University of the West of England
MODULE SPECIFICATION
(Template Revised October 2005)
Code: UPGPPF-30-1 Title: Beyond the Horizon: Spaces and Places in Literature Version: 1
Level: 1 UWE credit rating: 30 ECTS credit rating: 15
Module type: Standard
Owning Faculty: Social Sciences and Humanities Field: English
Valid from: September 2008 Discontinued from:
Contributes towards: Awards up to BA (Hons)
Pre-requisites: None
Co-requisites: None
Excluded combinations: None
Learning outcomes:
On completing this module, students should normally be able to demonstrate:
• A familiarity with selected English literatures from around the world (assessed through all elements of Components A and B );
• the ability to analyse the ways in which place is represented in selected texts (assessed through all elements of Components A and B);
• an understanding of critical and theoretical concepts pertaining to postcolonial writing (assessed through all elements of Components A and B).
• an ability to analyse theoretical concepts of space and place in literature (assessed through all elements of Components A and B).
• an ability to select and and present literary texts, for which space and place are relevant, in an anthology (assessed through element 2 of Component B).
• the ability to write literate and critical essays and form arguments with an awareness of appropriate methods of research, referencing and bibliography (assessed through all elements of Components A and B).
Syllabus outline:
This module ventures far and wide in its exploration of literatures in English focusing on the role of place, and the concept of space in literary texts. The dynamics of travel, exploration, discovery, colonialism and imperialism inscribe themselves on a range of texts that emanate from England the ‘centre’ as well as from the margins and the liminal, fluid spaces in between. Beginning with a sense that borders are there to be crossed, boundaries there to be transgressed and frontiers there to be pushed, the module resists the umbrella definition of ‘postcolonial’ to define its selected works, electing instead to interrogate and reflect upon the role played by space and place. In this way an importance is given to the specificities of locality and geography while also enabling enquiries into more abstract yet, crucial concepts of spaces within literature pertaining to literary history and ideas about the canon. Some of the texts are therefore presented as responses or writing back to a ‘core’ of English literary works that are refigured by such interactions. Reflecting a broad geographic scope, the module includes literature from the early modern period to the present day, resisting a chronological ordering while nevertheless conveying a sense of the very literary history that informs writings from ‘beyond the horizon’.
Teaching and learning methods:
The module will be taught via seminars/workshops and lectures (one of each per week).
Reading Strategy:
There will be a few set texts which students are expected to buy. Other essential reading will be made available in a supplementary module reader, in printed study packs or electronically. Formal opportunities for students to start develop their library and information skills are provided within the module UPGPDC-60-1 Approaches to Literature and Criticism in the Level 1 curriculum.
Indicative sources:
The following list is offered to provide validation panels/ accrediting bodies with an indication of the type and level of information students may be expected to consult. As such, its currency may wane during the life span of the module specification. However, as indicated above, CURRENT advice on readings will be available via other more frequently updated mechanisms.
Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart
Bill Ashcroft , Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin eds. The Postcolonial Studies Reader (Routledge, 2005).
Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin eds. The Empire Writes Back. Theory and Practice in Post-colonial Literatures (Routledge, June 2002).
Elleke Boehmer, Colonial and Postcolonial Literature. Migrant Metaphors (OUP, 2005).
J.M Coetzee, Foe, (Penguin, 1987).
Ania Loomba, Colonialism/Postcolonialism (New Critical Idiom). (Routledge, 2005).
Ania Loomba, Post-Colonial Shakespeare (Routledge, 1998).
Cormac Mc Carthy, All the Pretty Horses (Vintage, 1999).
William Shakespeare, Othello (Arden Shakespeare, New Edition, 1999).
W.B. Yeats, Selected Poetry.
Assessment
Weighting between components A and B (standard modules only) A: 40% B: 60%
ATTEMPT 1
First Assessment Opportunity
Component A
Description of each element Element weighting
1. Seen examination (2 hours) 40%
Component B
Description of each element Element weighting
1. Oral report (1500) 20%
2. Critical Anthology (2500 words) 35%
3. Attendance 5%
Second Assessment Opportunity (further attendance at taught classes is not required)
Component A
Description of each element Element weighting
1. Seen Examination (2 hours) 40%
Component B
Description of each element Element weighting
1. Oral report (1500 words) 20%
2. Critical Anthology (3000 words) 40%
SECOND (OR SUBSEQUENT) ATTEMPT Attendance at taught classes is required.
Specification confirmed by …………………………………………Date ……………………………
(Associate Dean/Programme Director)