Module Details

The information contained in this module specification was correct at the time of publication but may be subject to change, either during the session because of unforeseen circumstances, or following review of the module at the end of the session. Queries about the module should be directed to the member of staff with responsibility for the module.
Title Rethinking American Fiction
Code ENGL210
Coordinator Dr DM Hering
English
D.Hering@liverpool.ac.uk
Year CATS Level Semester CATS Value
Session 2020-21 Level 5 FHEQ Second Semester 30

Aims

The aims of this module are as follows:

- To enable students to engage with a cross-section of American literature from the 20th and 21st centuries

- To allow students to become conversant with the major critical contexts of this era, to understand how these critical debates are conducted.

- To provide students with the materials to perform a critique of American literature and culture.

- To attract students who are interested in approaching the study of American literature as an inherently international practice.

- To develop skills in the comparison of literary and critical/theoretical writing, and in the understanding of how to apply theoretical contexts to contemporary literary contexts.


Learning Outcomes

(LO1) On completing this module students will have acquired a knowledge and understanding of a range of twentieth and twenty-first-century American fiction.

(LO2) Developed a vocabulary for the critical analysis of this literature and an understanding of the construction and critique of the American canon.

(LO3) Gained an appreciation of the historical and cultural contexts in which this literature was produced.

(LO4) Gained an appreciation of the place of this literature within the traditions of literature in English.

(S1) International awareness: An understanding of American literature and culture as a global matter.

(S2) Independent research and essay writing skills: Ability to research and develop ideas in the form of an assessed essay.

(S3) Assessment planning skills: Ability to create a piece of formative assessment and develop it, through feedback and academic support, into a summative piece of written coursework.

(S4) Communication skills: Ability to discuss the cultural discourse of American literature of the 20th and 21st centuries in a seminar group.


Syllabus

 

Topics covered will include: America’s global relations; American citizenship and race/legacies of slavery; American modernism; the great depression; postwar anxieties and the cold war; American approaches to gender and sexuality; paranoia and conspiracy; regional writing; the 1990s and the ‘end of history’.

Texts/authors on the syllabus may be subject to change and are intended here to show the kind of reading required for each week.

Writers studied may include Toni Morrison, Sylvia Plath, Willa Cather, Thomas Pynchon, Jhumpa Lahiri, Flannery O’ Connor and Colson Whitehead.

Assessment will be via:

- A 1000 word formative assessment (a plan for the assessed coursework at the end of the module)

- A 3000-3500 word summative assessment which will take the form of a coursework essay

- A Take-Home Exam (24 hours, to be scheduled by SAS)


Teaching and Learning Strategies

Teaching Method 1 - Weekly 1-hour F2F tutorial with small group
Description: Tutorial
Attendance Recorded: Yes
Teaching Method 2 – Weekly 2 x 1-hour remote online workshops with whole cohort
Description: Workshop
Attendance Recorded: Yes

Self-Directed Learning Description: During this time, students will be required to read ahead to fulfil their required weekly reading, and also to read more widely from an extensive list of secondary material which will be provided by the convenor - this will be made available via VITAL and the library e-reading list. VITAL will also give students access to a series of blended learning options (links to online materials) that will enhance their learning. This time will also be used to write up assessment, both formative and summative.


Teaching Schedule

  Lectures Seminars Tutorials Lab Practicals Fieldwork Placement Other TOTAL
Study Hours   22

11

      33
Timetable (if known)   60 mins X 2 totaling 22
 
60 mins X 1 totaling 11
 
       
Private Study 267
TOTAL HOURS 300

Assessment

EXAM Duration Timing
(Semester)
% of
final
mark
Resit/resubmission
opportunity
Penalty for late
submission
Notes
Assessment ID: Take-Home Exam (24 hours, to be scheduled by SAS) Assessment Description: Summative Anonymous Assessment: Yes Resit opportunity: Yes  24 hours    50       
CONTINUOUS Duration Timing
(Semester)
% of
final
mark
Resit/resubmission
opportunity
Penalty for late
submission
Notes
Assessment ID: Essay Plan Assessment Description: Formative Anonymous Assessment: No Resit opportunity: N/A  800-1000 words         
Summative Essay Anonymous Assessment: Yes Resit opportunity: Yes  3000-3500 words    50       

Recommended Texts

Reading lists are managed at readinglists.liverpool.ac.uk. Click here to access the reading lists for this module.