spring 2023
ENG-3194 Contemporary Fiction - 10 ECTS
Application deadline
Applicants from Nordic countries: 1 June for courses offered in the autumn semester and 1 December for the courses offered in the spring semester.
Exchange students and Fulbright students: 15 April for courses offered in the autumn semester and 1 October for courses offered in the spring semester.
Type of course
This course is intended for students in the master's programme in English literature and students in the master's programme in teacher education year 8-13 (lektorutdanning trinn 8-13, studieretning engelsk). This course may be taken as a single course by students who meet the admission requirements for the MA programme in English Literature.
This course fulfils the Studies in genre requirement for the MA in English literature.
Admission requirements
Bachelor's degree (180 ECTS), or equivalent qualification, in English literature, or a degree combining English literature and a closely-related discipline (minimum 80 ECTS in English). An average grade equivalent to C or better is required.
Application code: 9371 - Enkeltemner på masternivå (Nordic applicants).
Course content
This course takes its inspiration from a series of questions/topics debated at the Edinburgh World Writers conference first held in 1962. During a particular semester, it emphasizes one or more of the following: censorship, style versus thematic content, the future of the novel, the issue of whether or not fiction should be political, and/or the question of whether or not there is still such a thing as a 'national literature'. To explore these questions, we will consider recent critical theories, and the ways in which they help deepen our understanding of the texts on the reading list. We will also address how larger historical contexts influence form, style, and thematic concerns. These concerns may include gendered family histories, racial and ethnic conflicts and displacements, war and exile, illness, injury, and/or environmental change.Objectives of the course
The students will obtain the following learning outcomes:
Knowledge
The students:
- have an advanced working knowledge of contemporary narratives in relation to the questions the course addresses, both from a national and global perspective. These may include censorship, style versus thematic content, the future of the novel, whether or not fiction should be political, and/or if there is still such a thing as a "national literature."
- recognize the significance of allowing a literary work to suggest relevant theoretical questions (rather than the other way around).
- appreciate the interdependence of literary and other aesthetic issues, contemporary politics and histories, and the role of the reader in interpreting meaning in 21st century fiction.
Skills
The student will be able to:
- articulate the broader ways in which issues in the selected 21st century narratives are relevant to their own culture, global culture, and their own lives
- compare and synthesize the theories presented in relation to the texts of imaginative writing on the reading list
- demonstrate their ability to relate to theoretical concepts both orally, through class participation, and in written form, in their responses and papers
- locate, cite, and intelligently incorporate several sources into their final paper and shorter essays.
Examination
| Examination: | Date: | Grade scale: |
|---|---|---|
| Assignment | 12.05.2023 14:00 (Hand in) | A–E, fail F |
Coursework requirements:To take an examination, the student must have passed the following coursework requirements: |
||
| An oral presentation | Approved – not approved | |
| One shorter essay | Approved – not approved | |
| Attend 80% of the class sessions | Approved – not approved | |
- About the course
- Campus: Tromsø |
- ECTS: 10
- Course code: ENG-3194
- Responsible unit
- Institutt for språk og kultur
- Spørsmål om emnet
- E-post: aisi@hjelp.uit.no
- Tidligere år og semester for dette emnet