ENGL3631: THE CAMPUS NOVEL

• Any Single or Joint Honours finalist student wishing to take this Special Topic must have satisfactorily completed the required number of core modules. Combined Honours and Outside Honours students must have satisfactorily completed either two Level 1 core introductory modules, or at least one Level 1 core module and one further lecture based module in English at Level 2.

• None.

• None.

• To study the emergence and proliferation of the campus novel in the post-war period against the background of earlier fictions of university life.
• To examine the main generic features of the campus novel, its interaction with other literary models, and its thematic and stylistic evolution.
• To examine how the campus novel has responded to developments in British and American higher education over the period.

• The module will follow a roughly chronological sequence, modified where appropriate to allow direct comparison of novels distinguished in terms of place, gender, language and political stance. Students will read novels drawn from the work of Kingsley Amis, Andr Aciman, John Barth, Malcolm Bradbury, A. S. Byatt, Amanda Cross, Robertson Davies, Colin Dexter, Don DeLillo, Richard Faria, Gail Godwin, James Hynes, Jonathan Lethem, David Lodge, Alison Lurie, Mary McCarthy, Vladimir Nabokov, Joyce Carol Oates, Frank Parkin, Richard Powers, Richard Russo, Jane Smiley, Zadie Smith, C. P. Snow, Donna Tartt, John Williams. Students reading will be supplemented by a range of secondary critical materials.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• Students will acquire:
• a thorough knowledge of the British and American campus novel
• an understanding of broader trends in post-war British and American fiction generally
• knowledge of linguistic, literary, cultural and socio-historical contexts in which literature is written and, specifically, an understanding of the evolving cultural and political contexts of higher education
• the ability to engage with recent and contemporary critical approaches to literature

Subject-specific Skills:

• Students studying this module will develop:
• critical skills in the close reading and analysis of texts
• an ability to demonstrate knowledge of a range of texts 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
• an ability to articulate and substantiate an imaginative response to literature
• an ability to articulate knowledge and understanding of concepts and theories relating to literary studies
• skills of 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

Key Skills:

• Students studying this module will develop:
• a capacity to analyze critically
• an ability to acquire complex information of diverse kinds in a structured and systematic way involving the use of distinctive interpretative skills derived from the subject
• competence in the planning and execution of essays
• a capacity for independent thought and judgment, and ability to assess the critical ideas of others
• skills in critical reasoning
• an ability to handle information and argument in a critical manner
• information-technology skills such as word-processing and electronic data access information
• organization and time-management skills

• Seminars will encourage peer-group discussion and a collective, interactive responsiveness to the texts under discussion. They will also enable students to think critically and to read fiction and non-fiction with a close attention to the formal and aesthetic dimensions of literary writing.
• Seminars will also encourage the development of effective oral communication skills.
• The consultation session with the seminar leader prior to the first essay will facilitate an informed exploration of specific interests, ideas and arguments, enabling students to develop their subject-specific knowledge.
• Coursework: assessed essays will allow an opportunity for detailed, independent study and reflection, demonstrating an awareness of the ongoing critical commentary surrounding the texts under consideration thereby enriching their subject-specific knowledge.
• Written feedback provided after the first assessed essay will allow students to reflect upon the comments of examiners, stimulating reflection on how to improve the rhetorical persuasiveness and subject-specific knowledge exhibited in their second essay.
• Typically, directed learning may include assigning students an issue, theme or topic that can be independently or collectively explored within a framework and/or with additional materials provided by the tutor. This may function as preparatory work for presenting their ideas or findings (sometimes electronically) to their peers and tutor in the context of a seminar.

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