MA Modern and Contemporary Literature

Year of entry: 2024

Course unit details:
Historicising the Contemporary: Literature and Politics 1970-2000

Course unit fact file
Unit code ENGL60081
Credit rating 30
Unit level FHEQ level 7 – master's degree or fourth year of an integrated master's degree
Teaching period(s) Semester 1
Available as a free choice unit? Yes

Overview

This module provides a brief overview of fiction from the 1970s to the millennium, looking in particular at the historical, political and critical contexts of that fiction’s production and reception, and examining the various historical and cultural continuities and discontinuities across the period. A central question here concerns the utility of the concepts of ‘consensus’ and ‘dissensus’ for understanding both aesthetic and political matters in the late twentieth century.  

 

The consideration of a mixture of theoretical/critical material (by critics such as Alan Sinfield, Patricia Waugh, Wendy Brown, David Harvey, Brian McHale, and others) alongside a range of novels published in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, seeks to bring to light the galvanizing themes and topics of each decade: from postmodern theory (and its impact on literary fiction), to social movements such as feminism; from the apparent waning of class consciousness, to gay liberation and the AIDS crisis; from the legacies of imperialism to debates about migrant identities and multiculturalism.

Aims

To develop a critical understanding of the recent history of contemporary fiction, through the analysis of a range of novels published between 1970 and 2000. To situate those novels in their appropriate historical, political and cultural contexts, thereby developing a better understanding of the functions of literature - and of 'culture' more generally - during this period.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course students should be able to:

Knowledge and understanding
Show a developed knowledge and understanding of literature of the period 1970-2000, its formal and stylistic diversity, its critical reception, and the contexts of its production, along with some knowledge of critical/theoretical discourse of this period.

Intellectual skills
Demonstrate skills of close reading and analysis of literary texts, alongside skills of appropriate research and critical argument.

Practical skills
Locate and employ library and web-based materials in support of a developed critical argument, plan a project and meet a deadline.

Transferable skills and personal qualities
Demonstrate enhanced verbal and written communication skills, with a view to clarity, concision and reasoned argument, and work well both independently (in the preparation of the assessment) and in groups (in class-based discussion exercises).

Assessment methods

Essay 100%

 

Feedback methods

Feedback method

Formative or Summative

Essay tutorial – feedback on essay plan

Formative

Written feedback on essay

Summative

Recommended reading

Essential reading (a more detailed outline will be provided to students during Welcome Week): 

 

  • Critical extracts from Alan Sinfield (Literature, Politics & Culture in Postwar Britain), Patricia Waugh (Harvest of the Sixties), David Harvey (A Brief History of Neoliberalism) and Wendy Brown (Undoing the Demos). 

  • J.G. Ballard, The Atrocity Exhibition (1970) 

  • Kamala Markandaya, The Nowhere Man (1972) 

  • Angela Carter, The Passion of New Eve (1977) 

  • Pat Barker, Union Street (1982) 

  • Salman Rushdie, Shame (1983) 

  • Study hours

    Scheduled activity hours
    Seminars 33
    Independent study hours
    Independent study 267

    Teaching staff

    Staff member Role
    Kaye Mitchell Unit coordinator

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