SCHOOL OF ENGLISH
STAGE 1
MODULE DESCRIPTIONS
2014-2015
Modules Available in 2014-2015
STAGE 1
SEMESTER 1
SEMESTER 2
ENG1001 English in Transition
ENG1002 English in Context
ENL1001 Introduction to English Language
ENG1006 Sounds of the City
(available to Single Hons. English students
and Joint English/Linguistics students only)
ENG1007 Skills module
ENG1090 Introduction to Creative Writing
ENG 1001 English in Transition
Convenor: Dr Lucy Cogan
Module Content: ENG1001 is envisaged as introducing students to literary interpretation
as conceived by English studies at university level. It aims to provide students with critical
skills and technical vocabulary necessary to study poetry and drama for the rest of their
degree. The module concentrates on a small selection of texts designed to help students
make the transition from the critical strategies used at A-level to those of academic English.
Focusing on a small selections of poems and three plays, the module will introduce
students to some literary theoretical concepts, while the mode of assessment will allow for
reflective development of writing skills through the provision of feedback on the first
formative assignment.
Module Objectives:
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To manage the transition from pre-degree work to undergraduate work.
To provide an environment in which you can reflect upon and interrogate your current
reading while developing a critical self-reliance and a sense of the central topics in
English literature.
To develop your close reading skills by focusing on the relationship between formal
devices and textual effects across the genres of poetry and drama.
To introduce you to ways of reading literary texts that depend upon theoretically
derived understandings of terms such as nation, race, gender and sexuality, and to
ask you to reflect upon the place, value and status of literature and culture in the
modern world.
To cultivate and develop your abilities to write about language in an informed and
academic way.
To refine and develop your oral and written skills.
To equip you with the critical skills necessary for second and third level work in the
School of English.
Learning Outcomes: At the end of this module students should have learned to:
•
•
•
Read and analyse poetry and drama using the techniques, vocabularies and
approaches of contemporary academic English studies.
Make the transition from reading and writing at A-level, having learned the research
skills and critical terminologies necessary for the close, contextual reading of drama
and poetry and writing about both genres in a suitably academic register.
Be equipped to undertake advanced study of literary works (in particular prose) in
semester two modules.
Assessment: 1,200-1,400 word poetry analysis (compulsory); 2,000-2,400 word essay
100%.
Please note: the 2,000-2,400 summative essay is worth 100% of your grade and will
offer a choice of topics covering both Part One (Poetry) and Part Two (Drama) of the
module. The essay will be due Monday, 15 December (Week 12).
Set Texts
(To purchase): William Shakespeare, Othello (OUP, 2008); Oscar Wilde, The Importance of
Being Earnest and Other Plays [for Lady Windermere’s Fan](OUP, 2008); Samuel Beckett,
Waiting for Godot (Faber, 2006); selected poems and critical materials will be made available
on Queen’s Online (QOL).
Lecture and Seminar Topics
Week 1
Introduction: Structure of the module and assessment.
Beginning Criticism: Reading the Sonnet
Readings: Selected poems on QOL
PART ONE: Poetry
Week 2
Approaching Poetry
Readings: Selected poems on QOL
Week 3
Hearing Poetry
Readings: Selected poems on QOL
Week 4
Reading Poetry
Readings: Selected poems on QOL
PART TWO: Drama
Week 5
Historical Context and Shakespeare’s World:
William Shakespeare, Othello
Week 6
Adaptation as Recreation:
William Shakespeare, Othello
Week 7
READING WEEK
Week 8
Comedy, Performance and Social Critique:
Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere’s Fan
Week 9
Staging Gender and Sexuality:
Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere’s Fan
Week 10
The Politics of Estrangement:
Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot
Week 11
Translation and Interpretation:
Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot
LOOKING AHEAD: Prose
Week 12
Approaching Narrative: The Short Story
Jhumpa Lahiri, “Interpreter of Maladies” on QOL
PLEASE NOTE: In addition to scheduled class times, all modules require you to undertake
independent study. Most undergraduate modules carry 20 CATS points each, which equate
to a 200 hour workload overall.
Bibliography for ENG 1001
Ashcroft, Bill. The Empire Writes Back. Theory and Practice in Postcolonial Literatures. London:
Routledge, 1989. PR9080/ASHC
Bair, Deirdre. Samuel Beckett: A Biography. London: Cape, 1978 hPR6003.E3/ZZBA
Barthelemy, Anthony Gerard. Critical essays on Shakespeare's Othello. New York: G.K. Hall, 1994.
PR2829 BART
Beckett on film [videorecording]: Waiting for Godot [director: Michael Lindsay-Hogg]; Not I [director:
Neil Jordan]; Rough for theatre 1 [director: Kieron J. Walsh]; Ohio impromptu [director: Charles
Sturridge]; Documentary: Check the gate - putting Beckett on film [director: Pearse Lehane]
Dublin: RTE, 2001 DVD/ PN1997.B2165/BECK
Beckett, Samuel, The theatrical notebooks of Samuel Beckett - Vol.1: Waiting for Godot ed. Dougald
McMillan. London: Faber and Faber, 1993 hPR6003.E3/WAIT
Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture. London: Routledge, 1994. PN761/BHAB
-- Nation and Narration. London: Routledge, 1990. PN 56.N19/BHAB
Birkett, Jennifer and Kate Ince, eds. Samuel Beckett. London: Longman, 2000 hPR6003.E3/ZZBI
Blair, Morris. 'Demonic Ventriloquism and Venetian Skepticism in Othello', SEL, 53.2 (2013), pp. 311335. Electronic access via Queen’s Library Website [Project Muse]
Boxall, Peter, ed. Samuel Beckett: 'Waiting for Godot', 'Endgame.' Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2000 PR6003.E3/ZZBO
Bradby, David, Beckett: waiting for Godot. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001
PR6003.E3/ZZBR
Briggs, Julia. This Stage-Play World: English Literature and its Background, 1580-1625. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1983. PR421/BRIG
Bristow, Joseph. ‘Dowdies and Dandies: Oscar Wilde’s Refashioning of Society Comedy’. Modern
Drama 37:1 (Spring 1994): 53-70. Electronic access via Queen’s Library Website [Project
Muse]
Burnett, Mark Thornton. Filming Shakespeare in the Global Marketplace. Basingstoke: Palgrave,
2007. Electronic access via Queen’s Library Website
Busi, Frederick, The Transformations of Godot. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1980
PR6003.E3/ZZBU
Connor, Steven, ed. Waiting for Godot and Endgame: Samuel Beckett. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1992
PR6003.E3/ZZCO
Corcoran, Neil. English Poetry Since 1940. London: Longman, 1993. PR601/CORC [Short Loan]
Cowen Orlin, Lena. Othello: the State of Play. London: Bloomsbury, 2014. PR2829.A8 ORLI
Cronin, Anthony. Samuel Beckett: The Last Modernist. London: Harper Collins, 1996 hPR6003.E3
ZZCR
Dyhouse, Carol, ‘The Role of Women: from Self-Sacrifice to Self-Awareness’, in The Victorians, ed,
Laurence Lerner. London: Methuen & Co Ltd, 1978, pp. 70-89. PR463 LERN
Eltis, Sos. Revising Wilde: Society and Subversion in the Plays of Oscar Wilde. Oxford: Clarendon,
1996. PR5428 ELTI
Fenton, James. The Strength of Poetry. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. PR601/ FENT
Fletcher, John, Samuel Beckett: Waiting for Godot, Endgame, Krapp's last tape. London: Faber, 2000
PR6003.E3/ZZFL
Fraser, G.S. Metre, Rhyme and Free Verse. London: Methuen, 1970. PE1505/FRAS
Fry, Stephen. The Ode Less Travelled. London: Arrow, 2007 PN1059.A9 FRY
Fussell, Paul. ‘The Nature of Metre’, in Poetic Meter and Poetic Form. New York: Random House,
1979. PE1505/FUSS
Fussell, Paul. ‘Structural Principles: The Example of the Sonnet’, in Poetic Meter and Poetic Form.
New York: Random House, 1979. PE1505/FUSS
Fussell, Paul, ‘The Historical Dimension’, in Poetic Meter and Poetic Form. New York: Random
House, 1979. PE1505/FUSS
Gagnier, Regina. ‘Wilde and the Victorians.’ The Cambridge Companion to Oscar Wilde. Ed. Peter
Raby Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. pp. 18-33. [h] PR5824 RABY
Gordon, Lois G., Reading Godot. London; New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2002
PR6003.E3/ZZGO
Graver, Lawrence, Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989
pPR6003.E3/ZZGR Electronic access via Queen’s Library Website
Green, Stephanie, ‘Oscar Wilde’s The Woman’s World’, Victorian Periodicals Review 30, 2 (1997), pp.
102-20. Electronic access via Queen’s Library Website [JSTOR]
Hobsbaum, Philip. Metre, Rhythm and Verse Form. London: Routledge, 1996. PR508.V45/HOBS
Holderness, Graham. Shakespeare and Venice. Farnham, Surrey, UK ; Burlington, VT : Ashgate,
2010. Electronic access via Queen’s Library Website
Holland, Peter, ed. Shakespeare, Memory and Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2006. PR3091/HOLL
Honigmann, E.A.J. The Texts of 'Othello' and Shakespearian Revision. London: Routledge, 1996.
PR2829.A8 HONI
Jackson, Russell. The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Film. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2007 PR3093 JACK
Jones, R.T. Studying Poetry: An Introduction. London: Edward Arnold, 1986. PR502/JONE
Kalb, Jonathan. Beckett in Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. PR6003.E3
ZZKA
Kennedy, Seán, ed. Beckett and Ireland. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
PR6003.E282 KENN
Kenner, Hugh. The Stoic Comedians: Flaubert, Joyce, and Beckett. Berkeley : University of California
Press, 1974 hPQ2249 KENN
Knowlson, James. Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett. London: Bloomsbury Publishing,
1996. PR6003.E3 ZZKN
McDonald, Ronan, The Cambridge Introduction to Samuel Beckett. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2006 PR6003.E3/ZZMC
McDonald, Ronan, Tragedy and Irish Literature: Synge, O’Casey, Beckett. Basingstoke: Palgrave,
2002 PR8789/MCDO
McDonald, Peter. Serious Poetry: Form and Authority from Yeats to Hill. Oxford: Clarendon, 2002
Electronic access via Queen’s Library Website
McEachern, Claire, ed. The Cambridge companion to Shakespearean Tragedy. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2013 PR2983 MCEA
Markovich, Heather. The Art of the Pose: Oscar Wilde’s Performance Theory. Frankfurt: Peter Lang
2010 h PR5827.A35 MARC
Mason Vaughan, Virginia. Othello: a Contextual History. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press,
1994. PR2829.A8 VAUG
Mercier, Vivian. The Irish Comic Tradition. Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1962 PR8885/MERC
Morin, Emilie, Samuel Beckett and the Problem of Irishness. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan 2009
hPR6003.E3/ZZMO
Nelson, Emmanuel, ed. Reworlding: The Literature of the Indian Diaspora. New York: Greenwood
Press, 1992. PR9485.N45 NELS
Nelson, Carolyn Christensen, A New Woman Reader: Fiction, Articles, and Drama of the 1890s
(Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2000). PR1111.F45NELS [short loan]
O’Connor, Sean. Straight Acting: The Rise of Gay Drama from Wilde to Rattigan. London: Cassell,
1998 PR635.H65 OCON
Oppenheim, Lois, ed. Palgrave advances in Samuel Beckett studies (Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2004) PR6003.E3/ZZOP
Pattie, David. The Complete Critical Guide to Samuel Beckett. London: Routledge, 2000.
PR6003.E3 ZZPA
Pechter, Edward. Othello and Interpretive Traditions. Iowa City : University of Iowa Press,
1999. Electronic access via Queen’s Library Website
Pilling, John, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Beckett. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1994. PR6003.E3/ZZPI
Powell, Kerry and Peter Raby, eds, Oscar Wilde in Context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2013 PR5824 POWE
Powell, Kerry. ‘Wilde and Ibsen’. English Literature in Transition 28.3 (1985): 224-42. Electronic
access via Queen’s Library Website [QConnect]
Raby, Peter, “Wilde’s Comedies of Society’. The Cambridge Companion to Oscar Wilde., ed. Peter
Raby. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997 PR5824/ RABY
Schlueter, June and Enoch Brater, eds. Approaches to teaching Beckett's Waiting for Godot. New
York: Modern Language Association of America, 1991 hPR6003.E3/ZZSC
Taylor-Batty, Mark, Juliette Taylor-Batty, Modern Theatre Guides: Samuel Beckett's ‘Waiting for
Godot’. London: Continuum International Publishing, 2009 Electronic access via Queen’s
Library Website
Roberts, Philip Davies. How Poetry Works: The Elements of English Poetry. Harmondsworth:
Penguin, 1991. PR508.V45/ROBE
Showalter, Elaine, Sexual Anarchy: Gender and Culture at the Fin de Siècle. London: Virago Press,
1992. PR468.S48 SHOW [short loan]
Ian Smith, 'Othello's black handkerchief', Shakespeare Quarterly, 64.1 (2013), pp. 1-25. Electronic
access via Queen’s Library Website [Project Muse]
ENL 1001 Introduction to English Language
Convenor: Dr Andrea Mayr
Module Content: This module offers the broadest possible introduction to key topics in
English language. It lays the foundations for the systematic study of the language in all its
diversity. Among the topics covered are: common beliefs about “good” and “bad” language,
aspects of accent and dialect, and issues to do with language and power. The course also
explores children’s acquisition of language and issues affecting language and education.
Other important areas of inquiry are social, situational and geographical variation in
language, with particular emphasis placed on the history and development of the English
language across the centuries. In summary, the module enables students to move beyond
naïve ideas about language towards the academic and analytic perspective appropriate for
university level.
Learning Outcomes: On successful completion of this module, you will have become
aware of the levels of structure which make up the spoken and written varieties of a
language, the communicative functions of these levels, and the concepts used to describe
these levels. You will have acquired a set of elementary skills with which to analyse and
describe these levels, with regard both to present-day English and to stages in its historical
development. You will also have acquired some experience in writing about language topics
in an academically respectable way.
Assessment: 1,900-2,300 word essay 50%; two-hour exam 50%.
The summative essay, of 1,900-2,300 words and worth 50% of your mark, will
reflect the issues covered in Units One and Two of the module. You will be offered a
choice of topics to write on: a polemic-type essay which addresses the issues
covered in Unit One (weeks 1-3), or an essay on language acquisition to reflect
issues covered in Unit Two (weeks 4-6). The submission date for this essay is
Monday of week 9.
The two-hour exam, worth 50% of your mark, will address the issues covered in
Units Three and Four. You will be required to answer two questions in all, one
relating to Unit Three and one relating to Unit Four.
This module also incorporates formative work, which will take the form of seminar
tasks throughout the semester.
Set Texts
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Laurie Bauer and Peter Trudgill, eds. Language Myths. London: Penguin, 1998.
Jonathan Culpeper. History of English. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 2005.
Linda Thomas et al, eds. Language, Society and Power. 3rd ed. London: Routledge,
2011.
Additional readings relating to other aspects of the course will be supplied on QOL.
Lecture and Seminar Topics
The module topics are organised into four units, as follows:
Unit One: Introduction to the Study of Language
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Why bother with Language?
English language: The Myths and the Attitudes
Varieties of Language
Unit Two: The Development of Language
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
An Introduction to Child Language Acquisition
Child Language Acquisition II
Language and the Brain
Week 7
READING WEEK
Unit Three: The History of English
Week 8
Week 9
History of the English Language (1)
History of the English Language (2)
Unit Four: Language, Society and Power
Week 10
Week 11
Language and Power
Language and Gender
Summary
Week 12
Studying English Language: Recap, Summary and New Directions
Bibliography for ENL 1001
Additional readings will be provided electronically via QOL.
Adamson, Sylvia et al. Reading Shakespeare’s Dramatic Language: A Guide. London: The Arden
Shakespeare, 2001. PR3072/ADAM
Aitchison, Jean. The Seeds of Speech: Language Origin and Evolution. 2nd ed. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1996. P116/AITC
Algeo, John. “Vocabulary”, in The Cambridge History of the English Language. Vol. IV, 1776–1997.
Ed. Suzanne Romaine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998, 57–91. PE1072/CAMB
Andersson, Lars-Gunnar and Peter Trudgill. Bad Language. London: Penguin, 1992. P40.5.S63 +
P409/ANDE
Ayto, John. Twentieth Century Words. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. PE1630/AYTO
Ayto, John. Word Origins: The Hidden Histories of English Words from A to Z. 2nd ed. London: A & C
Black, 2005. R/ PE1580/AYTO
Bates, Denis et al, eds. Words Alone: The Teaching and Usage of English in Contemporary Ireland.
Dublin: University College Dublin Press, 1999. LB1576/BATE
Brinton, Laurel J. and Leslie K. Arnovick. The English Language: A Linguistic History. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2006. PE1075/BRIN
Brown, Roger. A First Language: The Early Stages. Mass: Harvard University Press, 1973.
BF252/BROW
Coates, Jennifer. Men Talk. Oxford: Blackwell, 2003. P120.M45/COAT
Collins COBUILD English Guides, no. 2: Word Formation. London: HarperCollins, 1991.
PE1175/COLL
Crystal, David. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1997. P29/CRYS
Crystal, David. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2003. RI/ PE1072/CAMB + PE1072/CAMB
Crystal, David. Think On My Words: Exploring Shakespeare’s Language. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2008. PR3072/CRYS
Crystal, David. The Stories of English. 2nd ed. London: Penguin, 2005. PE1072/CRYS
Crystal, David and Ben Crystal. Shakespeare’s Words: A Glossary & Language Companion. London:
Penguin, 2002. PR2892/CRYS
Crystal, David and Ben Crystal. The Shakespeare Miscellany. London: Penguin, 2005.
PR2892/CRYS
Dent, Susie. Words of the Year. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. PE1630/DENT
Fowler, Roger. Language in the News. London: Routledge, 1991. PE1474
Halliday, M. A. K. Spoken and Written Language. Victoria: Deakin University Press, 1985.
P40.5.S63/HALL
Hogg, Richard and David Denison, eds. A History of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2006. PE1075/HOGG
Hope, Jonathan. Shakespeare’s Grammar. London: The Arden Shakespeare, 2003. PR3075/HOPE
Jackson, Howard. Good Grammar for Students. London: Sage, 2005. PE1112/JACK
Kastovsky, Dieter. “Vocabulary”, in A History of the English Language. Ed. Richard Hogg & David
Denison. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, 199-270. PE1075/HOGG
Knowles, Elizabeth. The Oxford Dictionary of New Words. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. R/
PE1650/KNOW
Krasnego, Norman A., ed. Biological and Behavioral Determinants of Language Development. USA:
Erlbaum, 1991. BF445/KRAS
Kress, Gunther and Theo van Leeuwen, T. Reading Images – The Grammar of Visual Design. 2nd ed.
London: Routledge, 2007. NK1510/KRES
Lakoff, Robyn. Language and Women’s Place. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975.
HQ1206/LAKO
Leech, Geoffrey and Michael Short. Style in Fiction. London: Longman, 1981. PR830.s9/LEEC
Lenneberg, Eric. Biological Foundations of Language. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1967.
QP306/LENN
Milroy, James and Lesley Milroy. Authority in Language. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 1991.
P368/MILR
Mugglestone, Lynda, ed. The Oxford History of English. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.
PE1075/MUGG
Nash, Walter. English Usage: A Guide to First Principles. London: Routledge, 1986. PE1408/NASH
Quinion, Michael. Ologies and Isms: A Dictionary of Word Beginnings and Endings. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2002. On order
Quirk , Randolph and Gabriele Stein. English in Use. London: Longman, 1990. PE1112/QUI
Spender, Dale. Man-made Language. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 1985. P120.S48/SPEN
Stockwell, Peter. Sociolinguistics. Routledge, 2002. P40/STOC
Tannen, Deborah. You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation. London: Virago,
1991. P120.S48/TANN
Trask, Roger. Language Change. London: Routledge, 1994. P142/TRAS
Trudgill, Peter. Dialects. Routledge, 1994. PE1711/TRUD
Trudgill, Peter. On Dialect. Oxford: Blackwell, 1983. PE1711/TRUD
Vihman, Marilyn. Phonological Development: The Origins of Language in the Child. Oxford: Blackwell,
1996. P118/VIHM
ENG 1090 Introduction to Creative Writing
Convenor: Mr Garrett Carr
Module Content: This module is designed as an introduction to Creative Writing, and will cover
the three main creative genres: Poetry, Prose Fiction, and Scriptwriting. The focus throughout
will be on the rules of successful creative writing, both generally and in relation to each kind of
writing’s specific requirements. The module will be split equally between reading and writing:
a series of set texts will be used as a platform for discussing what each literary form requires,
technically and aesthetically. Students will then be expected to emulate these forms in their
own writing exercises. There will be a heavy emphasis on standard grammar, stylistic clarity,
accuracy of language, and proper presentation of work.
Module Objectives: To familiarise students with the technical and aesthetic rules of a wide
spectrum of texts from a practice-based perspective; to enable students to experiment with
various literary forms in order to discover their own strengths (and weaknesses) as writers.
Learning Outcomes: On completion of this module you should have gained an understanding
of the problems posed by a range of different creative texts and the strategies employed to
overcome them. You should also have learned to write according to strict criteria governing
both subject matter and execution.
Assessment: Assessment is by TWO final projects, each worth 50%. The two projects must
be in two different genres (Prose Fiction, or Scriptwriting, or Poetry). Prose and Scriptwriting
final projects should be 1,900-2,100 words each. Poetry final projects should consist of 8
poems.
Set Texts: Supplementary reading material will be supplied in a course pack, which will be
made available to students at the beginning of the course.
Students should note that this module is taught via workshops. Presenting your work to the
class for feedback from both your tutor and fellow students is an integral – and essential –
component of the course.
Students taking this module should also familiarise themselves with the specific Marking
Criteria for the assessment of Creative Writing in the School, as outlined on page 56 of this
handbook.
Weekly Topics
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Writing, Writing Again
Poetry: Language and Imagery
Poetry: The Line
Poetry: Stanzas and Structure
Prose: Plot
Prose: Character and Point of View
READING WEEK
Prose: Dialogue and Setting
Drama: Stage
Drama: Radio
Drama: Screen
Week 12
Revision & Summary
Semester Two
Full documentation for ENG 1002, ENG 1006 and ENG 1007 will be issued at the beginning
of semester two.
ENG 1002 English in Context: An Introduction to Contemporary
Fiction
Convenor: Dr Andrew Pepper
Module Content: This module examines a broad sample of recent fiction. In doing so, it
raises a set of related questions: 1) whose contemporary experience does this literature
address? 2) what economic or political factors lead to a shared sense of the contemporary?
3) how does modern fiction relate to these broader social forces? The module has a threepart structure. Section 1 examines the nature of the literary marketplace; it asks how our
decisions about what to read are socially and economically produced and considers how or
whether this process is reflected in the works themselves. Section 2 analyses literary
treatments of contemporary political issues and examines the suitability of literature as a
vehicle for political reflection. The final section of the module explores the ways in which
recent fiction has raised questions about the nature and function of religion in the modern
world.
Module Objectives: The module introduces students to a wide range of contemporary
fiction and to different forms of critical inquiry. Building on ENG 1001, the course aims to
subject texts to a technical or formal analysis; it also aims to read contemporary literature
contextually. The module situates specific texts within a broader literary marketplace and
examines the institution of literature within a wider socio-political setting. In an effort to
understand these contexts, it introduces students to a set of concepts that shape
contemporary aesthetic, political and religious debates. The course will ultimately explore the
way literature invokes, tests or extends these concepts.
Learning Outcomes: At the end of this module students will have gained a general
understanding of the theoretical and methodological issues that surround the study of
contemporary literature. Students will have learned to subject a range of recent fiction to a
technical or formal analysis. They will also be able to read texts in context and will have
acquired a basic understanding of the social, economic, and political forces that shape these
contexts.
Key Skills: Students will learn to develop a) analytical skills b) methods of textual analysis c)
an understanding of meta-critical issues d) a clear and succinct writing style e) oral
presentation skills f) a capacity for independent insight g) an ability to collaborate and work
in groups h) computer skills.
Assessment: 1,900-2,300 word essay (50%) to be submitted at the end of week 8, e.g.
Friday 27 March 2015; One-hour written exam (50%).
Week-by-week outline:
Week 1:
Introduction
ON MARKETS
Weeks 2 & 3: Nam Le, The Boat (Canongate, 2008), £7.99
Week 4:
Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl (Phoenix, 2012, £7.99)
ON POWER
Week 5:
Ronan Bennett, The Catastrophist (Headline Review, 1999, £7.99)
Week 6:
Joyce Carol Oates, Rape: A Love Story (Atlantic, 2005, £6.99)
Week 7:
Bank holiday/reading day
Week 8:
J.M. Coetzee, Disgrace (Vintage, 2000), £7.99
ON RELIGION
Easter break
Week 9:
Philip Pullman, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ (Canongate,
2010), £10.99;
Week 10:
Cormac McCarthy, The Road (Picador, 2007), £7.99
Week 11:
Bank Holiday
Week 12:
Summary
ENG 1006 Sounds of the City: Belfast and Beyond
Convenor: Dr Stephen Kelly
Module Content: This module explores the changing representations of the city from the
medieval period through to the late twentieth century, across a variety of texts and genres.
Students will investigate the varying ways in which cities have been theorised in different times
and places, and the historical and social tensions underlying cultural constructions of the
urban. Students will be asked to consider the relationship of the individual and the city, as
well as the ideologies underlying the construction and representation of urban space, focusing
on themes of conflict and community, citizenship and otherness. Having established a broad
chronological and critical remit, the module will examine the urban culture and literary
representation of Belfast.
Module Objectives: To build upon and enhance students’ skills in reading and interpreting
texts with particular theoretical and social constructs in mind; to ask students to reflect upon
the changing concept and meaning of the city, and to relate its representation and construction
in cultural texts to wider social and historical processes; critically to engage with familiar urban
environments; to develop points of contrast and comparison between Belfast and other cities,
past and present; to provide students with skills and knowledge that will be valuable for
modules at Stages 2 and 3, including presentation, written, and oral skills.
Learning Outcomes: On completing this module the student should have a broad
understanding of the development of the city as a complex and vital dimension of cultural
production. They should be able to identify prevailing themes and tensions in urban texts, and
relate these fruitfully to theoretical and secondary material. They will have developed
interdisciplinary skills in identifying and discussing the relations between cultural texts and
historical, political, social, and ideological contexts.
Assessment: 1,400-1,700 word textual analysis (30%); 2,400-2,800 word essay (70%).
Set texts: Thomas Dekker, The Shoemaker’s Holiday (New Mermaids, £8.99); Virginia
Woolf, Mrs Dalloway (Penguin, £7.99); Teju Cole, Open City (Faber, £7.99); China Mieville,
The City and the City (Pan, £7.99); Owen McCafferty, ‘Scenes from the Big Picture’ in Plays I
(Faber, £12.99); Ciaran Carson, Exchange Place (Blackstaff, £8.99). Other texts will be
provided on QOL.
Module programme:
Week 1 - Spatial Stories - literature and the city (module handbook)
Part One: The City in History
Week 2 - Foundation myths and urban realities: medieval London (QOL)
Week 3 - The City on Stage: Thomas Dekker, The Shoemaker’s Holiday
Week 4 - The Romantic City?: De Quincey, Swift, Wordsworth (QOL)
Part Two: Homo Urbanis: imagining the modern and postmodern city
Week 5 – Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway
Week 6 - Teju Cole, Open City
Week 7 - St Patrick’s Day (no lecture)
Week 8 - China Mieville, The City and the City, and the short story “Looking for Jake” (QOL)
EASTER BREAK
Part Three: Imagining Belfast
Week 9 - Ciaran Carson, Exchange Place
Week 10 - Owen McCafferty, ‘Scenes from the Big Picture’ in Plays I
Week 11 - Bank Holiday (no lecture)
Week 12 - Talk by Ciaran Carson and Owen McCafferty
ENG 1007 Identifying, Developing and Applying your Skills
Convenor: Dr Malte Urban
Module content: This module explores a diverse range of areas in which students on English
and Linguistics pathways can best apply their subject-specific skills within and beyond the
university context. By providing training and support for enhancing students’ communication,
teamwork and presentation skills, the module makes explicit the breadth of English literary
and language studies as a rich foundation for lifelong learning. The module also establishes
and facilitates ongoing links between students, employers and practising professionals, and
identifies the skills which are sought in the workplace. Many of these links are developed in
co-curricular activities that are provided exclusively for students on this module. The module
is structured around a programme of workshops. Each of these workshops targets a particular
skill already introduced in the other ENG and ENL modules, and encourages students to
explore ways in which the skill in question can be enhanced and transferred in various fields
beyond the university context.
Module Objectives: The module equips students with a firm understanding of the conceptual,
analytic, organisation and communication skills acquired during undergraduate study, and with
the ability to refine and apply those skills effectively in social, cultural, academic and
employment contexts.
Learning Outcomes: On completion of the module, students will have acquired an
appreciation of the range of skills embedded in their undergraduate programme, and will
comprehend the relevance and practical application of those skills to a variety of working and
living environments. Students will have gained practical experience in, for instance, peer
review, group and team activities, presentation skills and interview situations, and they will
have identified a range of resources to enable skills enhancement throughout the degree.
Assessment:
(i) presentation skills (30%)
(ii) learning portfolio (30%); fieldwork exercise (40%)
NB Failure in any of these components may result in an overall Fail mark for the module.
Summative assignments will be due during the exam period, but students are strongly
encouraged to submit a formative draft of their learning portfolio, dealing with their initial work
on the fieldwork exercise, in week 7 and a brief outline of their fieldwork exercise in week 10.
Module structure and timetable: This module is delivered by way of weekly two hour
workshops. In the first week of the semester, there is a two hour lecture in place of the
workshops. NB It is your responsibility to check your allotted workshop times and venues on
QSIS.
Week 1 Introduction to the module (two hour lecture)
Week 2 Your place in the academic community (two hour workshop)
Week 3 Presenting yourself (two hour workshop)
Week 4 Peer- and self-assessment (two hour workshop)
Week 5 Identifying a topic (two hour workshop)
Week 6 Conducting research (two hour workshop)
Week 7 The role of bibliographies (two hour workshop)
Week 8 Structuring an argument (two hour workshop)
Week 9 Written communication I (two hour workshop)
Week 10 Written communication II (two hour workshop)
Week 11 Oral communication (two hour workshop)
Week 12 Group presentations (two hour workshop)
Assignment Submissions: The Learning Portfolio and Fieldwork Exercise need to be
worked on throughout the semester. For this reason, you will be asked to submit your work in
progress at specific times during the semester, in order to receive formative feedback in
preparation for the end of semester submission of the final pieces of assessment. The
submission times for the work in progress are:
Learning Portfolio:


Formative: Week 7
Summative: Exam Period
Fieldwork Exercise:


Formative: Week 10
Summative: Exam Period