| Unit name | Critical Issues |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ENGL20100 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. James |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of English |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
The unit will provide Medical Humanities students with a useful, appropriately pitched introduction to University-level literary studies. Students will be trained to respond to literary texts in flexible, sophisticated and open-minded ways. In the process, they will be introduced to some of the major theoretical and critical preoccupations currently informing the discipline. The weekly seminar discussions will be grounded in the analysis of designated literary works, drawn from a diverse range. These works will be considered in the light of specific weekly topics, informed by further reading, so that students will examine the potential usefulness of discussing literature in the context of ideas derived from, for example, narratology, feminism and postcolonialism. While the unit is free-standing and has its own intrinsic rationale, the approaches it introduces will prove enabling for Medical Humanities students in the other literature-related components of their iBAMH programme.
On completion of this unit, a successful student will be able to:
1. demonstrate detailed knowledge and understanding of a diverse range of literary texts;
2. apply an understanding of critical and theoretical reading to specific issues articulated in the designated literary texts;
3. discriminate between and evaluate different critical perspectives on the literature studied;
4. identify and critically assess pertinent evidence to develop a cogent argument;
5. demonstrate good skills in textual analysis, argumentation, and critical interpretation, using evidence from primary texts and secondary sources.
1 x 2 hour seminar per week.
One formative 1,500 word essay [ILOs 1, 4, 5]
One 2,500 word summative essay (100%) [ILOs 1-5]
Text book:
Andrew Bennett and Nicholas Royle, An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory, 5th edn (Routledge, 2016)
Indicative texts:
Toni Morrison, Beloved (1987)
Caryl Churchill, Cloud Nine (1979)
Kate Chopin, The Awakening (1899)
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness (1899)
James Joyce, ‘The Dead’ (1914)
