Module description
This first-year option focuses on a single book. Recent examples have included Ernest Hemingway’s American fiction, In Our Time (1925). This was a collection of short stories that launched Hemingway as a writer, though not before he’d lost a first version on the train, struggled to find a publisher and battled with censorship. Another choice has been Chinua Achebe’s Nigerian novel, Things Fall Apart (1958), an example of a text that has been used to define not just Nigeria but the African continent. How have readers judged this book, what is significant about its translation into over fifty languages and why it remains the most well-read African novel.
So, this module will suit students who would like to stay with a single text in one of their first-year modules. It will work well with the module Introducing Literary Theories, as participants will look at the history of how the book has been interpreted.
Assessment details
Group presentation 10%
Preparation of notes 10%
1500 essay 75%
Class participation 5%
Educational aims & objectives
This module raises awareness of the whole life of a book from when the author conceives of it to its publication and afterlife in literary studies and popular culture. It seeks too to offer an opportunity to students to come to know a single text in great depth and with confidence.
Learning outcomes
This module was designed to assist first-year students as they move from study of single books in a school setting to an undergraduate classroom. The amount of reading is relatively small and so whichever book is chosen can be learned about in depth.
At the same time, the module allows us the chance to look at all that’s involved in ‘knowing’ a book: from book covers to reviews, from first drafts to film adaptations.
Learning to work productively in groups is an important skill as is the ability to present ideas to an audience.
Teaching pattern
This module gives you the chance to immerse yourself in one work and to think about how we might approach studying a ‘set book’ at this level. It places special emphasis on a range of teaching styles (small group tutorials, group work and independent research as well as lectures and seminars. You also look at a range of writing activities: how do you annotate a text, the skills and practices of review as well as preparing presentations.
Suggested reading list
You will be asked to buy the book we are studying in a particular edition.