2014 – 2015 English Literature Fourth Year Option Courses
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2014 – 2015 ENGLISH LITERATURE FOURTH YEAR OPTION COURSES 1 26-March-2014 SEMESTER ONE Black American Fiction p. 3 The Black Atlantic p. 5 Creative Writing Part I: Poetry * p. 7 Film Criticism and Analysis p. 10 Literature and the Great War p. 13 Modern Religious & Ethical Debates in Contemp Lit p. 14 Modern American Novel p. 16 Neo-imperialisms p. 18 Postcolonial Poetry p. 20 Representing Northern Ireland p. 21 Sex and God in Victorian Poetry p. 24 Shakespeare’s Sister p. 26 South Seas Tales: Literature and Empire in Oceania * p. 27 The Long Summer p. 31 Twentieth Century Feminist Fictions p. 34 Writing for Theatre: An Introduction * p. 36 Writing the Body Politic p. 38 SEMESTER TWO Contemporary American Fiction p. 44 Creative Writing Part II: Prose * p. 46 Early Drama * NOT RUNNING Fairy Tales * p. 52 George Orwell and the Politics of Literature p. 54 Medieval Romance p. 56 Modernism: Text, Image, Object p. 59 Outback, Outlaws and Outcasts p. 63 Poetry, Politics and Place p. 66 Postmodernism: Who Needs it? p. 67 Reading the Bible and Literature NOT RUNNING Republican Visions NOT RUNNING Shakespeare Adapted p. 77 Shakespearean Sexualities p. 79 Writing and Tyranny at the Court of Henry VIII p. 80 * Courses with an asterisk have a Scottish emphasis. 2 26-March-2014 English Literature Fourth Year Semester One Option Course Black American Fiction Course Organiser: Dr Keith Hughes Welcome to the course. This course will provide a thorough introduction to African American fiction, from the nineteenth-century to the present day. All texts will be studied in both their socio-historical and theoretical contexts, and distinctive narrative patterns will be evaluated. Key areas of ‘cultural’ interest – including the “Harlem Renaissance” (1920’s/30), the “Black Aesthetic” movement (19 60’s/70) – will be considered alongside broader social and political events: slavery and its abolition, post-Civil War “Reconstruction”, segregation and “Jim Crow”, Panafricanism, the Civil Rights Movement and others. Although the primary texts are all narrative prose fiction, we will also read poetry and non-fictional prose as supporting material. Seminar Schedule Week 1. Introduction: American Slavery & American Narrative: Frederick Douglass, “The Heroic Slave” (1852) Week 2. W.E.B. Du Bois The Souls of Black Folk (1903) Week 3: Jean Toomer, Cane (1923) Week 4 . Nella Larsen, Passing (1929) Week 5. Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) Week 6: Richard Wright, Native Son (1940) Week 7. Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952) Week 8. ESSAY COMPLETION WEEK Week 9. Ishmael Reed, Mumbo Jumbo (1972) Week 10. Toni Morrison, Paradise (1997) Week 11. Walter Mosley, The Man in My Basement (2004) Primary Texts: Frederick Douglass, “The Heroic Slave” * W.E.B. Du Bois The Souls of Black Folk Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God Nella Larsen, Passing Toni Morrison, Paradise Walter Mosley, The Man in My Basement Ishmael Reed, Mumbo Jumbo Jean Toomer, Cane Alice Walker, The Color Purple Richard Wright, Native Son [* In Frederick Douglass, Selected Speeches and Writings, Philip S. Foner (ed). University Library shelfmark: E449 DOU] 3 26-March-2014 *Two anthologies you will find particularly useful are: Henry Louis Gates Jr & Nellie Y. Mackay (eds), The Norton Anthology of African American Literature Angelyn Mitchell (ed.) Within the circle : an anthology of African American literary criticism from the Harlem Renaissance to the present Secondary Texts: Houston A Baker Jr., Blues, Ideology and Afro-American Literature Yoshinubi Hakutani & Robert Butler (eds.), The City in African-American Literature Cara Kaplan, The Erotics of Talk W.E.B.. Du Bois, Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil Henry Louis Gates Jr, The Signifying Monkey Henry Louis Gates Jr., Figures in Black Mark Helbling, The Harlem Renaissance: the one and the many Bell Hooks, Feminist Theory from Margin to Centre Toni Morrison, Playing in the Dark Eric Sundquist, To Wake the Nations Additional author-specific secondary material will be recommended or provided in the form of handouts during the course. 4 26-March-2014 English Literature Fourth Year Semester One Option Course The Black Atlantic Course Organiser: Dr Keith Hughes This course will look at the role of racial discourse in constructions of modernity, through a study of American and British texts. In particular, we will be concerned with the ways in which “Enlightenment” thinking and writing incorporated racial categories into the “humanist” project. The texts on this course engage with this problem and articulate alternative modernities in a Transatlantic context. Primary Texts Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom Thomas Carlyle, “Occasional Discourse on the Nigger Question” [web-text] Herman Melville, Benito Cereno W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk James Weldon Johnson, The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man Ralph Ellison, “Mister Toussan” & “In a Strange Country” (short stories) [handout] James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son Charles Johnson, Middle Passage Caryl Phillips, The Atlantic Sound Jackie Kay, Trumpet Please note that in addition to these primary texts, Paul Gilroy's The Black Atlantic will be used regularly during seminars, so you are advised to bring your own copy. Provisional Seminar Schedule Introduction: Race and Modernity: Paul Gilroy's The Black Week 1 Atlantic Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life Week 2 of....... Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom, Week 3 & Thomas Carlyle, “Occasional Discourse on the Nigger Question” [handout] Herman Melville, Benito Cereno, & Ralph Ellison, 'Mister Week 4 Toussan' Week 5 W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk James Weldon Johnson, The Autobiography of an Ex- Week 6 Colored Man James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son, & Ralph Ellison, 'In Week 7 A Strange Country' Week 8 ESSAY COMPLETION WEEK Week 9 Charles Johnson, Middle Passage 5 26-March-2014 Week 10 Caryl Phillips, The Atlantic Sound Week 11 Jackie Kay, Trumpet Secondary Texts Emanuel Chukwudi Eze (ed.), Race and the Enlightenment J. Martin Favor, Authentic Blackness Henry Louis Gates, Figures in Black Paul Gilroy, The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness Elaine K Ginsberg, Passing and the Fictions of Identity Reginald Horsman, Race and Manifest Destiny C.L.R. James, The Black Jacobins Toni Morrison, Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination Alan Rice, Radical Narratives of the Black Atlantic Eric Sundquist, To Wake the Nations: Race in the Making of American Literature Cornel West, The Cornel West Reader Eric Williams, Capitalism and Slavery Additional author-specific secondary material will be recommended or provided in the form of handouts during the course. 6 26-March-2014 English Literature Third and Fourth Year Semester One Option Course Creative Writing Part I: Poetry * Course Organiser: Dr Alan Gillis If we trace the etymological root of the word ‘poem’ we find its meaning to be a ‘thing made or created’. To be a poet is thus to be ‘a maker’. The aim of this course is to take a practical, hands-on approach to the making of poems. Each week we will discuss and explore differing components of poetic form, and of the crucial techniques involved in poetic composition, while students will also be asked to compose their own poems throughout the course. Weekly classes will effectively be split into two. The first hour will involve seminar discussion of formal techniques and ideas. For this, students will be given, via LEARN, a selection of poems to read as well as some critical writing that relates to each week’s theme. The second hour will be a workshop in which students, on a rotating basis, will be required to read their work-in-progress to class. ALGs will form a second, smaller workshop in which students participate weekly. As such, the giving and receiving of constructive feedback to and from peers is central to the course, and full participation in workshop and ALG discussion is essential. Emphasis will be placed on the personal development of each individual, but, to aid this, students will be encouraged to write new verse that reflects each week’s theme, if possible. All in all, the course is designed to provide a constructive and encouraging arena in which students can hone and improve their poetic skill, while gaining perspectives on the art form that will complement their literary study more broadly. It should be noted that the course involves formal assessment based on a portfolio of each student’s own poems. Week 1 Introduction Week 2 Sound & Rhythm Week 3 Imagery Week 4 Words & Tone Week 5 Voice & Persona Week 6 Repetition & Rhyme Week 7 Line, Stanza & Shape Week 8 ESSAY COMPLETION WEEK Week 9 Ellipsis & Continuity Week 10 Making Strange & Being Clear Week 11 A Sense of Perspective 7 26-March-2014 Primary Text: An anthology of modern and contemporary poetry is downloadable from LEARN. Students are encouraged to print this out, bind it, and use it as a conventional text book. But circa 15 poems will be itemized for reading each week, so they can also be printed week-by-week, as necessary. Recommended Reading: Criticism Auden, W. H. The Dyer’s Hand and Other Essays. London: Faber, 1963. Bell, Julia, and Paul Magrs, eds. The Creative Writing Coursebook. London: Macmillan, 2001. Cook, Jon, ed. Poetry in Theory: An Anthology 1900-2000. Blackwell. 2004. Eagleton, Terry. How to Read a Poem. Oxford: Blackwell, 2007. Eliot, T. S. Selected Essays. London: Faber, 1951. Gross, Harvey. Sound and Form in Modern Poetry. 2nd ed. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1996. Herbert, W. N., and Matthew Hollis, eds. Strong Words: Modern Poets on Modern Poetry. Bloodaxe, 2000. Koch, Kenneth. Making Your Own Days: The Pleasures of Reading and Writing Poetry.