Module Code  

EN2L4 

Module Title 

Literature in Theory 

Module Aims 

Literature in Theory (LiT) is designed as the core offering for level 5 students in Q300. It builds on the first-year core module Modes of Reading to ensure progression. However, LiT aims to examine the very object of study in the students’ undergraduate degree—literature and literary studies. Questions about what we study when we say we study literature will be aligned with an examination of topics such as the institutionalisation of literature as a discipline, issues of literary and cultural “value”, literature’s relationship to other fields of cultural production, as well as its place in the wider constitution of humanities in the university today. The module will provide a set of concerns common to all students in Q300, thus deepening a sense of intellectual community, as well as fostering a culture of critical thinking. Further, it will prepare students to face the challenges confronting the study and practice of humanities today and the crises of the public university globally 

Learning Outcomes 

By the end of the module the student should be able to.... 

Which teaching and learning methods enable students to achieve this learning outcome? 

Which summative assessment methods will measure the achievement of this learning outcome? 

Grasp some of the defining concerns, debates and contexts informing literary studies from a variety of critical and historical perspectives 

Lectures and seminars 

Assessed essay and research assignment  

Discuss a particular work of literature in relation to questions about the institutionalisation of literature, issues of literary and cultural “value”, literature’s relationship to other fields of cultural production, and its place in the wider constitution of humanities in the university 

Lectures and seminars 

Assessed essay and research assignment  

Produce a written analysis of one or more of the module texts, engaging in independent research and effectively communicating information, arguments and analysis 

Seminars 

Assessed essay and research assignment

Engage in research exercises regarding the role of literature in relation to questions of value, media, taste, disciplinarity, institutional authority, etc. 

Seminars 

Research assignment 

Make an informed choice about pathways on the English degree and potential dissertation supervisors to approach. 

Lectures, seminars, workshops 

N/A