B02 BA (Honours) Literature
1
Programme Guide
Contents
1
Introduction
2
2
Educational aims of the programme
2
3
The Literature curriculum
3
4
Learning outcomes of the programme
5
5
Assessment
6
6
The structure of the programme
6
7
Sample pathways
8
8
Planning your pathway
13
9
Credit transfer
13
10
Classification of your degree
13
11
Your award and employment
13
12
A glossary of terms in learning and assessment
14
13
Taking your studies further
18
Appendix A Programme learning outcomes
19
Appendix B Descriptions of the Literature options
22
Appendix C Your pathway: planning form
31
Copyright © 2010 The Open University
Printed in the United Kingdom
1.3
2
1
Introduction
Studying Literature
Most people who study Literature (or ‘English’) at university do so because they love reading
novels, plays and poetry, and want to develop their knowledge of this absorbing and enriching
subject. The study of literature includes considering how language is used, how literary texts are
structured, and how we as readers develop a range of interpretive strategies to make sense of
particular works. But the study of literature also enables us to go beyond the appreciation of
texts themselves to explore the wider cultural significance of these works. We can look to
literature for insights into how societies see themselves or how they wish themselves to be seen.
Novels, plays and poetry expose the questions, issues and conflicts troubling the consciousness
of an age, in a way which may not be apparent from other sources. Literary texts do not
necessarily tell us what happened in history, or what is happening around us, but they can
expose some of the underlying assumptions conditioning people’s perceptions of the world in
the present, the past and in other cultures.
The BA (Hons) Literature offers a range of courses that will enable you to develop your interest
in literary study. The degree is in ‘Literature’ rather than ‘English’ (the more common term)
because although you will study many of the best-known works in ‘English Literature’ you will
also have the opportunity to study works written in English from cultures across the world, and
works translated into English from other languages. Indeed there is a good deal of freedom of
choice within the degree. You will be able, if you wish, to include creative writing, and to study
the development and use of the English language. We also have a strong commitment to the
value of interdisciplinary study. You will be encouraged to place works of literature in their
wider historical and cultural contexts, and will take at least one course where literature is
studied alongside other subjects, thus enhancing your understanding of the connections between
various Arts disciplines.
If you follow one of the pathways outlined later in this guide, you will acquire knowledge of a
wide variety of texts from different periods and different literary genres (poetry, drama, fiction),
and of a range of up-to-date ways of thinking about literature. Some courses offer the
opportunity to make use of the internet and other electronic means of communication, and you
will have online access to the Open University Library which offers a rich array of resources for
the study of literature. As you work through the degree, you will progressively develop a range
of analytical skills that will enable you to read and write about literary texts with more
confidence.
Using this programme guide
This guide is designed to help you plan the courses you need to take if you wish to be awarded a
BA (Hons) Literature. It is useful to think about which courses you will take as early as
possible, although you may, of course, change your mind later. It is important to remember also
that Open University courses are regularly revised and developed, so you will need to keep up
to date by visiting the Study at the OU website and checking the latest edition of this guide. This
will give you information on any new courses that are linked to the award and will also tell you
if there are any changes in the regulations for the BA (Hons) Literature.
2
Educational aims of the programme
The overall aims of the BA (Hons) Literature programme are:
3
to provide you with a wide-ranging introduction to literary texts in English (and texts
translated into English);
to develop skills of analysis and interpretation of literary texts, and an awareness of the
range and variety of current critical and theoretical approaches to the study of literature;
to enable you to develop conceptual and communication skills, and to progress towards
more independent thinking and judgement.
In constructing this degree programme we have taken account of the national recommendations
of the English Benchmarking Group (which identifies appropriate features of a single-subject
degree in English in all universities in the country) and the Quality Assurance Agency’s Higher
Education Qualifications Frameworks. You can, therefore, be confident that when you study for
this award your studies are equivalent to (but not exactly the same as) those of students of
literature throughout the country.
3
The Literature curriculum
The BA (Hons) Literature programme is made up of courses at three different levels. At Level 1
you are guided through the study of pre-selected texts. At Level 2 you are expected to make use
of relevant information from set books and extracts from a range of critical and historical
materials. Level 3 courses lay more emphasis on the use of critical, theoretical and historical
materials, and require you to present your work in a more scholarly way.
Although each course functions as an autonomous unit, the process by which you acquire the
necessary skills is to some extent cumulative and we therefore advise you to start at Level 1, and
then complete your Level 2 work before moving on to Level 3. If you work successfully
through all the levels, you will have achieved the learning outcomes described below.
Level 1
The interdisciplinary course AA100 The Arts Past and Present makes a good place to start
study, if you are returning to study after some years, or if you have never studied at
undergraduate level before. As a new student, you will receive a lot of individual teaching and
learning support as you develop the kinds of skills and approaches essential for successful study
in Arts subjects. This course includes study of a range of literary texts, including Dr Faustus by
Christopher Marlowe, Seamus Heaney’s The Burial at Thebes and a collection of modern short
stories. It will also provide you with the necessary breadth of knowledge so that you can
progress with confidence to higher levels.
Level 2
If you have already studied a Level 1 course with the Open University, or have equivalent
experience of university study from elsewhere, and want to begin specialist study towards a
degree in literature, you are recommended to begin with our level 2 course, A210 Approaching
literature. A210 is compulsory for the BA (Hons) Literature. This 60-point course provides a
wide-ranging introduction to the study of literature and develops your understanding through
discussion of some key questions. How do we work out what a text means? How does a play
move from page to performance? The course offers a wide-ranging introduction to the study of
literary texts – including fiction, poetry and drama. You will analyse a variety of texts in four
blocks: The realist novel examines four well-known nineteenth-century novels; Romantic
writings sets some of the greatest English poetry in political and cultural context; through
writers like Louisa May Alcott, Alice Walker and Henrik Ibsen, you’ll explore the relationship
between Literature and gender; and Shakespeare, Aphra Behn and the canon examines
Shakespeare alongside the first important woman playwright.
4
Two other courses are available at level 2.
A215 Creative Writing (60 points) This course takes a student-centred approach to creative
writing, offering a range of strategies to help you develop as a writer. The emphasis is highly
practical, with exercises and activities designed to ignite and sustain the writing impulse. The
five-part course starts by showing ways of harnessing the unconscious and building a daily
discipline. This is followed by demonstration and practice of the three most popular forms –
writing fiction, writing poetry, and life writing. The concluding part aims to demystify the world
of agents and publishers, teaching you how to revise and present your work to a professional
standard.
U211 Exploring the English Language (60 points) The English language has always been a
diverse and dynamic topic. This interdisciplinary course will be relevant to anyone interested in
a broad range of questions about English, whether for professional or personal reasons. Is the
influence of English worldwide cause for celebration or concern? What are the origins of the
language and how has it changed in response to social, cultural and technological
developments? How do children and adults learn English? How can English be analysed? What
is the basis for our judgements about ‘good’ and ‘bad’ English? You will investigate these and
many other issues through a combination of computer-based resources and course books.
Level 3
There are five courses at Level 3 for you to choose from.
A300 Twentieth Century Literature: Texts and Debates (60 points) takes you right to the heart
of twentieth-century literature – the excitement it has caused, the provocative critical debates it
has generated, the political and historical influences it has developed from. Alongside close
critical study of works by the century’s major literary lions (Brecht, T.S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf,
Chekhov and others), you will place them in the contexts in which they were written and read,
examine the debates and arguments of influential critics, and analyse alternative interpretations.
The course is divided into four blocks: the function of literature; different modernisms; notions
of popularity; and questions of evaluation.
A363 Advanced Creative Writing (60 points) develops your writing ability by widening your
generic range and developing your knowledge of style. The course works on the forms
introduced in the Level 2 course Creative writing (A215) – fiction, poetry and life writing – and
supplements these with dramatic writing, showing you how to write for stage, radio and film.
You’ll explore how these scriptwriting skills might enhance your prose style, improve your
writing across the range of forms, and further develop your individual style and voice. The
course offers guidance on professional layouts for the dramatic media, and is a natural
progression from A215.
AA306 Shakespeare: Text and Performance (60 points) is an intensive study of nine
Shakespeare plays takes close account of the social and political circumstances in which they
were written and performed. This broad historicist approach is complemented by a strong
emphasis on the diversity of twentieth-century critical responses to the plays and on modern
productions of them, both on stage and on screen. The course will develop your knowledge of
the range and variety of Shakespeare’s dramatic work; examine how its reception and status has
been shaped by cultural and institutional factors; and explore themes such as questions of genre,
politics, sexuality and gender.
AA316 The Nineteenth Century Novel (60 points) Novels in the nineteenth century were
particularly engaged with the events, circumstances, beliefs and attitudes of their time. This
course encourages you to enjoy and understand them through the study of twelve texts from
England (mainly), France and the USA, including works by Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte,
Dickens, George Eliot, Flaubert and Conrad. The focus is on understanding the role of the novel
5
in representing and exploring social and cultural change, the flexibility of the genre and how it
developed aesthetically, stylistically and structurally. You’ll also engage with academic debates
appropriate to study at Level 3, through the examination of contemporary and current critical
approaches.
EA300 Children’s Literature (60 points) provides a broad introduction to the vibrant and
growing field of children’s literature studies. You will study children’s literature in English
ranging from its beginnings in eighteenth-century chapbooks and fairy tales, through seminal
nineteenth-century novels, to contemporary examples of fiction illustrating current trends. The
course also includes the study of picture books old and new, stage performance and film,
storytelling and poetry. You will learn about the distinctiveness and purposes of children’s
literature, its prestigious and popular modes and its different representations of children’s
worlds.
4
Learning outcomes of the programme
Course learning outcomes
For each course that goes to make up the BA (Hons) Literature there are specified learning
outcomes. These describe the knowledge and understanding you will acquire as you study the
course, as well as what you will be able to do when you have completed that course, always
assuming that you engaged in appropriate study, put in the required effort and acted upon
feedback. Learning outcomes are usually listed under four headings:
knowledge and understanding;
cognitive (intellectual) skills;
practical and/or professionally related skills that are specific to the discipline;
key skills, such as communication and use of information technology.
You are encouraged, throughout your studies, to reflect on your achievements against the
learning outcomes for the courses you take.
Programme learning outcomes
In addition to specifying the learning outcomes of component courses, it is now a national
requirement that universities list the outcomes for all the awards they make, such as diplomas or
degrees. We have provided the learning outcomes identified for the BA (Hons) Literature
programme in Appendix A. You will see that they are again grouped in the four categories listed
above. They describe the knowledge and understanding, the cognitive (intellectual) skills, the
key skills, and the practical or professional skills that you will have the opportunity to develop
and demonstrate as you study for a BA (Hons) Literature. We see these outcomes as central to
your studies. Although embedded in the study of literature, many of these outcomes are readily
transferable to your everyday life and employment.
If you do decide to study for the BA (Hons) Literature, you will find it helpful to refer to these
learning outcomes occasionally to remind yourself of the knowledge and skills you are working
towards. You will notice that we have set out Appendix A in table format, with space for you to
add comments as you make your own on-going self-assessment. As you approach the end of
your degree you might like to use the table as a checklist to record your own attainment. You
may also find it useful to extract statements from it to support any applications you make for
further study or employment.
6
5
Assessment
In the BA (Hons) Literature programme a range of different types of assessment is used, in
accordance with the recommendations of the national English Benchmarking Statement.
Assessment methods on most courses include short written answers, essays, extended essays,
and examinations. Full details of the assessment patterns for individual courses are included in
the course materials.
6
The structure of the programme
To be awarded a BA (Hons) Literature degree you must gain 360 points of credit through study
of Literature courses, and other specified interdisciplinary and complementary courses, as set
out in Table 1 which follows. Descriptions of the specified Literature courses linked to the BA
(Hons) Literature degree are provided in Appendix B. Full descriptions and course start dates
are given on the Study at the OU website.
See Section 9 if you think that you may be eligible for credit transfer for studies you have
already completed at another institution.
The full regulations governing the BA (Hons) Literature can be found in the ‘Award
Regulations’ section of the online award description.
7
Table 1
Credit points required for the award of BA (Hons) Literature (B02)
Component of
programme
Credit points
required
Applicable courses and levels
Literature
60 points
Level 2
A210 Approaching Literature
60 points
Specified
Literature courses
180 points
minimum
Level 2 1
U211 Exploring the English Language
60 Points
(Options)
(120 points
minimum at
Level 3)
Level 2
A215 Creating Writing
60 points
Level 3 2
A300/AZX300 [online] Twentieth Century
Literature: Texts and Debates
60 points
(Compulsory)
A363 Advanced Creative Writing 60 points
AA306 Shakespeare: Text and Performance
60 points
AA316 The Nineteenth-Century Novel
60 points
EA300 Children’s Literature 60 points
Interdisciplinary 3
(Options)
‘Free choice’
element
60 points
minimum
60 points
maximum
Level 1
AA100 The Arts Past and Present
60 points
Level 2
A207 From Enlightenment to Romanticism
c. 1780–1830
60 points
Level 3
AA300/AAZX300 [online] Europe: Culture and
Identities on a Contested Continent
60 points
All levels
Any approved OU courses that count towards a
bachelor degree, including those listed as
specified literature options, bearing in mind the
overall requirements for an honours degree and
taking account of excluded combinations. 4
1
Subject to the rules about excluded combinations, the discontinued course A295 and U210 can be linked to this award.
2
Subject to the rules about excluded combinations, the discontinued courses A312, A361, A319, A421, A430 can be linked to this
award.
3
Subject to the rules about excluded combinations, the discontinued courses A102, A103, A205, A206, A324, AA304 and AA305
can be linked to this award.
4
If you wish to count short (10-point) courses towards the BA (Hons) Literature you may not count more than 30 points, i.e. a
maximum of three 10-point courses.
8
7
Sample pathways
In this section, we offer you examples of different ‘pathways’ you might follow that would lead
to the award of a BA (Hons) Literature. You may have already seen two sample pathways in the
award description on Study at the OU. As you will see, there are many different ways in which
courses may be combined. Looking carefully at the sample pathways that follow will help you
think through how you might put together a series of courses that will reflect your own interests
and enthusiasms, while also meeting the requirements laid down for the degree.
Pathway 1
The following combination of courses includes wide-ranging study of literature of different
eras.
Literature
(Compulsory)
Literature
(Options)
Interdisciplinary
(Options)
‘Free choice’ element
60 pts
180 pts (120 at Level 3)
60 pts
Maximum 60 pts
Level 1
AA100 (60 pts)
The Arts Past and
Present
A210 (60 pts)
Approaching Literature
A207 (60 pts)
From Enlightenment to
Romanticism c.17801830
AA316 (60 pts)
The Nineteenth-Century Novel
A300 (60 pts)
Twentieth Century Literature:
Texts and Debates
EA300 (60 pts) Children’s
Literature
Level 3
9
Pathway 2
The following combination includes a broad focus on literature, with the opportunity for study
in another subject – in this example, History.
Literature
(Compulsory)
Literature
(Options)
Interdisciplinary
(Options)
‘Free choice’ element
60 pts
180 pts (120 at Level 3)
60 pts
Maximum 60 pts
Level 1
AA100 (60 pts)
The Arts Past and
Present
A210 (60 pts)
Approaching Literature
A200 (60 pts)
Exploring History:
Medieval to Modern
1400–1900
AA306 (60 pts)
Shakespeare: Text and
Performance
AA316 (60 pts)
The Nineteenth-Century
Novel
A300 (60 pts)
Twentieth Century
Literature: Texts and
Debates
Level 3
10
Pathway 3
The following combination of courses includes a broad focus on literature, with
interdisciplinary emphasis.
Literature
(Compulsory)
Literature
(Options)
Interdisciplinary
(Options)
‘Free choice’ element
60 pts
180 pts (120 at Level 3)
60 pts
Maximum 60 pts
Level 1
AA100 (60 pts)
The Arts Past and
Present
A210 (60 pts)
Approaching Literature
A207 (60 pts)
From Enlightenment to
Romanticism
c. 1780–1830
AA306 (60 pts)
Shakespeare: Text and
Performance
AA316 (60 pts)
The Nineteenth-Century Novel
Level 3
A300 (60 pts)
Twentieth Century Literature:
Texts and Debates
11
Pathway 4
The following combination of courses includes a broad focus on literature, with some
specialisation in English language studies.
Literature
(Compulsory)
Literature
(Options)
Interdisciplinary
(Options)
‘Free choice’ element
60 pts
180 pts (120 at Level 3)
60 pts
Maximum 60 pts
Level 1
AA100 (60 pts)
The Arts Past and
Present
A210 (60 pts)
Approaching Literature
U211 (60 pts)
Exploring the English
Language
AA316 (60 pts)
The Nineteenth-Century
Novel
E303 (60 pts)
English Grammar in Context
AA306 (60 pts)
Shakespeare: Text and
Performance
Level 3
12
Pathway 5
The following combination of courses includes Creative Writing.
Literature
Compulsory
Literature
Options
Interdisciplinary
Options
‘Free choice’ element
60 pts
180 pts (120 at Level 3)
60 pts
Maximum 60 pts
Level 1
AA100 (60 pts) The
Arts Past and Present
A210 (60 pts)
Approaching Literature
A215 (60 pts)
Creative Writing
A363 (60 pts) Advanced
Creative Writing
A300 (60 pts)
Twentieth-century
Literature: texts and debates
AA316 (60 pts)
The Nineteenth-Century
Novel
Level 3
13
8
Planning your pathway
We have not been able to illustrate every possible current pathway but we hope that we have
given you a sense of some of the possibilities for study towards BA (Hons) Literature and the
ways that you can put together the required credit points for this award. We suggest that, as you
contemplate registering to study for this award, you try to plot out your own proposed pathway
in a diagram, making sure that it meets the requirements of the degree. (In Appendix C we have
provided a blank planning chart for you that you may find helpful.) You need to be aware that
there are occasionally excluded combinations of study, for example where new courses are
introduced that have significant overlaps with discontinued courses. Information about these
combinations will be provided in the full course description given on the Study at the OU
website.
Although you are allowed a good deal of choice when deciding your pathway, we strongly
recommend that you study progressively through the levels, i.e. that you study your Level 1
course(s) first, and then move on to Level 2 courses before taking your Level 3 courses.
However, we recognise that this may not always be possible, or desirable. You may want to
follow a line of study through Level 2 and Level 3, and then return to take a different Level 2
course. You may also wish to study courses out of level sequence because, for example, a
course is in its last year of presentation or a new course has been introduced. What is important
is that you consider carefully the implications of such a decision, and seek advice if you are in
doubt.
9
Credit transfer
You are permitted to count up to 240 points of transferred credit towards the BA (Hons)
Literature, of which no more than 120 points can be at Level 1. Please note that credit transfer
cannot be used to meet the requirement for 120 points of Level 3 study of specified Literature
courses.
Full details of credit transfer regulations are provided in the ‘Essential information sheets’
which can be accessed at:
http://www.open.ac.uk/credit-transfer or through the link in the Literature programme
description.
10 Classification of your degree
Open University degrees are classified according to the traditional four classes: first (1); upper
second (2i); lower second (2ii); and third (3).
For further information about how your degree classification is decided, please refer to
‘Working out your class of honours’ in the ‘Our rules and regulations’ section at:
http://www3.open.ac.uk/our-student-policies/
11 Your award and employment
In studying for a degree in Literature, you will simultaneously be equipping yourself with many
of the skills required in the modern workplace. Employers in all fields will value highly the
skills that you will acquire in the course of your studies for the BA (Hons) Literature: the ability
14
to construct a clearly expressed argument; to present ideas in a concise, logical and clear
fashion; to analyse critically a piece of writing; to deal competently with a large amount of
complex information; and to show initiative in conducting independent research. A singlesubject honours degree in Literature has wide applicability to many types of employment, such
as teaching at primary, secondary or tertiary level; public relations; journalism; publishing; the
civil service; the media; law; and administration. It is important to remember that most
Literature graduates go into jobs and professions apparently unrelated to the academic study of
literature. If you apply for a job in the future, you will want to reflect on all of the different ways
in which your study of literature has equipped you for its demands.
If you want to explore and research potential employment opportunities open to literature
graduates, there are many sources of information. You can arrange to speak with one of the
University’s careers advisers by contacting your Regional Centre. Alternatively you can look at
the Open University Careers Advisory Service website and explore the section entitled ‘OU
study and your career’, which can be accessed at:
http://www.open.ac.uk/careers
There is also an external careers website called ‘Prospects’ which contains useful information
on literature related careers, you should use the site search for ‘English’.
12 A glossary of terms in learning and
assessment
The study of literature, like other academic disciplines, has a vocabulary that includes a number
of specialist words and phrases. In our courses we introduce you to this vocabulary. What
follows is a very brief guide to some of the most common terminology that you will find in
course materials and in the assessment process.
Analysis
This means breaking something down into its component parts, describing or
defining them and then showing how they relate to one another. Analysis forms an important
part of the study of literary texts and we assess your ability in this area.
Assessment
In this programme we use various forms of assessment: essays, extended
essays, passage analysis, short answer questions and formal examinations. The University uses a
system that combines a continuous assessment element and an examination component. In
certain (unusual) circumstances, you may also be asked to attend a viva voce (or oral
examination). You will be given more detailed advice about assessment methods and how to
meet the assessment criteria in the courses themselves.
Associate lecturer
The member of Open University staff (also often referred to as a tutor)
who is responsible for groups of students on a particular course. This is the person who will run
your tutorials (some of which may be online), advise you on course related matters, mark your
work and give you feedback.
Bibliography A list of sources that you have consulted for a specific piece of work. You are
expected to provide a full bibliography for each assignment and project. You will be taught how
to use one or more ways of presenting such a bibliography during the programme. Requirements
are simpler at Level 2 than at Level 3.
Course
A unit of study leading to the accumulation of credits, normally in
denominations of 10, 15, 30 or 60 points. A programme is made up of several courses.
Discuss
This word is often used in assessment questions. It is a shorthand way of asking
you to investigate or examine by argument; to sift and debate issues; to give reasons for or
against a point of view.
15
Discussion
In our course materials we often set questions for you to think about and make
notes on, and we usually then supply relevant ‘discussions’ that summarise some possible
approaches to them, so that you can see how your answer to the question compares.
Essays
These are short pieces of writing (generally no more than 1,000–3,000 words)
on a specific subject. In the study of literature, the essay is the standard form of assessment.
Usually the subject is provided for you in the form of a question. An essay tests your ability to
demonstrate and display your understanding of a question and your ability to use analysis,
synthesis and criticism of relevant reading and learning to answer that question. They enable
your tutor to assess your knowledge and understanding of the course, and to provide you with
assistance where appropriate to further your knowledge and understanding. They also strengthen
your general powers of self-expression. To write a good essay you are expected to:
plan your essay, with a clear introduction, development and conclusion;
use this plan to structure and define the actual essay (i.e. stick to it!);
structure and develop your arguments in a way that is clear to the reader, using punctuation
and paragraphing appropriately to lead the reader from point to point. Ideally a paragraph
should consist of one main point (a lead sentence) and its accompanying evidence,
development and illustration;
explore the different elements of the question in a clear and logical way;
reach a valid conclusion based upon the thrust of your own arguments;
back up your arguments by providing appropriately attributed evidence that has been
properly and consistently referenced. The course materials will indicate the referencing
system used by your course.
use grammatical and academically appropriate English, avoiding slang and colloquialisms;
write in continuous prose and not in note form.
Evaluate
Assess the worth of a view or an interpretation of a piece of work. (See below
for self-evaluation.)
Examinable component
The examinable component of your assessed work may be an
examination, or it may be a piece of work such as a project.
Examination Exams provide a context in which you write a specific number of essays under
time-constrained conditions and usually without access to books or articles. Exams assess the
extent to which you have actually understood the course content. They also test your ability to
apply your knowledge and understanding to particular problems with minimal preparation time.
This requires rapid thinking on your part. Normally you will be asked to write about texts or
issues that you are very familiar with. You are not expected to reference your exam essays or to
provide anything more than the briefest of quotations. Specimen Exam Papers are provided to
assist you in preparing for exams.
Some courses assess specific parts of the course by closed examination. Other courses may
allow you to bring in a book or notes. You must refer to your Course Guides and Specimen
Exam Papers for specific information.
Feedback
Your associate lecturer or tutor will assess your assignments carefully and give
you feedback. This will include a general summary of your performance in the assignment and
more specific comments on the script itself. Make sure that you read the tutor’s feedback
carefully and use it to help improve your work. In some cases you will have feedback on your
performance in an examinable component, for example a project.
Graduate
A graduate is someone who has undertaken an undergraduate programme of
studies and satisfactorily passed the related assessment. A graduate will be able to:
16
use established ideas and techniques of analysis and enquiry appropriate to their studies;
critically evaluate information, arguments and assumptions, being aware of the limitations
of given techniques and the limits of their knowledge;
use information technology (computing) and information literacy (library) skills to search
for, exchange, process and evaluate information;
communicate clearly and accurately in English, being aware of the requirements, knowledge
and perspectives of others;
plan, monitor and evaluate their own learning and performance, being aware of their own
learning styles, strengths and needs;
frame and address problems, questions and issues, being aware of the environment and
context in which the problem exists;
use and develop further their knowledge, understanding and skills to contribute effectively
in the workplace and the wider community;
do these things independently.
Information literacy Library skills are tremendously important to effective study. You need
to learn what bibliographical resources are available to assist you in searching for relevant
books and academic articles, and to learn how to use these resources to their full advantage.
Key skills
Over the programme as a whole you will develop the key skills of
communication, information literacy and improving your own learning within the academic
context of the study of literature.
Learning outcomes
These are what you should be able to do when you have completed a
given study, whether it is a block of a course, a whole course, a level or an entire programme.
They relate to several areas: knowledge and understanding of the subject; cognitive or thinking
skills; practical and professional skills; key skills of communication, information technology,
improving your own learning (learning how to learn), working with others and problem solving.
You will be directly assessed on some of these learning outcomes.
Levels
We use the term ‘Level’ to describe each of our courses. In the undergraduate
programme these will be at Level 1, Level 2 or Level 3. (In the section on the structure of the
programme you will have noticed that every course has a level.) Usually the level of the course
can be seen in the first number of its code – thus AA100 is at Level 1, A210 at Level 2 and
AA306 at Level 3.
The Open University has developed a list of generic ‘level indicators’ that will indicate the
learning outcomes you can expect at each level regardless of discipline. Many faculties also
provide a contextualised description of what is expected at each level in the discipline
concerned. You will find one for Arts on the faculty website at:
http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts in the section ‘Studying the Arts’, then ‘New to the Arts?’
You may be interested to know that the BA (Hons) Literature, as with all awards made by the
University, is matched against the Quality Assurance Agency’s national Higher Education
Qualifications Framework.
Monograph A specialised study of a single topic or theme, based on primary and secondary
research, and aimed at a knowledgeable audience.
Offprints
Facsimiles or reprinted extracts from learned articles and extracts from books
provided as common reading for a course.
Plagiarism
This is reproducing in your own essay or other written assignment, word for
word or in very close paraphrase, work other than your own, without acknowledging it. We
realise that students sometimes stray into plagiarism without meaning to, often from
17
inexperience. Even unintentional plagiarism, however, will lower your marks. It is vital to try
and put your ideas in your own words, no matter how difficult it may seem. If you quote, you
must always indicate this by use of quotation marks, and give details of your source. The
deliberate use of another person’s – including another student’s – work as your own is cheating
and, as such, is subject to very serious disciplinary action. Deliberate and repeated plagiarism of
course material, other books or articles, or material drawn from websites, in an attempt to
deceive, will be treated with great seriousness, and will lay you open to official penalties. We
refer you to Appendix 1 of your Assessment Handbook.
Programme A programme is the specified route to a given award. Such a route includes a
number of undergraduate courses leading to the eventual accumulation of up to 480 points of
credit. For example, B02 is a programme of study leading to the BA (Hons) Literature degree
whereas A210 and AA306 are courses within it.
Project
A project is a piece of continuous prose writing that is longer than an essay
(typically 5,000–6,000 words). Usually, you frame the question for yourself, within certain
limitations. These include any subject and period parameters imposed by a particular course;
your own level of knowledge and experience; and the availability of relevant sources. In other
words, you bring into play all the presentational and critical skills that you have learnt at other
earlier levels of study. Projects are an opportunity to demonstrate your:
ability to devise an appropriate question;
understanding of relevant texts and critical or theoretical material;
ability to plan and manage time effectively;
ability to control your material and organise it;
ability to write to length;
ability to produce an effective and convincing argument, and substantiate all key points by
making careful and judicious use of evidence from a range of sources;
ability to present ideas clearly and communicate appropriately for your audience;
ability to use a comprehensive referencing system and to provide a full and accurate
bibliography.
Reader
This is a collection of essays or primary sources selected especially for use in
the context of a given course.
References
These are part of the scholarly apparatus of academic writing. They are a form
of acknowledgement of the works that have been drawn upon in the writing of an essay or
project. At Level 1 and Level 2 you are taught a relatively simple form of referencing that is
common across the Faculty of Arts. At Level 3 you are introduced to forms of footnoting and
bibliography used within the academic study of literature.
Secondary sources
These are works of criticism or interpretation of literary texts, as
opposed to the literary texts themselves (the ‘primary’ sources).
Self-evaluation
We encourage you to reflect on what you have learnt and how well you
have done against learning outcomes and outcomes-based marking criteria. From time to time
you may be asked to submit a self-evaluation of your performance (in a TMA, for example) and
you may be given a checklist to help you. You should take this opportunity to think hard about
what you have achieved and what you just cannot get to grips with. You should present your
self-evaluation in note form. Perhaps you can use these notes to help you address any problems
you are having by, for example, raising the matter with your tutor.
Set books
Course teams are aware that students learning at a distance often have difficulty
in accessing library resources. It is, however, important that all students have a common body of
18
reading upon which to draw. This common core of reading is provided by readers, offprints,
online resources and set books. Set books are commercially published books which you will
need to buy when you study each course.
Summary
A brief description of what has been written or what has happened. At Level 1
you will practise this skill. It will form a small but important part of your work thereafter. If you
choose to enter the programme at Level 2, you must make sure that you have mastered this skill.
Synthesise/Synthesis These terms mean bringing together different sources in order to
provide an overall account or interpretation.
Textbook
A book designed for a student audience. A book designed to accompany
particular courses. This may be a general survey or a more detailed, topic-based account. It will
offer a synthesis of scholarly work in the area, although textbooks designed for advanced
students may also offer the results of original research in an easily digestible form.
Tutor
See ‘Associate lecturer’.
Tutorials
These are an optional part of your study programme. We cannot stress enough
how valuable this opportunity is, if you are able to take advantage of them. Some courses offer
e-tutorials and conferencing as alternatives or as substitutes, or in addition to, face-to-face
sessions.
Writing to length/word limits This is an important skill. You are allocated a given word limit
for each piece of assessed work and you must ensure that you comply with this in answering the
whole question. Make sure that you plan your answer and that you maintain a balance between
one part and another in the completed answer. Redrafting is frequently necessary to ensure that
an answer is balanced.
13 Taking your studies further
If you undertake the BA (Hons) Literature, we hope that you will enjoy your studies and will
achieve its projected learning outcomes. If so, when you have completed your degree you may
want to consider further study at a higher level. The MA in English is an attractive option. The
first part of the MA is a 120-point taught module where you will build on your previous study
of literature, and be equipped with key research methods in literary study. The course is
designed to give plenty of scope for the development of individual research projects. In the
second part of the MA, you will concentrate entirely on your own research and produce a
dissertation under the guidance of a tutor. The MA can be completed in 28 months. This is an
excellent degree and qualification in its own right. It is also essential preparation for PhD
studies.
19
Appendix A Programme learning outcomes
This appendix sets out the learning outcomes for the BA (Hons) Literature degree programme. On
completion of your degree you should be able to demonstrate all the learning outcomes.
Use this appendix to remind yourself of the knowledge and skills you are working towards, as you
study for the BA (Hons) Literature. Towards the end of the your degree you might like to use the
tables as a checklist to record your own attainment or extract statements from it to support any
applications you make for further study or employment.
A
Knowledge and understanding
When you have completed this degree you will have knowledge
and understanding of:
• a substantial number of authors and texts in English (or
translated into English), including texts written in English
outside the United Kingdom, and of the development of the
character and conventions of the principal literary genres –
poetry, fiction and drama;
• the central role of language in the creation of meaning, and the
ways in which the English language is capable of complex
articulation, communication and rhetoric;
• key critical concepts, terms and current theoretical approaches
to literary study, including an awareness of how literary texts
and language both reflect and impact upon cultural change and
difference;
• how literary texts are written and received within literary,
cultural and sociohistorical contexts, and how the study of
literature can benefit from interdisciplinary work;
• the significance of the material processes involved in the
production of books.
B
Cognitive skills
When you have completed this degree you will be able to:
• read a range of literary texts and secondary sources analytically,
including complex theoretical writing;
• engage with different interpretations of texts, and relate abstract
concepts and theories to specific literary texts;
• synthesise information and ideas drawn from various sources,
and evaluate critically opposing positions;
• engage with literary texts from the past and from other cultures
and recognise how cultural assumptions affect understanding
and interpretation of texts;
• think logically and make rational judgements based on
evidence.
Comments
20
C
Practical and/or professional skills
When you have completed this degree you will be able to:
• construct and present sustained, coherent and persuasive written
and oral arguments;
• collect, sift and organise material, and evaluate its significance;
• work independently;
• plan and write essays and longer projects, including providing
appropriate scholarly apparatus and acknowledging the work of
others;
• acquire knowledge through the use of an academic library.
D
Key skills
When you have completed this degree you will be able to
demonstrate the following skills:
Communication
You will be able to:
• write essays in an appropriately academic form;
• participate in oral discussion of the subject, and develop
communication strategies over an extended period of time;
• read and synthesise substantial quantities of written material;
• develop listening and viewing strategies.
Improving own learning and performance
You will be able to:
• study subjects and complete academic tasks of increasing
complexity, and sustain and develop learning over an extended
period;
• study and learn more independently, and from a variety of
different media and teaching methods;
• make use of feedback from a tutor, and develop self-assessment
activities to improve your own performance.
Information technology
You will be able to:
• recognise the increasing extent to which ICT can be of value in
the academic study of literature, for example in wordprocessing documents and in accessing data.
Working with others
You will be able to:
• work with another person or group of people in discussion and
debate, and in the preparation of joint projects.
21
Problem solving
You will be able to:
• analyse a problem and define its constituent parts.
22
Appendix B Descriptions of the Literature
options
The descriptions here summarise the content of each course and the set books for the course.
Fuller information on the Literature options, including entry requirements, start dates,
preparatory work, assessment, course materials and current ISBN and price information for set
books is available on the Study at the OU website. You can also find details of the
interdisciplinary courses and other courses suitable for the ‘free choice’ element there.
A210 Approaching Literature
The focus throughout the course is on texts (words on the page or drama in performance), and
the course material is designed to help you to gain a full understanding of the set texts. We also
introduce some of the main ways in which critics approach literature, so that you can come to an
understanding of what it means to study this subject. By the end of the course you should be
equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to go on to literary studies at Level 3. The
texts are grouped into four equal sections, either by date of writing or by a theme.
The realist novel The texts are Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Charles Dickens’s Great
Expectations, classic texts that students have always enjoyed, along with Mary Shelley’s
Frankenstein and Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons. You study these texts as part of the
development of a genre, or literary form, asking how individual writers use the form and how
the form influences them as writers. How far are writers free to write as they wish? What makes
a writer choose to write a novel rather than, say, a poem?
Romantic writings Recent scholarship suggests that the fullest understanding of texts is attained
when they are dealt with as part of the study of their cultural and historical period. Here we look
at the period 1780 to 1830 in Britain – the Romantic period – studying poems by Blake,
Wordsworth, Shelley and others (again, writers considered among the finest in the language),
and drawing on recent studies of European female Romantic writers. The choice of texts and
topics is particularly wide; there is even optional material on short stories by the European
writers Kleist and Hoffmann. Also optional is a consideration of the relationships of Romantic
writings to the exotic and to colonialism.
Literature and gender You explore one of the most striking developments of recent years in the
study of literature: the discovery of women’s writing, and the reinterpretation of texts by both
women and men to take account of ideas about how gender works in society. You look at
women writers such as the nineteenth-century poets Christina Rossetti and Emily Dickinson; the
fiction writers Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Alice Walker, Jamaica Kincaid and Virginia Woolf;
and the dramatists Susan Glaspell and Caryl Churchill. How men convey both positive and
negative images of women is also considered, through work by authors such as Alfred
Tennyson and Henrik Ibsen.
Shakespeare, Aphra Behn and the canon Since the beginnings of literary criticism, many critics
have seen their role as being to select and study the best, most valuable texts. What better way
to introduce this approach to literature than through the work of Shakespeare, famed not just in
Britain but throughout the world? You will work in detail on a historical play (Henry V), a
tragedy (Othello), and a comedy (As You Like It). Video and audio materials are used
extensively throughout the section. To point up questions about the ‘canonical’ status accorded
to Shakespeare, this section also includes study of The Rover by Aphra Behn, one of the first
women playwrights.
23
The course’s teaching material consists of four specially written textbooks and three genre
guides; taken together, these offer numerous examples of analysis and discussion of texts and
help you to prepare for the written work you will be doing. The audio-visual material includes
audio performances of the plays and full-length video productions of The Rover and Caryl
Churchill’s Top Girls.
Set books to buy
Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice
Caryl Churchill Top Girls
Charles Dickens Great Expectations
Henrik Ibsen A Doll’s House
William Shakespeare As You Like It
William Shakespeare Henry V
William Shakespeare Othello
Mary Shelley Frankenstein, 1818 text
Ivan Turgenev Fathers and Sons
Alice Walker The Color Purple
A215 Creative Writing
This course is suitable for new writers as well as for those with some experience who would like
to develop their skills. It will help you to identify your strengths and interests as a writer by
giving you the opportunity to write in a range of genres: fiction, poetry, biography and
autobiography. The emphasis is on finding your own directions and styles through experiment,
practice and constructive feedback. The course is suitable not only for aspiring writers, but for
anyone with a strong interest in reading and writing, who would like to deepen their
understanding of the creative process.
The course is structured around five parts. The introductory part, The Creative Process, focuses
on developing good writerly habits. It examines a range of strategies including clustering,
morning pages, and keeping a writer’s notebook, as well as statements from writers about their
own approaches and practices.
Part 2, Writing Fiction, introduces the main aspects of narrative including story structure and
genre; showing and telling; character; point of view; and place and time.
In Part 3, Writing Poetry, the role and function of poetry are discussed. The main formal
strategies and poetic devices are introduced, including lines; line breaks; enjambment; rhyme
and half-rhyme; varieties of metre; stanzas; and forms.
Part 4, Life Writing, looks at biography and autobiography. Some of the central issues raised by
life writing are discussed, including the nature of memory and forgetting, the performance of the
self, and the representation of others. There are suggestions for finding subject matter, with an
emphasis on the importance of memory.
The final part, Going Public, outlines the requirement for professional presentation of
manuscripts and an understanding of audience and market.
At the core of the course is a Workbook that takes you week-by-week through the five parts.
The emphasis is very much on practice through guided activities, supported by supplementary
articles and literary examples including poems, prose extracts and complete stories to illustrate
particular methods or strategies. Four audio CDs contain interviews with writers talking about
their own inspirations and methods, and with representatives of the publishing industry.
24
Online tutor-group forums enable peer discussion of some of your work and allow tutors to
make general points of relevance to the whole group.
Your tutor will support you through assignment feedback, and through five online tutorials.
Your electronic tuition is supported by two face-to-face day schools. Your tutor also offers
general support throughout the course, as you progress through the Workbook, which is the
principal guide to your learning.
U211 Exploring the English language
By studying this course, you’ll gain:
•
an understanding of the history of English and its development as a global language
•
a critical appreciation of contemporary uses of English in a range of social contexts
•
conceptual frameworks for the study of linguistic phenomena in a range of social
contexts
•
opportunities to analyse spoken, written and multi-modal English
•
a perspective on your own English language experiences, including developing aspects
of your own communication skills.
For the core study for the course, you’ll be using a combination of two interactive study-guide
DVD-ROMs (PC necessary) and four course books. The DVD-ROMs contain exercises
designed to develop your knowledge and understanding of key terms and concepts in language
description and investigation, as well as illustrations and discussions of the diversity of English
language practices across the globe.
The four course books are:
•
Changing English (edited by D. Graddol, D.Leith, J. Swann, M. Rhys & J. Gillen)
•
Using English (edited by J. Maybin, N. Mercer & A. Hewings)
•
Learning English (edited by N. Mercer, J.Swann & B. Mayor)
•
Redesigning English (edited by S. Goodman, D. Graddol & T. Lillis)
You’ll also receive three DVDs containing related audio-visual material to view on your
television.
A300 Twentieth Century Literature: Texts and
Debates
In this course, you’ll study a selection of twentieth-century novels, poetry and drama, and
participate in some of the major debates that have animated twentieth-century literature and
criticism. In addition to the focus on ‘texts and debates’, the course examines in detail the
variety of historical contexts in which the literary texts and the critical debates have arisen. The
course is organised in four blocks, with each block focusing on a particular literary debate, and
four texts of different genres. For each text, you’ll undertake a close analysis of its literary
language; examine its historical context(s); discuss competing critical and theoretical
interpretations; and relate the particular text and its critical reception to the general debates
25
covered in the block. You are encouraged to develop your own readings of the texts by
combining close critical analysis and historical contextualisation, and by organising your views
in relation to the relevant critical and theoretical perspectives.
The four blocks are: What is literature for?; Competing modernisms; Varieties of the popular;
and Judging literature, and the course follows a loosely chronological approach. Each block
lasts for eight weeks, with the debates outlined at the start, and then developed in the discussion
of the four texts. Discussion is also linked between blocks.
Book 1, Aestheticism and Modernism contains the teaching material for the first two blocks. The
introduction to Block 1 sets out the variety of ways in which the question ‘What is literature
for?’ has been answered, and the next four chapters focus on Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard,
Katherine Mansfield’s Short Stories, Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s Sunset Song, and Robin Skelton’s
selection of 1930’s British poetry.
Block 2 introduces the issues and debates concerned with the competing forms of modernist
writing, and then moves on to chapters on T.S. Eliot’s Prufrock and Other Observations,
Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, Betrolt Brecht’s Galileo, and Christopher Okigbo’s Labyrinths with
Path of Thunder.
Book 2 The Popular and the Canonical contains the teaching material for the second two
blocks.
Block 3 introduces the debates over the relation between ‘high’ and ‘popular’ literary forms,
and these debates are taken up and focused in the chapters on Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca,
the 1950s U.S. poetry of Frank O’Hara and Allen Ginsberg, Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids
Dream of Electric Sheep? and Manuel Puig’s Kiss of the Spider Woman.
Block 4 introduces both general debates over how literature should be judged, and particular
debates over judging literature in the context of literary prizes. Discussion of the Nobel Prize for
Literature frames the analysis of the first two texts, which are by Nobel winners: Samuel
Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Seamus Heaney’s New Selected Poems, 1966-1987.
Discussion of the Booker Prize frames the analysis of the final two texts – Abdulrazak Gurnah’s
Paradise (a Booker finalist) and Pat Barker’s The Ghost Road (a Booker winner).
The third course book is Debating Twentieth-century Literature: A Reader, and it contains
indispensable primary and secondary material to accompany the study of the texts and debates
featured in the course. Students will need to purchase this book along with the other set texts for
the course.
Set books to buy
Pat Barker The Ghost Road
Samuel Beckett Waiting for Godot
Bertolt Brecht Life of Galileo
Anton Chekhov Five Plays
Phillip K. Dick Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Daphne Du Maurier Rebecca
T.S. Eliot Prufrock and Other Observations
Allen Ginsberg HOWL and Other Poems
Lewis Grassic Gibbon Sunset Song
Abdulrazak Gurnah Paradise
Seamus Heaney New Selected Poems 1966–1987
Katherine Mansfield Selected Stories
Manuel Puig Kiss of the Spiderwoman
Robin Skelton Poetry of the Thirties
Virginia Woolf Orlando
26
S. Gupta, and D. Johnson, (eds) A Twentieth Century Literature Reader: Texts and Debates
A363 Advanced Creative Writing
This course is structured in four parts. At the core of the course is a handbook that takes you
week-by-week through methods, readings and writing exercises. This handbook covers the first
three parts of the course. The fourth part is a period of independent study.
Part 1 of the course, Ways of Writing, looks at different approaches to writing. In particular it
focuses on the influence of genre, contrast, research, revision and drama on writing style. Work
includes readings and writing exercises in fiction, poetry, and life writing.
Part 2, Writing Drama, explores writing techniques for three dramatic media: stage, film and
radio. It examines the conventional layouts and illustrates the narrative strengths and constraints
of each medium. It will deal with dramatic principles connected to dialogue, subtext, status and
exposition, as well as media-specific elements such as sets for the stage, aural contrast in radio
and montage in film.
Part 3, Developing Style, looks at how some of the methods used in dramatic writing can
improve fiction writing, life writing and poetry. For example, it looks at the connection between
dramatic monologues and fictional narrators; it examines the connection between film
techniques such as montage and the way fiction might be structured. This section goes on to
explore writing approaches in wide-ranging fashion, covering poetic form, rhetoric and the use
of analogy. You’ll focus on improving your writing style and voice in all genres.
Part 4, Independent Study, involves working on a larger project, culminating in the presentation
of an end-of-course assessment comprising a piece of creative writing of 4000 words together
with a 1000-word commentary.
As in A215, Creative Writing, the emphasis is very much on practice through guided activities,
although as the course progresses you will increasingly be expected to generate and develop
your own ideas without reliance on the course materials. In comparison to the Level 2 course
the emphasis will be on working independently to enhance and improve your writing style and
voice. You will generate slightly fewer projects but these will be of more substantial length and
you will spend longer developing, editing and redrafting your work. You will write a dramatic
adaptation and explore the influence of drama on your work.
A DVD and audio CDs will provide you with excerpts from films, stage and radio plays as well
as interviews with novelists, poets and scriptwriters.
Online tutor-group forums will enable peer-group discussion of some of your work. You will
be expected to engage in these activities, giving impersonal and informed evaluations of your
own and others’ work through constructive criticism. One of the TMAs involves writing a
critique of the work of your peers, as posted on the online forum.
AA306 Shakespeare: Text and Performance
The course enables you to develop a critical understanding of performance issues, appropriate to
Level 3. It is in two parts: the Part 1 course book, Shakespeare: Texts and Contexts, is designed
to be read in conjunction with nine plays that together demonstrate the range and variety of
Shakespeare’s dramatic work. The course moves broadly from the Elizabethan to the Jacobean
phases of Shakespeare’s career: you will study A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Richard II,
Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, Hamlet, Measure for Measure, Twelfth Night, King Lear
andThe Tempest. You will study detailed readings of the individual plays, exploring questions
27
of genre and also considering how particular performances of the plays have influenced critical
opinion and interpretation. The first twenty weeks of study are designed to promote a confident
grasp of Shakespeare’s language, and to develop skills in reading and interpretation.
The Part 2 course book, Shakespeare 1609: Cymbeline and the Sonnets, broadens the critical
perspectives of the course by introducing two texts, Cymbeline and the Sonnets, which are often
neglected in the study of Shakespeare’s work. We consider how the status and reception of the
two texts have been shaped by cultural and institutional factors. You will also develop your
understanding of some of the key issues introduced in Part 1: Shakespeare’s use of different
genres and histories, and his representation of political conflict, sexuality and gender. A
collection of primary and secondary readings included in A Shakespeare Reader: Sources and
Criticism accompanies the course, helping you to develop an understanding of the competing
critical and theoretical interpretations of the Shakespeare texts. In Part 2, you will orientate your
own views on Shakespeare in relation to the critical tradition, and develop further skills of close
reading, historical contextualisation and comparative analysis.
Accompanying the printed teaching material is a collection of performance-related DVDs and
audio CDs. As well as full-length recordings of selected plays, there are many illuminating
interviews with notable practitioners, including Sir John Gielgud, Fiona Shaw and Jonathan
Miller. All this material is concerned with showing how an informed understanding of
performance issues can deepen and enhance your response to the plays.
Set book to buy
Stephen Greenblatt, Walter Cohen, Jean E. Howard, Catherine Eisaman Maus (eds) The Norton
Shakespeare, published by W.W. Norton, in either hardback or paperback. This fully annotated
edition of the complete works of Shakespeare has been chosen so that you can look at a wide
range of plays and critical essays.
DVDs to buy
King Lear directed by Grigori Kozintsev
Macbeth directed by Roman Polanski
Hamlet directed by Franco Zeffirelli
Twelfth Night directed by Trevor Nunn
AA316 The Nineteenth-Century Novel
Of all literary genres, the novel is probably the best adapted to the representation and
exploration of social change and one of the aims of the course is to provide opportunities for
investigating the ways that novels can function as evidence in enquiries about the past.
Book 1 The first half of the course introduces six nineteenth-century novels: Northanger Abbey,
Jane Eyre, Dombey and Son, Middlemarch, Far From the Madding Crowd and Germinal. A
brief introduction leads to a section on ‘Books and Their Readers’, which provides a context for
the production and consumption of novel texts. Chapters on the novels follow in two main
sections. In the first, Northanger Abbey, Jane Eyre and Dombey and Son are explored with
emphasis on issues of genre, starting with close readings of the text and moving on to a wider
discussion of relevant issues. A distinctive aspect of this first part is the extent to which novels
are seen to construct their plots in terms of the changing nature of a more or less settled
community – at times, as in Jane Eyre, in terms of the radical interference of an outsider figure.
In the second part, chapters on Middlemarch, Far From the Madding Crowd and Germinal
examine how fictional conventions are modified as writers engage with social and political
issues, including the extent to which the novels endorse or contest the circumstances they
28
describe, and the extent to which they seek a fictional resolution for what are ultimately political
dilemmas.
Book 2 In the first part of this book we look at the problematic constructions of female identity
in Madame Bovary, The Woman in White and The Portrait of a Lady. The Woman in White has
a central position to allow for an interrogation of ‘realist’ methods and effects by means of the
subversive and extremely popular genre of sensationalism, at the same time challenging
Flaubert’s and James’s creations. The second part leads to an examination of the opportunities
created by the decline of the traditional ‘three-decker’ novel form and the profound questioning
of moral certainties evident towards the end of the century in Dracula, The Awakening and
Heart of Darkness. As well as the study of these six novels from the European, English and
American traditions, we consider such issues as the increasing self-consciousness of novelists
and the changing nature of the relationship between their work and its readers and publishers.
Set books to buy
Jane Austen Northanger Abbey
Charlotte Bronte Jane Eyre
Kate Chopin The Awakening
Wilkie Collins The Woman in White
Charles Dickens Dombey and Son
George Eliot Middlemarch
Gustave Flaubert Madame Bovary
Thomas Hardy Far from the Madding Crowd
Henry James Portrait of a Lady
Stephen Regan (ed.) The Nineteenth-Century Novel: a critical reader
Emile Zola Germinal
Heart of Darkness and Dracula are sent to you as part of your course materials.
EA300 Children’s Literature
The study of children’s literature is fast becoming established at both undergraduate and
graduate level with its own academic journals and critical literature, and collections of
children’s literature are held in many major libraries and museums. In addition, the success of
authors such as J. K. Rowling or Philip Pullman suggests that children’s literature is thriving
and developing in the twenty-first century. In short, children’s literature matters; it is significant
to parents, educators, librarians, psychologists, literary students and – most importantly – to
children themselves.
In this course, you will study key examples of novels, picture books, poems and creative
performance produced for children aged from 3–18 years old. These examples are drawn from
different periods of Anglophone children’s literature. Alongside the study of these texts and
performances, you will read a selection of related critical material and consider major themes,
issues and debates in the field. These include the question of whether children’s literature
should instruct or delight, the tension between popular and prestigious literature for children, the
relationship between oral, written and visual modes and the relationship of children’s literature
to conceptions of childhood.
The course is organised in six blocks.
Block 1: Instruction or Delight? gives an overview of the field and raises questions about the
nature and purposes of children’s literature, focusing on some contemporary best-sellers and the
reasons for their importance. It also traces how fairy stories have changed over the years, in
response to different anxieties and concerns.
29
Block 2: Books for Girls and Books for Boys looks at how children and young people’s worlds
are constructed differently in two seminal nineteenth-century novels, and examines fictional
techniques used to present ideologies in children’s literature.
Block 3: Poetry and Performance introduces a selection of poetry used and performed with
children, from early nineteenth-century classics to examples from the present day. You will also
consider a variety of narrative performance in storytelling, on stage and in film.
Block 4: The Prestigious and the Popular: 20th Century Children’s Fiction includes the study
of a number of twentieth-century children’s classics, a sampling of the world of children’s
comics and a consideration of the controversies around popular authors. The block raises
questions about the quality and value of different kinds of literature for children, and the ways
in which it is judged.
Block 5: Words and Pictures focuses on the use of images in children’s books – from traditional
illustrated books, which grew in popularity through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, to
more modern picturebooks, where the images are so central to the story that they often take on a
narrative role.
Block 6: Contemporary Trends explores recent examples of different kinds of contemporary
children’s fiction, considering changes and continuities in the mood and tone of children’s
literature, the media mix from print to electronic in which literature is experienced and the
markets through which it is distributed and consumed.
Audiovisual material relating to each of the six blocks is presented through two DVDs. This
material includes theatre and storytelling performances, interviews with children, authors and
publishers, mini-lectures and discussions. In addition, a DVD-ROM provides introductory
activities on literary, stylistic and multimodal analysis of children’s literature, to support your
work on the set texts.
Set books to buy
Louisa M Alcott Little Women
Anthony Browne, A Voices in the Park
Melvin Burgess, Junk
Jamila GavinCoram Boy**
Roger McGough (ed) 100 Best Poems for Children
Beverley Naidoo The Other Side of Truth
Philippa Pearce Tom's Midnight Garden
Beatrix Potter The Tale of Peter Rabbit
Philip Pullman Northern Lights*
Arthur Ransome Swallows and Amazons
Philip Reeve Mortal Engines**
J K Rowling Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*
Robert Louis Stevenson Treasure Island
Mildred D Taylor Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry
* Students only need to buy one of these books depending on personal preference. **Students
only need to buy one of these books depending on personal preference.
DVD to buy
Peter Pan (2003, Jason Isaacs, Lynn Redgrave, Jeremy Sumpter)
30
Appendix C Your pathway: Planning form
Year
Total
Course
Code
Title
Points
Grade
Level 2 Compulsory
A210 60 points
60
Literature
(Options) 180 points
(120 at level 3)
180
Interdisciplinary
(Options)
60 points
60
‘Freechoice’ element
60 points
60
Comments