MODERNISM - 2025/6

Module Overview

Building on the introduction to modernism covered in the first-year core modules, this module explores a period in literature that was to bring innovation across the spectrum of cultural endeavour. Through a range of exciting and innovative works of literature from around the world, you will be introduced to the key ideas underlying the theories and practises of modernist writers in the period between 1900 and 1945. By exploring the concept of multiple global modernisms, the module builds global and cultural skills that will enable you to critically engage with the key themes central to modernist thought. As well as acquiring in-depth knowledge of the individual texts on the module, you will be able to develop a sense of how movements in modernist literature relate both to each other and to other disciplines such as philosophy, economics, politics, and art. Through the independent research undertaken for assessment and a particular focus on the skills required for advanced secondary source research, this module will also develop resourcefulness and digital skills.

Module provider

Literature & 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): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 1

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None.    

Module content

The module will look at a range of Anglophone writers from the first half of the twentieth century, organised broadly around early, high, and late modernism as characteristic styles, literary practises, and cultural shifts. Within these boundaries, the module will also highlight the ways in which writers from different regions of the world took different approaches to modernism.

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate achievement 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

Seminar discussion with ongoing tutor feedback in seminar






 
 


 
 

Module aims

• The module aims to: introduce students to a diverse array of writers of the early twentieth century and the modernist movement they participated in
• develop an understanding of the relationship between literary form and content
• develop an insight into key philosophical, social, and aesthetic concerns of the modernist period
• help students understand how innovations in modernist literature both inspired and grew out of other key developments of the modernist period
• develop an awareness of the multifarious definitions of ¿modernism¿ and the various modernisms which form the core of the New Modernist Studies
• develop further skills in independent research, particular in engaging with databases and organising source material

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

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

Resourcefulness and Resilience: The module encourages you to be analytical, imaginative and to learn from difficulties so that you will emerge from your studies as a resourceful and resilient scholar and communicator. As the module focuses on independent research, you will develop practical research and writing skills that will prove useful in the workplace and in your further studies. You will further develop your ability to work independently and manage your time effectively, and develop the skills to approach unfamiliar and often challenging modernist texts with confidence. In this way, the module will help you to develop the key attributes that employers look for in graduates and emphasise the research and analytical skills you will need as a future employee.

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 2025/6 academic year.