LT204-5-AU-CO:
Criticism: Practice and Theory

The details
2024/25
Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies
Colchester Campus
Autumn
Undergraduate: Level 5
Current
Thursday 03 October 2024
Friday 13 December 2024
15
21 August 2024

 

Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)

 

(none)

Key module for

BA W800 Creative Writing,
BA W801 Creative Writing (Including Year Abroad),
BA W803 Creative Writing (Including Placement Year),
BA W808 Creative Writing (Including Foundation Year),
MLITQ392 Creative Writing,
BA QW30 Literature and Creative Writing,
BA QW31 Literature and Creative Writing (Including Year Abroad),
BA QW33 Literature and Creative Writing (Including Placement Year),
BA QW38 Literature and Creative Writing (Including Foundation Year),
MLITQ393 Literature and Creative Writing

Module description

The module is intended to familiarise students with how we think about and analyse artworks and human identity in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.


Our primary texts on this module are not works of fiction by novelists, filmmakers or dramatists, but the writings of theorists and cultural thinkers. We examine how these thinkers have addressed the changing world we live in, and its impact on who we are and how we write, read, envisage, and imagine.


We explore how theories of class, gender, race, sexuality and the unconscious have altered not only our conceptions of identity, but also how we analyze texts and images. We ask how technology, migration, and environmental disaster have changed not only our representations in literature, film, or theatre, but also our ways of interpreting.

Module aims

The aims of this module are:



  • To equip students with a broad array of conceptual tools which they can apply to their own critical and creative work

  • To introduce students to the thinkers and thinking behind such key concepts, showing the links between them

  • To provide students with the conceptual and analytical tools to explore how particular theories can help us to analyse artworks in novel and unexpected ways.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:



  1. Demonstrate a thorough knowledge and understanding of a wide variety of approaches to works of literature and art.

  2. Critically evaluate and apply theoretical frameworks in practice.

  3. Analyse and interpret artistic and cultural works.

Module information

No additional information available.

Learning and teaching methods

This module will be delivered via:

  • A weekly 1-hour lecture and 1-hour class.

Bibliography

The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course.
The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students.
Further reading can be obtained from this module's reading list.

Assessment items, weightings and deadlines

Coursework / exam Description Deadline Coursework weighting
Coursework   Online portfolio (Weekly submissions to Moodle)    25% 
Coursework   Essay (2,000 words)  19/12/2024  70% 
Practical   Participation    5% 
Exam  Main exam: In-Person, Open Book, 60 minutes during January 
Exam  Reassessment Main exam: In-Person, Open Book, 60 minutes during September (Reassessment Period) 

Exam format definitions

  • Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
  • In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
  • In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
  • In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary, for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.

Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.

Overall assessment

Coursework Exam
70% 30%

Reassessment

Coursework Exam
70% 30%
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Prof Susan Oliver, email: soliver@essex.ac.uk.
tbc
LiFTS General Office - email liftstt@essex.ac.uk. Telephone 01206 872626

 

Availability
No
No
Yes

External examiner

Dr Doug Haynes
University of Sussex
Reader in American Literature and Visual Culture
Resources
Available via Moodle
Of 30 hours, 30 (100%) hours available to students:
0 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.

 

Further information
Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies

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