AT3CAW: Classic American Writers

Module Provider:

English

Number of credits:

20 [10 ECTS credits]

Level:

H (Honours)

Terms in which taught:

Autumn

Module Convenor:

Prof P Stoneley

Pre-requisites:

AT1ALF

Co-requisites:

Modules excluded:

Module version for:

2006/7

Aims:
The module will introduce students to a variety of canonical and non-canonical texts of American Literature. The more specific aim is to develop students’ understanding of the contending factors in nineteenth-century articulations of the literary. Students will be encouraged to analyse the set texts with reference to debates over value, form, and national identity.

Assessable learning outcomes:
By the end of the module students will be expected to:
• Show skills of close textual analysis
• Demonstrate an ability to integrate their textual analyses with informed commentary on constructions of literariness and national identity
• Show an awareness of broader theoretical issues generated by the texts
• Engage critically with ideas discussed in seminars
• Construct and express coherent arguments, both orally and in writing

Additional outcomes:
Transferable Skills
Each module is designed to encourage you to develop skills of oral communication and effective participation in group work. Additionally, you will be encouraged to enhance your IT competence through the use of relevant web resources and library databases, and through the word-processing of assessed coursework.

Outline content:
This module looks at the way in which various nineteenth-century American writers used their work to define an idea of a national literary culture. The course will focus on: Washington Irving, The Sketch-book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. (1819); James Fenimore Cooper, Last of the Mohicans (1826); Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays (1841); George Lippard, Quaker City (1844); Henry David Thoreau, Walden, or Life in the Woods (1854); Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Song of Hiawatha (1855).

Brief description of teaching and learning methods:
Group discussion in 2-hour seminars. Students will also receive individual tutorial feedback on the non-assessed coursework essay.

Contact hours:

Assessment:
Coursework
Students will write one non-assessed essay of approx 1500 words. They will also submit a second essay of no more than 2500 words for formal assessment, carrying 50% of the total mark.

Relative percentage of coursework
Assessed Essay 50%

Penalties for late submission
Ten marks (out of 100 on the normal University conventional scale) will be deducted from a piece of work submitted up to one calendar week after the original deadlines (or any formally agreed extension of that deadline). Once this period has elapsed a mark of zero will be recorded.

Examinations
One two-hour examination paper accounting for 50% of the total mark of the module.

Requirements for a pass
An average mark of 40%

Reassessment arrangements
Re-examination in September. Coursework will be carried forward if it bears a confirmed mark of 40% or more. Otherwise it must be resubmitted by 1 September.