BA (Hons) English
BA (Hons) English and American Literature
BA (Hons) English and Creative Writing
BA (Hons) English and Film
BA (Hons) Combined Honours in English
Level 6
CONFIRMED OPTION INFORMATION 2014-15
INTRODUCTION
Contacts
English Level 6 Tutor:
Combined Honours Subject Leader for English:
Combined Honours for English Level 6 Tutor:
English Programme Leader:
Dr Elizabeth Nolan, e.nolan@mmu.ac.uk
Dr Angelica Michelis, a.michelis@mmu.ac.uk
Dr Nikolai Duffy, n.duffy@mmu.ac.uk
Dr Aidan Arrowsmith, a.arrowsmith@mmu.ac.uk
Option Units
On the pages that follow, you will find confirmed descriptions of the following English OPTION units,
which are available in 2014-15. All units are worth 30 credits; you must pass 120 credits in total at
Level 6.
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American Literature and Culture 1945 to the Present
Cinema & Nation
Critical & Cultural Theory II
Fin-de-Siècle Literature and Culture
Modern Drama
Modern Gothic
Reading & Writing Children’s Literature
Reading & Writing Poetry
Representing Trauma
Shakespeare
Telling Stories
Writing in Genres
Writing Series Drama
1. Each course unit will be offered either in the morning or afternoon session. Normally, morning sessions
will begin at 10am and afternoon sessions from 2pm.
2. An outline of assessment arrangements for each unit (weighting of examinations and course work) is
provided below, but full details can be seen in the Definitive Document, available online:
http://www2.hlss.mmu.ac.uk/faculty-quality-assurance/faculty-programme-specifications/
Details of coursework deadlines will be publicised through Moodle and the Faculty online schedule at the
start of the new academic year.
3. We have tried to offer as wide a range of course units as possible. Please note that staffing may be
affected by unforeseen circumstances. A contact name is attached to each course unit. This is usually the
unit leader and, although that person will not necessarily be teaching the course next year, this is the
person to whom you can direct any questions you have prior to the summer vacation.
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CONFIRMED TIMETABLE
Monday am
Tuesday am
Wednesday am
Thursday am
Friday am
Fin de Siecle
(Angelica
Michelis)
Representing
Trauma
(Paul Wake)
Reading and
Writing Children's
Literature
(Ellie Byrne)
Modern Gothic
(Linnie Blake)
Critical & Cultural
Theory II
(Lucy Burke)
Writing Series
Drama
(Julie Wilkinson)
Shakespeare
(David Miller)
pm
Pm
Writing in Genres
(Livi Michael)
American Lit post45 (Sarah
MacLachlan)
Modern Drama
(Helen Nicholson)
pm
pm
CH slot
pm
Cinema and Nation Reading and
(Andrew Moor)
Writing Poetry
(Nikolai Duffy)
Telling Stories
(Jackie Roy)
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ENGLISH LEVEL 6 OPTION UNITS 2014-15
AMERICAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE, 1945-PRESENT 436Z0016
Contact: Dr. Sarah MacLachlan (s.maclachlan@mmu.ac.uk)
This unit presents the diversity of American literature and culture from 1945 to the present, paying
attention to the political and social significance of the music of the period. The unit tracks cultural
developments alongside historical transitions and social movements, exploring the emergence and
development of new, post-war identities. Topics covered include: Jazz and Blues; conformity and
counterculture, Soul and Gospel; the Civil Rights Movement; Bob Dylan; Vietnam; New Journalism;
West Coast Rock; the traumatic past and historical revision; the postmodern city; Hip-Hop;
consumerism and 9-11. 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
and musical forms.
Texts (in this order)
Autumn
1) Jazz and Blues (Various)
2) Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952)
3) Richard Matheson, The Shrinking Man (1956)
4) Allen Ginsberg, ‘Howl’
5) Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums (1958)
6) Soul and Gospel (Various)
7) Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun (1959)
8) Bob Dylan Songs
9) Joan Didion, Play It As It Lays (1970)
10) Francis Ford Coppola (dir.), Apocalypse Now (1979)
Spring
1) Ridley Scott (dir.), Blade Runner (The Final Cut, 2007)
2) Bret Easton Ellis, Less Than Zero (1985)
3) Paul Auster, The New York Trilogy (1987)
4) Hip Hop 1 (Various)
5) Walter Mosley, Devil in a Blue Dress (1990)
6) Hip Hop 2 (Various)
7) Susannah Moore, In the Cut (1995)
8) Cormac McCarthy, The Road (2006)
9) Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
10) Lorrie Moore, A Gate at the Stairs (2009)
Assessment
 A two-hour in-class test focussing on texts introduced in term 1 of the unit. (50%)
 A 3000 word academic essay that critically analyses literary, filmic and/or musical texts in the
context of US culture and society in the post-war period. (50%)
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CINEMA AND NATION 436Z0004
Contact: Dr Andrew Moor (a.moor@mmu.ac.uk)
Does the media make us who we are? Do British films construct a sense of Britishness? And what
does a phrase like 'American Cinema' mean anyway? This unit examines the phenomenon of
‘national cinema’ through an exploration of a range of British and American film texts. These range
from the early days of silent cinema to the present day and are drawn from a variety of genres, such
as westerns and road movies, documentaries and epic adventures, films of social protest and
romances. Setting these films against their social, historical and cultural contexts, we will explore the
ways in which ideologies of nationhood are constructed by cinema. Examining nationally-specific
representations of race, class, gender and sexual orientation moreover, we will consider the ways in
which cinema both constructs and challenges dominant conceptions of what it is to be British or
American. This leads us to a broader consideration of nationhood and, indeed, whether it is possible
to talk of ‘national cinema’ at all. The unit is delivered through fortnightly lecture-screenings
alternating with fortnightly seminar-workshops.
Assessment
 An essay of 3000 words focussing on aspects of American cinema. (50%)
 A pre-released examination paper of 2 hours, focussing on aspects of British cinema. (50%)
Films to be Studied
Term 1: Nationhood and American Cinema
1) Chaplin, The Immigrant
2) Ford, My Darling Clementine
3) Capra, It’s a Wonderful Life
4) Lee, Do the Right Thing
5) Scott, Thelma and Louise
Term 2: British Cinema and National Identity
1) Danny Boyle, Olympics Ceremony Footage
2) The Last Resort
3) Jarman, Last of England
4) Launder/Gilliatt – Millions Like Us
5) Powell & Pressburger, Black Narcissus
You should also purchase the following books, which we will use on a weekly basis across the course:
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Sarah Street, British National Cinema (London: Routledge) – there are 2 editions of this: 1997
or 2008. We recommend getting the newer one, but there is very little difference so grab the
older one if you see it going cheap!
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Susan Hayward, Cinema Studies: 'The Key Concepts' (London: Routledge, 2006) – used
intensively in Term One and a very useful reference work throughout. There is a new 2012
edition but the ‘old’ pink one is just as good and you can get it second hand quite cheaply.
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CRITICAL AND CULTURAL THEORY TWO 436Z0005
Contact: Dr Lucy Burke (l.burke@mmu.ac.uk)
Critical and Cultural Theory II introduces you to a range of theoretical, literary and cinematic texts
that consider the definition and limits of human life, personhood and subjectivity in the historical and
cultural conjuncture of late capitalist modernity. We focus upon key concepts in contemporary critical
and cultural theory such as biopower and biopolitics, bare life, surplus humanity, personhood and the
post-human. We explore these concepts in relation to current political and ethical debates around
emergent scientific and medical technologies (organ donation, cloning, genetic selection, medical
research on human subjects, artificial intelligence) and in relation to historical events such as the
femicides in Ciudad Juarez, northern Mexico, and the disastrous Pfizer drug trial of Trovan in Nigeria.
The unit asks questions about the value of some lives over others and about the material effects of
particular constructions of the human. The discussion of the theoretical material is coupled with a
close analysis of literary and cinematic texts that focuses (a) on the specific contribution of these
cultural texts to our understanding of these debates and (b) on the importance of form/genre and
specific stylistic techniques in mediating these debates in particular ways.
The material we study is difficult. We will support your reading with weekly worksheets (to help you
to identify and assimilate key concepts) and with the suggestions for secondary reading posted on
moodle. You are strongly encouraged to read the secondary texts that we suggest – this will help in
the long run. We are also available for individual tutorials either during our designated office hours on
Friday afternoons or by appointment. Please make use of these tutorials to clarify any questions or
difficulties that you may have and to discuss our feedback on your coursework and mock
examination.
Theoretical material is digitised by the library and the links will be posted on moodle.
You need to read as many of the following novels over the summer vacation as possible.
They are arranged in the order in which we will study them.
1. Ninni Holmqvist, The Unit (London: Oneworld, 2010)
2. Roberto Bolano, chapter 4, 'The Part About the Crimes' in 2666 (London: Picador, 2009).
Please note that you are only required to read chapter 4 of this very long novel. However,
this is one of the most important novels of the last twenty five years and it deals with the
relationship between art, politics and social change that underpin the debates we explore in
this unit, so it is worth reading all of it.
3. John Le Carre, The Constant Gardener (London: Hodder, 2005)
4. Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go (London: Faber and Faber, 2010)
5. Charles Bowden, Murder City: Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy's New Killing Fields
(Nation Books, 2010)
Term 2
6. Jodi Picoult, My Sister’s Keeper (London: Hodder, 2008)
7. Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club [1996; London: Vintage, 2011)
We will also be looking at short extracts from Lauren Slater’s Prozac Diary (London: Penguin, 1998),
and Elizabeth Wurtzel’s Prozac Nation (London: Quartet, 1995) – there’s no obligation to buy these
books, but if you come across them or if you are really interested in the subject matter then you
could read these too.
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And you need to watch the following films
1.
2.
3.
4.
Dir.
Dir,
Dir.
Dir.
Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
Sidney Lumet, Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Stephen Frears, Dirty Pretty Things, (2002)
Alfonso Cuaron, Children of Men (2006)
Term 2
5. Dir. Spike Jonze, Her, (2013)
6. Dir. Steven Soderbergh, Contagion (2011)
7. Dir. Alex Proyas, I, Robot (2004)
Assessment
 A 3000 word essay requiring students to consider the conceptualisation, representation and
evaluation of one of the topics introduced in the unit. (50%)
 A 2-hour examination paper in which students critically evaluate the ethics of representation.
(50%)
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FIN-DE-SIÈCLE LITERATURE AND CULTURE 436Z0010
Contact: Dr Angelica Michelis a.michelis@mmu.ac.uk
This course will introduce students to end of Nineteenth Century British and European culture and
writing 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 on literature and art. 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 and imperialism. The fin de siècle period will be analysed
from the perspective of critical discourses such as gender studies, feminism, post-colonialism, poststructuralism, 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’.
The texts below are listed in the order in which we will study them, which is broadly chronological.
Any edition of the novels or drama is fine, but ones with introductions and notes are more useful to
you. Shorter texts like poems, plays and short stories are often available online.
Term 1:
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Amy Levy, The Romance of a Shop
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
H.G. Wells, The Time Machine
Elizabeth Robins, Votes for Women (available online:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43502 )
William Morris, News from Nowhere
Arthur Conan Doyle, The Tragedy of Korosko
We will also reading some short stories by New Woman writers and excerpts from the writing
of Max Nordau, Cesare Lombroso and Richard von Krafft-Ebing. Copies will be provided.
Term 2
W.T. Stead, ‘The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon’ (available in excerpts and electronically:
http://www.attackingthedevil.co.uk/pmg/tribute/mt1.php
Bram Stoker, Dracula
Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Sigmund Freud, Case Histories (includes the 'Case of Dora')
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper
Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
George Gissing, The Nether World
We will also be reading poetry by Amy Levy, Michael Field, Algernon Swinburne and Rudyard
Kipling. Copies will be provided
Assessment
 A text-based portfolio (approx. 3000 words in total) comprised of three elements: 1)
Research essay (2000 words); 2) annotated bibliography (500 words); 3) critical evaluation
(500 words). Students will choose a specific aspect of fin de siècle culture. Formative
feedback will be given on the student's initial proposal. All sub-elements will be submitted
and marked as one piece of assessment. (50%)
 A two-hour written examination in which students address both critical and contextual
questions relating to the fin-de-siecle with reference to relevant critical work and theoretical
models. (50%)
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MODERN DRAMA 436Z0000
Contact: Dr Helen Nicholson (h.nicholson@mmu.ac.uk)
This is a critical (rather than creative) unit, focussing on theatre as a force challenging social, political
and cultural power. We will study plays from Britain, Ireland and the United States via a series of case
studies, which will enable us to examine the significant interventions these texts have made in
particular cultural and historical contexts. Below are listed the case studies and texts, in the order in
which they will be studied.
Term 1: Staging Conflicts
Theatre and the Woman Question.
 G.B.Shaw, Mrs Warren’s Profession (1893)
 Elizabeth Baker, Chains (1909)
 Cecily Hamilton, Diana of Dobsons (1908)
 Githa Sowerby, Rutherford and Son (1912)
 Elizabeth Robins and Florence Bell, Alan’s Wife (1893) full text online
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https://archive.org/stream/alanswifedramati00belluoft/alanswifedramati00belluoft_djvu.txt
Sophie Treadwell, Machinal (1928)
Theatre and War
 R.C. Sheriff, Journey’s End (1928)
 Sean O’Casey, The Plough and the Stars (1926)
 Theatre Workshop, Oh What a Lovely War! (1963)
 Frank McGuinness, Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme (1985)
Term 2: Theatre and National Identity
American Dreams, American Drama
The Federal Theatre Project, One Third of a Nation (1938) (text on moodle)
 Arthur Miller, All My Sons (1947)
 Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire (1947)
 David Mamet, Glengarry Glen Ross (1984)
 Tony Kushner, Angels in America Part I: Millennium Approaches (1990),
 Tony Kushner, Angels in America Part II: Perestroika (1992)
Staging Ireland’s Drama: Colonialism and Nationalism
 W.B. Yeats & Lady Gregory, Cathleen ni Houlihan (1902)
 Brian Friel, Translations (1980)
 Marina Carr, By the Bog of Cats (1998)
 Martin McDonagh, The Beauty Queen of Leenane (1996)
 Tom Murphy, Bailegangaire (1985)
An MMU Drama and Theatre Library Guide can be accessed at http://libguides.mmu.ac.uk/subdandt
Assessment
 One Portfolio (50%) comprising a research essay (2000 words) a related presentation, and an
evaluative report (1000 words)
 One 2 hour examination (50%)
NB1. Any edition of these texts can be read. They should all be available as inexpensive second
hand editions on Amazon Market Place. Additionally, some, such as Mrs Warren’s Profession, are
available as e-copies; and Translations is in the Wadsworth Anthology of Drama. Investment in
John Harrington’s Norton Critical Edition, Modern Irish Drama, which contains two of the Irish
plays plus numerous excellent secondary resources, is highly recommended!
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MODERN GOTHIC 436Z0009
Contact: Dr Linnie Blake (l.blake@mmu.ac.uk)
Primary Reading (to be purchased by students)
Daphne DuMaurier, Rebecca (1938)
Thomas Harris, The Silence of the Lambs (1988)
Secondary Reading (to be purchased by students)
David Punter, A Companion to the Gothic (London: Blackwell, 2001)
Fred Botting, The Gothic (Basingstoke: Routledge New Critical Idiom: 2013)
Primary Film Texts
Please note these will be screened on Wednesday afternoons prior to the Thursday class. Students
should nonetheless be prepared to view them over the course of the summer, either by purchasing
DVDs or through digital means, and to have access to them over the course of the academic year.
Francis Ford Coppola, Bram Stoker, Dracula (1992)
Robin Hardy, The Wicker Man (1973)
James Cameron, Aliens (1986)
Stephen Norrington, Blade (1998)
Neil Jordan, Interview with the Vampire (1994)
David Cronenberg, The Fly (1986)
Catherine Hardwicke, Twilight (2008)
Assessment
 A 3000 word academic essay that engages critically with Gothic texts and Gothic Studies. This
long essay will demonstrate a sustained critical and theoretical knowledge of a Gothic theme
that concerns gender, ethnicity or place in its textual specificity and ideological significance.
(50%)
 A two hour pre-released exam paper. Students will demonstrate an ability to contextually
locate Gothic texts and analyse their formal and thematic development in time. (50%)
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READING AND WRITING CHILDREN’S LITERATURE 436Z0006
Contact: Ellie Byrne (e.byrne@mmu.ac.uk)
The unit provides an analytical study of a range of classic and modern texts written for children. It
uses these texts as models for the productions of new texts and offers an introduction to the
appropriate techniques used in writing for children.
Confirmed Reading
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Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Anthony Horowitz, Stormbreaker
Louise Rennison, Angus Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging
Jacqueline Wilson, The Illustrated Mum
Phillip Pullman, Northern Lights
J.K.Rowling, Harry Potter
Dodie Smith, 101 Dalmatins
E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web
Siobhan Dowd, The London Eye Mystery
Malorie Blackman, Noughts and Crosses
Gillian Cross, After Tomorrow
Darren Shan, Cirque du Freak
Peter Hunt Introduction to Children’s Literature
Assessment
 A critical essay of 3,000 words on a critical topic relating to the range and nature of children's
literature studied. (50%)
 A creative project of 3,000 words building on critical work undertaken, consisting of a piece of
planned creative writing and a reflective account that engages with the creative process.
(50%)
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READING AND WRITING POETRY 436Z0013
Contact: Nikolai Duffy, n.duffy@mmu.ac.uk
This unit focuses on reading and analysing a representative range of work by contemporary poets,
and introduces students to relevant critical work. It equips students with the critical, analytical and
writing skills to read and write poetry effectively. Teaching sessions will introduce you to some of the
ways poetry works in, and is critically discussed and evaluated in, the contemporary world.
Assessment comprises a portfolio of your own poetry with critical and reflective commentaries on the
writing process, and a critical essay exploring relations between poetic and critical practice in relation
to work studied on the unit. We’ll also try to organize attending a major poetry event (e.g. the
Forward Prize or the T. S. Eliot prize awards), and to visit poetry readings.
READING
Week 2 (10th October): Modernisms - Selection from T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound and William Carlos
Williams
Week 3 (17th October): Confessional Poetry: Writing (from) Experience - Selection from John
Berryman and Anne Sexton
Week 4 (24th October): New York School Poetry - Selection from Frank O’Hara and John Ashbery,
‘Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror’
Week 5 (31st October): Workshop on Lyric Subjectivity
Week 6: Employability Week
Week 7 (14th November): Language Poetry - Rosmarie Waldrop, Driven to Abstraction and Lyn
Hejinian, My Life
Week 8 (21st November): Post-Language Poetry - C.D. Wright, ‘Deepstep Come Shining,’ and
Forrest Gander, ‘The Hugeness of that Which is Missing’
Week 9 (28th November): Conceptual Poetry - Charles Reznikoff, Holocaust** (purchase), and
Kenneth Goldsmith (selection)
Week 10 (6th December): Workshop on Language Poetry and After
Week 11 (12th December): Feedback on previous week’s work
Week 12 (19th December): Review of First Term
TERM 2: CONTEMPORARY BRITISH POETRY
Week 1 (16th January): Eco Poetry - Alice Oswald, Dart** (purchase)
Week 2 (23rd January): Poetry and History - Seamus Heaney, North** (purchase)
Week 3 (30th January): Northern Ireland Poetry - Paul Muldoon (selection) and Leontia Flynn,
Profit and Loss***
Week 4 (6th February): Workshop
Week 5 (13th February): Assessment Feedback and Portfolio Planning (individual tutorials)
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Week 6: Employability Week
Week 7 (27th February): European Influences - Christopher Middleton (a selection) and George
Szirtes, Burning Books***
Week 8 (6th March): The Contemporary Lyric - Michael Symmons Roberts, Drysalter***
Week 9 (13th March): Film-Poems -Simon Armitage, Out of the Blue
Week 10 (20th March): Workshop
Week 11 (27th March): Student Poetry Reading
Assessment
 A 3000 word portfolio consisting of: 1) a maximum of ten original poems of approximately 40
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%)
 A 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%)
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REPRESENTING TRAUMA 436Z0011
Contact: Professor Antony Rowland (a.rowland@mmu.ac.uk)
This unit will investigate what kind of representation is possible in the face of trauma, and consider
the ethical implications of different types of representation. Within this general framework of enquiry,
particular attention will be paid to the way in which contexts of remembrance and representation
shape identities of victims and perpetrators, the relation between national identity and remembrance
and representation, the nature of narratives of violence and trauma, and the challenges of passing
memories on from those who experience traumatic events to the following generations.
Alongside the study of novels and memoirs, we will study graphic novels, films (fiction and nonfiction), monuments and museums. The texts are listed below in the order in which they will be
studied. (N.B. the films will be screened during the unit)
Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others & Slavoj Žižek ‘The Tyrant’s Bloody Robe’ [extracts
provided in seminars].
Steve McQueen (dir.), Hunger
Hilary Mantel, Beyond Black
Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis
Ari Folman (dir.), Waltz with Bashir
Michael Ondaatje, Anil’s Ghost
Ousmane Sembene, Camp de Thiaroye
Primo Levi, If This is a Man
Charlotte Delbo, Auschwitz and After
Claude Lanzmann, Shoah
Art Spiegelman, Maus I & II
Daniel Libeskind’s Jewish Extension to the Berlin Museum/TheCountermonument
The Imperial War Museum North
Cate Shortland (dir.), Lore
Steven Spielberg (dir.), Schindler’s List
Assessment
 A 3000-word critical essay. (50%)
 A two-hour seen examination. (50%)
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SHAKESPEARE: Stages of History 436Z0001
Contact: Dr David Miller (david.miller@mmu.ac.uk )
This is a course of study for students who both admire and are intrigued by the work of Shakespeare,
but who also want to apply rigorous critical practices in order to understand the texts more
completely. The key features of the unit are attention to the changing significance and cultural power
of Shakespeare's work, the way in which Shakespeare adapts and radically transforms traditional
dramatic and poetic conventions and genres, and the different specific qualities of genre (tragedy,
comedy, history, and problem-play) that the works adopt. This approach extends to the adaptation of
Shakespeare's work for film and the way this may alter our perceptions of the works and their
continued historical relevance. Themes covered include power, violence, kingship, monarchy,
sovereignty, nature, gender and race questions and familial conflicts.
Most students prefer to use single-text editions of the plays. 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, 1997).
Advised secondary reading:
Ania Loomb Shakespeare, Race and Colonialism (Oxford University Press, 2002)
Harold Bloom Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human (Fourth Estate, 2008)
Stephen Greenblatt Renaissance Self-Fashioning: From More to Shakespeare (Chicago, 2005)
Adrian Noble How to Do Shakespeare (Routledge, 2009)
Essential Shakespeare: The Arden Guide to Text and Interpretation (Bloomsbury, 2013)
Term 1
The Sonnets
Hamlet
Macbeth
King Lear
As You Like
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Twelfth Night
Term II
The Tempest
Othello
Richard II
Henry IV, pt. I
Henry IV pt. II
Henry V
Julius Caesar
Coriolanus
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ASSESSMENT

50% Course work: A portfolio comprising two components: a critical presentation
(component A) and a reflective assessment and critical account of 1500 words of a
presentation (component B). Component A is a formative assessment for which the student
will receive feedback and commentary before completing the critical commentary.

50% Final Essay: An academic essay engaging with one or more of the following: the major
themes covered in the course, genre questions, Shakespeare’s dramatic legacy, film and
adaptation questions, comparative literary history and the historical context. This will function
principally as a synthesis of the knowledge and skills gained during the course (3,000 words).
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TELLING STORIES 436Z0014
Contact: Jacqueline Roy (j.roy@mmu.ac.uk)
Telling Stories provides students with the opportunity to read some of the most exciting and groundbreaking contemporary literature.
This unit is concerned with contemporary poetry, prose and drama. It will consider the notion of
Britishness and examine the ways in which this is constructed in and through the language of
literature.
Students will look at a range of writings by contemporary British authors. They will engage with
critical theories of literature, including the postcolonial, to examine the construction of identities, and
the ways in which these are informed and conditioned by power structures such as those that
determine race, class, sexual orientation and gender. The relationship between form and content will
also be examined.
Texts term 1
 Dabydeen, David, 2000. A Harlot’s Progress. London: Vintage
 Malkani, Gautum, 2007. Londonstani. London: Harper Perennial
 Smith, Zadie, 2001. White Teeth. London: Penguin
 Syal, Meera, 1997. Anita and Me. London: Flamingo
Texts term 2
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Gaiman, Neil, 2010. Sandman TP Vol 01 Preludes and Nocturnes New Edition. London: DC
Comics
Griffiths, Niall, 2001. Grits. London: Vintage
McLiam Wilson, Robert, 1997 Eureka Street. London: Vintage
Henderson, Emma, 2011. Grace Williams Says It Loud. London: Sceptre
Waters, Sarah, 2003. Fingersmith. London: Virago
Welch, Irvine, 1994. Trainspotting. London: Vintage
Further material, poetry, film, etc will be provided on Moodle and/or as handouts and does not
need to be prepared over the summer.
Assessment
 Essay (3000 words) 50%
 Examination (2hrs) 50%
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WRITING IN GENRES 436Z0020
Contact: Livi Michael (o.michael@mmu.ac.uk)
In this unit students will have the opportunity to try their skills in three different genres working with
a member of staff who has specialised in these respective areas. The genres on offer will include
historical fiction, crime fiction, and fantasy.
Items to Purchase
Dalton, Adam, Tithe of the Saviours (Orion 2014)
Fox, Catherine, Wolf Tide (2013, ISBN: 9871490904580)
Ness, Patrick, More Than This (Walker Books, 2013)
eds. Ashworth, S, Feindt, I, Michael, L Timelines (MMU 2013, ISBN 9781905476916)
Levy, A, Small Island, (Headline Review 2004)
Mantel, H, Bring Up the Bodies, (Fourth Estate, 2012)
Miller, Andrew, Pure (Sceptre 2011)
Atkinson, Kate, Case Histories, (Black Swan, 2005)
Indridasun, Arnaldur, Tainted Blood, (Vintage, 2005)
Garrett, A. D., Everyone Lies, (Constable & Robinson, 2013)
Essential Reading
Additional resources include Johnson, Sarah L. Historical Fiction a Guide to the Genre (online
resource, Libraries Unlimited, 2005)
Scaggs, J. Crime Fiction, the New Critical Idiom (Routledge, 2005)
King, S. On Writing (Scribner 2000)
Gaiman, N, The Sandman Series (Vertigo: 1989 – present)
Assessment
 Portfolio (40%): students will submit selections from the creative work they have produced in
the workshops together with a plan for a more sustained piece of writing in the genre of their
choice. This will be submitted at the end of the first term.
 Creative Piece (60%): the extended piece of creative writing will consist of 3500 words, or a
complete short story from the genre selected by the student together with a critical reflection
of 500 words. The critical reflection will consider the problems and challenges of working
within that genre with reference to published novels.
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WRITING SERIES DRAMA 436Z0015
Contact: Julie Wilkinson (j.wilkinson@mmu.ac.uk)
Indicative content
This is a creative advanced Scriptwriting course in which you will work in teams to plot storylines for
your own original series or serial for television, radio or web-outlet. Together, you will devise the
premise and characters for a long-running drama or serial to be pitched in class, and then plot
storylines over a number of episodes. In the light of feedback from tutor and peers, each student will
then write her or his own individual version of the narrative framework for the group-devised story.
You will then go on to write your own script of fifteen minutes of playing time based on the devised
storylines. The unit concentrates on the composition of series, serials and continuing drama as
opposed to the single play, in the context of critical awareness of contemporary dramatic
writing. You will practice and hone your skills in pitching, storylining and scriptwriting. We will study
the historical development of episodic drama and watch, listen to and analyse contemporary series
which may include The Killing, Breaking Bad, Public Enemies, The Hour, The Wire, Firefly, Scott and
Bailey. Key texts will illustrate a range of formats such as cop shows, comedy series, sci-fi, soaps,
and medical/hospital drama and explore the relationships between generic and 'authored' series. The
unit will consist of seminar/screenings, and practical workshops. Students writing a script as a
dissertation will find that this unit complements and extends scriptwriting skills, although the course
can also be taken on its own.
Pre-requisites: To take this unit you need to have completed the Creative Writing Workshop unit at
Level 5.
Assessment


Portfolio: (50%) including: 1) brief studies of characters appropriate for long-running series
(200 words); 2) a narrative framework (treatment) including storylines for at least four
episodes of an original series for visual or audio media (2,800 words)
Script plus critical commentary: (50%) A script of 15 minutes playing time of an episode or
episodes of the original series proposed, along with a critical commentary of 800 words,
analysing writing process, treatment and script.
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