MA Biography and Creative Non-Fiction

Course Code DNT1Q325102
Attendance Full Time
Award Degree of Master of Arts

Overview
Why Choose Us
Requirements
Course Profile
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Overview

MA in Biography and Creative Non-Fiction

Biography is currently undergoing rapid change and reformation. Instead of the old ‘cradle to grave’ narratives of well-known literary or political figures, our best writers are now experimenting with new forms and subjects. Nature-writing, the personal essay, food journalism, art criticism and memoir are all part of the exciting emerging mix. This MA programme is for anyone who wants to develop their own writing in any of these genres while studying at the country’s leading university for the teaching of Creative Writing.

Why Study Biography and Creative Non-Fiction at UEA?

All the teaching staff are acclaimed writers. Programme director Kathryn Hughes is an awarding-winning biographer and Guardian literary critic. Her most recent book is The Short Life and Long Times of Mrs Beeton. William Fiennes is the author of the multi-award winning The Snow Geese and The Music Room. Helen Smith is the winner of the Biographers’ Club award for her book on Edward Garnett. The programme aims to provide students with the tools they need to develop their interest as readers and writers of Biography and Creative Non-Fiction.

Course Content and Structure

The MA in Biography and Creative Non-Fiction may be taken full-time over one year or part-time over two. The seminars are timetabled to be convenient to those who wish to travel from London.

Students take three compulsory modules, Writing Lives, The Life of the Book, and Writing in the First Person. In addition they take a fourth module chosen from the wide range available within the School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing.

Teaching is by 3-hour seminar. During this time we may be discussing a set text, presenting papers on a recent biography, or workshopping students’ own writing. We will also invite leading biographers to address students on aspects of their craft. Recent guests include Kate Summerscale, Alexander Masters, Richard Holmes and Philip Hoare. These seminars are supplemented by one-to-one tutorials with the module leader. In most years students also choose to set up informal reading and writing groups amongst themselves.

In addition training is given in more purely academic skills such as essay writing and referencing. Students are encouraged to take advantage of UEA’s vibrant literary culture. Each year a dozen or so leading novelists, poets and biographers visit Norwich to take part in our Autumn and Spring literary festivals. Students also have the opportunity to meet some of the UK’s leading agents and publishers who make regular visits to talk to students.

An anthology of students’ writing is published each year and distributed to a key list of editors, agents and critics. In addition students are encouraged to post their writing on UEA’s Creative Writing website, a new platform designed to showcase the best work emerging from the course.

There is no workshop in the Summer semester (May-June). Instead students will have one-to-one sessions with a tutor as they work on their dissertation – a 15,000 word piece of Creative Non-Fiction.

How is the course assessed?

In addition to the final dissertation, submitted in September, each module is assessed on a 5,000 word essay.

Who does Biography and Creative Non-Fiction at UEA?

We require a Bachelor’s degree, but this doesn’t have to be in any particular subject. Previous students have included doctors, barristers, teachers, therapists and an asparagus farmer. We also take younger people who have just completed their first degree. What we are looking for is evidence of interest and engagement with Creative Non-Fiction of all kinds (this might include memoir, nature writing, sports biographies and food journalism).

What kinds of things to students write about?

Anything and everything. Football, murderers, wine, poets, saints and music.

What happens to students afterwards?

Each year a couple of students will go on to publish with a major house. Many others will go on to produce work for smaller, more specialist publishers. Some choose to stay with us to undertake a PhD, working on a full-length project. Others return to their original discipline (teaching, journalism, the law) with the intention of integrating what they have learned into their practice.

For more details email the Programme Director Kathryn Hughes on k.hughes@uea.ac.uk

Course Organiser

Prof Kathryn Hughes

Why Choose Us?

The School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing brings together writers, scholars, teachers and students in an exploration of the powers and possibilities of literature. Our aim is to make creative writing and critical reading confront one another in ways that sharpen and enliven both.

Literature

We teach and research across the range of English Literature from the fourteenth century to the twenty-first. This coverage is supplemented by our interests in European Literature, in postcolonial writing in English across the world, and in literary and cultural theory.

Translation

UEA is home to the British Centre for Literary Translation, which is both a forum for professional translators and a focus for translation work with undergraduate and postgraduate students of literature. The School of Literature & Creative Writing runs the MA in Literary Translation course.

Creative Writing

For over thirty years UEA has been an important centre for established and upcoming writers, whether they come here as teachers, as students, as writers in residence, or to take part in the long-running literary festival organised by the Arthur Miller Centre and the Centre for Creative and Performing Arts. For more information on our Creative Writing MA courses, please click here.

Drama

Our drama programmes combine critical study with creative practice. The theoretical aspect draws on the expertise of LIT as a whole; the practical work is based in the purpose-built Drama Studio. For further information on the Drama sector, please click here.

Literature at UEA is not a complete, finished object of study, but a living practice. Because we also do creative writing, translation and drama, we are aware that imaginative writing is not fixed; it is constantly being transformed, adapted, rewritten and reread. Students are invited to study these processes, and also to be part of them. Click here to see what our students say about studying in the School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing.

Among a diverse group of about twenty literature lecturers, there are experts on the various roles that the practice of literature can play, and has played, in society — how it can be something like praying, or like journalism, or like conversation, how it can be a form of political action, or a vehicle for ideas, or a working out of unmanageable experience, or a way of negotiating (or inflaming) differences of class and race and gender. We teach literature not in isolation, but in relation to this untidy bundle of social and psychological purposes.

It follows that we have no great respect for the boundaries that divide one academic discipline from another. We take a lively interest in the work of our colleagues in history, philosophy, film, the visual arts and music, and we encourage our students to do the same. That is why we offer a range of degree programmes which combine literature with other, related subjects.

We run internationally recognised programmes of teaching and research in literature, translation, creative writing, and drama: the important thing about all of these is that they interact with each other.

Year 1

Year 1

Compulsory Study (160 credits)

Students will select 160 credits from the following module(s).

Name	Code	Credits	Period
English Literature Dissertation Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	LDCEM03X	90	Semester 2
Research and Methodology Training Seminar	LDCEM020	10	Semester 2
The Life of the Book CORE MODULE FOR STUDENTS ON THE MA BIOGRAPHY AND CREATIVE NON-FICTION (RESERVED FOR STUDENTS ON ROUTE T1Q325101 - LIFE WRITING). This module will follow the arc of the life of a book from inception to reception. How do you choose a subject, determine a book's structure, find a voice and build character? What about the often daunting question of research? Once the book is written, how do you set about writing a proposal and finding a publisher? We will also consider questions surrounding copyright, editing and reviewing. The emphasis will be practical, with a significant workshop element. more...	LDCEM007	20	Semester 1
Writing in the First Person CORE MODULE FOR STUDENTS ON THE MA BIOGRAPHY AND CREATIVE NON-FICTION. This module looks at autobiography in the broadest sense, taking in memoir, nature writing, travel writing, reportage and essay. We'll be talking about the history and variety of first-person narratives, the ways writers reveal themselves in their words, how autobiography keeps to and departs from the facts, the importance of form and structure, and about non-fiction's relationship to novels and poems. Seminars will feature practical writing exercises as well as readings and discussions. more...	LDCEM012	20	Semester 2
Writing Lives CORE MODULE FOR STUDENTS ON THE MA BIOGRAPHY AND CREATIVE NON-FICTION. This module explores the many ways in which writers have grappled with getting `life' and `lives' down on paper. We will look at samples of writing from many different genres, including travel, nature, music and sports writing. We will also be looking at those returning figures ' the Hero, the Villain, the Madwoman. In the process we will discuss cultural myth, human empathy and identity and notions of celebrity. Students will be encouraged to find their own special subjects, to study comparative biography, and to look at the many new experimental approaches that make Biography such a flourishing phenomenon today. more...	LDCEM003	20	Semester 1

Option A Study (20 credits)

Students will select 20 credits from the following module(s).

Name

Code

Credits

Period

'World Literature' to the 'Global Text'

This module will explore the movement from the idea of the `world' or the `international' as a defining category for writers and artists of the twentieth century toward, from the late twentieth century onward, the notion of the `global'. `World literature' was an essential, if often neglected, directive of the humanist mission, and the `international' engendered oppositions ' such as, for instance, the cosmopolitan and the provincial - that governed the works of writers such as Tagore, James Joyce, Katherine Mansfield, Elizabeth Bishop, the filmmaker Satyajit Ray, and V S Naipaul, examples of whose work will be studied for this MA. But do those oppositions, and the universalist basis of `world literature', hold any more in the age of globalisation? How do writers and artists travel, and respond to the old experiences of place and exile, in the globalised world? Does globalisation transcend the provincial, or produce variations of it? What does `world' itself signify as a concept today ' is, for instance, the `world' in `world music' the same as the one in `world literature'? I'd like to reflect on these questions in the company of artists like the Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, the novelist J M Coetzee, the English writer Geoff Dyer, the Indian poet Arun Kolatkar, critics like David Harvey, present-day experimentation in music, while introducing to the frame of the seminar my own explorations as a writer and musician. more...

LDCEM001

Semester 1

Adaptation and Interpretation

Critical reading and creative writing meet in the activity of adapting a text in one medium for presentation in another. The module focuses on dramatic adaptation, establishing a foundation in basic theory and then focusing on readings or original works and screenings. Discussions probe the choices offered by original texts and explore the possibilities and limitations inherent in different dramatic forms. In the later sessions, students will have the opportunity to workshop an adaptation for a final project. more...

LDCCM007

Semester 1

Adaptation and Interpretation

LDCCM012

Semester 2

Case Studies

This seminar looks at ways in which specific authors/works/genres pass into other cultures through translation. We will look at three genres ' children's literature, drama, and crime fiction ' and for each one, we will analyse the genre, identify challenges in translating it, discuss strategies, and examine examples of relevant works, using close textual analysis to see how translators can tackle problems of linguistic, stylistic, and cultural difference. We will then practice translating texts from that genre. more...

LDCEM002

Semester 2

Creative-Critical Writing

A CORE MODULE FOR STUDENTS ON THE MA WRITING THE MODERN WORLD. Too often, academic critical writing seems to bring pre-packaged language to bear on works whose whole essence and aim is to change the ways in which we see and describe our world. And too often such writing fails to acknowledge the ways in which it itself necessarily participates in the literary `creativity' it is also about. How, then, to write criticism? Criticism which responds inventively to the literature which it analyzes? Criticism which registers, in its own form, language, method and thinking the ways in which it has been transformed by the work(s) of art it encounters? Criticism which recognizes that it cannot rest on received concepts and categories? This module aims to explore those questions. Over the course of the semester will consider ' and experiment with ' a broad range of possible ways of practising creative-criticism, including the `essay' form, auto-commentary, aphorisms, ??criture f??minine, conceptual writing, criticism as performance, inventive `theoretical' writing, camp, and diaristic writing. The module covers creative-critics as different from one another as Anne Carson and Jacques Derrida, Geoff Dyer and H??l??ne Cixous, Maurice Blanchot and T. J. Clark, Theodor Adorno and Eve Sedgwick. more...

LDCEM008

Semester 2

Critical Theories of the Western Self

The course introduces students to the major shifts in philosophical thinking about the Western self from Descartes to the twentieth century. The course will provide students with a training in theoretical debate through the analysis and discussion of a selection of the important thinkers on this list: Descartes, Rousseau, Hegel, Kant, Marx, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Bakhtin, Sartre, Foucault, Derrida, Irigaray, Deleuze and Butler. Through acquaintance with different theoretical traditions, students will have the opportunity to reflect critically on the processes and implications of cultural change; and to relate their understanding of the self and philosophy to other fields such as literature. more...

LDCEM011

Semester 1

Crossing Boundaries: Women Writers in Modern Europe

This module will explore some of the issues and obstacles encountered by women writing in a range of European traditions during the "long twentieth century" - continuing into the 21st with the award of Nobel Prizes for Literature to the controversial Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek (2004 and the Romanian-German writer Herta M??ller (2009). Taking a broadly chronological approach, the focus will be primarily on the impact of the two "women's movements" of the twentieth century on perceptions of writing and subjectivity as they affect women writers in a range of European countries. Within this chronological context and under a number of themed headings, examples will be taken primarily from Western Europe, in particular the German-speaking, French and English literary traditions. Students are however encouraged to make connections with the work of other writers beyond those on the reading list and to make comparisons with the position and role of women's writing in other literatures with which they may be familiar. Seminar discussions will thus consider not merely geographical and physical boundaries but the wider social and textual frameworks within and against which, arguably, a distinctive women's voice (or voices) may be said to emerge. more...

LDCEM028

Semester 2

Culture and Its Discontents

From trauma theory and Holocaust Studies to critical human rights and refugee studies, thinking about culture's profound discontents motivates much of the most innovative work in the theoretical humanities today. This module focuses on two key theorists of modern experience: Sigmund Freud, for whom the unconscious registered the trauma of modern living, and the political philosopher Hannah Arendt, for whom the horrors of totalitarianism opened up holes of oblivion in the way we think and judge. Reading them together, we will examine the way Freud and Arendt open up a new space to think about the relation between the psyche and the political. Core reading will include: The Portable Hannah Arendt, ed. Peter Baehr (Penguin) The Freud Reader, ed. Adam Phillips (Penguin) The Holocaust: Theoretical Readings (Edinburgh UP) more...

LDCEM049

Semester 1

Describing Poetry

CORE MODULE FOR STUDENTS ON THE MA CREATIVE WRITING: POETRY. Poetry often describes its own verbal processes ' of rhythm, image and word choice ' while thinking about the way that writing is intertwined with the world that it describes. Such thinking has also been importantly continued in prose. This module offers a historical survey of some of the major critical texts in Western poetics, from Plato to Ezra Pound and after, to be read closely alongside a wide range of poetic self-reflections in verse. Students will be encouraged to contribute texts from their own reading for discussion. Short writing exercises in a range of critical styles will also be set in class, in preparation for the final coursework essay. We will examine in particular the metaphors that have been used to describe the formal techniques of poetry, as well as to admire its powers, criticise its failings, and advocate its pleasures. more...

LDCCM011

Semester 1

East Anglian Literature

CORE MODULE FOR STUDENTS ON THE MA MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN TEXTUAL CULTURES. This module has as its focus ideas of place and regional cultures. It introduces key subjects relating to regional literature, religious geographies, visual and verbal relationships, attitudes to gender and family, landscape and alternative cultures. Approaches will involve genre study, interdisciplinary enquiry, and theoretical study. We are spoilt for choice in relation to texts and authors to select from the region, including: John Bale, Osbern Bokenham, Thomas Browne, Meir ben Eiljah, John Capgrave, Robert Greene, Gabriel Harvey, Margery Kempe, John Lydgate, John Metham, Julian of Norwich, the N-Town plays, the Pastons and John Skelton. There will be the opportunity to visit a number of archives, specialist libraries and material culture from the period, including a visit to Norwich Cathedral, which has an extensive 17th-century library with material from the 15th century onwards, Norfolk's heritage collection housed in The Forum's Millennium Library which holds documents from the 13th century onwards, and the Julian of Norwich Centre and Shrine. more...

LDCEM006

Semester 2

European Gothic: Fear and Horror As Trans-National Dialogue

Scholars have since Mario Praz in the 1930s long conceived of the Gothic as a European phenomenon, exported and imported between Britain, France, and Germany, but there is surprisingly little attempt to unify this tradition or consider it as a whole beyond the empirical level. This course starts from the question: `What happens if you bring the Gothic Novel, the roman noir, and the Schauerroman together? The course will act as an introduction to the English canon of the Gothic; but we shall look at a range of texts, not as a tight, unified English genre, but as a set of cultural responses (and translations of responses) to the ages of Enlightenment and Revolution. The emphasis is not simply on linear development, but on cultural transmission and the dispersal of ideas between France, Germany and the Anglo-Saxon tradition. The texts have been chosen to reveal a set of conversations with each other and we shall re-read familiar (`central' or 'classic') texts in relation to such themes as the cultural geography of fear; superstition and scepticism and the role of the occult; sensibility and sexual taboo; the nature of the demonic; constructions of the other; the invention and splitting of the modern self; the Machine; the Uncanny; comedy and horror; and the use of self-conscious modes of narration. Note: this module is of interest to literary translators and creative writers. more...

LDCEM044

Semester 2

Evaluating Nature

This module aims to equip students with a historically informed understanding of the emergence of different theories and modes of evaluation, focusing in particular on the economic, aesthetic, and moral questions arising from the evaluation of nature in particular. Is it, for example, ethically defensible to value nature as a resource? Is a genuinely `ecological' or, indeed, `green' economics conceivable ' and, if so, what would that involve in practice? How sure are we that art in general and writing in particular are good ways to articulate the value of the natural? And is a genuinely `ecological' or `green' poetics conceivable? Addressing these questions will involve exploration both of the history of ideas and of contemporary understandings of natural capital, resource allocation, and moral evaluation. more...

LDCEM058

Semester 2

Fiction After Modernism

`Fiction After Modernism' responds to the current reassessment of critical narratives about twentieth century fiction by restoring significance to a critically awkward phase of twentieth-century writing. Focusing roughly on the years between 1930 and 1980, we examine what it meant for mid-century writers to work in the wake of modernism. By thinking about mid-century fiction in terms of its own historical and aesthetic awkwardness, we will challenge the formalist distinction between experimental and realist fiction that has dominated the most influential work on the mid-century novel, and which has also stamped many post-war writers as irretrievably minor. In a similar spirit, we will explore how writers worked in the 'between' of modernism and postmodernism. Rather than produce a cohesive narrative about the period, we will examine how our writers engage with, and disturb, their own literary, historical and critical inheritances. This module is an opportunity to participate in an emerging critical conversation that is carving out new directions in literary study. Working through the period with special attention to previously marginalized (and in some cases forgotten) writers, alongside a selection of critical and theoretical texts, we will examine the ways our writers accede to, challenge, and disrupt our critical understanding of fiction after modernism. more...

LDCEM023

Semester 1

Living Modernism

A CORE MODULE FOR STUDENTS ON THE MA WRITING THE MODERN WORLD. The word modernism was applied only retrospectively to the texts written at the beginning of the twentieth century; and that retrospective naming has worked to define an ever-shifting field of cultural activity. This course aims to introduce students to `living modernism', a phrase that highlights the mutually informing relationship of contemporary writing and modernism. In the first 5 weeks, students will be asked to read James Joyce's Ulysses and Franz Kafka's The Trial. The course then considers the ways in which Joyce's and Kafka's writing continues to animate critical and creative knowledge. In weeks 6-12, critical and literary questions of law, justice, exile, and narrative voice will be posed out of modernism. The living legacy of modernism will be considered in different ways; as literary influence, (Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go as a Kafkaesque meditation on exile, for instance), as critical quotation and interpretation, (Jacques Derrida's claim, for example, that Kafka's `Before the Law' is a staging of justice and literary interpretation), and linguistic or thematic interaction (Lolita as Nabokov's Joycean writing of exile in America). There will be a particular focus on how Joyce and Kafka write law, justice and exile as global, rather than state-based, categories, and the importance of these transnational visions for their continuing influence. Authors explored will include James Joyce, Franz Kafka, Samuel Beckett, Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, Vladimir Nabokov, J. M. Coetzee, Kazuo Ishiguro, Jacques Derrida, Giorgio Agamben, Mladen Dolar, Denise Riley and W. G. Sebald. more...

LDCEM017

Semester 1

Ludic Literature

Play, or the ludic, is often listed as one of the main characteristics of postmodernist art, but what is meant by play is usually left no more clearly defined than what is meant by postmodernism. This course seeks to trace the evolution of leading postmodernist styles and themes, especially ludic ones, back to their origins in Borges and Nabokov. Using these enormously influential authors as a starting point, we will read a range of ludic authors, passing back and forth between languages, nations, and genres. Authors studied will include some though not all of: Calvino, Queneau, Perec, Barthes, Barthelme, Pynchon, Foster Wallace, Grass, Carter, Rushdie, Bolano, Muldoon, Simic, and Ashbery. We will examine these authors in relation to one another, to Borges and Nabokov, and to their major pre-postmodernist sources: Sterne, Mallarm??, Dostoevsky, Chesterton, Stevenson, Joyce, and Kafka. We will also be looking at visual art related to ludic literature, including Duchamp's readymades, Steinberg's cartoons, and Cornell's boxes. Themes we will explore will include aestheticism, doubt, vagueness, jokes, freedom and constraint, mixed styles, parody and pastiche. There will be an opportunity for students to play with the texts by re-writing them under the sorts of rules advanced by Queneau and Oulipo, Koch and Ashbery. more...

LDCEM016

Semester 2

Novel History

We are currently witnessing a renaissance in history writing. Sales of historical novels continue to rise steeply. Societies have formed, new prizes established. A number of eminent historians are turning from fact to fiction. What can the historical novel do in terms of reaching the past that more conventional historical accounts cannot do? Can it challenge long-told historical narratives, propose new ones or give us new vantage points? Novel History is a critical-creative MA module that crosses the boundaries between literature, art history, history and creative writing to explore the possibilities (and paradoxes) of historical fiction. Students will study the history of the historical novel and read critical and theoretical essays about the writing of history alongside examples of innovative or revisionist contemporary historical fiction. They will also explore ideas around 'object history' through a series of workshop sessions amongst the historical objects of UEA's extraordinary rich collection in the Sainsbury Centre. Students will present work in progress in the workshop format as they move towards a final piece of creative writing, a short story or radio script, screen or theatre script. Students will be given the option of structuring their final work around a single chosen object from the Sainsbury Centre collection. more...

LDCCM010

Semester 2

Politics and Public Culture: Milton, Republicanism, News, Polemic, Britain, Europe, the Imagination

CORE MODULE FOR STUDENTS ON THE MA MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN TEXTUAL CULTURES. The aim of this module will be to look at ways of reading literary works in their social, political and intellectual contexts, and to explore the role of the writer in early-modern culture. To do this we will focus on the works of John Milton ' the full range of his works, including poetry, prose and (in translation) Latin polemic. The contexts we will consider might include: aesthetics; the history and theory of republicanism; religious radicalism; the problem of `Britain'; news; the development of the printing trade and its relation to writing poetry and propaganda; Britain's place in Europe; the history of reading; the social spaces where literature operated; the rise of the `public sphere'. In addition to Milton's writings, we will look at the print and news culture of early-modern Britain, with some attention to the materiality of printed texts. We may also look at other writings and other modes of writing by Milton's contemporaries, including pamphleteering and journalism and works by Andrew Marvell, Marchamont Nedham, Lucy Hutchinson and John Dryden. more...

LDCEM005

Semester 1

Process and Product in Translation

This module is designed to allow students to produce translations in conditions that encourage and facilitate reflection on the process and product of translation. It encourages students to think experimentally, not only about the forms a finished translation might take, but also about the ways in which process might be incorporated into that translation. The module has a workshop format and culminates in a series of presentations by students of the projects on which they have chosen to work. A series of sessions, devoted to the discussion of problems, both theoretical and practical, connected with translation and the projects ahead, precede the presentations. more...

LDCEM034

Semester 2

Publishing - A Practical Approach

This module aims to give students an introduction to the modern publishing industry and a practical survival guide to the different functions involved in the publication of a book. As well as learning about the structure and economics of the British book industry, the opportunities and challenges of digitalization, students will engage with the process whereby books are chosen for publication, review principles of text and jacket design, practise basic copyediting and proofreading skills and learn tips for running a marketing and publicity campaign, writing 'blurbs' and press releases. The course will also touch on copyright law, finance and distribution. Students from the module may join the core team producing the annual MA Creative Writing anthologies. more...

LDCCM016

Semester 2

Reusing the Past: the Classical in the Medieval and Early Modern

CORE MODULE FOR STUDENTS ON THE MA MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN TEXTUAL CULTURES. The complex and unstable movement from medieval to Early Modern culture is reflected in and effected through a fundamental revaluation of the classical legacy: in the development of new approaches to classical texts and of new uses to which their cultural authority might be put. This module explores this movement through the works of three late-fifteenth- and early-sixteenth-century writers, Robert Henryson, Gavin Douglas, and John Bellenden, and their responses to the texts of Aesop, Virgil, Ovid and Livy. It tracks a movement from medieval adaptation to Early Modern translation, from moralising allegory to politically inflected intertextuality, exploring the rich variety of ways in which classical texts were made newly available and newly culturally meaningful. more...

LDCEM018

Semester 2

Stylistics for Translators

This module will examine style in texts, and how the analysis of style affects translation. We will look at various different approaches to the definition and understanding of style, concentrating on the stylistic analysis of literary (and some non-literary) texts of all types. In the final weeks of the semester students will present and discuss the translation of style in texts and languages of their choice more...

LDCEM033

Semester 1

The Actor in Space

The extremely various theatres of late medieval and early modern England situate the figure of the actor in a great many different settings and configurations. The place of performance may be public, or owned by a patron or by the actors themselves; it may be candle-lit or open to the sky; it may be a communal space for action or the illusionistic location of the fiction; and that fictional world, in turn, may be unitary or else divisively assigned to angels and devils, kings and clowns, speakers and singers. It is possible to grasp this diversity as an historical narrative (from the medieval pageant to the professional stage, from the Elizabethan amphitheatre to the Restoration playhouse with movable scenery), but it was also, often, a synchronic range of possible spaces, each with its distinctive cultural affiliation, each corresponding to, and making visible, its distinctive conceptions of the human, the social and the sacred. The course will explore these spaces by looking not only or even mainly at the theatre history, but at the scripts that record and suggest their meanings. more...

LDCEM047

Semester 1

The Art of Short Fiction

Short fiction is too often defined in terms of what it is not ' namely, a novel. Whether stories, novellas or experimental short fiction, short fiction is an art form in its own right. While acknowledging that there are no `rules' as to what makes a good short story, we will look at the expectations and technical challenges created by the form, and in so doing to sharpen our analytical and critical faculties. This is predominantly a practical, workshop-based course oriented at writing short fiction, although students will also be asked to form critical opinions and perspectives on published short stories, the technical aspects of writing in the form, and on themes and trends in short fiction more...

LDCCM017

Semester 1

The Persistence of the Aesthetic

This module addresses the relation between art and politics by examining the attempt to unmask the aesthetic as ideological. In order to do this, we will acquire a firm grasp of the meaning of 'the aesthetic' and of what it is often taken to conceal, 'ideology'. We will, therefore, begin by exploring what has been called the 'invention' of the aesthetic in modernity, paying particular attention to the emergence of the aesthetic as a category in the eighteenth century as part of debates concerning the public sphere, disinterestedness, and universality. Key figures here will include the third Earl of Shaftesbury, Immanuel Kant, and Friedrich Schiller. We will then move on to consider the precise meaning of 'ideology' in its various forms in the work of Karl Marx, Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, and Theodor Adorno. Our focus in particular will be on the way in which the aesthetic has been thought to relate to 'ideology' by these, and numerous other, thinkers from fields such as sociology, anthropology, literary criticism, and art history. But far from simply deploying the tools of ideological analysis as a means to expose the covert politics of the aesthetic as such, we will ask whether the aesthetic is as vulnerable to so-called ideology - critique as has sometime been claimed. We will thus evaluate recent attempts to renovate the aesthetic by figures such as Jacques Ranciere, Isobel Armstrong, J.M. Berstein and others. This module, therefore, will address concerns central to those interested in the history and theory of literary and art criticism, and also in cultural and educational policy. more...

LDCEM062

Semester 2

The Writing of Crime/thriller Fiction

This module will provide students with critical and creative knowledge of modern crime/thriller fiction, and is designed to complement the Creative Writing MA programme, but is open to students across the MA. Crime/thriller fiction, the world's most popular literary genre, is particularly subject to ever evolving conventions, expectations, precedents and sub-genres. Understanding the presiding logistical and thematic issues is fundamental to both the creation of and critical response to crime/thriller fiction. The module will analyse the developments and characteristics of the modernisation of the genre, through a symptomatic approach to authors, from Dashiell Hammett to Jo Nesbo, from police procedurals to psychological thrillers. Issues of literary worth, escapism and social context particularly will be examined. Creative work will also concentrate on how to craft a convincing plot, creating believable characters, building suspense, generating voice and exploring new ways to tackle new crimes. Students will be required to make presentations on a particular author/style, and to produce original crime/thriller fiction. Assessment by creative writing - a short piece of fiction - with accompanying critical essay. more...

LDCCM013

Semester 1

Theory and Practice of Fiction

This module is designed to complement the prose fiction workshop but is open to students on related programmes. It is intended to provide students with creative and critical knowledge in a single experiential burst, by exploring as they are relevant to writing fiction such topics as time, place, dramatic structure, character and concinnity. The unit also gives consideration to professional issues confronting novelists, from writer's block to editing, contracts and dealing with the media. The module presents the writer as both artist and supplier of intellectual property to a market, while examining that and other tensions critically. Reading, writing and analysis happen alongside each other. Fictional, critical and professional texts are examined, writing exercises illuminating the issue at hand are undertaken. Students are also expected to make presentations on topics of their choice. Assessment by creative writing coursework with a critical commentary. more...

LDCCM024

Semester 2

Translation Theory

This module discusses key theoretical and descriptive pronouncements on translation by theorists and practising translators working within the Western tradition. The focus is predominantly on contemporary work, with some older commentary providing historical context. Students are encouraged to explore their own theoretical interests and present their findings in class. more...

LDCEM043

Semester 1

You may also pick any of the modules that begin with:

LDCEM

The Persistence of the Aesthetic This module addresses the relation between art and politics by examining the attempt to unmask the aesthetic as ideological. In order to do this, we will acquire a firm grasp of the meaning of 'the aesthetic' and of what it is often taken to conceal, 'ideology'. We will, therefore, begin by exploring what has been called the 'invention' of the aesthetic in modernity, paying particular attention to the emergence of the aesthetic as a category in the eighteenth century as part of debates concerning the public sphere, disinterestedness, and universality. Key figures here will include the third Earl of Shaftesbury, Immanuel Kant, and Friedrich Schiller. We will then move on to consider the precise meaning of 'ideology' in its various forms in the work of Karl Marx, Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, and Theodor Adorno. Our focus in particular will be on the way in which the aesthetic has been thought to relate to 'ideology' by these, and numerous other, thinkers from fields such as sociology, anthropology, literary criticism, and art history. But far from simply deploying the tools of ideological analysis as a means to expose the covert politics of the aesthetic as such, we will ask whether the aesthetic is as vulnerable to so-called ideology - critique as has sometime been claimed. We will thus evaluate recent attempts to renovate the aesthetic by figures such as Jacques Ranciere, Isobel Armstrong, J.M. Berstein and others. This module, therefore, will address concerns central to those interested in the history and theory of literary and art criticism, and also in cultural and educational policy. more...	LDCEM062	20	Semester 2
Stylistics for Translators This module will examine style in texts, and how the analysis of style affects translation. We will look at various different approaches to the definition and understanding of style, concentrating on the stylistic analysis of literary (and some non-literary) texts of all types. In the final weeks of the semester students will present and discuss the translation of style in texts and languages of their choice more...	LDCEM033	20	Semester 1
English Literature Dissertation Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	LDCEM03X	90	Semester 2
Research and Methodology Training Seminar	LDCEM020	10	Semester 2
Culture and Its Discontents From trauma theory and Holocaust Studies to critical human rights and refugee studies, thinking about culture's profound discontents motivates much of the most innovative work in the theoretical humanities today. This module focuses on two key theorists of modern experience: Sigmund Freud, for whom the unconscious registered the trauma of modern living, and the political philosopher Hannah Arendt, for whom the horrors of totalitarianism opened up holes of oblivion in the way we think and judge. Reading them together, we will examine the way Freud and Arendt open up a new space to think about the relation between the psyche and the political. Core reading will include: The Portable Hannah Arendt, ed. Peter Baehr (Penguin) The Freud Reader, ed. Adam Phillips (Penguin) The Holocaust: Theoretical Readings (Edinburgh UP) more...	LDCEM049	20	Semester 1
Crossing Boundaries: Women Writers in Modern Europe This module will explore some of the issues and obstacles encountered by women writing in a range of European traditions during the "long twentieth century" - continuing into the 21st with the award of Nobel Prizes for Literature to the controversial Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek (2004 and the Romanian-German writer Herta M??ller (2009). Taking a broadly chronological approach, the focus will be primarily on the impact of the two "women's movements" of the twentieth century on perceptions of writing and subjectivity as they affect women writers in a range of European countries. Within this chronological context and under a number of themed headings, examples will be taken primarily from Western Europe, in particular the German-speaking, French and English literary traditions. Students are however encouraged to make connections with the work of other writers beyond those on the reading list and to make comparisons with the position and role of women's writing in other literatures with which they may be familiar. Seminar discussions will thus consider not merely geographical and physical boundaries but the wider social and textual frameworks within and against which, arguably, a distinctive women's voice (or voices) may be said to emerge. more...	LDCEM028	20	Semester 2
Process and Product in Translation This module is designed to allow students to produce translations in conditions that encourage and facilitate reflection on the process and product of translation. It encourages students to think experimentally, not only about the forms a finished translation might take, but also about the ways in which process might be incorporated into that translation. The module has a workshop format and culminates in a series of presentations by students of the projects on which they have chosen to work. A series of sessions, devoted to the discussion of problems, both theoretical and practical, connected with translation and the projects ahead, precede the presentations. more...	LDCEM034	20	Semester 2
The Actor in Space The extremely various theatres of late medieval and early modern England situate the figure of the actor in a great many different settings and configurations. The place of performance may be public, or owned by a patron or by the actors themselves; it may be candle-lit or open to the sky; it may be a communal space for action or the illusionistic location of the fiction; and that fictional world, in turn, may be unitary or else divisively assigned to angels and devils, kings and clowns, speakers and singers. It is possible to grasp this diversity as an historical narrative (from the medieval pageant to the professional stage, from the Elizabethan amphitheatre to the Restoration playhouse with movable scenery), but it was also, often, a synchronic range of possible spaces, each with its distinctive cultural affiliation, each corresponding to, and making visible, its distinctive conceptions of the human, the social and the sacred. The course will explore these spaces by looking not only or even mainly at the theatre history, but at the scripts that record and suggest their meanings. more...	LDCEM047	20	Semester 1
Critical Theories of the Western Self The course introduces students to the major shifts in philosophical thinking about the Western self from Descartes to the twentieth century. The course will provide students with a training in theoretical debate through the analysis and discussion of a selection of the important thinkers on this list: Descartes, Rousseau, Hegel, Kant, Marx, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Bakhtin, Sartre, Foucault, Derrida, Irigaray, Deleuze and Butler. Through acquaintance with different theoretical traditions, students will have the opportunity to reflect critically on the processes and implications of cultural change; and to relate their understanding of the self and philosophy to other fields such as literature. more...	LDCEM011	20	Semester 1
Translation Workshop A series of workshops by practising translators, shared by the MA in Literary Translation and the MA in Applied Translation Studies. These will be on different aspects of translation, and will involve various genres. There is generally no preparation required for workshops, but students are asked to find out as much as possible in advance about the workshop-holder's background and work. There will usually be translation exercises and discussion in class. Some workshops are on literary topics, but some also deal with non-literary translation or other issues such as approaching a publisher. The workshop programme will be distributed at the start of the academic year. more...	LDCEM04Y	0	Year Period
Evaluating Nature This module aims to equip students with a historically informed understanding of the emergence of different theories and modes of evaluation, focusing in particular on the economic, aesthetic, and moral questions arising from the evaluation of nature in particular. Is it, for example, ethically defensible to value nature as a resource? Is a genuinely `ecological' or, indeed, `green' economics conceivable ' and, if so, what would that involve in practice? How sure are we that art in general and writing in particular are good ways to articulate the value of the natural? And is a genuinely `ecological' or `green' poetics conceivable? Addressing these questions will involve exploration both of the history of ideas and of contemporary understandings of natural capital, resource allocation, and moral evaluation. more...	LDCEM058	20	Semester 2
European Gothic: Fear and Horror As Trans-National Dialogue Scholars have since Mario Praz in the 1930s long conceived of the Gothic as a European phenomenon, exported and imported between Britain, France, and Germany, but there is surprisingly little attempt to unify this tradition or consider it as a whole beyond the empirical level. This course starts from the question: `What happens if you bring the Gothic Novel, the roman noir, and the Schauerroman together? The course will act as an introduction to the English canon of the Gothic; but we shall look at a range of texts, not as a tight, unified English genre, but as a set of cultural responses (and translations of responses) to the ages of Enlightenment and Revolution. The emphasis is not simply on linear development, but on cultural transmission and the dispersal of ideas between France, Germany and the Anglo-Saxon tradition. The texts have been chosen to reveal a set of conversations with each other and we shall re-read familiar (`central' or 'classic') texts in relation to such themes as the cultural geography of fear; superstition and scepticism and the role of the occult; sensibility and sexual taboo; the nature of the demonic; constructions of the other; the invention and splitting of the modern self; the Machine; the Uncanny; comedy and horror; and the use of self-conscious modes of narration. Note: this module is of interest to literary translators and creative writers. more...	LDCEM044	20	Semester 2
Case Studies This seminar looks at ways in which specific authors/works/genres pass into other cultures through translation. We will look at three genres ' children's literature, drama, and crime fiction ' and for each one, we will analyse the genre, identify challenges in translating it, discuss strategies, and examine examples of relevant works, using close textual analysis to see how translators can tackle problems of linguistic, stylistic, and cultural difference. We will then practice translating texts from that genre. more...	LDCEM002	20	Semester 2
Ludic Literature Play, or the ludic, is often listed as one of the main characteristics of postmodernist art, but what is meant by play is usually left no more clearly defined than what is meant by postmodernism. This course seeks to trace the evolution of leading postmodernist styles and themes, especially ludic ones, back to their origins in Borges and Nabokov. Using these enormously influential authors as a starting point, we will read a range of ludic authors, passing back and forth between languages, nations, and genres. Authors studied will include some though not all of: Calvino, Queneau, Perec, Barthes, Barthelme, Pynchon, Foster Wallace, Grass, Carter, Rushdie, Bolano, Muldoon, Simic, and Ashbery. We will examine these authors in relation to one another, to Borges and Nabokov, and to their major pre-postmodernist sources: Sterne, Mallarm??, Dostoevsky, Chesterton, Stevenson, Joyce, and Kafka. We will also be looking at visual art related to ludic literature, including Duchamp's readymades, Steinberg's cartoons, and Cornell's boxes. Themes we will explore will include aestheticism, doubt, vagueness, jokes, freedom and constraint, mixed styles, parody and pastiche. There will be an opportunity for students to play with the texts by re-writing them under the sorts of rules advanced by Queneau and Oulipo, Koch and Ashbery. more...	LDCEM016	20	Semester 2
Living Modernism A CORE MODULE FOR STUDENTS ON THE MA WRITING THE MODERN WORLD. The word modernism was applied only retrospectively to the texts written at the beginning of the twentieth century; and that retrospective naming has worked to define an ever-shifting field of cultural activity. This course aims to introduce students to `living modernism', a phrase that highlights the mutually informing relationship of contemporary writing and modernism. In the first 5 weeks, students will be asked to read James Joyce's Ulysses and Franz Kafka's The Trial. The course then considers the ways in which Joyce's and Kafka's writing continues to animate critical and creative knowledge. In weeks 6-12, critical and literary questions of law, justice, exile, and narrative voice will be posed out of modernism. The living legacy of modernism will be considered in different ways; as literary influence, (Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go as a Kafkaesque meditation on exile, for instance), as critical quotation and interpretation, (Jacques Derrida's claim, for example, that Kafka's `Before the Law' is a staging of justice and literary interpretation), and linguistic or thematic interaction (Lolita as Nabokov's Joycean writing of exile in America). There will be a particular focus on how Joyce and Kafka write law, justice and exile as global, rather than state-based, categories, and the importance of these transnational visions for their continuing influence. Authors explored will include James Joyce, Franz Kafka, Samuel Beckett, Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, Vladimir Nabokov, J. M. Coetzee, Kazuo Ishiguro, Jacques Derrida, Giorgio Agamben, Mladen Dolar, Denise Riley and W. G. Sebald. more...	LDCEM017	20	Semester 1
The Life of the Book CORE MODULE FOR STUDENTS ON THE MA BIOGRAPHY AND CREATIVE NON-FICTION (RESERVED FOR STUDENTS ON ROUTE T1Q325101 - LIFE WRITING). This module will follow the arc of the life of a book from inception to reception. How do you choose a subject, determine a book's structure, find a voice and build character? What about the often daunting question of research? Once the book is written, how do you set about writing a proposal and finding a publisher? We will also consider questions surrounding copyright, editing and reviewing. The emphasis will be practical, with a significant workshop element. more...	LDCEM007	20	Semester 1
Translation Theory This module discusses key theoretical and descriptive pronouncements on translation by theorists and practising translators working within the Western tradition. The focus is predominantly on contemporary work, with some older commentary providing historical context. Students are encouraged to explore their own theoretical interests and present their findings in class. more...	LDCEM043	20	Semester 1
Writing Lives CORE MODULE FOR STUDENTS ON THE MA BIOGRAPHY AND CREATIVE NON-FICTION. This module explores the many ways in which writers have grappled with getting `life' and `lives' down on paper. We will look at samples of writing from many different genres, including travel, nature, music and sports writing. We will also be looking at those returning figures ' the Hero, the Villain, the Madwoman. In the process we will discuss cultural myth, human empathy and identity and notions of celebrity. Students will be encouraged to find their own special subjects, to study comparative biography, and to look at the many new experimental approaches that make Biography such a flourishing phenomenon today. more...	LDCEM003	20	Semester 1
East Anglian Literature CORE MODULE FOR STUDENTS ON THE MA MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN TEXTUAL CULTURES. This module has as its focus ideas of place and regional cultures. It introduces key subjects relating to regional literature, religious geographies, visual and verbal relationships, attitudes to gender and family, landscape and alternative cultures. Approaches will involve genre study, interdisciplinary enquiry, and theoretical study. We are spoilt for choice in relation to texts and authors to select from the region, including: John Bale, Osbern Bokenham, Thomas Browne, Meir ben Eiljah, John Capgrave, Robert Greene, Gabriel Harvey, Margery Kempe, John Lydgate, John Metham, Julian of Norwich, the N-Town plays, the Pastons and John Skelton. There will be the opportunity to visit a number of archives, specialist libraries and material culture from the period, including a visit to Norwich Cathedral, which has an extensive 17th-century library with material from the 15th century onwards, Norfolk's heritage collection housed in The Forum's Millennium Library which holds documents from the 13th century onwards, and the Julian of Norwich Centre and Shrine. more...	LDCEM006	20	Semester 2
Literary Translation Research and Methodology Training Seminar All MALT students are enrolled on a Research Methods module. The assessment for this is a pass/fail viva in May or early June (date will be given in the course of the Autumn semester). This module is not taught separately, but consists of a number of generic sessions and also a number of specific MALT sessions within the seminars, such as 'Essay Writing', 'Reading as an Academic', 'Doing Glosses' and so on. more...	LDCEM06Y	10	Year Period
Reusing the Past: the Classical in the Medieval and Early Modern CORE MODULE FOR STUDENTS ON THE MA MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN TEXTUAL CULTURES. The complex and unstable movement from medieval to Early Modern culture is reflected in and effected through a fundamental revaluation of the classical legacy: in the development of new approaches to classical texts and of new uses to which their cultural authority might be put. This module explores this movement through the works of three late-fifteenth- and early-sixteenth-century writers, Robert Henryson, Gavin Douglas, and John Bellenden, and their responses to the texts of Aesop, Virgil, Ovid and Livy. It tracks a movement from medieval adaptation to Early Modern translation, from moralising allegory to politically inflected intertextuality, exploring the rich variety of ways in which classical texts were made newly available and newly culturally meaningful. more...	LDCEM018	20	Semester 2
Dissertation - Literary Translation The dissertation is a compulsory requirement for all taught MA programmes. Work on the dissertation is begun at the end of the 2nd teaching semester for full-time students, or earlier for part-time students. Dissertations may take the form of either (i) a critical essay about an aspect of translation or (ii) a translation with critical discussion. The choice of research topic for the dissertation is made by the students in consultation with their course convenor. Supervision normally functions on the basis of one contact hour with the supervisor every three weeks throughout the summer. more...	LDCEM04X	90	Semester 2
Writing in the First Person CORE MODULE FOR STUDENTS ON THE MA BIOGRAPHY AND CREATIVE NON-FICTION. This module looks at autobiography in the broadest sense, taking in memoir, nature writing, travel writing, reportage and essay. We'll be talking about the history and variety of first-person narratives, the ways writers reveal themselves in their words, how autobiography keeps to and departs from the facts, the importance of form and structure, and about non-fiction's relationship to novels and poems. Seminars will feature practical writing exercises as well as readings and discussions. more...	LDCEM012	20	Semester 2
'World Literature' to the 'Global Text' This module will explore the movement from the idea of the `world' or the `international' as a defining category for writers and artists of the twentieth century toward, from the late twentieth century onward, the notion of the `global'. `World literature' was an essential, if often neglected, directive of the humanist mission, and the `international' engendered oppositions ' such as, for instance, the cosmopolitan and the provincial - that governed the works of writers such as Tagore, James Joyce, Katherine Mansfield, Elizabeth Bishop, the filmmaker Satyajit Ray, and V S Naipaul, examples of whose work will be studied for this MA. But do those oppositions, and the universalist basis of `world literature', hold any more in the age of globalisation? How do writers and artists travel, and respond to the old experiences of place and exile, in the globalised world? Does globalisation transcend the provincial, or produce variations of it? What does `world' itself signify as a concept today ' is, for instance, the `world' in `world music' the same as the one in `world literature'? I'd like to reflect on these questions in the company of artists like the Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, the novelist J M Coetzee, the English writer Geoff Dyer, the Indian poet Arun Kolatkar, critics like David Harvey, present-day experimentation in music, while introducing to the frame of the seminar my own explorations as a writer and musician. more...	LDCEM001	20	Semester 1
Politics and Public Culture: Milton, Republicanism, News, Polemic, Britain, Europe, the Imagination CORE MODULE FOR STUDENTS ON THE MA MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN TEXTUAL CULTURES. The aim of this module will be to look at ways of reading literary works in their social, political and intellectual contexts, and to explore the role of the writer in early-modern culture. To do this we will focus on the works of John Milton ' the full range of his works, including poetry, prose and (in translation) Latin polemic. The contexts we will consider might include: aesthetics; the history and theory of republicanism; religious radicalism; the problem of `Britain'; news; the development of the printing trade and its relation to writing poetry and propaganda; Britain's place in Europe; the history of reading; the social spaces where literature operated; the rise of the `public sphere'. In addition to Milton's writings, we will look at the print and news culture of early-modern Britain, with some attention to the materiality of printed texts. We may also look at other writings and other modes of writing by Milton's contemporaries, including pamphleteering and journalism and works by Andrew Marvell, Marchamont Nedham, Lucy Hutchinson and John Dryden. more...	LDCEM005	20	Semester 1
Creative-Critical Writing A CORE MODULE FOR STUDENTS ON THE MA WRITING THE MODERN WORLD. Too often, academic critical writing seems to bring pre-packaged language to bear on works whose whole essence and aim is to change the ways in which we see and describe our world. And too often such writing fails to acknowledge the ways in which it itself necessarily participates in the literary `creativity' it is also about. How, then, to write criticism? Criticism which responds inventively to the literature which it analyzes? Criticism which registers, in its own form, language, method and thinking the ways in which it has been transformed by the work(s) of art it encounters? Criticism which recognizes that it cannot rest on received concepts and categories? This module aims to explore those questions. Over the course of the semester will consider ' and experiment with ' a broad range of possible ways of practising creative-criticism, including the `essay' form, auto-commentary, aphorisms, ??criture f??minine, conceptual writing, criticism as performance, inventive `theoretical' writing, camp, and diaristic writing. The module covers creative-critics as different from one another as Anne Carson and Jacques Derrida, Geoff Dyer and H??l??ne Cixous, Maurice Blanchot and T. J. Clark, Theodor Adorno and Eve Sedgwick. more...	LDCEM008	20	Semester 2
Fiction After Modernism `Fiction After Modernism' responds to the current reassessment of critical narratives about twentieth century fiction by restoring significance to a critically awkward phase of twentieth-century writing. Focusing roughly on the years between 1930 and 1980, we examine what it meant for mid-century writers to work in the wake of modernism. By thinking about mid-century fiction in terms of its own historical and aesthetic awkwardness, we will challenge the formalist distinction between experimental and realist fiction that has dominated the most influential work on the mid-century novel, and which has also stamped many post-war writers as irretrievably minor. In a similar spirit, we will explore how writers worked in the 'between' of modernism and postmodernism. Rather than produce a cohesive narrative about the period, we will examine how our writers engage with, and disturb, their own literary, historical and critical inheritances. This module is an opportunity to participate in an emerging critical conversation that is carving out new directions in literary study. Working through the period with special attention to previously marginalized (and in some cases forgotten) writers, alongside a selection of critical and theoretical texts, we will examine the ways our writers accede to, challenge, and disrupt our critical understanding of fiction after modernism. more...	LDCEM023	20	Semester 1

PHI-M

Supervised Study Module Four This module provides for supervised study on the same model as Philosophy Supervised Study 1, for students taking two such modules in the Spring semester. Except in the case of Part-Time students, this module can only be taken concurrently with Philosophy Supervised Study Unit 3. This module may also be taken in the form of language skills for original research (e.g. Ancient Greek, German) in which case language exercises and/or translation tasks may replace some or all of the essay work. Training in logic may also take this form. more...	PHI-MA04	20	Semester 2
Supervised Study Module Three This module provides for supervised study on the same model as Philosophy Supervised Study unit 1, and is available as the first such module to be taken in the Spring semester of the programme. more...	PHI-MA02	20	Semester 2
Supervised Study Module Two This module provides for supervised study on the same model as Philosophy Supervised Study 1, for students taking two such modules in the Spring semester. Except in the case of Part-Time students, this module can only be taken concurrently with Philosophy Supervised Study module 1. This module may also be taken in the form of language skills for original research (e.g. Ancient Greek, German) in which case language exercises and/or translation tasks may replace some or all of the essay work. Training in logic may also take this form. more...	PHI-MA03	20	Semester 1
Supervised Study Module One The module is designed to train the student in research techniques in philosophy and to develop advanced knowledge and understanding in some clearly defined area of the discipline which may or may not have been studied before, eg. at BA level. The student is assigned to work with a tutor with research expertise in the chosen area. The topics covered, and the manner in which they are covered, will be tailored to the student's prior experience in the field. Typically, three essay questions, with bibliographical research, will be set for work during the semester. more...	PHI-MA01	20	Semester 1
Topics in Political Philosophy This module will be devoted to the interpretation and discussion of important, advanced texts in modern political philosophy, in particular texts by John Rawls, perhaps the most significant political philosopher of the late twentieth century. Rawlsian political philosophy of liberalism will be tested with regard to its soundness in relation to equality, community/society, and ecology. Consideration will be given to looking at what political philosophy might viably challenge or replace liberalism, which tends to be the 'dominant paradigm' in political theory and practice today. Students will also have an opportunity to apply abstract philosophical ideas to current political controversies. more...	PHI-M008	20	Semester 2
Philosophy Dissertation (90 Credits) For students taking the MA in Social Philosophy. Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	PHI-M10X	90	Semester 2
Philosophy Postgraduate Workshop The weekly workshop enables students to present their own work in short presentations and to contribute to discussions on each other's work. Each student must produce a presentation and meaningfully contribute to the meetings in order to pass the module. Presentations can be designed to explore work in progress or to help polish work for final submission, inclusion in the thesis or publication. more...	PHI-M09Y	10	Year Period
Philosophy of Biology Recent decades have seen far-reaching and controversial advances in the biological sceinces. These developments raise important philosophical questions which are the subject of one of the liveliest and fastest growing philosophical sub-disciplines, the philosophy of biology. In this module, we will begin by examining some of the concepts and methods that distinguish the biological from the physical sciences. What is the nature of a gene, an organism, a species? What is the role of functional explanation in biology? We will then investigate some more general problems that biology raises within the philosophy of science. Can biology be reduced to physics? What is it for a biological theory, such as the theory of evolution, to be testable? Finally, we will turn to the implications of biology for broader philosphical questions about human nature and morality. Does evolutionary theory show that we are selfish beings? Does genetics prove that morality is an illusion? Students on the M Level version will attend advanced level seminars and their coursework will be marked to a higher standard. The module is offered biennially in conjunction in conjunction with PHI-2A74/3A74. more...	PHI-M026	20	Semester 2
Introduction to Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies This year-long module is designed to support students on the MA/MSc in Environmental Sciences and Humanities by providing the necessary context for reflecting on interdisciplinary approaches to environmental studies. It encompasses a number of key steps in the degree, covering pre-arrival preparation, an intensive induction week, reflection on interdisciplinary work throughout the year, and preparation for the dissertation. more...	PHI-M07Y	20	Year Period
Language and Mind The module will explore the philosophy of Noam Chomsky, the leading linguist of the last century. The module will be taught via a small tutorial group that will explore a central theme in the development of Chomsky's position each week. Topics will include: the refutation of behaviourism, the computational basis of language, the creativity of linguistic performance, internalism vs externalism, the concept of human nature. As well as the tutorial, students are encouraged to attend the lectures for the undergraduate module, Language in Mind, that will cover some of the same issues. more...	PHI-M023	20	Semester 1
Philosophy and Literature Seminar The main aim of this course is to explore philosophical themes which arise naturally in the reading of literature, and literary issues which arise naturally in the study of philosophy. Literary texts may well include a selection from: Shakespeare, Pope, Wordsworth, Keats, Tennyson, Arnold, Conrad and Beckett. Philosophical texts may well include a selection from: Plato, Augustine, Montaigne, Descartes, Goethe, Nietzsche and Wittgenstein. Two important themes for discussion will be the rise of physical science and its impact on philosophy and literature; and how different conceptions of philosophy and literature affect the way in which they are written (or not written). Assessment will be by two coursework essays. more...	PHI-M028	20	Semester 2
Philosophy Dissertation (80 Credits) This module is compulsory for all students taking the course MA/MSc Environmental Sciences and Humanities. Students will be required to produce a 10,000-15,000 word dissertation over the Summer period. The dissertation may deal with any topic covered by the remit of the course as a whole. The title and scope of the dissertation will be determined by the student together with his or her supervisor. A detailed research proposal will be submitted to the proposed supervisor in early April and must be approved by the Course Director. Each student will receive 6 hours of formal supervision during the course of the module. The supervisor will normally be one of the instructors on the course, unless a more suitable member of staff is identified and agrees to act as supervisor. The topic of the dissertation and faculty location of the supervisor will determine whether the student ultimately receives an MA or MSc degree. Normally a student who is supervised by a member of staff in ENV will receive an MSc, otherwise the student will receive an MA. Co-supervision between schools is encouraged. In such a case the type of degree will be determined by the primary supervisor. The dissertation will be marked by one member of the Science faculty and one member of the Arts and Humanities faculty. more...	PHI-M20X	80	Semester 2
Methodology and Epistemology of Philosophy The module provides commencing graduate students with the methodological foundations for independent philosophical research. Through practical exercises complementing theoretical discussion and philosophical case studies, the module examines nature, structure, and genesis of key problems and theories from different areas of philosophy; on this basis, it discusses the scope, strengths, and weaknesses of both well-established and innovative philosophical methodologies as well as key questions about the nature of philosophy. Methods covered include different forms of conceptual and linguistic analysis, ways of explaining and assessing philosophical intuitions, naturalist approaches, and competing hermeneutic approaches to the interpretation of philosophical texts from different periods and traditions. Meta-philosophical questions addressed include: What are the proper aims and purposes of philosophy (theoretical vs. elucidatory vs. therapeutic conceptions)? In what ways is philosophy similar to, and different from various sciences? In what ways can methods and insights from other disciplines (sciences, literature, and the arts) be put to use for philosophical purposes? The module is taught through a weekly lecture and seminar (total 3 hours/week). Topics of the two 3000-word essays are individually agreed. This module is intended primarily for students on the MRes in Philosophy and the MA in Philosophy and Literature. Students on other MA/MSc programmes can participate with the consent of the module organiser, who will expect substantive prior exposure to philosophy (ca. 6 undergraduate modules in philosophy). more...	PHI-M019	20	Semester 1
Certainty and Uncertainty in Environmental Science and Policy This module is concerned with questions about certainty and uncertainty in environmental science and about the role of environmental science for political decision-making. The module investigates epistemological questions about the possibility of gaining scientific insight into the sources and solutions of environmental problems; and it examines the relationship of such epistemic concerns to ethical and political questions about how to act in the face of environmental problems. more...	PHI-M015	20	Semester 1
Classical Philosophy Workshop The module takes the form of a research-led, workshop-style, seminar based on an area of Classical Philosophy in which the module convener has current research interests. It will include detailed attention to selected texts and issues. The topic will be chosen by the lecturer. Recent topics have included (a) Mind and Perception, with detailed attention to Aristotle's "De Anima"; and (b) God creation and design, with detailed attention to Plato's Timaeus and texts in Aristotle and Plotinus (c) Fate and freewill with texts from the Presocratics to Augustine. This module is linked to the advanced undergraduate module, Classical Philosophy Special Subject. more...	PHI-M018	20	Semester 2
Philosophy of Science As any intellectual enterprise, natural science poses fascinating and deep problems. Think e.g. of mechanics: in order to describe observable motion it appeals to such unobservable entities as forces, and in order to talk about real bodies it refers to ideal entities like points endowed with a mass. These facts lead to challenging questions: what is the role of unobservable entities within a scientific theory? Why do we need to resort to ideal hypotheses in order to study the real world? Is there a fundamental divide between theoretical science and experimental science? We will explore these issues by looking at scientific practice from a philosophical standpoint. This module is self-contained and presupposes no previous knowledge of physics or other sciences. Students on the M Level version will attend advanced level seminars and their coursework will be marked to a higher standard. The module is offered biennially in conjunction with PHI-2A14/3A14. more...	PHI-M024	20	Semester 2
Philosophy of Literature Seminar The topics of this module will be chosen from amongst the following: the definition and purpose of literature; the nature of literary language, fiction, fictional characters, narrative, genre, literary criticism and interpretation; the relevance of author's intention, the role of the reader, and the relationship between literature which is read and that which is heard and seen; aesthetic evaluation, taste, subjectivity and objectivity; whether literature can convey truth and knowledge, and the relationship between aesthetic judgement and ethics. Students submit two essays of 2,500 words each. more...	PHI-M021	20	Semester 1

PSIIM

International Organisations and Public Policy The module aims to enable students to develop an understanding of the role of international organisations and their impact on public policy and public management at the domestic and international levels. Students will discuss critically the theories, models and concepts used in the analysis of international cooperation, competing perspectives in international politics and demonstrate the role they play in public policy and public management. The UN, NATO, IMF, WTO, World Bank and EU will be examined and why sovereign states decide to establish these and other international organisations. Their role in security, trade, finance, gender and environmental policy will be considered and the factors which determine their design and evolution. The extent to which their operation reflects underlying power and interest will be evaluated and the extent to which they have democratic legitimacy. more...	PSIIM006	20	Semester 2
The European Union in International Affairs The module focuses on European Political Cooperation now and into the future, particularly Europe's role as an international actor. Issues include the EU and international conflicts such as the Gulf War, the Middle East and former Yugoslavia, the EU's position as one of three major economic world powers, the EU and Third World development, new considerations in European security, global environmental and energy concerns. Convergence or divergence in European political consensus is examined through these issues in an attempt to draw useful insights for the future of European Integration. more...	PSIIM010	20	Semester 2
International History of the Asia-Pacific Region This module looks at the history of the region, including the involvement of the superpowers in the politics of the cold war in Asia. Conflict in the region as well as the rise and fall of the regional powers are reviewed. The development of multipolarity and the importance of the Asia-Pacific region in the post-cold war world is also covered. The aftermath of the Second World War, the onset of the Cold War, conflict in Korea and Vietnam, the changing relationship between the US, USSR and China are covered, as is the development of Southeast Asia in the modern world. We also assess the major issues contemporary to the region. more...	PSIIM007	20	Semester 1
The Foreign Relations of China and Japan in the Modern World The module looks at the history of China and Japan from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. The attempts at modernisation, conflict between the two nations, their relationships with the Asian region and the United States are covered. Their contrasting attempts to develop in the postwar period are investigated. We also assess their current policies and the issues of importance to China and Japan in the twenty first century, and assess whether they can move beyond the legacy of this difficult history. more...	PSIIM026	20	Semester 2
Middle East Politics This module introduces students to the government and politics of one of the most interesting and frequently misunderstood regions in world politics ' the Middle East. The module examines the evolution of the modern Middle Eastern political system over the past century. Students will acquire the skills to analyse key issues in the politics of the region, including topical events such as the preponderance of ethno-sectarian violence and the rise of Islamist movements. Other key questions include the lack of democracy in the region and the creation of rentier economies in the Gulf. more...	PSIIM030	20	Semester 2
MA in International Relations Examination This is a generic exam for students registered on the MA in International Relations based around the core unit, International Relations Theory. more...	PSIIM200	20	Semester 2
American Foreign Policy This module will use case studies of Southeast Asia, Central America and the Middle East to explore the reasons for American interventions and to assess their success or failure. It will offer an historical understanding of the assumptions and practices which lie behind contemporary US foreign policy-making. The module will introduce students to the institutions and processes involved in the making of American foreigh policy. more...	PSIIM032	20	Semester 2
European Union: Power, Politics and Policy This module studies the integration process in Europe. It introduces the evolution of political and economic co-operation. The main political actors and their roles are identified and the workings of the European Union as a polity assessed in the light of relevant theoretical discourses and interpretations. more...	PSIIM003	20	Semester 1
War Games: Diplomacy and Strategy in International Relations This module introduces students to some of the major issues and ideas concerning diplomacy and military strategy in International Relations. The module comprises fortnightly lectures, two screening sessions, and weekly seminars involving lengthy scenario exercises. Students will learn about the theoretical and practical challenges concerning military relations between states, including concepts such as `the security dilemma', `future uncertainty', `self help', `balancing', `deterrence', `imperial overstretch', and `humanitarian intervention'. The successful completion of this module will lead to a more nuanced understanding of war and peace in international politics. more...	PSIIM034	20	Semester 2
International Security This module examines the study of security in the international system, through its roots in Cold War strategic studies to the development of the more broadly focused field of security studies today. The module critically analyses contemporary security issues and provides a sound theoretical base for considering practical issues of security, including new wars, intervention and terrorism. Themes are explored from theoretical perspectives and include security and the nation state, war and peace, new wars, alliances, democratic peace, securitisation, human security, the arms industry, religion and security and terrorism. more...	PSIIM020	20	Semester 2
MA in International Relations & European Studies Examination This is a generic exam for students registered on the MA in International Relations and European Studies based around the compulsory modules, International Relations Theory and European Union: Power, Politics and Policy. more...	PSIIM202	20	Semester 2
International Relations Theory This module will give students an essential grounding in International Relations theory, that is, the different ways we understand and predict international politics. The module is structured around the positivist/post-positivist divide and starts with classical realism and neo-realism, and liberalism and neo-liberalism. It then explores constructivism before turning to more critical theories like post-colonialism, feminism and gender studies, and Marxism. By the end of the module you will design your own IR theory. The module will be taught predominantly using lectures and seminars but will make use, where appropriate, of film and documentaries in order to explore different theoretical schools, both thematically and empirically. more...	PSIIM011	20	Semester 1
International Organisations: Conflict and Development This module introduces to students the basic concepts of integration/disintegration, globalisation, regionalism and the purpose of the existence of and inter-relationship between international regional Organisations. It then goes on to examine the structure and functions of several major international organisations such as the United Nations, NATO, the EU, NAFTA, ASEAN, MERCOSUR, the AU, etc, and their role in international conflict and economic development with specific case studies. A brief coverage of International Financial Institutions such as IMF, World Bank, the WTO and the G8 will complement the main areas of study above. The style of the module consists of a series of lectures/seminars, class presentations, video showings and workshops. Although this is a mostly empirically based module, students will be expected to apply International Relations and Development theories which they will be studying alongside, in their other modules, as appropriate. more...	PSIIM009	20	Semester 1
Russian Foreign Policy The module considers how far Russian foreign policy has changed since the end of the Cold War. It studies the internal and external determinants of foreign policy, looks at key policy issues and examines relations between Russia and other states and regions. more...	PSIIM008	20	Semester 2
World Politics Since 1945 This module is divided into two parts. The first focuses on the cold war and the second the post-cold war period. The module uses a series of case studies, such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, the break-up of Yugoslavia and the war on terror to highlight broader issues regarding the changing international political system. Diplomatic political history is the predominant discipline used on this module, but theoretical approaches are also adopted to help students understand the nature of the cold war and post-cold war systems. more...	PSIIM015	20	Semester 1

AMSAM

The Dirty South: Reading Southern Cultures In William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!, Shreve McCannon asks his Harvard roomate, Mississippian Quentin Compson, to "Tell about the South": "What's it like there. What do they do there. Why do they live there. Why do they live at all." In this module, we will explore the contrasting ways that those questions have been answered - and, indeed, still continue to be answered - by Southerners and others. Reading widely in Southern literature, we will witness the emergence of a distinct Southern literary identity in the years before the Civil War; consider the effect of slavery on the development of Southern letters; encounter, through Reconstruction and beyond, the effects of defeat, liberation and memory; meet the flowering of the Southern Renaissance; and trace the development of Southern writing through the Civil Rights Era and beyond, up to the present day. But we will also consider a variety of other Southern cultures - music, particularly, from country to hip-hop, but also film and television - and think about the ongoing representations of the South by outsiders. And throughout, we will question the shifting meaning of "the South", and consider its persistent significance in the twenty-first century. more...	AMSAM038	20	Semester 2
The 20th Century Novel This module emphasizes close reading, and exposure to some of the masterpieces of 20th century American prose fiction, over theoretical paradigms or a great deal of critical reading. Each week we will discuss a significant 20th century American novel (and author) in depth, coming to grips with their primary themes, structures, and techniques. However, many of our books have a solid body of scholarship associated with them with which you should also certainly expect to familiarize yourself, and each week's reading will include a required scholarly essay, which will be selected by your classmates for their presentation. more...	AMSAM017	20	Semester 1
Theories of American Culture This Core Autumn module introduces students to key theories in American Studies. As American Studies is an interdisciplinary field, we require all MA students in our School, whether focusing upon American History, American Literature, Film and American Studies, or American Studies, to familiarize themselves with foundational concepts in the field. The reading list will vary, but will generally have a week of introduction followed by three weeks on literary and textual theory, three weeks on historiography, and three weeks on visual culture and film theory. The aim of the module is to ensure that all students are comfortable with the basic theoretical tools necessary to advanced study in American cultural studies of all varieties. more...	AMSAM009	20	Semester 1
Research and Methodology Training Seminar This module is run over two semesters. The Autumn and Spring semester element of the training requires attendance and active engagement at the School research seminars which are run on a weekly basis. In addition, during the Spring semester students will take a half-module concerned with preparation for writing their dissertations over the Summer. Students will present their dissertation proposal at the last of the School's research seminars in the Spring Semester. Assessment will be based on a reflective report, written at the end of the autumn semester, concerning the research seminars students have attended. The spring semester will be assessed through presentation and submission of the dissertation proposal. more...	AMSAM02Y	10	Year Period
Reading American Women's Lives: Her-Story in the Long Nineteenth Century The module will be structured around eight biographies of different women spanning the Revolutionary and early National period through to the late nineteenth century. The biographies under discussion will include the revolutionary Jane Adams, midwife Martha Ballard, mill girl Eunice Connolly, true women turned plantation mistress Sarah Hicks Williams, women's right activist and abolitionist Sojourner Truth, the two 'first ladies' of the Civil War era Mary Todd Lincoln and Varina Davis reflecting on their experiences in the historical and cultural context in which they lived. The seminars will reflect on the historical conditions that shaped these women's lives and consider the ways in which they negotiated the dominant ideals of the era. The concepts of race, class, region, and age will be considered alongside gender as primary factors that structured these women's experiences, in addition to considering factors such as spousal relationships, the growing ideal of romantic love, the sentimentalisation of women's roles in domestic fiction and wider society, and the developing structures of familial relationships. Biographical materials will be supplemented by historical scholarship and visual media including portraits, pictures, and film. more...	AMSAM042	20	Semester 2
Queering America This is a module that engages with queer theory and its inherent complexities in order to read American Studies `across the grain,' to explore the silences and those silenced in accepted readings of America. The module will both scrutinize and utilize the polyphony of theoretical discourses that constitute queer theory's most often (deliberate) discordant approach so as to open-up the liminal spaces in America ' those cities of night to evoke John Rechy's novel on such liminality. The module is not simply an examination of homosexuality in America, but an examination of alterity in its many different forms, and how this alterity conceptualises America in ways that problematize our immediate understanding of the nation. more...	AMSAM033	20	Semester 1
Slave Life in the Antebellum South While popular representations of New World slavery range from the dehumanized slave body to the romanticisation of enslaved life, scholarly work over the last few decades has sharpened our understanding of what it meant to be an enslaved man, woman and child in the context of Atlantic slavery. This module concerns the lived experiences of the enslaved in the slaveholding south. It is structured around the cultural histories of the lives and will consider how concepts such as race, class, gender, and sexuality interacted and were articulated in this particular historical context. Concepts of power and resistance will also be central to the discussion, as both enslaver and enslaved negotiated the limits of control in their own lives and those of others. The module will employ a variety of source materials including slave narratives, folklore tales, work-songs, and fictional representations of slavery in order to try and fully reveal the complexities of enslaved life. more...	AMSAM011	20	Semester 1
Civil Rights and American Politics This module offers an in-depth exploration of the history of the Civil Rights movement in the years after World War II. It delves into the rich and ever growing historiography of the subject to take in, among other things, the southern freedom movement and Martin Luther King, Jr; the life and times of Malcolm X; Black Power politics and culture; the political controversies surrounding Lyndon B. Johnson's attempt to mobilize the federal government behind the cause of black equality; the 'long, hot summers' of urban riots, 1964-1968; and the still contested legacy of this most turbulent period of American history. more...	AMSAM029	20	Semester 1
American Literature Dissertation Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	AMSAM04X	90	Semester 2
American Studies Dissertation Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	AMSAM03X	90	Semester 2
The Imperial Origins of the US and Canada The Imperial Origins of the United States and Canada begins with an examination of the condition of North America in 1492, and proceeds to discuss in the next three sessions to analyse the impact of trade, missionary work, European settlement, warfare, slavery and imperial rivalry in three broad geographic regions: 1) The Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and southern Atlantic coasts of North America; 2) The St. Lawrence valley, New England and the Canadian Maritime regions; and 3) New Netherland, New Sweden and their successor colonies, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Having laid this foundation, the module continues chronologically, examining the Spanish, French, and British Empires in North America side-by-side, through the period of the American Revolution and on to the War of 1812. Over the long run, the British Empire spawned two huge polities in North America, and the module will close by examining its distinctive legacies on the two sides of the U.S. - Canadian border. more...	AMSAM044	20	Semester 2
American History Dissertation Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	AMSAM06X	90	Semester 2
Body Spaces Central to post-war American avant-garde aesthetics and poetics is an investigation of the constructedness of the space we inhabit and of the bodies we occupy. By close and detailed analysis of a range of experimental American texts - painting and especially, poetry - from 1950 to the present day, this module explores the ways in which ideas of the postmodern in America can be seen to 'work' through such politicised constructions of the body as gender, sexuality and subjectivity. Running alongside its reading of poetic and artistic texts, the module will also consider the ways in which theories and theorists of the postmodern reflect the concern of America's experimental arts with an aesthetics of 'process' rather than of 'product'. It thereby questions the extent to which a poetics of the postmodern challenges the cultural space that America has inhabited in the late-twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. more...	AMSAM043	20	Semester 1
The Black Atlantic This module will consider the flow and proliferation of black culture into and within the Americas, through the medium of the middle passage and the `Black Atlantic'. This module offers a comparative perspective on American culture: the experiences of African slaves and their subsequent freedom, physical and ' for some ' also political, will be traced in the contemporary fiction and poetry of the Caribbean and the United States. Given the overwhelming importance of Africa to contemporary Caribbean and African American writing and culture, this unit will begin and end with a focus on West African perceptions of the slave trade. more...	AMSAM018	20	Semester 2
Good Good Girls and Good Bad Boys? American Fictions of Innocence Oscar Wilde wrote that 'The youth of America is their oldest tradition; it has been going on now for three hundred years'. IIs this true? If so, why? This module will seek to account for the preoccupation with youth in America by focusing particularly on the concept of 'innocence', and by examining how various models of innocence are invoked and questioned in American literary texts. Drawing on a wide array of fictional and theoretical works, we will consider the following questions: What is at stake in America's investment in innocence? Major cultural events - such as the Vietnam War and 9/11, for example - are often described as representing a 'loss of innocence' in American culture. What power interests and ideologies are maintained by repeatedly describing America as 'innocent'? How is this investment in innocence revised in different historical moments? How is it challenged? With particular reference to fictions of growing up in America, how is innocence (and loss of innocence) depicted differently for male and female protagonists? more...	AMSAM022	20	Semester 2

FTVFM

Music, Media, Society This module considers the changing role of music within social and cultural practices, its varied relationships with selfhood, media and technology, bodies, everyday lives and social power. In surveying the ways music is and has been bound up in social and cultural formations, the module engages with a range of theoretical issues about how music `works' as well as exploring some of the ways organised sound can be said to `mean' in differing contexts. The module also introduces students to an eclectic range of writings and questions about music in social life, considering questions about the materiality of sound, musical communities, performance, media and affect, positioning such issues in relation to music's production, circulation and consumption. more...	FTVFM062	20	Semester 2
Japanese Film: National Cinema and Beyond This module explores the concept of Japanese cinema in relation to national, transnational and global discourses and seeks to reframe discussions of modern and past Japanese filmmaking. We will examine a variety of Japanese films and the ways in which they interact with the history, techniques and culture of Japan. We will also consider the social and commercial nature of Japanese filmmaking, including the ways in which Japanese films circulate the globe. more...	FTVFM032	20	Semester 2
Film Studies: History, Theory, Criticism This unit aims to provide key terms of reference and research skills in the study of film; to identify key objects, theories and methods in the analysis of film; and to provide a sense of historical development of film. Intended learning outcomes: a) Knowledge and Understanding. By the end of the unit should: have some of the key skills for the study of film at M level; have an awareness of the debates between different approaches to the study of film; be familiar with the key objects, theories and methods in the analysis of film; have some familiarity with the historical development of film. b) Intellectual Skills. By the end of the unit students should be able to: apply the key approaches to the analysis of film; assesses the debates between these different approaches; construct coherent and independent arguments. c) Professional Skills. The unit will develop students' ability to: select, sift and synthesize information from a variety of primary and secondary materials; write accurately and grammatically and present written material suing appropriate conventions. d) Transferable Skills. The unit will also develop students' ability to: manage a large and disparate body of information; use IT to word process assessed work; speak and write cogently about a chosen subject area. more...	FTVFM023	20	Semester 1
Effects, Audiences and the Media The module is designed to explore the debates over media effects. In the process, it will challenge the effects tradition, which motivates many of the concerns with media censorship and regulation, and suggests alternative ways of understanding the ways in which audiences consume contemporary media. In the process, it will examine a range of approaches to the understanding of media consumption. more...	FTVFM046	20	Semester 2
Gender and Culture Providing a conceptual overview of feminist research approaches, this module examines the role of culture in the construction of contemporary gender relations. Exploring a range of case studies, such as film, television, food and sport, it provides an interdisciplinary perspective on cultural texts, their audiences, markets and regulation. The module explores both theoretical and methodological issues and covers a range of theoretical approaches, including media studies, cultural studies, gender studies history, law and economics. By the end of the module students will have developed understanding of: ' a variety of feminist approaches to the analysis of cultural texts, their audiences, markets and regulation. ' the relationship between cultural texts and their socio-economic and political contexts and the importance of gender in analysing culture. Additionally students will be able to ' critically reflect on the place of gender in media research ' apply feminist research methodologies to the analysis of cultural texts and audiences more...	FTVFM064	20	Semester 2
Women and Film This module intends to explore and critically reflect upon the relationship between women and film whilst focusing on issues such as women's cinema as counter cinema; women's cinema as minor cinema; women filmmakers; international women's film festivals; the representation of women in film; female spectatorship, (fe)male gaze; sexuality; feminism and post-feminism in film; female subjectivity; female desire, feminist filmmaking. The module will focus on analysing contemporary films from a variety of national and transnational cinemas. more...	FTVFM060	20	Semester 2
Film Studies Dissertation This module involves the production of a 12,000-15,000 word piece of work, which focuses upon a suitable topic of your own choosing. You will be assigned a supervisor to advise you on your research and writing of the dissertation. more...	FTVFM60X	60	Semester 2
Studying Media This module is intended to provide an introduction to the key study skills in film, television and media studies for students unfamiliar with the British university system and its expectations of students. Focusing on the key issues and academic debates within media studies, it will provide students with a sense of the educational expectations that they will encounter during their other modules and help them to acclimatise themselves to the culture of British universities. This module is compulsory for students new to the British university system. more...	FTVFM029	20	Semester 1
Creativity and Development in Film and Television Production This practice-based module is designed to introduce students to key skills in film and television development and business. It will provide an understanding of the processes of creative script and project development, including film and TV business, the activities of the market and dealing with bodies responsible for commissioning films and television programmes, managing creative people, and writing pitches. This module is compulsory for students following the MA in Film, Television and Creative Practice. Priority for further places will be given to students taking the MA in Film Studies and scriptwriters on the MA in Creative Writing. more...	FTVFM058	20	Semester 2
Film and Television Production The module is designed to introduce students to key skills in film and television and video production. It will provide an understanding of the production process and thereby focuses less on technical training than on encouraging students to think about using audio visual media to produce creative solutions to practical problems. The module also encourages students to consider how to deliver work within the normal constraints of media production, i.e., students will have to think about working to a brief rather than simply imagining themselves as independent artists. This module is compulsory for students following the MA in Film, Television and Creative Practice. Priority for further places will be given to students taking the MA in Film Studies. more...	FTVFM041	20	Semester 1
Science Fiction: Film and Television Science Fiction films and television series have provided a significant focus for addressing social/cultural and political issues. This module looks at the historical development of the genre, with an emphasis on locating the films/television programs within an historical and cultural context. An array of films and series episodes from both the US and UK will be screened and various clips will also be discussed in seminar. Films/television programs covered in the module will include: Le Voyage dans la Lune (1902), Things to Come (1936), Forbidden Planet (1956), Quatermass 2 (1957), Lost in Space (1965-1968), Doctor Who (1963-1989), Altered States (1980), Threads (1984), Robocop (1987), Independence Day (1996), The Matrix (1999). more...	FTVFM043	20	Semester 1
Celebrity Culture The module will explore the phenomenon of celebrity and fame from its origins to the present day, moving across a range of different media, including film, television, print media and the internet. In the process, it will examine key areas in the study of celebrity, including historical analysis, the reading of celebrity `images', questions of ideology (e.g., gender, class), the political economy of celebrity, audience and celebrity, and the impact of new technologies. It will feature a range of case studies that will include celebrity in the 19th century, Classical Hollywood cinema, the coming of television, the celebrity gossip magazine and questions of gender, the birth of Reality TV, the growth of the celebrity scandal and the relationship between celebrity and the internet more...	FTVFM068	20	Semester 2
The Big Picture: Contemporary Hollywood Cinema What are Hollywood's biggest hits in recent decades, and what, if anything, do they have in common? What kinds of film does Hollywood invest in most heavily, and which target audiences are these films aimed at? What are the habits and expectations of cinema audiences, and what meanings and pleasures do hit movies offer to them? Who are the key decision makers in the industry, and which names have the biggest clout at the box office? How does the theatrical release of films in the US relate to their circulation in foreign markets and in other media (television, video, DVD)? These are some of the questions which this module addresses. more...	FTVFM015	20	Semester 1

PSIPM

Analysing Media Discourses This module examines the relationship between language, images and social meaning. Media products from film and advertising to newspaper articles and even music are examined as `texts' that shape and are shaped by the socio-political reality. After discussing some of the main theories of textual analysis like semiotics, psychoanalysis and discourse analysis, we will adopt a hands on approach in order to demonstrate how the visual and linguistic techniques can advance our understanding of the processes of representation and communication of meaning. more...	PSIPM015	20	Semester 1
Media, Culture and Society Dissertation For students taking the MA in Media, Culture and Society. Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	PSIPM40X	60	Semester 2
Public Management: Theories and Change This module enables students to develop advanced understanding of the main theories, models and concepts used in the study of public management, the main debates in the field, and substantive knowledge of developments in public management in a variety of settings. Students who successfully complete this module will be able to demonstrate: a critical understanding of the main theoretical approaches used in the study of public management and organisational behaviour; familiarity with the main debates in the scholarly literature on public management; substantive knowledge of the theory and practice of the new public management; a critical understanding of public management reform in the United Kingdom and elsewhere; and familiarity with debates concerning the operation and impact of international organisations, including the EU, on public management at the national level. more...	PSIPM021	20	Semester 1
Public Policy: Theory and Analysis This module enables students to develop advanced understanding of the main theories, models and concepts used in the study of public policy, the main debates in the field, and substantive knowledge of public policy in a variety of settings. Students successfully completing the module will be able to demonstrate: - critical understanding of the main theoretical approaches used in the study of public policy - familiarity with the main debates in the scholarly literature on public policy - advanced knowledge of public policy and policy processes in a variety of national settings - familiarity with the main theories and debates relating to the operation and impact of international organisations, including the European Union, on domestic policy and policy-making processes. more...	PSIPM023	20	Semester 1
Political Economy of the Environment In this module, students will critically engage with mainstream political and economic assessments of environmental degradation and climate change by adopting a political economy approach. In coming to terms with these environmental threats, the module tries to reawaken a broader type of ethical, natural and social theorisation that defined an earlier political economy. This is not a module on environmental or resource economics, nor are students expected to have an economics background. Rather, this module tries to problematise social production as something much more than a series of market relations. It tries to develop a broader socio-cultural understanding of production that `de-naturalises' the way we view and exploit the natural world. more...	PSIPM022	20	Semester 2
Politics and Mass Media Working from the assumption that the mass media are an integral part of modern political life, this module examines the way in which politics is represented in the mass media and reviews critically the argument about 'bias'. It also explores the arguments around the ownership and control of mass media, the increasing use of the mass media by political parties and the changing relationship between citizens and politics engendered by new communication technologies. more...	PSIPM012	20	Semester 2
Issues in Media and Cultural Politics This module explores key issues within media and cultural politics. The module is divided into separate blocks and spread over two semesters. Each block deals with different aspects of media and cultural politics, including identity and power, communication and culture. more...	PSIPM03Y	20	Year Period
Theories of Society and Politics This module introduces students to the fundamentals of modern social and political thought by means of in-depth study of key texts by leading thinkers of the nineteenth and twentieth century. An emphasis is placed on classical social theory and liberal political theory as well as more recent departures from those traditions. Students will have an opportunity to read and discuss major works of social theory by Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber and Pierre Bourdieu as well as works of political theory by J S Mill, John Rawls, Robert Nozick, and Iris Marion Young. During the module students will also have the chance to reflect on fundamental questions about the methodologies employed by social and political theorists and on problems associated with claims to knowledge and objective truth in these fields. more...	PSIPM003	20	Semester 1
History of Political Thought: Social Contract Theory This module examines in depth selected works of political thinkers who are seminal to the Western tradition of political thought, including Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau. Their work will also be compared thematically, with a focus on ideas such as the social contract, political obligation, property, individual rights and freedom. The approach is analytical rather than historical and contextualist. The module's focus on the study and interpretation of key texts enables students to develop skills of textual analysis and critique. more...	PSIPM005	20	Semester 1
Theory and Practice of Policy Making in Britain This module will look at theories of policy making and relate them to recent developments in the policy process in Britain, using a case studies approach. The unit will consider some theories of decision making, such as the rational actor model, disjointed incrementalism, policy networks, bureaucratic politics. It will also examine broader issues of the relationship of power and economic forces to the decision making process. Finally, it will examine such issues as agenda setting, the importance of policy discourse and the role of ideas and belief systems in the policy making process. more...	PSIPM018	20	Semester 2
Review Paper (Mres) A research review paper of 6,000-9,000 words on a subject of your choice. more...	PSIPM04Y	20	Year Period
Multiculturalism This module looks at the responses in political theory to the rise of multicultural societies in Europe and North America since the end of World War II. The aim is to introduce students to a range of contemporary theoretical perspectives on multiculturalism and to facilitate critical assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of competing approaches. Theorists under examination will include: Parekh, Kymlicka, Taylor and Modood as well as major liberal alternative views; Barry, Rawls and Raz. The module will combine theoretical study with analysis of practical issues/case studies surrounding multiculturalism. Among the issues to be considered are the following: models of integration, group rights, institutional racism, Islamophobia, and the Rushdie affair. The module will also consider divergent policies adopted within European states (eg, France and Germany) and give attention to the attempts to operationalise multiculturalism in the UK in particular via the Parekh Report. more...	PSIPM026	20	Semester 2
Politics and Public Affairs This module enables students to develop an advanced understanding of the theory and practice of public affairs, interest intermediation, and the strategies used by interest, advocacy groups and others to influence the political process. As well as covering the main debates in the academic literature, it draws directly on the experience of practitioners and offers unique insights into this under-studied area of politics. more...	PSIPM034	20	Semester 2
Regulation This module provides a foundation in the theory and practice of economic regulation, incorporating economic, business, legal and political science perspectives. The module is a research-led programme based on the research undertaken in the ESRC Centre for Competition Policy and assumes no previous studies of economics. more...	PSIPM028	20	Semester 2
Practical Media The Practical Media module is taught at the EPIC (former Anglia) TV studios in Norwich. This is a state-of-the-art working TV studio (e.g making shows for BBC1). Students are given an introduction to all aspects of broadcast journalism, including camera and studio work, scripting, editing (using Apple's Final Cut Pro) and sound. Students produce short videos in small teams before creating this into a TV show (magazine format) in the main studio. The course is taught by leading experts in their field. Ian Masters presented BBC Look East for many years before moving into management including Director of BBC South. He was also Director of Broadcasting at the Thompson Foundation and has travelled all around the world training journalists. Mark Wells was a BBC journalist and producer for many years, before becoming a Director at Televirtual (making TV shows such as Knightmare). He is currently Director of the EPIC TV studios. Further information is available: www.ueamedia.wordpress.com, www.epic-tv.org. more...	PSIPM020	20	Semester 2
New Media and Society For better or worse, new digital technologies are hyped at having revolutionised society. This module will provide students with an introduction to the ways in which the internet and other digital technologies are (and are not) affecting society from theoretical and empirical perspectives, and how society shapes technology. Topics covered include: the evolution of the internet; the "network society"; regulating new media; the radical internet and terrorism; social networking, blogs and interactivity; culture and identity in the digital age; and how the internet affects politics and the media. more...	PSIPM007	20	Semester 1
Better Worlds? Utopias and Dystopias Would an ideal society have no more crime? Who would be wealthy or powerful? Would politics be outlawed? Do utopians try to impose their views on the rest of humankind? Do the flaws in human nature justify the pessimism of dystopian writers? This unit compares selected utopian and dystopian texts produced during the last six centuries. Themes will include property, social control, gender, morality and politics. Another dimension of the course is to consider the purpose of utopian thinking and the historical role of utopian ideas in social theory and social reform. more...	PSIPM002	20	Semester 2
Online Journalism This module provides students a grounding in core journalism skills, with a special application to new and emerging media. Topics covered include: new forms of journalism, news sources and rich content production. Students will write and produce content for an online news platform. more...	PSIPM027	20	Semester 1
Media and Society This module is intended to provide all students studying media related postgraduate degrees with a broad, current and inter-disciplinary understanding of the media today. The guiding philosophy informing this module is the belief that in order properly to understand the media, whether as a lawyer, economist, development studies professional, media studies specialist or political scientist, it is essential to have a wide-ranging and multi-disciplinary understanding of the modern media. What we shall be doing over the year therefore is looking at the structure of the media industry today in the UK and globally. We will consider, from several different academic perspectives, how media content is constructed, what factors and influences go to shape content and how content may be controlled and even censored. We will also look at the media industry, examining how it is currently organised and managed, what factors influence its current organisation and consider how it might develop. We will also examine how media affects people and society and consider also the assumptions that are made about the impact of the media. Finally, we will seek to draw together key aspects of modern media. more...	PSIPM09Y	40	Year Period
Studying Media This module is intended to provide an introduction to the key study skills in media and cultural studies. It will be particularly useful for students unfamiliar with the British university system and its expectations. Students will apply theoretical and methodological approaches to contemporary media texts and discuss recent scholarship on changes in the global media and cultural landscape. In addition to introducing key study skills and debates in the discipline, the workshop sessions will provide a supportive environment for critical reflection and intercultural communication. MEDIA, CULTURE AND SOCIETY STUDENTS WITH A NON-UK FIRST DEGREE ARE REQUIRED TO TAKE THIS MODULE UNLESS A WAIVER IS OBTAINED FROM THE COURSE DIRECTOR. THIS MODULE IS AVAILABLE ONLY TO STUDENTS TAKING THE MA IN MEDIA, CULTURE AND SOCIETY AND THE MA IN MEDIA AND CULTURAL POLITICS. more...	PSIPM017	20	Semester 1
Methods of Social Enquiry The module offers a basic training in research methods; it is aimed at students of politics, international relations and media and cultural politics. It has a qualitative and quantitative component and students are expected to complete both parts of the module. Students will be encouraged to reflect not only on the methods they use, but their methodological assumptions, as well as what it means to be part of a research community. Students will learn to evaluate methods from a number of differing philosophical perspectives. Practically they will also be supported in the devising of a research proposal, oral presentations and the analysis of datasets. more...	PSIPM019	40	Semester 1
Broadcast Journalism This 40 credit module gives students a wide and detailed grounding in all aspects of television journalism and news production. Core topics include editing, camera work, sound and interviewing. Students produce a magazine-style TV show that is built around the video reports that they shoot and edit themselves. Students work both in the studio and on location. more...	PSIPM038	40	Semester 2
Democratic Theory This module draws on normative political theory and contemporary political science to consider how the concept of democracy has changed since it originated in ancient Greece and looks at the critiques of democracy advanced by critics and opponents especially in the 20th century. The ideas and values underpinning democracy will be interrogated and some recent solutions for today's 'democratic deficit' including electronic democracy and cosmopolitan democracy will be evaluated. more...	PSIPM010	20	Semester 2
Public Choice Public choice theory applies economic models to explain political phenomena. This module, jointly taught by lecturers from philosophy, politics and economics, studies the concepts of market failure and political failure, problems of collective action, rational choice models of democracy and bureaucracy, social choice theory, the motivation of actors in the political process, and the evolution of conventions and norms. The political context is the move from a welfare state to a market society. The emphasis is on the critical appraisal of alternative approaches to public choice and policy issues. more...	PSIPM014	20	Semester 2
"Media, Culture and Society Dissertation" For students taking the MA in Media, Culture and Society. Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	PSIPM20X	80	Semester 2
Politics and Popular Culture This module explores the ways in which popular culture and politics are linked. It works from the assumption that popular culture 'matters', and the key question is how it matters. Hence it examines the different ways in which, and the different theories through which, popular culture is interpreted as expressing or constituting national or sexual identity, propaganda or political insight, means of resistance or of compliance. It also considers the political economy of popular culture (especially the role of the state) and the political uses of popular culture (especially in political communication). It ends by considering the debates about the political influence of popular culture and about the 'value' of popular culture. more...	PSIPM009	20	Semester 1
Journalism: Practice and Ethics The module will demystify the closed world of the professional journalist and enable students to understand what gets into the news (and what does not), and why. It will help students develop practical skills and techniques and the knowledge of how to apply them in a professional, ethical context. Weekly practical exercises will teach them to produce good, clean, readable copy. All of this will greatly enhance the students' employability within the media industry. more...	PSIPM031	20	Semester 1
Practical Media The Practical Media module is taught at the EPIC (former Anglia) TV studios in Norwich. This is a state-of-the-art working TV studio (e.g making shows for BBC1). Students are given an introduction to all aspects of broadcast journalism, including camera and studio work, scripting, editing (using Apple's Final Cut Pro) and sound. Students produce short videos in small teams before creating this into a TV show (magazine format) in the main studio. The course is taught by leading experts in their field. Ian Masters presented BBC Look East for many years before moving into management including Director of BBC South. He was also Director of Broadcasting at the Thompson Foundation and has travelled all around the world training journalists. Mark Wells was a BBC journalist and producer for many years, before becoming a Director at Televirtual (making TV shows such as Knightmare). He is currently Director of the EPIC TV studios. Further information is available: www.ueamedia.wordpress.com, www.epic-tv.org. more...	PSIPM029	20	Semester 1

LCS-M

Dissertation Communication and Language Studies The dissertation is a compulsory requirement for all taught MA programmes. Work on the dissertation is begun at the end of the second teaching semester. The choice of research topic for the dissertation is made by the students in consultation with their course convenor and/or supervisor (students normally receive up to four hours of supervision in all over the period of supervision). more...	LCS-MD1X	50	Semester 2
Translation and Theory This module explores ways in which concepts and notions develop into theoretical approaches and translatorial practices but also how practice establishes theoretical positions. Each weekly seminar will focus on key concepts and their use in the existing bibliography on translation, while the practical tasks will give to students the opportunity to apply these concepts to their own translation work. more...	LCS-MA03	20	Semester 1
Dissertation MAATS The dissertation is a compulsory requirement for all taught MA programmes. Work on the dissertation is begun at the end of the second teaching semester. The choice of research topic for the dissertation is made by the students in consultation with their course convenor and/or supervisor (students normally receive up to four hours of supervision in all over the period of supervision). more...	LCS-MD2X	90	Semester 2
Intercultural Communication in Practice This module explores the issues fundamental to intercultural communication (IC) in practical contexts. The theoretical component of the module examines the different ways of thinking about effective communication in a variety of work-based environments. We will also relate theory to the practice of intercultural communication in contextualised workshops. During these workshops, invited practitioners will introduce students to how IC operates in specific organisations, e.g. in government agencies, in multilingual business management, etc. The module is relevant to those wishing to pursue careers in international management and relations, multilingual business and international development; it is also of interest to those who wish to become more effective communicators in other professions such as translation, interpreting, education and cultural mediation. more...	LCS-ML22	20	Semester 2
Linguistic Communication Among Cultures There is more to linguistic communication than just knowing the vocabulary and grammar of a language; speakers need to know the different ways of using the language they speak ' what to say, how to say it and when to say it. But language is also intimately involved in our notions of culture, our thought processes and, perhaps, even in our sense of reality. Indeed, the very act of linguistic communication itself both creates and sustains our expectations, beliefs and moral values about our world and lives. This module explores a number of issues relating to this reciprocal relationship between language and culture. Linguistics, characterised as the scientific study of language, tends to focus on the formal features of language structure, treating it as an autonomous object. There is more, however, to linguistic communication than just knowing the vocabulary and grammar of a language; speakers need to know the different ways of using the language they speak - what to say and how to say it. These assumptions vary from culture to culture as often shows up in the various forms of miscommunication that occur when we talk with speakers from different linguistic backgrounds. From a broader perspective language is intimately involved in our notions of culture - imagine, for example, expressing, discussing or learning about religious or political beliefs without language - our thought processes and, perhaps, even in our sense of reality. Indeed, for some, the notions of language and culture are so inseparable that they are referred to collectively as languaculture. more...	LCS-ML26	20	Semester 2
Intercultural Communication - Understanding Differences in A Global World This module is an introduction to some of the fundamental concepts associated with theories of intercultural communication. Since norms of behaviour are culturally defined and varied, the beliefs and values which underlie a culture's worldview will be examined from a variety of perspectives. Indicative topics are expected to include how culture is defined; models of explanation of cultural difference (such as the theories of Hofstede and Tropenaars); notions of identity (personal, group, national) and 'otherisation'; stereotypes and prejudice; verbal and non-verbal communication; miscommunication and intercultural conflict; acculturation and culture shock, etc. The module is relevant to students from a variety of backgrounds and with varied interests and will provide useful background for the module 'Intercultural Communication in Practice'. more...	LCS-ML25	20	Semester 1
Translation Work Experience This module is aimed at MA Translation students with no (or little) previous translation work experience, and students who have experience of professional translation but would like the opportunity to review their practices by reflecting on, and critically documenting, the processes involved. It is based on work on authentic translation assignments negotiated with commercial clients and is very practical: it will promote hands-on sensitisation to aspects of professional commercial translation, to problems involved in translating to specifications, producing and presenting a product of professional standard, to techniques of translation and to the use of reference materials and support resources. It will enable you to apply your analytical and linguistic skills, and to develop a range of key practical skills, including research skills, project and time management, reflective and review skills. more...	LCS-MA02	20	Semester 2
Research Methods The module is designed to familiarise postgraduate students with research resources and basic aspects of research methodology (e.g. access to, and use of, sources and resources, collection, analysis and presentation of materials and data). It is taught over two semesters: the first focuses on seminar-related activities, the second on dissertation-related work. It is assessed by an oral exam on a pass/ fail basis after the end of the second semester. The module is obligatory for all LCS full-time postgraduate students on taught MA programmes and open only to them. more...	LCS-MR1Y	10	Year Period
Research Methods Part II The module is the second part of a course designed to familiarise postgraduate students with research resources and basic aspects of research methodology (e.g. access to, and use of, sources and resources, collection, analysis and presentation of materials and data) and focuses on work for the dissertation. It is taught in the second semester of the first or second year of study and assessed by an oral examination on a pass/fail basis after the end of the second semester. The module is obligatory for all LCS part-time students on MA taught programmes and open only to them. Pre-requisite: LCS-MR01. more...	LCS-MR02	5	Semester 2
English, Communication, Culture The module is intended to refine linguistic and academic competences (oral and or written communication, control of academic registers), and to explore how English operates in a variety of cultural contexts (including the media, critical debate). Skills covered include seminar and presentation skills, note-taking, academic writing, self-directed study and research skills, with application to the theme of communication and language and materials specifically relevant to MA students. An important aim of the module is to familiarise students with the conventions of English academic life and the environment of the university. more...	LCS-MC01	20	Semester 1
Dissertation Language and Intercultural Communication The dissertation is a compulsory requirement for all taught MA programmes. Work on the dissertation is begun at the end of the second teaching semester. The choice of research topic for the dissertation is made by the students in consultation with their course convenor and/or supervisor (students normally receive up to four hours of supervision in all over the period of supervision). more...	LCS-MD3X	90	Semester 2
Translation and Cultural Representation Across Arts and Media The module will focus on two distinct types of interlingual mediation ' screen translation and museum translation ' to explore issues of linguistic and cultural representation in cultural products, and their implications for public perceptions of media and cultural otherness. It will consider and compare features and constraints of language transfer across these two contexts, and assess their capacity to promote cross-cultural sensitization. The module will involve a hands-on practical component with either a subtitling practice workshop OR a museology in practice workshop (TBC). more...	LCS-MA10	20	Semester 2
Language Issues in A Global Multilingual Context This module focuses on language-related issues associated with the globalisation of communication and the media. It considers a range of materials - texts and their translation(s), multilingual sources of information (e.g. global news, consumer information, websites), products of audiovisual translation (e.g. subtitling, dubbing, voice over), IT mediated or processed texts, etc - to explore issues involved in the transposition and dissemination of (spoken and written) text into other media and other languages across different spheres of activity (e.g. media, politics, culture). Receptive knowledge of at least one language other than the mother tongue required. more...	LCS-MC02	20	Semester 2
The Power of Discourse: Representation and Interaction Language occurs in specific socio-cultural settings, among specific social actors and for a variety of purposes. In turn particular uses of language have the power to shape social encounters and relationships and to help construct and maintain specific ideologies and perspectives. Discourse analysis aims to uncover the ways in which language in use is tied to its socio-cultural context. This approach is thus at heart of the analysis of human interaction in society. This module provides the students with analytical tools that can be fruitfully applied to the study of a variety of communicative modes (written texts, spoken interaction, visual or other non verbal modes) as employed in a variety of fields (e.g. media, advertising, politics, education, business, institutional settings, creative writing) and for a variety of purposes (persuading, entertaining, informing). Students will be able to explore the significance and effectiveness of specific communicative strategies and how they may vary according to cultural context and expectations. The module is, therefore, not only suited to postgraduate students focusing on issues of linguistic communication but also to students interested in aspect of linguistic transferability (translation, adaptation, localization). There are plenty of hands-on practice and discussion. more...	LCS-ML13	20	Semester 1
Technological Tools for Translators The aim of this module is to provide an introduction for students of literary and non-literary translation to computer-based tools, technologies and methodologies used by translators, and to examine the strengths and weaknesses of such tools. more...	LCS-MT12	20	Semester 2
Translation in Context This module explores the issues fundamental to translation as process and product in practical contexts, examines theories of equivalence and textual structure in different language-cultures, and applies theory to specialised practice (e.g. commercial, legal, technical, political). more...	LCS-MA01	20	Semester 1
Forensic Linguistics and Translation This module is focused on theoretical and practical aspects of the interplay between language and other language-driven activities such as translation and memory in special circumstances of witnessing, experiencing or judging crime and providing expert linguistic testimony and language services such as translating and interpreting. It contextualises the consequences of this relationship within an interactive environment, namely forensic, psycholinguistic and cross-cultural contexts of language use. Another dimension of the course is an emphatic cross-linguistic approach, whereby we assume the latest linguistic typological perspective and discuss the effects of language differences on the kind of information habitually provided in or omitted from reports in one language and translation. more...	LCS-MA08	20	Semester 2
Conflict in Intercultural Communication The module introduces students to the study of intercultural conflict, through case studies of miscommunication at the levels of international political terminology, pragmatic strategies, the public representation of cross-cultural conflicts and of migration/multicultural conflicts. The module enables students to apply analytical methods to conflicts in intercultural communication on the basis of applied linguistics (contrastive semantics, pragmatics and sociolinguistics) and cultural studies. By the end of the course students will have an understanding of the linguistic dimensions of conflicts (and their mediation) in intercultural communication. Formative work includes oral and written presentations. more...	LCS-ML23	20	Semester 1
Dissertation Forensic Linguistics The dissertation is a compulsory requirement for all taught MA programmes. Work on the dissertation is begun at the end of the second teaching semester. The choice of research topic for the dissertation is made by the students in consultation with their course convenor and/or supervisor (students normally receive up to four hours of supervision in all over the period of supervision). more...	LCS-MD4X	90	Semester 2
Dissertation Conflicts in Intercultural Communication The dissertation is a compulsory requirement for all taught MA programmes. Work on the dissertation is begun at the end of the second teaching semester. The choice of research topic for the dissertation is made by the students in consultation with their course convenor and/or supervisor (students normally receive up to four hours of supervision in all over the period of supervision). more...	LCS-MD5X	90	Semester 2
Research Methods Part I This module is the first part of a course designed to familiarise postgraduate students with research resources and basic aspects of research methodology (e.g. access to, and use of, sources and resources, collection, analysis and presentation of materials and data) and focuses on seminar-related activities. It is taught in the first semester of the first year of study. The module is compulsory for all LCS part-time students on MA Taught programmes and open only to them. Co-Requisite: LCS-MR02. more...	LCS-MR01	5	Semester 1

Disclaimer

Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the modules listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the annual monitoring, review and update of modules and regular (five-yearly) review of course programmes. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes and their constituent modules, there will normally be prior consultation of students and others. It is also possible that the University may not be able to offer a module for reasons outside of its control, such as the illness of a member of staff or sabbatical leave. Where this is the case, the University will endeavour to inform students.

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Literature, Drama and Creative Writing Courses

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MA Biography and Creative Non-Fiction

MA in Biography and Creative Non-Fiction

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The School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing brings together writers, scholars, teachers and students in an exploration of the powers and possibilities of literature. Our aim is to make creative writing and critical reading confront one another in ways that sharpen and enliven both.

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