ENGL3241: Writing Mountains in the Early Twentieth Century

• Successful completion of either ENGL2011 Theory and Practice of Literary Criticism or ENGL2021 Shakespeare.

• None.

• None.

• Introduce and explore mountain writing of the period 1900-1950
• Situate that writing within categories of fiction, travel writing, life writing, sports history and mountain culture
• Increase student confidence in working across a variety of literary forms, including autobiographical memoir, fiction, narrative non-fiction and epistolary forms (diaries; letters)
• Trace in our texts issues of heroism, masculinity, landscape, environmental responsibility, wildness, land rights, physical and psychological stress, genre and literary quality
• Assess the role of mountains within Britains wider culture/public imagination in the early twentieth century

• This module aims to explore the meaning and significance of mountains, mountaineers and the practice of mountaineering in literary contexts and the wider culture in the early twentieth century, spanniing the years approx. 1900-1950. Looking at a mixture of fiction, memoir, narrative non-fiction and epistolary forms (diaries and letters) in addition to some technical accounts, the module aims to explore human beings long-held fascination with mountain landscapes, both in terms of those who climb them, and the armchair mountaineers of the general public. We tackle philosophical attempts to grasp the mountain (the sublime; geological time), look at mountaineering history in a British and Himalayan context in particular, and consider the shifts in mountains access that occur during the the early twentieth century, in order to provide a backdrop for our analysis of our set texts. We consider models of masculinity and of heroism, the possibility of a feminine approach to mountaineering, the bodily and psychological experience of ascent (summit fever; altitude sickness), and the place of the mountain in theories of environmentalism. We will also ask why it is, and always has been, so difficult to write about mountains, without resorting to clich. While the module ranges from 1900-1950, and covers a variety of literary forms, we will always come back to one question: just why are human beings, whether or not mountaineers, so drawn to mountains?

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• Concepts of the mountain, mountaineer, and the practice of mountaineering, from the eighteenth century to the present day
• Technical and philosophical language appropriate to the discussion of mountain writing
• Theories of the sublime
• Conventions of mountain travel writing
• The portrayal of landscape in narrative form
• Effects of climbing/altitude on the human body and mind
• Theories of risk, particularly as read through the discipline of sports history
• Notions of geological time and the long-lived mountain
• Masculinity, heroism, and the possibility of a feminine approach to the mountain
• Narrative reliability and authorial claims in relation to controversial climbs
• Genre categories, including life writing, memoir, technical account and expedition report
• A brief history of British/Himalayan mountaineering
• Assessments of literary quality, the dangers of clich, the process of canon formation, prize cultures (as they relate to mountain writing specificallly)
• Knowledge of linguistic, literary, cultural and socio-historical contexts in which literature is written.
• Knowledge of useful and precise critical terminology.
• Awareness of the range and variety of approaches to literary study.

Subject-specific Skills:

• Work across a range of literary forms/genres
• Synthesise readings of mountains from across the centuries, and trace changes in philosophical concepts including that of the sublime
• Assess literary quality (and know when to dismiss its relevance to our arguments)
• Interrogate the claims of authors securing their own place in mountain history
• Situate our texts amongst broader cultural developments (in terms of access to the outdoors, changing impact of class upon sporting opportunity etc.)
• Offer close readings of passages of text
• Critical skills in the close reading and analysis of texts.
• Ability to demonstrate knowledge of a range of texts, authors, literary periods, and critical approaches.
• Informed awareness of formal and aesthetic dimensions of literature and ability to offer cogent analysis of their workings in specific texts.
• Sensitivity to generic conventions and to the shaping effects on communication of historical circumstances, and to the affective power of language.
• Ability to articulate and substantiate an imaginative response to literature.
• Ability to articulate knowledge and understanding of concepts and theories relating to literary studies.
• Skills in effective communication and argument.
• Awareness of conventions of scholarly presentation, and bibliographic skills, including accurate citation of sources and consistent use of scholarly conventions of presentation.
• Command of a broad range of vocabulary and an appropriate critical terminology.
• Awareness of literature as a medium through which values are affirmed and debated.
• Ability to engage in independent research at an appropriate level.

Key Skills:

• Confidence in working across genres
• Ability to synthesise supporting information from across disciplines (e.g. geology, philosophy, sports history, physiology)
• Confidence in argumentation in written form
• Confidence in presentation in oral form

• Seminars will mix short lecture sections for the delivery of information/consideration of relevant images, with small-group and whole-group discussion.
• Tasks will be set the week prior to each seminar, outlining the topics to be focused upon during reading of the set primary text, and also making clear any presentation tasks to be prepared.
• Presentations (individual and group) will be used on a regular basis to launch wider group discussion.
• Small student groups will occasionally be asked to take over the leading of the seminar, ensuring that student confidence in presentation and discussion is increased.
• At three points in the module, students will be asked to select their own topics for discussion the following week, in a bid to develop greater intellectual independence.
• An optional trip will be offered, to take place after the conclusion of the module. This will be a day trip by train, to visit the Mountain Heritage Trust in Penrith, where students will be able to look at text and photography archives, as well as many objects and ephemera, connected to the history of mountaineering in our period of study. It is hoped that this engagement with archives might encourage students to consider postgraduate work.
• The summative assessment (essay) will be topic- or concept-based, and students will be encouraged to select their own texts in response to the questions offered. The formative assessment will offer a choice of passages for close reading, encouraging students to build an argument from evidence identified through careful attention to the texts. Essay Handback Session 1 will encourage the use of skills gained in the formative assessment in the completion of the summative.

Before the first essay, students will have an individual consultation in which they are entitled to show their seminar leader a list of points relevant to the essay and receive oral comment on these points. Students may also, if they wish, discuss their ideas for the second essay at this meeting.

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