2 Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 ENGLISH CORE 435Z0080 435Z0046 435Z0041 435Z0047 OPTIONS Postwar Literature Contemporary 19th Century Modernism (15) (students select & Culture (15) Literature & Writing (15) units in accordance Culture (15) with their weighting: any 30 credits for English minors; all 60 credits for Equal and English Majors) OPTION UNITS Critical & Cultural Manchester & the (English Majors Theory 1 (30) City (15) select 30 credits.. Writing After the Creative Writing Creative Writing Students may take British Empire (30) Workshop 1 (15) Workshop 1 (15) Creative Writing Workshop 1 (for 15 Creative Writing Creative Writing credits), or Creative Workshop 2 (15) Workshop 2 (15) Writing Workshop 1 and 2 (for a total of 30 credits) American Postwar Manchester & the Students may not Lit & Cult / City (30) select the same unit Contemporary twice American Lit & Cult (15+15 co- Please select NO requisites) MORE THAN 30 credits per block. If this seems Film Modes & Enlightenment & unavoidable, please Genres 1 & 2 Romanticism (30) refer to your LIC (15+15 co- programme leader requisites) Idoya Puig ([email protected])

LEVEL 5 UNIT OUTLINES, 21-22 Below you’ll find entries for each of our units, outlining unit content, assessment strategy, and provisional lists of primary texts (these are not definitive lists – unit leaders will confirm reading lists later in the year). NB. Not all units are available on all programmes – please check the delivery maps above.

AMERICAN POSTWAR LITERATURE & CULTURE and AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE & CULTURE (Co-requisites) These are Core units for BA English & American Literature students and are available as options for other programmes. Together, the units form a 15+15 combination taught together over 6 weeks in Block 1.

American Postwar Literature & Culture 435Z0045 (15 credits) Block 1 Contact Nikolai Duffy: [email protected]

This unit considers the role and place of the road narrative in postwar American literature and culture, and considers the relation between these narratives and the development of a national identity. The unit covers narratives about journeys, adventures, getting lost, finding things, the unexpected, the unknown, the imagined, the wished-for, and the constantly difficulty of turning ideas into reality. Within this general framework, particular attention will be paid to reading road narratives in context, specifically in relation to notions of home, individualism, discovery, the wilderness, dissatisfaction, autobiography, national identity, history, and geography.

Henry David Thoreau, ‘Walking’ Jack London, The Call of the Wild Sean Penn, Into the Wild The Revenant (dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu) Jack Kerouac, ‘The Vanishing American Hobo’ Dennis Hopper, Easy Rider Ira Levin, The Stepford Wives John Boorman, Deliverance Annie Proulx, ‘Brokeback Mountain’ Ridley Scott, Thelma and Louise

Assessment A research project, comprising a creatively presented multimedia project incorporating critical material, both written and visual, on a range of narratives to do with road narratives.

American Contemporary Literature & Culture 435Z0043 Block 1 Contact: Nikolai Duffy: [email protected]

This unit considers the role and place of different spaces in American literature and culture from postwar to the present. It explores notions of conformity and dissent, and relates these to relevant social, political and historical contexts. Particular attention will be paid to ideas of regionalism, the suburbs, the city, the high school, the media, reality TV, celebrity, and social media.

Don Delillo, Falling Man Jordan Peele (dir.), Get Out Gus Van Sant (dir.), Elephant Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian Oliver Stone (dir.), Natural Born Killers Jean-Marc Vallée (dir.), Wild Teju Cole, Open City Claudia Rankine, Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Sofia Coppola (dir.), The Bling Ring Dave Eggers, The Circle Spike Jonze (dir.), Her

Assessment A 3000 word comparative essay/research project

AMERICAN 19TH CENTURY WRITING and AMERICAN MODERNISM (Co-requisites) These are core units for BA English & American Literature students only, and are NOT available to other cohorts. Together, the units form a 15+15 combination taught together over 6 weeks in Block 4.

American 19th Century Writing 435Z0042 BLOCK 4. Contact: Dr Liz Nolan ([email protected])

This unit is concerned with the versions of American national identity that emerge, and are contested, in a range of literary forms and genres across the nineteenth century. This unit considers literary responses to the significant historical events, social processes and cultural conditions that mark the transformation of America during the nineteenth century. Particular attention will be paid to the differing perspectives of race, class and gender and students will be encouraged to contrast and compare literary texts and themes to investigate the discontinuities as well as continuities of the American literary tradition, and of versions of America itself.

Indicative Reading (N.B. many of these are available electronically in full text): • James Fenimore Cooper, Last of the Mohicans (1826) • Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature (1836) • Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845) • Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) • Walt Whitman Drum Taps (1865) • Alexander Gardner, Civil War Photography

Assessment: 100% COURSEWORK. Essay: (2,500 words) comparing two texts to analyse the implications of social, cultural, and political contexts for a range of American narratives.

American Modernism 435Z0044 BLOCK 4. Contact: Dr Liz Nolan ([email protected])

This unit introduces a range of literary and artistic forms and genres associated with American Modernism, analysing their formal and stylistic properties as well as considering social and cultural contexts and applying key theoretical approaches to the narratives. The unit considers artistic responses to the significant historical events, social processes and cultural conditions that mark the transformation of America and the emergence of a modern society during the early twentieth century. Students will consider the ways that innovative modes of representation respond to the conditions of modernity, mediating themes such as urban experience, war and its aftermath, early- twentieth century technologies, and shifting representations of gender, sexuality, race and American regional identities. Indicative Reading (N.B. several of these are available electronically in full text):

• Kate Chopin, The Awakening (1899) • Charlotte Perkins Gilman, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ (1892) • John Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer (1925) • Selected poetry of Langston Hughes • Extracts fronm Alain Locke The New Negro (1925) • Zora Neale Hurston, ‘Sweat’ (1926) • William Faulkner, ‘A Rose for Emily’ (1930)

Assessment: 100% COURSEWORK. Portfolio: comprising (1) a reflection on a student-led group exercise; (2) a series of forum postings in response to the student group exercises

Creative Practice 2 (30 credits) BLOCK 2 Contact: Joe Stretch ([email protected])

This optional unit is available exclusively to BA Creative Writing students and is not available to other cohorts.

Indicative Content

The unit offers you the chance to explore your creative practice through collaboration. You might collaborate with another student on the course (to submit a joint project), or with others outside it (to submit as an individual).

You will deliver and present a creative project and reflect critically on the collaborative process.

You may wish to collaborate on a script, a poetry project, organising a public event, a short film, an educational initiative, a piece of theatre, a piece of video art, a publication project, a text art project or a piece of prose.

Groups should comprise between two and four students, although exceptions may be made if you liaise with your tutor.

Over Summer, consider who you might wish to work with and what your project might entail. Feel free to contact Joe Stretch with queries.

ASSESSMENT: 100% Coursework 70% Creative Project / 30% Project Report

CRITICAL AND CULTURAL THEORY 1 435Z002 BLOCK 1. Contact: Dr. Huw Jones [email protected]

This unit introduces some key critical concepts involved in the study of contemporary culture. Amongst some of the questions we will be asking are those about how it is we get to be able to understand and think about the world, its peoples and our places within it. This involves coming to terms with concepts of ideology, language and subjectivity, as well as those dealing with difference - cultural, sexual, bodily and racially.

Some of the subjects that we consider include the relationship of art and literature to economic forces, the ways in which power works to shape and constrain our individual identity and the questions raised by the emergence of digital and online culture.

Reading will largely be provided through pdf extracts of original writings, so there is no single set text for this unit. However, if you wish to get ahead with some of the reading for the unit over summer, there are some texts that it would be useful to read in advance. All of these are available electronically through MMU Library.

Confirmed Summer Reading: Some useful preliminary texts. All of these are available online, either through MMU library or electronic journals.

Bhabha, Homi K, Nation and Narration eBook MMU Library. Chapter 1 ‘Introduction’ and chapter 2 ‘What is a Nation’ form a good bridge between Marx/Foucault and the questions of race and empire that we move to consider later in the unit. Davis, Mike, ‘The Monster Enters’ New Left Review 122 MAR/APR 2020. Available through MMU library. A reaction to the Covid 19 pandemic from a political theorist who predicted the whole event. Eagleton, Terry, Why Marx was Right eBook MMU Library. Good on historical materialism and Marx, the topic which we begin the unit with. Foucault, Michel, ‘Panopticism’ from Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison Available at muse.jhu.edu. How modern, regulated and disciplined societies categorise, make visible and control their populations. Seymour, Richard, The Twittering Machine eBook MMU Library. A very good account of the implications of social media and digital culture as a whole. Williams, Patrick, and Chrisman, lanna Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory: A Reader eBook MMU Library pp. 1-20.

ASSESSMENT: 100% Coursework (i) Portfolio (ii) Essay

Creative Writing Workshop 1 435Z0048 (15 credits) Creative Writing Workshop 2 435Z0049 (15 credits) BLOCK 2 and BLOCK 3 Contact: Andrew McMillan ([email protected])

CWW 1& 2 are Core units on BA Creative Writing and BA English & Creative Writing. These units are also available as options on other programmes. Students selecting CWW as an option may take one workshop (for 15 credits) or two workshops (for 30 credits) in either Block 2 or Block 3. Please see the delivery maps above for details.

ASSESSMENT for each unit is by coursework: CWW1: Portfolio of Creative Work (60%); Reflective Documentation (40%) CWW2: Portfolio of Creative Work (60%); Reflective Documentation (40%)

Within Creative Writing Workshop 1 and/or 2 you’ll take one of three specialist writing genres, choosing between Poetry, Prose and Scriptwriting. You’ll be taught by practising and professional writers in your chosen genre and the unit will be taught through a mixture of technique lectures, writing prompts and peer to peer critique as you work towards building your submission.

Within each genre you’ll submit a defined amount of work and a critical reflection, which considers the making and construction of the work you’ve produced, and discusses the reading and ideas which fed into it.

In order to keep the unit fresh, the reading lists are currently being re-examined, but to begin preparation, just try to take in as much contemporary writing as possible within your chosen genre. This will ensure that you are as prepared as possible for the beginning of the block. Updated reading lists will be released at the start of the new academic year.

Some places to begin:

Explore the BBC Writers’ Room site: www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom. Here you will find examples of the scripts of many recently broadcast television and radio plays

The New Yorker database of short stories, which also exists as a podcast! (https://www.newyorker.com/tag/short-stories) Obviously you can’t read all of them, but there’s a real wealth to dive into here!

The Poetry Foundation (poetryfoundation.org) is a wonderful American website, and online poetry magazine, that has a wealth of resources, poems and interviews. It's the coalface of contemporary poetry, and a great place to see what is happening right now. Have an explore of the website by topic, theme or country, and begin to discover the work of poets who really speak to you.

CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP 3 & 4 (15 credits + 15 credits) These are core units for BA Creative Writing students only, and are not available to other cohorts. Together, the units form a 15+15 combination taught together over 6 weeks in Block 4.

CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP 3 435Z0050 CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP 4 435Z0051 BLOCK 4. Contact: Paul Evans ([email protected])

Each week a writer from the Writing School is invited to deliver a masterclass on specialist forms of writing, introduce key intellectual and technical aspects central to their craft, and present a writing challenge. Creative responses to these challenges will be workshopped in studio sessions and there will be discussions around the literary themes. Students will read work by the writer and research other contextual works. There is no expected reading over the summer.

ASSESSMENT: Creative Writing Workshop 3: 100% Coursework Creative Writing Workshop 4: 100% Coursework

Eco-media (30 credits) Block 3 Contact: Paul Evans [email protected] and Helen List [email protected]

This Unit studies the role of media in the climate and ecological emergency through activism, protest, education and denial. We will explore opportunities to research and participate in environmental and social issues as they emerge through a range of conventional, online and social media. We will consider media experiences (film, books, television, blogs, websites etc.) which embed and construct our perceptions of past and current ecological concerns. Students are encouraged to undertake their own creative and critical activity across responsive media fields, informed by eco-critical thought, field trips, visiting speakers, screen/sound and written texts.

Summer Reading list Edward Abbey The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975) Penguin Paul Evans (ed.) Poetry Rebellion: Poems and Prose to Rewild the Spirit (2021) Batsford Extinction Rebellion This Is Not A Drill: An Extinction Rebellion Handbook (2019) Penguin Robin Wall Kimmerer (2013 Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants Milkweed Editions Timothy Morton (2018) Being Ecological Pelican Books Rebecca Solnit (2017) A Field Guide to Getting Lost Canongate Canons Films/Television we anticipate working with David Attenborough The Blue Planet (2001 to present) Abbas Kiarostami 24 Frames (2017) Hayao Miyazaki Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) Louie Psihoyos The Cove (2009) Martin Rosen (Richard Adams) Watership Down (1978)

Assessment - 100% coursework Sketchbook/Diary with reflection 40% Portfolio of critical/creative activity 60%

Engaging the Humanities: Interdisciplinary Learning and Practice Contact: Dr Keith Crome ([email protected])

Engaging the Humanities 1 415Z0095 is a 15-credit option unit running in Block 3. Engaging the Humanities 2 415Z0096 is a 15-credit option unit running in Block 4.

NB. Students may take EtH 1 alone, or may take EtH1 + EtH2. EtH1 is a pre-requisite for EtH2. In other words you can ONLY take EtH2 if you’ve taken EtH1.

This is an innovative cross-faculty unit which provides an opportunity to work in an interdisciplinary context alongside students from a range of undergraduate programmes in the Faculty. In 2021-22, our theme will be ‘Waste’ and students will work on a multimedia project which articulates their perspective on the theme.

Previous student projects have included a documentary on the subject if violence against women, a multi-media presentation on police brutality, a newspaper exposing and investigating media bias, a presentation on the issue of transgender justice, projects on homelessness, a podcast on missing students in Mexico and a survey on the Syrian refugee crisis, the club-scene in Manchester, class and conflict in music.

You can access a website with further details about the unit and see what previous students have done: https://vimeo.com/200886681

ASSESSMENT: 100% Coursework.

ENLIGHTENMENT AND ROMANTICISM 435Z0010 BLOCK 3. Contact: Dr Sonja Lawrenson ([email protected])

This unit will offer an introduction to British literature and culture during one of its most significant periods, from the French Revolution of 1789 to the end of the Romantic movement around 1830. Its main concerns will be with the transformation of certain literary genres (chiefly the novel and poetry) and accompanying themes, such as the evolution of Enlightenment discourses in the period, the shift from Sensibility to Romanticism, the Abolitionist movement and the emergence of the professional women writer. It will also explore the evolving cultural, social and political contexts informing writing of this period, from the rise of imperialism to revolutionary gender and class politics.

Indicative Reading List: Selected Romantic Poetry by William Blake, Charlotte Smith, Anna Laetitia Barbauld, Felicia Hemans, Jane Cave, William Wordsworth, S.T. Coleridge, P.B. Shelley, Byron, John Clare and John Keats. Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility* Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, the 1818 text* Mary Prince, The History of Mary Prince: A West Indian Slave*

* Texts marked with an asterisk must be purchased. The rest will be made available on Moodle before term commences. When purchasing copies of texts please make sure that you select editions from the following publishers only: Penguin Classics, Oxford World Classics, Norton Critical Editions OR Broadview Editions FYI - Norton and Broadview tend to be a little more expensive than Penguin and Oxford World Classics but provide lots of great secondary materials such as essays and reviews.

ASSESSMENT: 100% Coursework • A portfolio of coursework (100%)

FILM MODES & GENRES 1 & 2 (Co-requisites) These are Core units for BA Film & Media Studies and BA English & Film students and are available as options for other programmes. Together, the units form a 15+15 combination taught together over 6 weeks in Block 1.

FILM MODES AND GENRES 1 435Z0054 BLOCK 1 Contact: Dr Sorcha Ní Fhlainn ([email protected])

This unit asks what the concept of ‘genre’ in cinema means. How does an understanding of genre help us to interpret films; how might genre-films mould our sense of who we are; and how do they strive to make sense of the world for us? This topic-based unit introduces a range of cinematic modes, movements and genres, whose formal, historical and cultural properties will be analysed. Topics may, for example, include: genres (eg Horror, Melodrama, Musical, Noir); theories of genre (structuralist and historical); other cinematic modes of expression (eg the gothic, queer cinema, art-house narrative) and other theoretical approaches to cinema (eg National / transnational cinemas, star studies, women's cinema).

The course is taught with selected films, readings, genre plenaries and seminars each week. We will explore generic styles, formats and developments across the history of cinema, with a focus on three distinct genres/mode: the musical, science fiction, film- noir.

Films studied may include: • West Side Story (Dirs. Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise, 1961) • Dreamgirls (Dir. Bill Condon, 2006) • 2001: A Space Odyssey (Dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1968) • Blade Runner (Dir. Ridley Scott, 1982; Final Cut, 2007] • The Maltese Falcon (Dir. John Huston, 1941) • Chinatown (Dir. Roman Polanski, 1974)

Set Text for course - Readings for each week will comprise of a chapter from this textbook. It should be purchased. - Friedman, L et al. An Introduction to Film Genres, London: WW Norton and Co, 2014.

Additional Recommended Reading: Altman, Rick. Film/Genres. London: BFI publishing, 1999.

ASSESSMENT: 100% Coursework • 10 Min Group Presentation – 30% • A 2500-word essay on two genres/modes studied – 70%

FILM MODES AND GENRES 2. 435Z0055 BLOCK 1 Contact: Dr Sorcha Ní Fhlainn ([email protected])

This unit asks what the concept of ‘genre’ in cinema means, extending the concepts and ideas presented in Film Modes and Genres 1. How does an understanding of genre help us to interpret cinema as an artform? How might genre-films and modes change over time or challenge our concepts of who we are? How can genres and modes help us/provoke us to make sense of or question the world around us? This topic-based unit introduces and extends a range of cinematic modes, movements and genres, whose formal, historical and cultural properties will be analysed. Topics may, for example, include: genres (eg Horror, Melodrama, Musical, Noir); theories of genre (structuralist and historical); other cinematic modes of expression (eg the gothic, queer cinema, art- house narrative) and other theoretical approaches to cinema (eg National / transnational cinemas, star studies, women's cinema). On this unit students will encounter a range of cinematic styles and discourses different from those studied in Film Modes and Genres 1. They will analyse these structures through close attention to selected film texts by engaging in close textual analysis, and exploring the ways in which film genres, modes and movements develop.

Films studied may include: • Now, Voyager (Dir. Irving Rapper, 1942) • Philadelphia (Dir. Jonathan Demme, 1993) • The Philadelphia Story (Dir. George Cuckor, 1940) • Bend it Like Beckham (Dir. Gurinder Chadha, 2002) • Dawn of the Dead (Dir. George A Romero, 1978) • The Thing (Dir. John Carpenter, 1982)

Set Text for course - Readings for each week will comprise of a chapter from this textbook. It should be purchased.

- Friedman, L et al. An Introduction to Film Genres, London: WW Norton and Co, 2014.

Additional Recommended Reading:

- Altman, Rick. Film/Genres. London: BFI publishing, 1999.

ASSESSMENT: 100% Coursework A 3000-word essay on two genres/modes studied.

Fit for the Future Block 2 or Block 3 15 credits Contact: Dr Nicola Bishop ([email protected])

Fit for the Future can be taken for 15 credits in combination with a 15-credit English unit: please see the delivery maps for details.

Fit for the Future is a collaboration between the Careers Service and the Department of English and supports students working towards applying for placements and graduate jobs. Choosing to study this unit will enable you to meet challenges with confidence. We’ll take you through the various stages of recruitment from identifying your strengths and skills, to job searching and on to CV’s, LinkedIn and Interviews. We’ll provide preparation, insights and feedback on all activities and it culminates in you experiencing a real-life Assessment Centre simulation. Don’t worry, it’s all very supportive with constructive feedback for you to reflect upon. With full engagement, at the end of this unit you will understand your strengths and skills, be able to identify where further development is needed and how to go about this. You will also have greater confidence in tackling all aspects of graduate and placement recruitment.

Assessment is by Coursework Portfolio 20%: a series of tasks relating to employability Reflection 80%: a reflective account of the unit

NINETEENTH-CENTURY WRITING and MODERNISM (Co-requisites) These are Core units for BA English students and are available as options for other programmes. Together, the units form a 15+15 combination taught together over 6 weeks in Block 4.

NINETEENTH-CENTURY WRITING 435Z0041 Block 4 Contact: Dr Emma Liggins ([email protected])

This unit examines literature published in the nineteenth century in relation to historical and cultural change. It explores key concerns such as science and religion, criminality, madness, the rise of feminism, slavery and the British Empire. We will examine representations of social and sexual identities, and ideologies of class, gender, race and imperialism.

The reading is across a range of genres, including poetry, drama, short stories, political speeches and novels. Some short poems and stories will be available online for students. We will make comparisons between literature and visual art across this period. Students will be required to engage with critical discussions about Victorianism, the fin de siècle and modernity.

PLEASE PRIORITISE READING NOVELS (IN BOLD) IN ADVANCE OF THE UNIT.

Indicative Reading List A selection of nineteenth-century poems by Alfred Tennyson, Matthew Arnold, Thomas Hardy, Charlotte Brontë and Frances Harper (online anthology provided). • Christina Rossetti, ‘Goblin Market’ (1859) • Elizabeth Barrett Browning, ‘The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point’ (1848) • Victor Sejour, ‘The Mulatto’ (1837) (available online) • Sojourner Truth, ‘Ain’t I a Woman’ speech (1851) • Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Lady Audley's Secret (1862) • Henrik Ibsen, Hedda Gabler (1891) • Oscar Wilde, The Importance of being Earnest (1895)

ASSESSMENT: 100% Coursework

• Project (100%) (2500 words, plus images)

MODERNISM (435Z0047) Block 4 Contact: Dr Matt Foley ([email protected])

This unit explores some of the key texts and contexts of modernism (c.1900-1940). It considers modernism as an international and multi-dimensional phenomenon ranging across a variety of movements, genres, discourses, and modes of representation.

The unit centres on the detailed study of literary texts (short stories, poetry, novels), but it also explores intellectual cross-currents and interactions between literature, philosophy, film, and visual culture. It studies the relationship between modernism in the arts and the broader condition of modernity, exploring such topics as modernist understandings of time, early twentieth-century technologies, empire, the First World War, sex and sexuality, gender, race, modernist magazines culture, and the unconscious.

INDICATIVE READING LIST Please Prioritise Reading Texts (in bold) in Advance of the Unit A selection of Imagist poetry by poets including H. D., Ezra Pound, Richard Aldington, and Amy Lowell T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land (1922) A selection of manifestoes of Futurism, Vorticism, Surrealism and Dada Short stories by James Joyce, Zora Neale Hurston, and D. H. Lawrence Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway (1925) Jean Rhys, Voyage in the Dark (1934)

ASSESSMENT: 100% Coursework • Critical Analysis (35%): an independent research exercise in which students review either modernist manifestoes or fiction found in modernist ‘little magazines’ of the period (c.1000 words plus images). • Class Test (65%): end of unit class test based on set texts.

FURTHER RESOURCES Useful overviews and introductions include: Tim Armstrong, Modernism: A Cultural History (Cambridge, 2006); Peter Childs, Modernism (London and New York, 2000); Jane Goldman, Modernism 1910-1954, Image to Apocalypse (London, 2004); Peter Nicholls, Modernisms: A Literary Guide (London, 1995)

The Modernism Lab: https://campuspress.yale.edu/modernismlab/ Modernist Journals Project: https://modjourn.org/journal/

MEDIA PLATFORMS 1 & 2 These are core units for BA Film & Media Studies students only, and are not available to other cohorts. Together, the units form a 15+15 combination taught together over 6 weeks in Block 4.

Media Platforms 1 - 435Z0056 Block 4 Contact: Joan Ormrod ([email protected])

This unit will explore existing and emergent screen media platforms, for example television form and content, media audiences, institutions, ideologies, narratives and texts. Platforms which will be examined may include, for example, television, screen media, digital media, social media and emergent media.

This unit begins an examination of television form (for example, seriality, drama, comedy, reality and entertainment) and content in terms of production values, cultural reception and relationship to other forms of screen media.

Indicative Reading Jenkins, H. (2007) Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press.

If anyone is really enthusiastic to start please apply to me and I can provide a more extensive reading list ([email protected])

ASSESSMENT:

• 50% coursework – critical commentary - A scholarly review of an article, applied to selected primary text/s.

• 50% coursework – presentation - A presentation (final week of term 1) that focuses on one of the following: production values, cultural reception, historical context.

Media Platforms 2 - 435Z0057 Block 4 Contact: Joan Ormrod ([email protected])

The unit explores media audiences, institutions, ideologies, narratives and texts, building on the analysis of television form and content in terms of production values, cultural reception and relationship to other forms of screen media in Media Platforms 1.

Indicative Reading: Booth, P. (ed.) (2018) A Companion to Media Fandom and Fans Studies. Hoboken USA, Oxford UK: Wiley Blackwell.

If anyone is really enthusiastic to start please apply to me and I can provide a more extensive reading list ([email protected])

ASSESSMENT 100% coursework:

• 30% coursework – paper - A research plan equivalent to 500 words.

• 70% coursework – essay - A research essay of 2,500 words.

Manchester and the City (30 credit: 435Z0029) (15 credit: 435Z0030) BLOCK 3 Contact: Dr David Wilkinson ([email protected])

NB. This unit is available either as a 30-credit unit or a 15-credit unit. Both versions are taught over 6 weeks in Block 3.

As the name suggests, this is a unit about Manchester – but it’s also a unit about culture and the city more broadly. Cities tell stories about themselves. Manchester likes to tell a story about itself that’s often summed up in the words of the late Tony Wilson, founder of Factory Records: ‘We do things differently here’. Part of the reason we think about the city in general as well as Manchester in particular is so that we can scrutinise such tempting exceptionalism - so that we can ask ‘do we really do things differently here?’ We also ask questions such as:

-How did the modern city come to be and how has this shaped the concerns of the texts that emerge from it? -Who gets to tell the story of the city? -How do urban texts represent social conflict? -Whose interests are served by differing stories of the city? -Can urban texts help us to re-imagine - even transform - the city?

We look at a diverse range of cultural texts from key historical periods and the unit also encompasses physical exploration of the city. Importantly, the unit is scaffolded with a range of theoretical material. It will help us get a grip on what is at stake when we ask the questions posed above. We start with three key concepts – capitalism, the right to the city and psychogeography. Each week we consider further material that will allow us to discuss issues like class, gender, the post-colonial city, gentrification, (counter)cultural memory and - very topically given the COVID-19 pandemic – disease and sanitation.

Set texts:

• Friedrich Engels, selected chapters from The Condition of the Working Class in England (1845) • Elizabeth Gaskell, Mary Barton (1848) * • Dean Kirby, Angel Meadow: Victorian Britain’s Most Savage Slum (2016) • Coronation Street (First episode, 1960) • A Taste of Honey (dir. Tony Richardson, 1961) • Joe Pemberton, For Ever And Ever Amen (2000) * • Manctopia (dir. Nick Mattingly, 2020) • 24 Hour Party People (dir. Michael Winterbottom, 2002) • Various Manchester related songs and lyrics of your choice

*Please purchase and read these texts in advance of the unit. All other texts, including the theoretical material, will be provided via Moodle. Please contact [email protected] if you would like to begin reading the theory in advance of the unit.

ASSESSMENT: 100% Coursework 15 credit unit: • 2500 word essay (100%)

30 Credit unit: • 2500 word essay (50%) • 2500 word portfolio consisting of a 500 word plan and a 2000 word evaluation of a piece of theoretical work on the city (50%)

POSTWAR LITERATURE & CULTURE and CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE & CULTURE These are Core units for BA English students and are available as options for other programmes. Together, the units form a 15+15 combination taught together over 6 weeks in Block 2.

Postwar Literature & Culture 435Z0080 (15 credits) Block 2 Contact: Dr Aidan Arrowsmith

This is a ‘reading in context’ unit. We will study a diverse range of texts and genres from the post-war decades, considering the relationships between aesthetic form, thematic content and historical context. We will focus on the key transformations in literature and culture in the postwar era, discussing key concerns of the period and their impact upon thematic content and aesthetic form in a range of texts and genres. Topics may include for example Empire, colonisation and Britishness; history, memory and trauma; gender, class, race and sexuality.

Indicative Set Texts Christopher Isherwood, Goodbye to Berlin Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot Harold Pinter, The Birthday Party Doris Lessing, The Grass is Singing Sam Selvon, The Lonely Londoners

Assessment is by coursework: Portfolio 100%

Contemporary Literature & Culture 435Z0046 (15 credits) Block 2 Contact: Dr Aidan Arrowsmith

This is a ‘reading in context’ unit, focussing on the relationships between aesthetic form, thematic content and historical context in a diverse range of texts and genres from the late 20th and early 21st centuries, considering the relationships between aesthetic form, thematic content and historical context. We will focus on the key transformations in literature and culture in the postwar era, discussing key concerns of the period and their impact upon thematic content and aesthetic form in a range of texts and genres. Topics may include, for example: nation, postcoloniality and diaspora; globalisation and cosmopolitanism; traumatic memory; as well as formal experimentation associated with postmodernism.

Indicative Set Texts: Muriel Spark, The Driver’s Seat Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea Seamus Heaney, North Tony Harrison, V Linton Kwesi Johnson poems Sarah Kane, Blasted Kamila Shamsie, Burnt Shadows

Assessment is by coursework: Essay 100%

REMAKE/REMODEL 1 & 2 (15 + 15 credits) These are core units for BA Creative Writing, and BA English and Creative Writing students only, and are not available to other cohorts. Together, the units for a 15+15 combination taught together over 6 weeks in Block 2.

REMAKE/REMODEL 1 435Z0052 BLOCK 2 Contact: Joe Stretch ([email protected])

Indicative Content We will explore literary adaptation, analysing how texts survive and evolve - how the meanings of stories, characters, poems, songs and ideas change across time and across forms.

We will engage with examples of literary adaptation, focussing on the way in which different cultural and political contexts produce new meanings with existing work. Students will engage with this process critically and creatively.

ASSESSMENT: 100% Coursework A 7-10 minute podcast analyzing two different versions of the same material. (You can choose from material studied on the unit, or choose your own subject matter. It needn’t be literature – it could be film, music, videogames – whatever you think provides an interesting comparison)

REMAKE/REMODEL 2 435Z0053 Block 2 Contact: Joe Stretch ([email protected])

Indicative Content

We will write our own adaptations of existing material. We will explore the artistic process underpinning literary adaptation, examining a range of strategies by which a text or existing cultural artefact might be re-made. We will make our own literary adaptations of an existing story, character, painting, photograph, piece of music or film, whilst reflecting critically on the process.

ASSESSMENT: 100% Coursework

60% Creative Work 40% Critical Reflection

A literary adaptation. This may be prose, script, poetry, textual art, Erasure art, or a form agreed with your tutor. (2000 words)

A report reflecting critically on the creative process that underpinned the literary adaptation. (1000 words)

Theorising the Screen 1 & Theorising the Screen 2 (15 credits + 15 credits) These are core units for BA Film & Media Studies, and BA English and Film students only, and are not available to other cohorts. Together, the units for a 15+15 combination taught together over 6 weeks in Block 2.

Theorising the Screen 1 435Z0058 Theorising the Screen 2 435Z0059 BLOCK 2. Contact: Xavier Aldana Reyes ([email protected])

ESSENTIAL READINGS/RESOURCES All the essays we will study are available online, through Moodle. In addition, you will be able to access the vast majority of films online, through BoB. There is no set textbook for this unit.

READING LIST ▪ All the articles that form the core reading list for this unit are available through Moodle, so you do not need to purchase a textbook for this unit.

FURTHER READING (not essential, do not purchase) ▪ Warren Buckland, Film Theory and Contemporary Hollywood Movies (New York: AFI, 2009). ▪ Pam Cook (ed.), The Cinema Book (Basingstoke: BFI, 2008). ▪ Robert Lapsley and Michael Westlake, Film Theory: An Introduction (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2006). ▪ Kevin McDonald, Film Theory: The Basics (London and New York: Routledge, 2016). ▪ Richard Rushton and Gary Bettinson, What Is Film Theory? (New York: Open University Press, 2010).

FILMS STUDIED IN THIS UNIT ▪ Hairspray (Adam Shankman, 2007, UK/USA) ▪ Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (David Slade, 2018, UK) ▪ I, Daniel Blake (Ken Loach, 2016, UK) ▪ Blue Story (Andrew Onwubolu, 2019, UK) ▪ Daisies (Vera Chytilová, 1966, Czechoslovakia) ▪ The Piano (Jane Campion, 1993, NZ/Australia/France) ▪ Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma, 2019, France) ▪ The Rabbit-Proof Fence (Phillip Noyce, 2002, Australia) ▪ Moonlight (Barry Jenkins, 2016, USA) ▪ REC (Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza, 2007, Spain) ▪ Mean Girls (Mark Waters, 2004, USA)

ASSESSMENT:

Theorising the Screen 1: 100% Coursework (Portfolio)

Theorising the Screen 2: 100% Coursework (Portfolio)

World Cinema (30 credits) 435Z0039 Block 3 Contact: Dr Amy Chambers ([email protected])

This unit explores the production, reception and dissemination of non-Anglo-American cinema and provides students with the necessary tools to explore global screen cultures. In this unit students will interrogate the issues and experiences of transnational interaction and cross-cultural appropriation, the problems with the concept of authentic ‘national cinema’ and consider the depiction of ‘third world’ and ‘diaspora’ populations.

Key themes: imagined communities; national cinema; world cinema; diaspora; transnationalism; globalisation; race; gender; identity; post-colonialism; de-colonising and de-westernising film studies

Films studied will include (subject to availability in January 2022): • Atlantique (Mati Diop, 2019, Senegal, France) • Parasite (Bong Joon-ho, 2019, South Korea) • Lionheart (Genevieve Nnanji, 2019, Nigeria) • Black Girl (Ousmane Sembène, 1966, Senegal) • Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, 2007, France) • Fire (Deepa Mehta, 1996, Canada, India) • Roma (Alfonso Cuarón, 2018, Mexico) • beDevil (Tracey Moffatt, 1993, Australia) • Sweet Country (Warwick Thornton, 2017, Australia) • Red Sorghum (Zhang Yimou, 1987, China) • Farewell My Concubine (Chen Kaige, 1993, China) • Happy Together (Wong Kar Wai, 1997, Hong Kong) • In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar Wai, 2000, Hong Kong) • Battle Royale (Fukasaku Kinji, 2001, Japan) • Oldboy (Park Chan-wook, 2003, South Korea)

Core reading: • Anderson, Benedict (1983). Imagined Communities. London: Verso, 2006. • Said, Edward W. (1978). Orientalism. London: Penguin, 2003. • Fanon, Frantz (1968). Black Skin, White Masks. London: Pluto, 2008. • Ď urovičová , Natasa and Kathleen E. Newman (editors). World Cinemas, Transnational Perspectives. New York: Routledge, 2010. • Hjort, Mette and Scott Mackenzie (editors). Cinema and Nation. New York: Routledge, 2000. • Deshpande, Shekhar, and Meta Mazaj (editors). World Cinema: A Critical Introduction. Abingdon: Routledge, 2018. • Bâ , Saë r Maty and Will Higbee (editors). De-westernizing Film Studies. London: Routledge, 2012. • Dwyer, Tessa. Speaking in Subtitles: Revaluing Screen Translation. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2017. • White, Patricia. Women’s Cinema, World Cinema: Projecting Contemporary Feminisms. 2015. Durham: Duke University Press, 2015. • Naficy, Hamid. Home, Exile, Homeland: Film, media, and the politics of place. New York: Routledge, 2000. • Esfandiary, Shahab. Iranian Cinema and Globalization: National, Transnational, and Islamic Dimensions. Bristol: Intellect Books, 2012. • Collins, Felicity and Theresa Davis. Australian Cinema After Mabo. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. • Chu, Yingchi. Hong Kong Cinema: Coloniser, Motherland, and Self. London: Routledge, 2003. • Taylor-Jones, Kate E. Rising Sun, Divided Land: Japanese and South Korean Filmmakers. New York: Columbia University Press, 2013.

ASSESSMENT: 100% Coursework Portfolio of 2000 words (40%) including critical reading reviews and weekly tasks; Essay of 3000 words that connects theory and specific film examples (60%).

Writing After the British Empire: Race, Nation and Theory BLOCK 1. Contact: Dr Sarah Ilott ([email protected])

This unit explores the legacies of British colonialism as engaged in the literature and culture of postcolonial nations. We will explore the ways in which novels, films, short stories and poetry from India, Nigeria and the Caribbean write back to the former colonial centre, enact the decolonisation of the mind, and unpick the stereotypes and ideologies central to the establishment of the British empire. The unit offers an introduction to postcolonial theory as it relates to the texts and contexts we discuss.

Please prioritise reading the novels (in bold below) over the summer. Texts are listed in their order of study.

SET TEXTS: Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness (1899) Selected poetry by Rudyard Kipling Apocalypse Now (film) (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979) Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart (1958) Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Secret Lives and Other Stories (selected short stories) (1975) Sara Collins, The Confessions of Frannie Langton (2019) Belle (film) (Amma Asante, 2014) Merle Hodge, Crick Crack, Monkey (1970) Selected Caribbean poetry from Grace Nichols, Kamau Braithwaite and Kei Miller Salman Rushdie, Midnight’s Children (1981) Mother India (film) (Mehboob Khan, 1957) Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things (1997) The Viceroy’s House (film) (Gurinder Chadha, 2017)

It is recommended that students purchase a copy of John McLeod’s Beginning Postcolonialism (2nd edition) as a critical companion to the unit. This text is widely available for about £10.

Assessment: 100% COURSEWORK. Portfolio 40% (3 x 500-word blog submissions) Essay 60% (3,000 words)

48 LEVEL 6 INFORMATION 2021-22

The marks you gain at Level 6 will make up the greatest proportion of your overall degree result and, depending on your mark profile, could make up the whole of it. You can find out more about how your degree will be calculated via the ‘Assessment FAQs’ resource, which appears on unit Moodle areas.

By the time students reach Level 6 they have gained a sound foundation in the core skills and knowledge of their subject. They know which areas of the subject they enjoy most and do best in and are well equipped to design their own programme of study, from the topic of their Project to their individual taught units. As such, a significant proportion of your credits in Level 6 will come from Option Units. The choice of units we offer is driven by staff expertise and enthusiasm: you will be taught by people who have published critical and creative work on these topics, from Children’s Literature to Modern Gothic.

49 LEVEL 6 CORE UNITS

Below, you will find information about your CORE units for Level 6. These vary according to programme. NB. Both the CRITICAL and CREATIVE PROJECT units are worth 30 credits and run across the academic year from Block 1 to Block 4. Students taking a PROJECT unit should choose option units from any block as appropriate, selecting a maximum of 30 credits per block of taught units, and making a total of 120 credits for the year. This means students will normally have one block free from taught units … in order to concentrate on your Project.

BA English, BA English and American Literature, CORE: ENGLISH CRITICAL PROJECT BA English and Film, BA Combined Honours English MAJOR BA English & Creative Writing CORE: CREATIVE WRITING PROJECT BA Creative Writing CORES: CREATIVE WRITING PROJECT and BEYOND THE PAGE BA Film & Media Studies CORES: CRITICAL PROJECT and MEDIA INDUSTRIES BA English & History CORE OPTIONS: Select either the English CRITICAL PROJECT or HISTORY INDEPENDENT PROJECT. Not both. BA English & Multimedia Journalism CORE OPTIONS: Select either the English CRITICAL PROJECT or JOURNALISM PROJECT 1&2. Not both.

For information on Journalism units, please contact Pete Murray: [email protected] BA Combined Honours EQUAL CORE OPTION: CRITICAL PROJECT. Students may choose to take a Project unit in English or in your other subject if available. BA Combined Honours English MINOR NO CORE IN ENGLISH. The Critical Project is not available for CH Minor.

50 LEVEL 6 STRUCTURES 2021-22, by programme

LEVEL 6 BA ENGLISH BA ENGLISH & AMERICAN LITERATURE BA ENGLISH & FILM BA COMBINED HONOURS ENGLISH MAJOR Term 1 Term 2 Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 CORE UNITS Critical Project (30 credits) The Critical Project runs across all four blocks. OPTION UNITS Shakespeare (30) Writing and Texting Britain American Select 90 Place (30) (30) Literature and credits of Culture 1945-- options in total: (30) 30 credits per Fin-de-Siecle (30) Cultures of Life Representing Modern Gothic block in three and Death (30) Trauma (30) (30) blocks. Reading and Writing Series Cinema and NB. Students Writing Poetry Drama (30) Nation (30) may not take (30) both Reading Games (15) and Writing in Genres Reading and Reading and Reading & (30) Writing Games Writing Children’s Writing Games (30) Literature (30) (30).

Reading Games Reading (15) + Fit for the Children’s Future (Careers) Literature (15) + (15) Fit for the Future (Careers) (15)

BA ENGLISH BA ENGLISH & AMERICAN LITERATURE BA ENGLISH & FILM Level 6: EXAMPLE OPTION CHOICES NB – this selection of samples is purely illustrative and is NOT EXHAUSTIVE! Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 Student A English Critical Project (30) In addition to the Shakespeare (30) Cultures of Life Cinema & Nation Core Project, & Death (30) (30) Student A selects option units in Blocks 1, 2 and 3, leaving Block 4 free for concentrated Project work.

Student B English Critical Project (30) In addition to the Reading & Writing & Place Modern Gothic Core Project, Writing Poetry (30) (30) Student B selects (30) option units in Blocks 1, 2 and 4, leaving Block 3 free for concentrated Project work.

Student C English Critical Project (30) In addition to the Fin de Siecle (30) Reading Children’s American Core Project, Literature (15) + Fit Literature & Student A selects for the Future Culture(30) option units in (Careers) (15) Blocks 1, 3 and 4, leaving Block 2 free for concentrated Project work.

BA CREATIVE WRITING Level 6 Term 1 Term 2 Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 CORE UNITS Creative Writing Project (30 credits) Students take both the Creative Writing Project AND Beyond Beyond the Page (30) the Page. The Creative Writing Project runs across all four blocks OPTION UNITS Shakespeare (30) Writing and Texting Britain Select 60 Place (30) (30) credits of options, 30 Fin-de-Siecle (30) Cultures of Life Representing credits max per and Death (30) Trauma (30) block in two Reading and Writing Series Cinema and blocks. Writing Poetry Drama (30) Nation (30) (30)

Writing in Genres Reading and Reading and (30) Writing Games Writing (30) Children’s Literature (30)

Reading Games Reading (15) + Fit for the Children’s Future (Careers) Literature (15) + (15) Fit for the Future (Careers) (15)

BA CREATIVE WRITING Level 6: EXAMPLE OPTION CHOICES NB – this selection of samples is purely illustrative and is NOT EXHAUSTIVE! Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 Student A Creative Writing Project (30) In addition to 60 Writing in Genres Writing Series Beyond the Page credits of Core (30) Drama (30) (30) units, Student A takes creative writing options in Blocks 1 & 2, leaving Block 3 free for concentrated work on the CW Project.

Student B Creative Writing Project (30) In addition to 60 Reading & Reading & Beyond the Page credits of Core Writing Poetry Writing Children’s (30) units, Student B (30) Literature (30) takes creative writing options in Blocks 1 & 3, leaving Block 2 free for concentrated work on the CW Project.

Student C Creative Writing Project (30) In addition to 60 Shakespeare (30) Writing Series Beyond the Page credits of Core Drama (30) (30) units, Student C takes a literature option in Block 1 and a creative writing option in Blocks 2, leaving Block 3 free for concentrated work on the CW Project.

BA ENGLISH & CREATIVE WRITING Level 6 Term 1 Term 2 Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 CORE UNITS. Creative Writing Project (30 credits) The Creative Project runs across all four blocks OPTION UNITS Shakespeare (30) Writing and Texting Britain American Select 90 Place (30) (30) Literature and credits of Culture 1945-- options in total: (30) 30 credits max Fin-de-Siecle (30) Cultures of Life Representing Modern Gothic per block in and Death (30) Trauma (30) (30) three blocks. Reading and Writing Series Cinema and Writing Poetry Drama (30) Nation (30) (30)

Writing in Genres Reading and Reading and (30) Writing Games Writing Children’s (30) Literature (30)

Reading Games Reading (15) + Fit for the Children’s Future (Careers) Literature (15) + (15) Fit for the Future (Careers) (15)

55 BA ENGLISH & CREATIVE WRITING Level 6: EXAMPLE OPTION CHOICES NB – this selection of samples is purely illustrative and is NOT EXHAUSTIVE! Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 Student A Creative Writing Project (30) In addition to the Writing in Genres Reading & Cinema & Nation Core Project, (30) Writing Games (30) Student A selects (30) option units in Blocks 1, 2 and 3, leaving Block 4 free for concentrated Project work.

Student B Creative Writing Project (30) In addition to the Reading & Writing & Place American Core Project, Writing Poetry (30) Literature & Student B selects (30) Culture (30) option units in Blocks 1, 2 and 4, leaving Block 3 free for concentrated Project work.

Student C Creative Writing Project (30) In addition to the Shakespeare (30) Reading Children’s Modern Gothic Core Project, Literature (15) + Fit (30) Student C selects for the Future option units in (Careers) (15) Blocks 1, 3 and 4, leaving Block 2 free for concentrated Project work.

56 BA ENGLISH & HISTORY Level 6

Term 1 Term 2

Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4

CORE: English Critical Project (30) Choose EITHER English Critical Project OR History OR Independent Project. Not both. History Independent Project (30)

English Options. Shakespeare (30) Writing and Place Texting Britain (30) American Students must (30) Literature and select at least 30 Culture (30) credits from each subject area – English and History Fin-de-Siecle (30) Cultures of Life Representing Modern Gothic – and 90 credits IN and Death (30) Trauma (30) (30) TOTAL.

Do not select more Writing in Genres Reading and Reading and than 30 credits of (30) Writing Games Writing Children’s options in a single block. (30) Literature (30)

Reading and Writing Series Cinema and Nation Writing Poetry (30) Drama (30) (30)

Reading Games Reading Children’s (15) + Fit for the Literature (15) + Fit Future (Careers) for the Future (15) (Careers) (15)

History Options. Prohibition to Holocaust: the A Special The World of Students must Swinging Sixties: Destruction of Relationship? The Graeco-Roman select at least 30 American Society European Jewry US and Britain in Egypt (30) credits from each and Culture 1918- (30) the Twentieth subject area – 1969 (30) Century (30) English and History

– and 90 credits IN TOTAL.

Do not select more than 30 credits of options in a single block. The Crusades, Revolutions in Tudor England: War, Welfare, 1095-1291 (30) Britain and France, 1485-1603 (30) Depression: Social 1660-1815 (30) Change in Britain,

1929-51 (30)

Wars without End: British India, 1757- A Queer History of Apocalypse Now? Civil Wars and 1947 (30) the Twentieth The End of the Revolutions in the Century (30) World in the West

20th Century (30) 140-Present (30)

Cold War Warrior Societies: Romans and The Wars of the Mentalities (30) War and Combat Barbarians: the Roses (30) in Classical Greece Roman Empire in (30) Western Europe (30)

BA ENGLISH & HISTORY Level 6: EXAMPLE OPTION CHOICES NB – this selection of samples is purely illustrative and is NOT EXHAUSTIVE! Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 Student A English Critical Project (30) Shakespeare (30) Revolutions in Tudor England Britain & France 1485—1603 (30) 1660-1815 (30)

Student B History Independent Project (30) Prohibition to Cinema & Nation American Swinging Sixties (30) Literature & (30) Culture (30)

Student C English Critical Project (30) Reading & British India (30) Texting Britain Writing Poetry (30) (30)

Student D History Independent Project (30) Wars Without Reading Games Apocalypse Now? End (30) + Fit for the (30) Future (Careers) (15+15)

58 BA ENGLISH & MULTIMEDIA JOURNALISM Level 6

Term 1 (September—December) Term 2 (January—May) Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 CORE UNITS. Critical Project (30 credits) Students may The English Critical Project is an independent project unit, taught across the whole year choose EITHER via fortnightly supervisory tutorials.

English Critical

Project OR OR Journalism Journalism Project 1 445Z0058 Project 1 & 2. Journalism Project 2 446Z0059 (15 + NOT BOTH. 15 co-requisites

OPTION UNITS. Select 90 credits of option units in total. You must select AT LEAST 30 credits from each subject area. NB. Please pay attention to credit values of the units. 30 credits maximum per block is the advised maximum.

ENGLISH OPTION Shakespeare (30) Writing and Place Texting Britain American UNITS. (30) (30) Literature and Culture 1945-- Select at least 30 (30) credits. Fin-de-Siecle (30) Cultures of Life Representing Modern Gothic and Death (30) Trauma (30) (30)

Reading and Writing Series Cinema and Writing Poetry Drama (30) Nation (30) (30)

Writing in Genres Reading and Reading and (30) Writing Games Writing (30) Children’s Literature (30)

Reading Games Reading (15) + Fit for the Children’s Future (Careers) Literature (15) + (15) Fit for the Future (Careers) (15)

JOURNALISM Law & Ethics 1 446Z0060 & Law & Magazine Journalism 1 446Z0062 OPTION UNITS. Ethics 2 446Z0061 (15 + 15 co- Magazine Journalism 2 446Z0063 Select at least 30 requisites) (15+15 co-requisites) credits. Sports Journalism 1 446Z0066 & If you choose Sports Journalism 2 446Z0067 (15+15 Journalism co-requisites) Project 1 & 2 as your Core, you Music, Culture & Arts Journalism 1 MAY choose the 446Z0064 & Music, Culture & Arts option units Journalism 2 446Z0065 (15+15 co- requisites)

59 Law & Ethics 1 Advanced Audio & Video Journalism 1 & 2, which are 446Z0054 Advanced Audio & Video taught in the Journalism 2 446Z0055 (15+15 Co- same blocks requisites) (Blocks 1 & 2).

NB. All Journalism units are co-requisite 15+15 combinations.

Information on MMJ option units can be found here: https://mmjoptionsm mu.business.blog/ or please contact Pete Murray: [email protected] .uk

SAMPLE OPTION CHOICES: BA ENGLISH & MULTIMEDIA JOURNALISM, LEVEL 6 NB – this selection of samples is purely illustrative and is NOT EXHAUSTIVE! Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 Student A Journalism Project 1 & 2 (15+15) Representing American Law & Ethics 1 & 2 (15+15) Trauma (30 Literature & Culture (30)

Student B English Critical Project (30) Shakespeare Reading & Sports Journalism 1 & 2 (15+15) (30) Writing Games (30)

Student C English Critical Project (30) Writing in Reading Magazine Journalism 1 & 2 Genres (30) Games (15) (15+15) Careers (15)

Student D. Journalism Project 1 & 2 (15+15) Music, Culture & Arts Journalism 1 & 2 (15+15) NB This combination Law & Ethics 1 & 2 (15+15) American means studying 45 Literature & credits in Block 4. Culture (30)

Student E Journalism Project 1 & 2 (15+15) Advanced Audio & Video Journalism 1 & 2 (15+15) NB This combination Fin de Siecle Reading Reading means studying 45 (30) Games (15) Children’s credits in Block 1. Literature (15)

BA FILM & MEDIA STUDIES Level 6 Term 1 Term 2 Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 CORE UNITS Critical Project (30 credits) Students take both the Critical Project AND Media Media Industries Industries. The (30) Critical Project runs across all four blocks OPTION UNITS Shakespeare (30) Texting Britain American Select 60 (30) Literature and credits of Culture 1945-- options, 30 (30) credits max per Fin-de-Siecle (30) Representing Modern Gothic block in two Trauma (30) (30) blocks. Reading and Cinema and Writing Poetry Nation (30) (30)

Writing in Genres Reading and (30) Writing Children’s Literature (30)

Reading Children’s Literature (15) + Fit for the Future (Careers) (15)

BA FILM & MEDIA STUDIES Level 6: EXAMPLE OPTION CHOICES NB – this selection of samples is purely illustrative and is NOT EXHAUSTIVE! Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 Student A Critical Project (30) In addition to 60 Media Industries Cinema & Nation Modern Gothic credits of Core (30) (30) (30) units, Student A takes options in Blocks 3 & 4, leaving Block 1 free for concentrated work on the Project.

Student B Critical Project (30) In addition to 60 Writing in Genres Media Industries Representing credits of Core (30) (30) Trauma (30) units, Student B takes options in Blocks 1 & 3, leaving Block 4 free for concentrated work on the Project.

Student C Critical Project (30) In addition to 60 Media Industries Texting Britain American credits of Core (30) (30) Literature & units, Student C Culture (30) takes options in Blocks 3 & 4, leaving Block 1 free for concentrated work on the Project.

62 LEVEL 6 CORE UNIT OUTLINES, 21-22

Below you’ll find entries for each of our CORE units, outlining unit content, assessment strategy, and provisional lists of primary texts (these are not definitive lists – unit leaders will confirm reading lists later in the year). NB. Core units are exclusive to specific programmes: please see the delivery maps above.

Critical Project 436Z0039 BLOCKS 1—4. Contact: Elizabeth Nolan ([email protected])

The English Critical Project is… • Core compulsory unit for BA English, BA English and American Literature, BA English and Film, BA Film & Media Studies, BA Combined Honours majoring in English

• Core option for BA English & Multimedia Journalism, and BA Combined Honours students taking English as an Equal subject. (You can choose to take your Project in English or in your other subject.)

• Not available to CW, ECW or Comb Hons Minor students

The Project is a guided independent research project. You will work outside of a prescriptive curriculum outline to develop an individual project that builds upon the skills developed in Level 4 and Level 5 units, and extend subject knowledge encountered throughout the degree through independent research. The Critical Project provides students with the opportunity to exercise independence of critical judgment in pursuing a research project beyond the bounds of the taught units, to practise skills of oral presentation, and to reflect on the transferable and employability skills involved in their work. Students may take one of three different routes: i) Students may design their own Dissertation brief. ii) Students may design a project that responds to a given academic research brief. iii) Students may design a project that responds to a brief supplied by an external partner.

A Couple of Regulations. Students registered on the BA English and American Literature must research an “American” topic. (If you are unsure whether your ideas meet this criteria, please make an appointment to see an appropriate tutor.) Similarly, students registered on BA English & Film must research a “screen” topic. (Again, if you have project ideas that seem to test the limits of this category, please make an appointment to see an appropriate tutor to discuss your ideas.)

ASSESSMENT: 100% Coursework The Critical Project is assessed by Portfolio (100%) Your Project may be negotiated with an internal supervisor with the requisite expertise, or be negotiated with the internal supervisor and an external partner. In all cases it should be focused on a literary, cultural or related interdisciplinary topic. In all cases, the final submission must meet the Unit Learning Outcomes, and so must demonstrate skills of critical analysis (1), research (4), critical reflection (3), as well as demonstrating professionalism (2) and awareness of context (5).

63 The Portfolio should comprise: • An approved Project Proposal • The `Project Report’. This may be a traditional dissertation, or a report on non-text- based practice in the field (e.g. work experience, a literary or cultural exhibition, a film festival, an annotated catalogue of literary artefacts or archives, or a literary information pack designed for a particular audience). • A Critical Reflection on the project and its outcomes, measured against the initial proposal, articulating the key subject and transferable skills developed during the process, and considering the outputs in any potential ‘real world’ contexts.

While the usual breakdown of the Portfolio components in terms of the word lengths is 90% Project Report, 10% Critical Reflection, their size will vary depending on the nature of the project, and supervisors will advise. The Deadline for the Project Portfolio is early in Term 3, 2022.

64 Creative Writing Project 436Z0040 BLOCKS 1—4. Contact: Elizabeth Nolan ([email protected])

The Creative Project is… • A Core compulsory unit for BA Creative Writing and BA English and Creative Writing students. Not available to other cohorts. • Transfer onto ECW for Level 6 is possible only in certain conditions, and only if you passed Creative Writing Workshop at Level 5. Please contact Dr Aidan Arrowsmith if you wish to enquire about transfer.

This unit provides students with the opportunity to undertake a guided independent project to produce an extended piece or pieces of creative work. Students will work outside of a prescriptive curriculum outline to develop an individual project that builds upon the skills developed in Level 4 and Level 5 units, extending these through independent creative research and writing. The Creative Writing Project provides students with the opportunity to exercise independence of creative judgment and to demonstrate sustained creative achievement in pursuing a project beyond the bounds of the taught units, to practise skills of oral presentation, and to reflect on the transferable and employability skills involved in their work. Students may take one of three different routes: i) Students may design their own project brief. ii) Students may design a project that responds to a given creative brief. iii) Students may design a project that responds to a brief supplied by an external partner.

The Creative Writing Project may be negotiated with an internal supervisor with the requisite expertise, or be negotiated with the internal supervisor and an external partner. In all cases, the final submission must meet the Unit Learning Outcomes, and so must demonstrate skills of creative writing (1), research (4), critical reflection (3), as well as demonstrating professionalism (2) and awareness of context (5).

ASSESSMENT: 100% Coursework The Portfolio should not exceed 10,000 words (or equivalent student effort) in total, and should comprise: • An approved Project Proposal • The `Project Report’. This may be the complete creative piece or an extract or extracts from a longer work (whether completed or in-progress), or a report on non-text-based practice in the field (e.g. work experience, an exhibition, or a performance). The creative piece will usually be text-based, but alternative forms of submission can be considered by negotiation with supervisor and unit leader (e.g. audio-visual or web-based material). • A Critical Reflection on the project and its outcomes, measured against the initial proposal, contextualising the project in terms of related published or produced work (in the case of creative pieces), articulating the key subject and transferable skills developed during the process, and considering the outputs in any potential ‘real world’ contexts.

While the usual breakdown of the Portfolio components in terms of the word lengths is 90% Project Report, 10% Critical Reflection, their size will vary depending on the nature of the project, and supervisors will advise. Word equivalences between the different literary modes are as follows: a Prose project of 9000 words is

65 equivalent to script of 70 minutes’ playing time, and 400 lines of poetry or equivalent in alternative layouts. The submission deadline is early in term 3, 2022

66 Beyond the Page 436Z0057 BLOCK 4 Contact: Joe Stretch ([email protected])

This unit is an exclusive core for BA Creative Writing students and is not available to other cohorts.

Indicative Content In this unit we will explore different ways of transmitting texts into the world. We will also explore career opportunities for creative writers and look at different ways in which you might use your skills in the future, both individually and within an institution or sector of the creative industry.

You will be challenged to devise a Transmission Project and take a leap outside of your creative comfort zone and/or present a creative project to an audience.

Transmission Projects might be short films, publications, spoken word, games, a piece of theatre, a public event, art installation, podcast, video art, animation, social initiative, educational project, or, in fact, anything you can conceive of and agree with your tutor.

A Transmission Project can be submitted individually or as part of a collaboration with someone inside or outside the university.

ASSESSMENT: 100% Coursework Portfolio, including Industry Audit, Transmission Report.

Over Summer, begin to think about what you might undertake for your Transmission Project. Feel free to get in touch with Joe Stretch with ideas.

67 Media Industries 436Z0058 Block 2 Contact: Dr. Emily Brick ([email protected])

This unit is an exclusive core for BA Film & Media Studies students and is not available to other cohorts.

Indicative Content This unit enables students to explore current media industry methodologies and practices. Students will work in a group on an outward-facing media-related project brief in collaboration with an external or industry partner. Projects will vary each year, and reflect and develop the academic content from previous levels into real-world situations. Potential topics include but are not limited to: social media, content production, event management, research and marketing

Indicative Reading: Timothy Havens, Amanda Lotz Understanding Media Industries (2016) Daniel Herbert, Amanda D. Lotz, Aswin Punathanbeker Media Industry Studies (2020)

Assessment 50% group presentation Working in response to an industry brief, students will produce a 20-30 minute presentation on their project. 50% 3000 word reflective journal

68 L6 OPTION UNIT OUTLINES 2021-22

Below you’ll find entries for each of our OPTION units, outlining unit content, assessment strategy, and provisional lists of primary texts (these are not definitive lists – unit leaders will confirm reading lists later in the year). NB. Not all units are available on all programmes – please check the delivery maps above.

69 American Literature and Culture 1945-present 436Z0016 BLOCK 4. Contact: Dr Sarah MacLachlan ([email protected])

This unit presents the diversity of American literature and culture from 1945 to the present, paying attention to the political and social significance of black and African American music. The unit tracks cultural developments alongside historical transitions and social movements, exploring the emergence and development of new, post-war identities. Topics covered include: blues and jazz, conformity, paranoia and McCarthyism in the 1950s; the Beats and the counterculture; the Civil Rights Movement; gospel and soul; Vietnam; New Journalism; Reaganism; hip-hop; consumerism; postmodernism; urban identities and 9-11.

Texts studied: • Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952) - priority advance reading • Richard Matheson, The Shrinking Man (1956) • Allen Ginsberg, Howl (1956) • Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun (1959) • Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49 (1965) • Joan Didion, Play It As It Lays (1970) • Bret Easton Ellis, Less Than Zero (1985) • Toni Morrison, Beloved (1987) - priority advance reading • Paul Auster, ‘City of Glass’ in The New York Trilogy (1987) • Walter Mosley, Devil in a Blue Dress (1990) - priority advance reading • Susannah Moore, In the Cut (2005) • Cormac McCarthy, The Road (2006) - priority advance reading • Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) • Ridley Scott (dir.), Blade Runner (The Final Cut, 2007) • Lorrie Moore, ‘Subject to Search’ in Bark (2014) • Ava DuVernay (dir.), 13th (2016) • Ryan Coogler (dir.), Black Panther (2018)

The unit focuses on the ways the set texts raise questions about national identity in the US, with reference to issues of class, race, gender and sexuality. Connections between genre and cultural politics are also considered, in texts which reinstate and revise traditional literary, filmic and musical forms.

ASSESSMENT: 100% Coursework 1) Poster (30%) 2) Essay of 3000 words (70%)

70 Cinema and Nation 436Z0004 BLOCK 3 Contact: Dr Andrew Moor ([email protected])

Do British films construct a sense of Britishness? What does a phrase like ‘American Cinema’ mean? This unit examines the idea of ‘national cinema’ by exploring a range of British and American films. We look at nationhood being affirmed: in American westerns and British films made during World War Two. We look at journeys or border-crossings (queer American road movies, British ‘end-of-Empire' melodrama and narratives about asylum). We also consider how race and sexuality intersect with national identity. In short, we think about how cinema constructs and challenges ideas of what it is to be American or British.

ASSESSMENT: 50% Coursework; 50% Takeaway Test • A portfolio consisting of a ‘group-work’ exercise to co-produce a 3000 – 5000 word ‘Topic Guidebook’. Students are split into Study Groups of around 6 people and each group co-authors and co-produces a Guidebook on one allocated topic. The Guidebooks will be published on Moodle to help fellow students on the Unit with their studies. • A Portfolio consisting of an exam-style Test paper requiring individual students to answer 2 questions.

Reading and Viewing: Where possible you can access streamed films for free via platforms that MMU library subscribes to (Box of Broadcasts or Kanopy). Copies of DVDs may also be in MMU Library so you may have access to them there. You may want to purchase films as DVD/BluRay/downloads and could subscribe to streaming services such as BFI Player or Amazon Prime if they have films you need to see. It is your responsibility to locate copies of the primary film material.

Books: The only core books for the Unit are ‘overviews’ - think of them as ‘background reading’. They are both available as electronic books via in MMU Library SO YOU DO NOT NEED TO BUY THEM • Sarah Street, British National Cinema (Ldn: Routledge, 2008). • Susan Hayward, Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts (Ldn: Routledge 2012) - good to dip into!

Films: • Millions Like Us (Launder and Gilliat, 1944, UK) • Listen to Britain (Humphrey Jennings, 1942, UK) • Black Narcissus (Powell and Pressburger, 1947, UK) • Surviving Sabu (Ian Iqbal Rashid, 1997, UK) • The Last Resort (Pawel Pawlikowski, 2000, UK) • The Last of England (Derek Jarman, 1997, UK) • My Darling Clementine (John Ford, 1946, US) • Meek’s Cutoff (Kelly Reichardt, 2010, US) • The Living End (Greg Araki, 1992, US) • Watermelon Woman (Cheryl Dunye, 1996, US)

71 Cultures of Life and Death: Debates in Contemporary Literature, Film and Theory 436Z0049 BLOCK 2 Contact: Dr Lucy Burke ([email protected])

This unit introduces you to a range of theoretical and cinematic texts that explore the political and ethical dimensions of being human today. We focus upon key areas of debate in contemporary critical and cultural theory such as the concepts of biopolitics and bare life, bodily commodification and consumer culture, surplus humanity, asylum, security, surveillance, sustainability, technology and the post- human. We explore this material in relation to current political and ethical debates around emergent scientific and medical technologies and in relation to historical phenomena such as the pandemic, climate emergency, the disastrous Pfizer drug trial of Trovan in Nigeria and the impact of new technologies on human relationships and connectivity. The unit asks questions about why some lives are deemed more valuable than others and about the material and lived consequences of different conceptions of the human. The discussion of the theoretical material is coupled with a close analysis of a range of recent films. These primarily encompass science fiction, dystopian and speculative fictions, and the thriller.

ASSESSMENT: Portfolio (100%)

Theoretical material is provided on moodle. Please contact [email protected] if you would like to start reading the theory over the summer. Please watch the following films:  Dir. Alfonso Cuaron, Children of Men (2006)  Dir. Fernando Mereilles, The Constant Gardener (2005)  Dir. Bong Joon-ho, Snowpiercer (2013)  Dir. Spike Jonze, Her, (2013)  Dir. Drake Doremus, Zoe (2018)  Dir. Adam Curtis, HyperNormalisation (2016)  Dir Neill Blomkamp, Elysium (2013)  Dir. Gareth Edwards, Rogue One (2016)

72 FIN-DE-SIÈCLE LITERATURE AND CULTURE 436Z0010 BLOCK 1. Contact: Dr Angelica Michelis [email protected]

This course will introduce students to literature and culture from the end of the nineteenth century up to the First World War by studying the fictional works of individual authors and other texts originating in the fin de siècle period. We will explore concepts such as, degeneration, decadence and the New Woman and their impact on the production of literature and art and their relationship to the city and urban environment. The reading of the texts will be situated historically and in relation to the specific culture of the fin de siècle, and in particular to key concepts such as gender, class, sexuality, colonialism, race and slavery. The fin de siècle period will be analysed from the perspective of critical discourses such as gender studies, feminism, post-colonialism, post-structuralism, psychoanalysis and cultural materialism in order to define it as a distinctive and diverse cultural moment. We want to achieve an understanding of the different literary traditions and cultural discourses which informed the production of fin- de-siècle texts and to what extent they shape representations of gender, class and race in relation to the ‘Victorian’ as well as to the ‘Modern’.

Confirmed Reading LIst • Selection of decadent and fin de siècle Poetry by Amy Levy, Arthur Symons, Michael Field and others (available as copies online) • Richard Marsh, The Beetle • Frances E. W Harper, Iola Leroy • Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes Stories: o ‘The Man with the Twisted Lip’ o ‘The Red-Headed League’ o ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’ (all available at https://sherlock- holm.es/stories/pdf/a4/1-sided/twis.pdf) • Female Detective Stories: • Grant Allen, ‘The Adventures of the Cantankerous Lady’ (http://public- library.uk/ebooks/18/64.pdf) • Catherine Louisa Pirkis, ‘Drawn Daggers’ (https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/pirkis/brooke/brooke.html) • W.T. Stead, ‘The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon’ (https://www.attackingthedevil.co.uk/pmg/tribute/mt1.php) • Short stories by Arthur Morrison (electronically available) • Elizabeth Robins, Votes for Women (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/43502/43502-h/43502-h.htm) • New Woman short stories (electronically available) • Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray • Vernon Lee, 'A Wicked Voice' (http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/9956/pg9956-images.html)

Assessment: 100% Portfolio

73 Fit for the Future Block 2 or Block 3 15 credits Contact: Dr Nicola Bishop

Fit for the Future can be taken for 15 credits in combination with a 15-credit English unit: please see the delivery maps for details.

Fit for the Future is a collaboration between the Careers Service and the Department of English and supports students working towards applying for placements and graduate jobs. The unit will take students through the various stages of recruitment from identifying strengths and skills, to job searching and CVs, using platforms such as LinkedIn, and interview practice. Students will build up a portfolio of tasks related to employability – for instance, CV, video interview, assessment centre and reflect on their learning across the unit.

Assessment is by Coursework Portfolio 20%: a series of tasks relating to employability Reflection 80%: a reflective account of the unit

74 Modern Gothic: Transgression & Transformation 436Z0009 BLOCK 4. Contact: Dr Linnie Blake ([email protected])

Focusing on a broad range of texts, drawn from literature, film and television, we will explore the Gothic’s key concerns: what it is to be human and inhuman, the body and the mind, desire and its limits, power and transgression, the rational and irrational, the natural and the unnatural, the material and the spiritual realms. Throughout the course we will be interested in the ways in which the Gothic engages with the world we live in - its history, culture and modes of social organization. We focus, in particular, on the ways in which Gothic texts enable us to negotiate periods of (often traumatic) social change. Texts are grouped under distinct headings: Introduction to the Gothic; Gothic Adaptations; Gothic & Gender I: Femininities; Gothic & Gender II: Masculinities, Mad Science & the Zombie and Folk Gothic.

The set texts are as follows. All films bar the last one which is a TV series. • James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931) • Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) • Guillermo del Toro’s Cronos (1993) • Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (1940) • James Cameron’s Aliens (1986) • Terence Fisher's The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) • Jordan Peele's Get Out (2017) • Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs (1991) • Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s 28 Weeks Later (2007) • Andrew Fleming’s The Craft (1996) • Ari Aster’s Midsommar (2019)

Teaching Each week you will be given critical reading. The weekly seminars are based on this and it is essential that it is done. Teaching is delivered through lectures and seminar and tutorials are available with your seminar tutors.

ASSESSMENT: 100% Portfolio The portfolio will demonstrate a sustained critical and theoretical knowledge of the Gothic’s treatment of gender, ethnicity and place, asking students to locate Gothic texts within they historic and cultural contexts whilst analysing their formal and thematic development in time.

Reading and Writing Children’s Literature 436Z0006 (30 credits) Block 3 Contact: Dr Chloe Germaine Buckley ([email protected] )

This unit is also available as a 15-credit version, Reading Children’s Literature. Students who opt for the 15-credit version do not attend the creative writing workshops, and are assessed on the critical portfolio only. Both versions are taught over 6 weeks in Block 3. Details of RCL can be found below.

Reading & Writing Children’s Literature explores the production, reception and critical approaches to children’s literature from its heyday in the 19th century to contemporary works. You will explore a range of themes and issues relating to children’s literature from Britain. These include issues such as pedagogy, power relations between writers and readers, and the politics of representation such as gender and race. You will learn techniques for writing for children and young adults, writing reflectively about how your critical knowledge informs your creative practice.

Books for Purchase: J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan* *PLEASE BUY THE PLAY not the novel version. Look for -Peter Pan and other Plays, Oxford University Press. Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden C. S. Lewis, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe Catherine Johnson, The Curious Tale of Lady Caraboo Sita Brahmachari, Where the River Runs Gold Tanya Landman, Beyond the Wall Alex Wheatle, Liccle Bit Danielle Jawando, And the Stars Were Burning Brightly

We will watch*: Coraline dir Henry Sellick [Film] Noughts and Crosses, BBC, episode 1 [TV] His Dark Materials, BBC, episode 1 [TV] *You do not need to purchase these texts as access will be provided online

ASSESSMENT: 100% Coursework • Critical Portfolio (2500 words total), comprising a comparative close reading (1500 words) and a blog entry (1000 words) about an issue relevant to writing for children and young adult audiences. • Creative Portfolio (2500 words total), comprising a creative piece in a form of your choice and a commentary (1000 words) on your work informed by critical sources and your own reflections. There will be opportunities for you to submit drafts of these pieces throughout the 6-week block for formative and peer assessment.

76 READING & WRITING GAMES 436Z0044 BLOCK 2 Contact: Dr Paul Wake ([email protected])

This critical-creative unit responds to the excitement of the rapidly-developing games industry and explores the ways in which games might offer insight into human nature and political relationships. The unit combines critical and creative work and we’ve taken the opportunity offered by the new teaching format to bring these two elements together more closely than ever before.

Each week we’ll examine a single topic, making links between the critical discussions and creative practice. By the end of the unit you’ll have produced a case study on a published game and a working game in a format of your own choosing (we’ll work with Twine which is freely available, but will also introduce alternative formats for you to explore such as Inklewriter and RPG Maker).

Over summer please aim to play and enjoy as wide a range as games as possible. You’ll be invited to nominate games for discussion in seminars (you can bring in anything from AAA to super indie games, and any platform from board games to VR). We’ll be discussing the texts listed below to illustrate the ideas each week. There’s no requirement that you buy these games but you might find it helpful to watch online play-through videos or try demo versions (many of these games are available free online, and many won’t take long to play).

On the unit you will explore the following topics:

WEEK ONE: Games and Stories: Anthropy, Anna (2013) Queers in love at the end of the world [Twine] . Brooker, Charlie (2018) Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. [TV] Netflix. Charity Heartscape, Porpentine (n.d.) With Those We Love Alive [Twine] . Johann, Dominik and Pugh, William (2016) The Temple of No [Twine] . The Last of Us (2013) [Video Game] Naughty Dog. The Walking Dead: Season One (2012) [Video Game] Telltale Games.

WEEK TWO: Adaptation Litrouke (n.d.) Please Answer Carefully [Twine] . Lutz, Michael (2013) My Father’s Long Long Legs [Twine] . North, Ryan (2013) To Be OR Not To Be: A chooseable-path adventure. [Book] [Game] . Sapkowski, Andrzej (2008) The Blood of Elves. [Book] London: Gollancz. Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015) [Video Game] CD Projekt RED.

WEEK THREE: Character/Identity Horrorshow, Kitty (2015) Wolfgirls in Love [Twine] [https://kittyhorrorshow.itch.io/wolfgirls] Kasdan, Jake (2017) Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle [Film]. Sony Pictures. Quinn, Zoe (2013) Depression Quest [Twine] [http://www.depressionquest.com/] Tomb Raider (2001-present). [Video Game] Eidos/Square Enix.

77 WEEK FOUR: Games and gameplay Charity Heartscape, Porpentine (n.d.) One Move Boss [Twine] . Dark Souls 3. (2016). FromSoftware. Pokémon Go (2016) [App] Niantic. The Sims. (2000-2017). EA. Traditional. Risk, Catan, Backgammon, and jigsaw puzzles [Board Games].

WEEK FIVE: Ethics 80 Days (2014) [Video Game] Inkle Studios. Ligman, Kris (2018) You Are Jeff Bezos [Twine] . Papers Please (2013) [Video Game] Lucas Pope. This War of Mine (2014). [Video Game] 11 bit studios. Through the Darkest of Times (2020) [Video Game] Handy Games.

WEEK SIX: Writing on/testing games Fernández-Vara, Clara (2019) Introduction to Game Analysis. 2nd Ed. London: Routledge. Mäyrä, Frans (2008) An Introduction to Game Studies: Games in Culture. London: Sage. Meunier, Nathan (2015) This Book is a Dungeon [Twine game and Developer Diary] .

ASSESSMENT: 100% Coursework • Essay, 50%: A critical essay of 2,000 words. This will take the form of a case study on a game of your choice (to be agreed with the tutor). • Project, 50%: A creative project of 2,500 words (or equivalent) consisting of (i) a game proposal, and (ii) a game-based piece of creative writing in the form of a game (format to be agreed with the tutor).

78 READING AND WRITING POETRY 436Z0013 BLOCK 1 Contact: Andrew McMillan [email protected]

This unit focuses on reading and analysing a representative range of work by modern and contemporary poets, and introduces students to relevant critical work. It gives students to engage critically and creatively with poetry, and to think about the relationship between critical and creative writing. Assessment gives students the opportunity to produce written work in critical and creative modes, and to reflect analytically on their own work. We’ll begin in the contemporary moment and look backwards- examining where poetry is now, how it got here, and where you, as a poet, might be able to take it in the future.

Throughout the unit, we will look at a selection of poetry from the U.K and further afield; we’ll look at some more traditional work and some which is very experimental (some of the debates we might have will be around whether it could be called poetry at all!)

In order to prepare yourself for the coming year, there are three main resources to use:

The Paris Review has long-form and in-depth interviews with poets on their craft and their writing; familiarise yourself with some of these as they’ll be a big help when we come to think about the process of writing and interrogating how different poets formulate their poetics

The Poetry Foundation website has a huge back catalogue of poems, from a vast array of different writers. Spend some time (each day, but at least each week) familiarising yourself with these. Read poems you don’t enjoy as well as ones you do and try to interrogate why you might have the reactions you do.

The Forward Prizes for Poetry have announced their shortlists for this year; have a look at their website at the different poems listed and, again, try to spend some time with each poet, reading their work, thinking about their practise and interrogating what they might believe poetry might be.

ASSESSMENT: 100% Coursework • A 3000 word portfolio consisting of: 1) a maximum of ten original poems of maximum 400 lines total; 2) 1500 words of critical reflection on the poems demonstrating creative responses to issues, themes, traditions, and formal devices studied during the unit; 3) 500 word synoptic piece evaluating their experience of the creative writing and critical reflection processes. All sub- elements will be submitted and marked as one piece of assessment. Formative feedback comments will be delivered during the unit on a sample of each student’s poems and reflective pieces. The poems will have submitted in draft for formative feedback. (50%) • 3000 word essay in which students deploy critical, theoretical and analytic work in reflecting on and examining some of the relations between poetic and critical practice. (50%)

79 Reading Children’s Literature 436Z0048 (15 credits) Block 3 Contact: Dr Chloe Germaine Buckley ([email protected] )

This unit is also available as a 30-credit version, ‘Reading and Writing Children’s Literature’ (see above), which includes Creative Writing workshops and assessment. Both versions are taught over 6 weeks in Block 3.

‘Reading Children’s Literature’ explores the production, reception and critical approaches to children’s literature from its heyday in the 19th century to contemporary works. You will explore a range of themes and issues relating to children’s literature from Britain. These include issues such as pedagogy, power relations between writers and readers, and the politics of representation such as gender and race.

80 READING GAMES 436Z0056 BLOCK 2 Contact: Dr Paul Wake ([email protected])

This unit responds to the excitement of the rapidly-developing games industry, exploring the ways in which games might offer insight into human nature and political relationships.

We begin the course by introducing the field of game studies and considering the ways in which games can be related to stories, and in which the playing of games might be figured as a creative-critical enterprise. Approaching games and gaming from an interdisciplinary perspective, we’ll consider the ethical and political aspects of video games, exploring a range of games (and representations of games) ranging from interactive fiction, through indie-games such as Papers Please (2013), to blockbusters such as Tomb Raider (2001-present).

On the unit you will explore the following topics:

WEEK ONE: Games and Stories: Brooker, Charlie (2018) Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. [TV] Netflix. The Last of Us (2013) [Video Game] Naughty Dog. The Walking Dead: Season One (2012) [Video Game] Telltale Games.

WEEK TWO: Adaptation North, Ryan (2013) To Be OR Not To Be: A chooseable-path adventure. [Book] [Game] . Sapkowski, Andrzej (2008) The Blood of Elves. [Book] London: Gollancz. Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015) [Video Game] CD Projekt RED.

WEEK THREE: Character/Identity Kasdan, Jake (2017) Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle [Film]. Sony Pictures. Tomb Raider (2001-present). [Video Game] Eidos/Square Enix.

WEEK FOUR: Games and gameplay Dark Souls 3. (2016). FromSoftware. Pokémon Go (2016) [App] Niantic. The Sims. (2000-2017). EA.

WEEK FIVE: Ethics 80 Days (2014) [Video Game] Inkle Studios. Papers Please (2013) [Video Game] Lucas Pope. This War of Mine (2014). [Video Game] 11 bit studios. Through the Darkest of Times (2020) [Video Game] Handy Games.

WEEK SIX: Writing on games Fernández-Vara, Clara (2019) Introduction to Game Analysis. 2nd Ed. London: Routledge.

81 Mäyrä, Frans (2008) An Introduction to Game Studies: Games in Culture. London: Sage.

ASSESSMENT: 100% Coursework Essay, 100%: A critical essay of 2,000 words. This will take the form of a case study on a game of your choice (to be agreed with the tutor).

82 Representing Trauma 436Z0011 BLOCK 3. Contact: Ginette Carpenter ([email protected])

This unit explores a wide range of representations of trauma and violence across memoirs, novels, films, the graphic novel, museums and monuments/memorials. It begins with a three-week case study of the Holocaust, moving from first hand testimonies of the camps, to different methods of remembering and memorialisation, to contemporary accounts that consider its echoes and consequences across the generations. The following three weeks turn to postcolonial contexts, addressing three key sites of trauma: Ireland in relation to i) the Troubles and ii) national contexts of religious and gender oppression; the Arab-Israeli conflict in specific relation to the Lebanese Civil War; enslavement, the Black Atlantic and its legacies via twenty-first century representations of the 1781 Zong massacre. These varying texts and contexts are underpinned by careful reference to theoretical models of trauma, violence and memory.

Overall, the unit investigates what kind of representation is possible in the face of trauma and the ethical issues that attach to both the production and the reception of such texts. We look at the challenges of representing events and experiences that are often deemed inexpressible and the divergent forms and styles that this ‘impossibility’ can engender. We explore how contexts of remembrance and representation shape the identities of not only the victims of trauma but also perpetrators and bystanders, as well as how those who experience violent events can transmit this experience to following generations. The unit is designed to create conversations between the primary texts and to develop depth and breadth of knowledge and understanding as the weeks progress.

Areas of study and indicative texts for 2021/22: Holocaust Testimonies Primo Levi, If This is a Man Charlotte Delbo, Auschwitz and After Shoah. Dir. Claude Lanzmann

Memorialising the Holocaust Schindler’s List, dir. Steven Spielberg Museums and Counter-memorials

Cultural Legacies and Postmemory Art Spiegelman, Maus Lore. Dir. Cate Shortland

Forms of Imprisonment: Ireland Hunger. Dir. Steve McQueen Eimear McBride, A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing

Occupation and Confinement: Palestine, Israel and Lebanon Waltz with Bashir. Dir. Ari Folman Mahmoud Darwish, Memory for Forgetfulness

Voicing the Void: Legacies of Enslavement Fred D’Aguiar, Feeding the Ghosts Marlene NourbeSe Philip, Zong!

ASSESSMENT: 100% Portfolio

The portfolio has three elements:

i) 1500 word analysis of visual material ii) 1500 word critical review of the work produced on contemporary legacies of enslavement. This will be the product of your own research rather than the set texts for the week and can include material from a range of sources including social media, blogs, newspaper articles and so forth. iii) 2500-3000 word essay that applies theoretical frames studied on the unit to a critical comparison of two of the texts studied.

84 SHAKESPEARE 436Z0001 BLOCK 1. Contact: Dr Helen Nicholson ([email protected])

This unit is concerned with discussing the ways in which Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets engage with the notion of performance and identity. During the course we will study tragedies, histories and comedies, exploring the ways in which Shakespeare used different genres to engage with his audience and ask questions about the nature of the self. Each week we will be studying both the texts and the way that they have been approached and interpreted at different historical moments and through specific productions.

Set texts: Week 1 Hamlet Titus Andronicus Week 2 King Lear Macbeth Week 3 Richard 11 Henry 1V parts 1 &2 Henry V Week 4 Romeo and Juliet Anthony and Cleopatra Week 5 Twelfth Night As You Like It Selection of Sonnets Week 6 Othello The Tempest

All of these texts can be found free of charge online and the Arden editions are available through Drama Online. If you would like to purchase copies, the following series have the fullest critical annotation and information: New Cambridge Shakespeare; Oxford Shakespeare; Arden Shakespeare. The cheaper RSC series, published by Macmillan, has good annotation and useful material on the dramatic side of the plays. The New Penguin Shakespeare is also acceptable. There are single-volume ‘collected works’ that can be used for the whole course: the best is The Norton Shakespeare ed. Stephen Greenblatt et al (New York and London: Norton, 2015). In addition to reading the texts, we will be viewing productions - available on Drama Online, Digital Theatre + and Box of Broadcasts.

ASSESSMENT: 100% Coursework • A Portfolio consisting of 1) a comparative analysis of two productions of the same play (1000 words - 20%); 2) a critical essay (3000 words – 60%) • A five minute presentation related to Shakespeare (20%)

85 TEXTING BRITAIN, TEXTING THE WORLD: COLONIAL AND POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE AND FILM 436Z0041 BLOCK 3 Contact: Dr Muzna Rahman ([email protected])

This unit considers issues around race and national identity in contemporary trans- Atlantic popular culture and texts – film and literature. It explores critically neglected popular cultural texts from genres such as comedy, the gothic and sci-fi to explore the relationship between race, class, colonialism and the popular. Students will be equipped to interrogate the possibilities and limitations of popular culture as a means of challenging the legacies of colonialism evident in racism, Islamophobia, structural inequality and nationalism in the present day. Areas of investigation include canonicity, stereotype, commodity culture and the marketing of marginality, links between the politics of representation and the politics of production, and the effects of mainstreaming on imagined audiences.

SET TEXTS: Sing, Unburied, Sing novel by Jesmyn Ward (2017) Four Lions directed film directed by Chris Morris (2012) Attack the Block 2011 film directed by Joe Cornish (2011) Ali G in Da House film directed by Mark Mylod (2002) Atlanta tv show created by Donald Glover (2016) Interpreter of Maladies (selected short stories) by Jhumpa Lahiri (1999) Nina’s Heavenly Delights film directed by Pratibha Parmar (2008) District 9 film directed by Neil Blomkamp (2009) Black Panther directed Ryan Coogler (2018) Queenie novel by Candice Carty-Williams (2019)

ASSESSMENT: 40% Ongoing Coursework; 60% Essay

86 WRITING & PLACE 436Z0047 BLOCK 2. Contact: Dr David Cooper ([email protected])

This unit will critically analyse the representation of place in contemporary British writing. Students will explore texts drawn from a diverse range of genres including fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry; and they will consider these texts within the frameworks opened up by contemporary theoretical debates. The unit will also situate creative and conceptual writing about place within a range of contexts: topics to be covered will include the global lockdown, the Black Lives Matter movement, digital technologies, and the climate emergency. Students will draw upon these discussions as they complete an extended project which will feed off their individual critical and/or creative research interests.

Set Texts: Week 1, Place in 2020-21: PLACE 2020-21 project website. Week 2, The City: Zadie Smith, NW Week 3, The Rural: Alice Oswald, Dart Week 4: The Edgelands: Paul Farley & Michael Symmons Roberts, Edgelands Week 5: The Digital: Amy Liptrot, The Outrun Week 6: The Coast: Robert Macfarlane & Stanley Donwood, Ness

Supplementary reading will be provided via Moodle.

ASSESSMENT: 100% Coursework Students will submit a 4000-word portfolio in Week 7. The precise focus of this portfolio will be developed over the course of the unit and in discussion with both the Unit Leader and peers; but indicative briefs include the completion of a portfolio of original creative writing, the design of a website, and the writing of a traditional literary critical essay. In each case, students will be expected to situate their work within the contexts of contemporary British writing and theoretical debates about place. The portfolio will consist of a Project and a Critical Reflection with a typical 75%-25% split.

87 Writing in Genres 436Z0020 Contact: Dr Kirsty Bunting ([email protected])

In this unit students will have the opportunity to try their skills in three different genres, including romantic fiction, crime fiction, and fantasy fiction. There will be a range of mini-lectures given by specialists in the different genres, followed by online workshop sessions. Writing exercises will be set in order to stimulate ideas for stories in each genre.

The mini-lectures and guest spots are intended as ‘taster’ sessions so that each student has the opportunity to explore the different generic expectations of (and possibilities for) each genre of writing and they will develop their understanding and expertise in each genre through their own reading, research and writing which will be timetabled into the unit.

Indicative reading Romantic Fiction Mangos and Mistletoe: A Foodie Holiday Novella by Adriana Herrera The Bride Test by Helen Hoang

Crime Fiction The Hollow Man (Nick Besley Book 1) by Oliver Harris The Angels by Alex Cane ‘Written in Blood’ by Ann Cleeves (short story): https://durhambookfestival.com/wp- content/uploads/2020/09/Written-in-Blood.pdf

Fantasy Fiction Wolf Tide by Catherine Fox Deal with the Devil (Mercenary Librarians book 1 by Kit Rocha

A list of recommended secondary reading (craft texts, criticism, and theory) will be available on Moodle over the summer but will include:

Romancing the Beat: Story Structure for Romance Novels by Gwen Hayes (2016) The Routledge Research Companion to Popular Romance Fiction (2020) Eds. Jayashree Kamblé, Eric Murphy Selinger, Hsu-Ming Teo Ronald Knox’s ‘10 Commandments of Detective Fiction’ (you can find this easily online) Pardon this Intrusion: Fantastica in the World Storm by John Clute (2007) The Encyclopaedia of Science Fiction by John Clute and Peter Nicholls Novel ideas: writing innovative fiction by Paul Andrew Williams (2020)

ASSESSMENTS

PORTFOLIO - 40% of unit marks: selections from the creative work you have produced in the workshops (2000 words) with a critical reflection on the above (additional 500 words).

CREATIVE PIECE 60% of unit marks: The creative piece requires you to submit an extended piece of writing in the genre of your choice, of 3,000 words in length, together with a reflective commentary of an additional 500 words. This must not be the same material submitted in your portfolio.

88 Writing Series Drama 436Z0015 Block 2

Contact: Julie Wilkinson ([email protected]) In this course you will work in a writing team to develop an original idea for an original tv, radio or online drama series, and go on to write up your individual treatment for the whole show. We will study the history of series drama and a range of contemporary radio, audio podcasting and television dramas (see indicative list of shows below). You will draw on shared analysis of series dramas to understand the artistic choices available to us as writers and to develop your plotting technique. In the first couple of sessions of the course you will revise and further develop your skills in radio and screenwriting by producing individually-written short scenes for both mediums. These ‘calling card’ scenes will be a way of introducing yourselves to each other and sharing your writing interests before we get together in our writing teams. We will use a combination of online workspaces, moodle forums, and individual tutorials, where you will have detailed feedback on both group and individual drafts. All the work you submit for this course is expected to be re-drafted in response to tutor feedback on work-in-progress, and you will be marked partly on your ability to respond to notes and incorporate these to improve your treatment and script. Your tutors will meet with you at least weekly for study sessions focusing on setting, characterization, plotting, visual and aural techniques, genre expectations, treatments and story-lining, and production contexts.

• Week 1 WRITING SCENES, FORMING TEAMS/ History of the form • Week 2 DEVELOPING THE STORY/ Professional treatments and pitches. • Week 3 PITCHING THE SHOW/ Storylines and beat sheets & long-running characters • Week 4 STORYLINING/ Use of fictional time • Week 5 EDITING STORYLINES/ Genre and hybridity • Week 6 INDIVIDUAL REFLECTION AND WRITING UP/ Contexts

• Weekly Timetable • Monday Research for projects • Tuesday Study of series dramas – webinars/podcasts plus all-class discussion • Wednesday Group writing • Thursday Tutor feedback day – in group rooms, followed by final plenary webinar. • Friday Group writing

INDICATIVE WATCHING/LISTENING Relevant shows, Elsinore (Radio), Staged, Noughts and Crosses, The Wire, and I May Destroy You are collected on Box of Broadcast playlist here; https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/playlists/268749

Coronation Street ITV/ East Enders BBC 1

Sally Wainwright Happy Valley Series 1. All 6 one-hour episodes are available on BoB.

David Simon The Wire. Seasons 1 and 2. We will discuss both seasons during the course.

89 Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor NightVale podcast – available freely on the web.

Tony Marchant Public Enemies 3 part series BBC 1 (BoB) Critical texts: Lez Cook British Television Drama: a history (London, Palgrave for BFI: 2015) 2nd edn. Robin Nelson State of Play: contemporary ‘high-end’ TV drama (Manchester, MUP: 2007) Tim Crook Radio Drama: theory and practice (London & New York, Routledge: 1999)

Assessment: 100% Coursework You will submit a portfolio for assessment comprising: I scene for radio or tv with a playing time of 3 – 4 minutes (10% of marks) 3000 word group treatment for original drama written-up independently (70% of marks) 1000 word critical reflection with bibliography (20% of marks) The treatment is for 2 hours’ playing time in total separated into episodes, equivalent to: 2 x 1 hour episodes, 3 x 50 mins, 3 x 45 mins, 4 x 30 mins, 6 x 20 mins, or 10 x 12 mins.