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

The details
2024/25
Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies
Colchester Campus
Full Year
Undergraduate: Level 5
Current
Thursday 03 October 2024
Friday 27 June 2025
30
21 August 2024

 

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

 

(none)

Key module for

BA QW24 Drama and Literature,
BA QW25 Drama and Literature (Including Placement Year),
BA WQ28 Drama and Literature (Including Foundation Year),
BA WQ42 Drama and Literature (Including Year Abroad),
BA QT37 English and United States Literature (Including Year Abroad),
BA T720 English and United States Literature,
BA T723 English and United States Literature (Including Placement Year),
BA T728 English and United States Literature (Including Foundation Year),
BA Q300 English Literature,
BA Q303 English Literature (Including Placement Year),
BA Q320 English Literature (Including Foundation Year),
BA Q321 English Literature (Including Year Abroad),
BA PQ32 Film Studies and Literature (Including Year Abroad),
BA PQ38 Film Studies and Literature (Including Foundation Year),
BA QW26 Film Studies and Literature,
BA QW27 Film Studies and Literature (Including Placement Year),
MLITQ391 Literature,
BA LQ32 Literature and Sociology,
BA LQ33 Literature and Sociology (Including Placement Year),
BA LQ38 Literature and Sociology (Including Foundation Year),
BA QL23 Literature and Sociology (Including Year Abroad),
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,
BA Q210 English and Comparative Literature,
BA Q211 English and Comparative Literature (Including Year Abroad),
BA Q212 English and Comparative Literature (Including Placement Year),
BA Q218 English and Comparative Literature (Including Foundation Year),
BA P530 Journalism and Literature,
BA P531 Journalism and Literature (Including Placement Year),
BA P532 Journalism and Literature (Including Year Abroad)

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 1 (2,000 words)   19/12/2024  35% 
Coursework   Essay 2 (2,000 words)  24/03/2025  35% 
Practical   Participation    5% 
Exam  Main exam: In-Person, Open Book, 120 minutes during Summer (Main Period) 
Exam  Reassessment Main exam: In-Person, Open Book, 120 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.
Dr Joanna Rzepa, email: joanna.rzepa@essex.ac.uk.
Dr Chris Bundock (AU), Professor Susan Oliver (SP)
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 10 hours, 10 (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

Disclaimer: The University makes every effort to ensure that this information on its Module Directory is accurate and up-to-date. Exceptionally it can be necessary to make changes, for example to programmes, modules, facilities or fees. Examples of such reasons might include a change of law or regulatory requirements, industrial action, lack of demand, departure of key personnel, change in government policy, or withdrawal/reduction of funding. Changes to modules may for example consist of variations to the content and method of delivery or assessment of modules and other services, to discontinue modules and other services and to merge or combine modules. The University will endeavour to keep such changes to a minimum, and will also keep students informed appropriately by updating our programme specifications and module directory.

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