MODERNISM - 2021/2

Module Overview

 

‘On or about 1910’, Virginia Woolf observed, ‘human character changed … and when human relations change there is at the same time a change in religion, conduct, politics and literature.’ Recognising somewhat belatedly the revolutionary fervour that had been brewing in European politics and art in the final decades of the nineteenth century, artists across the British Empire and the United States of America would embark on their own extraordinary phase of experiment, ushering in an era that would witness innovation right across the spectrum of cultural endeavour.  Examining a range of exciting and innovative works from around the world students are introduced to the key ideas underpinning the theories and practices of modernist writers, working in the period between 1900 and 1945. In addition to gaining in-depth knowledge relating to each text on the module, students can expect to acquire a sense of how the movements in modernist literature relate both to each another and to other disciplines such as philosophy, economics, politics and art.

Module provider

School of Literature and Languages

Module Leader

KILNER-JOHNSON Allan (Lit & Langs)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 5

Module cap (Maximum number of students): 53

Module Availability

Semester 1

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None.    

Module content

Joseph Conrad, The Secret Agent

E.M. Forster, Howards End

James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land

Virginia Woolf, Jacob’s Room

Short stories by Lawrence, Woolf, and Mansfield

Evelyn Waugh, Vile Bodies

Jean Rhys, Voyage in the Dark

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate achieve-ment of the module learning outcomes.

 

Seminar discussion with ongoing tutor feedback is designed mainly to assess transferable skills in communicating ideas orally and in working individually and as part of a group. It also assesses subject knowledge on major writers of the twentieth century, the modernist movement, the relationship between literary form and content, the dialectical process, and the history of ideas in the first three quarters of the twentieth century. Seminars also assess cognitive/ analytical skills in critical thinking and in analysis of literary form.

 

The essay assesses subject knowledge major writers of the twentieth century, the modernist movement, the relationship between literary form and content, the dialectical process, and the history of ideas in the first three quarters of the twentieth century. The essay also assess cognitive/analytical skills in critical thinking and in analysis of literary form, and transferable skills in communicating ideas in writing. The essay further assesses professional/practical skills, specifically the ability to plan and implement timetables for essay deadlines.

 

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

 

• 
  2500-word essay
  
   
  
  Formative assessment and feedback
  
   
  
  Formative ‘feed forward’ is provided through seminar discussions and tutor feedback in seminars.
  

Module aims

• To introduce students to major writers of the C20 & the modernist movement they participated in
• To develop an understanding of the relationship between literary form and content
• To develop an insight into the dialectical process
• To gain a handle on the history of ideas over the first three quarters of the twentieth century
• To provide students with scope to practice doing independent research

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

 

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to deliver subject knowledge, to develop cognitive/ analytical skills, and to develop in-depth transferable, practical, and professional skills. Specifically, the lectures deliver subject knowledge relating to major writers of the twentieth century, the modernist movement, literary form and content, the dialectical process, and the history of ideas in the first three quarters of the twentieth century. The weekly seminars involve student-led discussions that develop skills in communication and in working individually and as part of a group. The seminars also provide students with instruction on planning and implementing timetables for work and on presenting ideas coherently under time constraints.

 

This relates to the programme learning and teaching strategy, which, at FHEQ Level 5, is designed to continue the delivery of subject knowledge through lectures and SurreyLearn and to develop in-depth transferable, practical, and professional skills, with a greater emphasis on student-led involvement, critical analysis, discussion, and rhetorical ability.

 

The learning and teaching methods include:

 

• 
  1-hour lecture per week x 11 weeks
  


• 
  1-hour seminar per week x 11 weeks
  


• 
  2-hour revision session in week 12
  

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: ELI2032

Other information

This module has a capped number and may not be available to ERASMUS and other international exchange students. Please check with the International Engagement Office email: ieo.incoming@surrey.ac.uk

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2021/2 academic year.