Approaches to Literature I: Writing Modernity - ENG00023C
Module summary
This module is a core foundational module for all first-year English Literature students, including combined-course students. It will help you to engage with new approaches to literary studies as you encounter a range of texts and topics. It specifically addresses the relationship between modernity, 'the modern', and literary culture, working out from the early eighteenth century and across the nineteenth century before arriving at the twentieth. It will examine a range of genres and forms, and will also introduce critical terms, concepts, and theories that have been used to grapple with modernity and modern literature. The module is organised into four key topics, with titles such as “Modern Subjects”, “Revolutionary Ideas”, “Form and Gender”, and “The Modern City”.
This module will help to prepare you for the Spring Term modules 'Approaches to Literature II' and 'A World of Literature II'. It will also help to lay the foundations for second-year Intermediate Option modules focusing on eighteenth-century, Victorian, British, and American Literature.
Elective Pre-Requisites
These pre-requisites only apply to students taking this module as an elective.
A in English Literature A-level or equivalent qualification
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Semester 1 2025-26 |
Module aims
The primary aim of the module is to introduce students to a range of texts, authors, genres and forms, enabling them to come to an understanding of the development of literary studies in relation to the modern period and debates about modernity.
Module learning outcomes
On successful completion of the module, you will be able to:
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Demonstrate a basic understanding of and engagement with the idea of “modernity” and a range of genres and forms from the eighteenth to twentieth century (including prose, poetry, drama, and film).
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Demonstrate a basic understanding of and engagement with some of the main cultural and historical contexts, including the debates around the rise of the novel, the formation of modern subjectivities, and the relationships between literary culture, science, politics and religion.
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Engage with key debates about and critical approaches to the question of modernity and the 'modern' period.
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Develop arguments and ideas which demonstrate university-level critical thinking, research, and writing skills.
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Special assessment rules
None
Additional assessment information
You will write two essays for this module, but the first, mid-semester, essay is formative (i.e. you will receive full feedback on this piece of work, but it will not count towards the module mark).
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Module feedback
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You will receive feedback on all assessed work within the University deadline, and will often receive it more quickly. The purpose of feedback is to inform your future work; it is provided in a pedagogical spirit, and the Department also offers you help in learning from your feedback. If you do not understand your feedback you can discuss it with your tutor or your supervisor, during their Consultation and Feedback Hours.
- For more information about the feedback you will receive for your work,
see section 12 of the department's Guide to Assessment
Indicative reading
Daniel Defoe, Roxana
Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Selected poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley
Selected Victorian dramatic monologues
Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway
Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun
Rear Window (dir. Alfred Hitchcock)