UNIVERSITY OF KENT
MODULE SPECIFICATION TEMPLATE
1.
The title of the module
The Limits of Fiction: American Narrative in the Age of Postmodernism
2.
The Department which will be responsible for management of the module
School of English
3.
The Start Date of the Module
Spring 2012
4. The cohort of students (onwards) to which the module will be applicable.
Masters
5. The number of students expected to take the module
10-15
6. Modules to be withdrawn on the introduction of this proposed module and consultation with other
relevant Departments and Faculties regarding the withdrawal
N/A
7. The level of the module (eg Certificate [C], Intermediate [I], Honours [H] or Postgraduate [M])
M
8. The number of credits which the module represents
30
9. Which term(s) the module is to be taught in (or other teaching pattern)
Spring
10. Prerequisite and co-requisite modules
N/A
11. The programmes of study to which the module contributes
MA: English and American Literature
MA: Transnational American Studies
12. The intended subject specific learning outcomes and, as appropriate, their relationship to
programme learning outcomes
Upon successful completion of this module, students will:
i.
Demonstrate an advanced knowledge and understanding of a range of American
fiction from the 1960s to the present.
ii.
Demonstrate an advanced knowledge and understanding of theoretical approaches
to postmodern culture.
iii.
Demonstrate an ability to build critical pathways between literary criticism and
cultural theory.
iv.
Demonstrate an ability to challenge, conceptualize and articulate the notion of
limits in relation to fiction.
These learning outcomes are consistent with those of the MA in English and American
Literature, which aims to offer the opportunity to study “literature spanning a broad range of
history and cultures.” They also contribute to the MA in Transnational American Studies,
particularly in relation to its aim of “deconstructing the American experience” through
interrogation of US exceptionalism and national mythologies, which is an important
component of outcomes i. and ii.
13. The intended generic learning outcomes and, as appropriate, their relationship to programme
learning outcomes
UNIVERSITY OF KENT
Upon successful completion of this module, students will
i. Demonstrate a command of a significant body of knowledge about postwar US
literature and culture which will feed into the historical and political dimensions of the
interdisciplinary MA in Transnational American Studies.
ii. Demonstrate a confidence and competence with a range of theoretical tools which can
be applied to other literary texts in the MA in English and American Literature or to other
elements of cultural studies more broadly in the MA in Transnational American Studies.
iii. Have acquired advanced skills in the analysis, research and evaluation of challenging
literary texts, using relevant primary and secondary resources, and will have
demonstrated competence in critically evaluating such research tools.
iv. Have made extensive use of oral and written communication skills in presenting well
reasoned and well expressed arguments and observations in essays and seminars;
v. Have had the opportunity to practise a wide range of academic skills to facilitate
problem solving and independent learning.
14. A synopsis of the curriculum
This module explores a variety of developments in American narrative fiction from the 1960s to
the present. Chronologically, the course begins at a time when some critics were hailing “the
end of the novel” and questioning the previously privileged status of fiction in American
culture. Accordingly, all of the works taught share a common interest in interrogating the
boundaries of their own form, asking what fiction is capable of articulating and where its
political, theoretical, and ethical limits lie. Students will be encouraged to experience,
challenge and conceptualise such limits both in discussion and in their written work.
During the module we will examine how many of these fictions participate in dialogue with the
cultures of postmodernism in the United States and with various forms of national
mythologies. Students will be required to evaluate the claims of various cultural theorists, such
as Jameson, Žižek and Baudrillard, to have uncovered a logic governing cultural production in
this period. Together we will ask what part literary fiction has to play in postwar American
culture, whether in the guise of an affirmative postmodern practice or a self-destructive
nihilism; politically engaged critique or indulgent aesthetic play. Finally, we will reflect on the
various strategies employed by these fictions to construct their own historical narratives to
rival, complement or undermine those offered through the channels of popular culture and the
mass media.
15. Indicative Reading List
Primary Texts
Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire (1962)
Ishmael Reed, Mumbo Jumbo (1972)
Toni Morrison, Beloved (1987)
Mark Z Danielewski, House of Leaves (1999)
Other primary texts may include:
Jorge Luis Borges, Labyrinths (1962)
Thomas Pynchon, V (1961)
Flannery O’Connor, Collected Stories (1971)
E.L. Doctorow, Ragtime (1975)
Cormac MacCarthy, Blood Meridian (1985)
Don Delillo, Underworld (1997)
Mark Z Danielewski, House of Leaves (1999)
James Ellroy, Blood’s a Rover (2009)
Secondary Reading
UNIVERSITY OF KENT
Amiral, Eyal and John Unsworth. Essays in Postmodern Culture. New York: Oxford University
Press, 1993.
Barth, John. “The Literature of Exhaustion.” On Contemporary Literature. Ed. Richard
Kostelanetz. New York: Avon and Discus, 1969.
Baudrillard, Jean. The Ecstasy of Communication. Trans. Bernard and Caroline Schutze. Ed.
Sylvere Lotringer. Brooklyn, NY: Autonomedia, 1988.
Cohen, Josh. Spectacular Allegories: Postmodern American Writing and the Politics of Seeing.
London: Pluto, 1998.
Cornis-Pope, Marcel. Narrative Innovation and Cultural Rewriting in the Cold War and After.
Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2001.
Dubey, Madhu. Signs and Cities: Black Literary Postmodernism. London: University of Chicago
Press, 2003.
Habermas, Jürgen. “Modernity – an Incomplete Project.” The Anti-Aesthetic. Ed. Hal Foster.
Port Townsend, WA: Bay Press, 1983.
Hogue, Lawrence. Race. Modernity. Postmodernity. Buffalo: State University of New York
Press, 1996.
Hutcheon, Linda. A Poetics of Postmodernism. New York: Routledge, 1988.
Jameson, Fredric. Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Durham NC: Duke
University Press, 1991.
Tanner, Tony. City of Words: American Fiction 1950-1970. New York: Harper and Row, 1987.
Žižek, Slavoj. The Fragile Absolute. London: Verso, 2000.
16. Learning and Teaching Methods, including the nature and number of contact hours and the total
study hours which will be expected of students, and how these relate to achievement of the
intended learning outcomes
The module will be taught in 10 weekly seminars, each of 2 hours duration, and each student
will be required to contribute seminar presentations. Seminar discussions will be focussed on
detailed discussion of assigned reading and topics.
17. Assessment methods and how these relate to testing achievement of the intended learning
outcomes
Students will be required to submit written work 5-6000 words in length on which they will be
assessed at the end of the module.
18. Implications for learning resources, including staff, library, IT and space.
This module will require the purchase of some items by the Templeman Library for secondary
reading and research.
19. A statement confirming that, as far as can be reasonably anticipated, the curriculum, learning and
teaching methods and forms of assessment do not present any non-justifiable disadvantage to
students with disabilities
As far as can be reasonably anticipated, the curriculum, learning and teaching methods and
forms of assessment do not present any non-justifiable disadvantage to students with
disabilities