| Unit name | Ways of Reading 2: Critical Thought and Theory |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ENGL10104 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | C/4 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Academic Year (weeks 1 - 52) |
| Unit director | Professor. Tom Sperlinger |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of English |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Building on the work undertaken in 'Ways of Reading 1', this unit will offer an introduction to a broad range of critical thinkers and theorists, and to creative writers thinking reflectively about their work. Students will be asked to consider the relevance of these materials to a range of primary texts and to the development of their own critical voice. There will be opportunities to compare and contrast a variety of approaches to literature, and to consider the relationship between critical or reflective thought and creative writing.
Aims:
This unit aims to build on the work of Ways of Reading 1, encouraging students to consider a variety of approaches to literature in part through engagement with a range of critical thinkers and theorists. The unit will focus these discussions on five or six literary texts, which will be read from a variety of perspectives; a range of shorter critical texts and essays will also be introduced. Students will be encouraged to develop and/or to reflect on their own critical voice.
Students will have had an opportunity to read a range of critical thinkers and theorists, and to consider their work in relation to a range of primary materials. There will have been opportunities to read five or six literary texts and to think about the relationship between critical and creative work. Students will have been encouraged to develop their own critical voice.
The unit will normally be taught in one three-hour seminar per week, which will utilise a range of teaching methods including short lectures by the tutor(s), formal and informal presentations by students, and small group discussion.
Assessment will be through one formative assignment, of 1,800 to 2,500 words, and one summative three-hour exam, which will focus on a range of unseen short texts; the exam will be designed to test the close and critical reading skills students have developed across the unit. The unit mark will comprise the mark for the examination; the essay will be designed to enable students to practice/prepare for the exam.
